Here are two pieces about New Moon where Women & Hollywood was featured last week.
From CNN.com – Hey Hollywood, the Fangirls are Calling:
But successful female-centric films often are dismissed as flukes instead of viewed as trends, says Melissa Silverstein, a media consultant who also runs the Women & Hollywood blog.
Even though women are an important audience, they still are largely overlooked by studios, which want “the biggest bang for their buck,” says Silverstein.
She thinks “New Moon” has the potential to set records for a female franchise and could possibly unseat “Transformers” as the year’s biggest opening weekend.
But will it be a wake-up call for Hollywood?
“I can only wish,” she told CNN. Instead of dismissing it as a “Twilight” phenomenon, studios should look to it to build the next female-driven franchise, she says.
And on Salon- Could New Moon be a Feminist Triumph:
“New Moon finally give us an apple to apples comparison with other types of fan-driven films,” she told me in an e-mail. “The biggest films in Hollywood are the ones that come out of comic books, toys and books. Starting last year with ‘Sex and the City,’ ‘Mamma Mia’ (and both those can be dismissed because the targeted audience was older), but now with the two ‘Twilight’ films, it shows that female filmgoers can be as rabid in their fandom as male.” The question is, will the powers that be recognize young women as a robust market that’s been largely ignored and condescended to, or will they write it off as a limited phenomenon? “Studios should look at this as a golden opportunity and not a fluke!” writes Silverstein. But tapping into the passions of young female audiences means “working to try and uncover things that are bubbling in fandom and even trying to come up with exciting ideas to engage the audience,” not just waiting around for the next runaway bestseller.
Nevertheless, Silverstein is optimistic about “New Moon’s” potential to improve women’s lot in Hollywood across the board — as long as executives recognize its tremendous appeal as more than a fluke. “Hopefully, this success will infiltrate the minds of Hollywood number crunchers and seek out products for the female audience,” she says. “If people start thinking and making more movies that star women and are women driven, it can only help women at all levels of the business.”
I am beaming with pride! Go on woman, go on!