Archive for the 'Feminism' Category

There’s no denying that Sunday is a big night for women in Hollywood.  One of the things that has been so exciting about this awards season is that finally paying attention to the fact that no woman has ever won the best director Oscar.  It’s one of the issues around women and entertainment that most people can wrap their heads around.

I’ve also personally enjoyed watching Kathryn Bigelow on all the interviews and how her voice has grown in strength over the season.  A couple of months ago she didn’t say much and seemed quite uncomfortable in the limelight, but in the last few weeks everything she has said has been so outstanding and confident. I also like the fact that because of the content of her film we don’t spend the whole time talking about gender and issues related to women and women’s opportunities (not that those conversations aren’t important too.)

I remember when I worked in women’s organizations and when an important news event happened or an event was scheduled, people would try and get together with some talking points so that people could be on somewhat the same page.  While there is no concerted movement on this topic, I have been pondering some thoughts about what — a Bigelow win or loss –  would mean for women and wanted to know what other people are thinking.

Here are the points I am focused on:

If She Wins:

• A glass ceiling that has been in place for 82 years has been shattered.
• Young women and girls around the world now have an image of seeing themselves as a potential best director winner and hopefully that will dare them to dream bigger than they might have.
• Shows boys and men that women are just as competent as the men.
• That you don’t have to direct a movie about so-called women’s issues as a female director.
• That women can direct kick-ass action films and get noticed for it.
• AND that this is just the beginning and that there are relatively few opportunities (7 percent) for female directors and that we cannot let this win symbolize anything other than the fact that we still have so much farther to go.

If She Loses:

• This is another lost opportunity to break down a glass ceiling that has been held in place for over 8 decades.  Women go to the movies in equal numbers to men, yet our voices and visions are not seen as equal to men’s.  This issue is not going to go away and it’s not just about awards, it’s about opportunities and we need more for women.
• While it would be a huge disappointment, the nomination and all the attention has raised much needed awareness about the lack of opportunities for female directors in a way that has never been highlighted before.
• We need look at this as part of a continued effort to achieve gender equity in all areas of the entertainment business both on the screen and behind the scenes.

In general, I think this is a great opportunity to encourage people to think about the movies that they see and suggest they ask themselves a series of questions before buying tickets.  Who directed this film?  Who wrote this film?  What is this film about?  Sometimes the fact that so few women’s names will come up won’t matter, but if you ask the question enough times it starts to sink in that things are just not right and maybe, just maybe, the next week that person will choose a woman directed film.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

I remember being very excited reading about this play a couple of years ago.  Bening was supposed to bring it to Broadway and, sadly, that never happened for a variety of reasons.  The play opened in 2008 in London starring Eileen Atkins and finally it is getting its US debut at the Geffen Theatre starring Annette Bening.

This is a serious feminist play.  Here’s a description:

Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith’s comedy about a renowned feminist author named Margot Mason and her tussles with a disgruntled student, a resentful daughter, her publisher, a cabbie and other characters combines lively debate about the evolution of feminist theory with good old meat-and-potatoes farce. Bening, of course, plays the force-of-nature feminist.

The OC Register asked Bening some questions about the play, feminism and the political context of the work.

Register: This play is a comedy but the issues being discussed – particularly the evolution of feminism and the conflict between its founders and the next generation – are quite serious, aren’t they?

Bening: No question about it. The issues were and are so serious and grave. Women had to take that kind of a stand because of what they were fighting and where we were. We’re not at that point any more. (This conflict) is what makes the play for me. All those issues are being thought about but within a context of humor. I’m so impressed with how she’s been able to get these issues in people’s mouths without it being preachy and overly earnest.

Register: Is there a meta-theme at work in the story?

Bening: The idea that the generation that comes up doesn’t fully appreciate what the older generation went through. They take for granted things that are in place that didn’t always used to be. That’s the way of the world, the ancient problem. She manages to get into all of that with this subject. We’ve come a long way in terms of our laws, but of course in many ways things haven’t changed. One thing she’s writing about is (something) that will never change: what makes men and women different.

Sounds like it will be a good second wave/ third wave exploration.  I don’t recall seeing another play that has attempted it.  It’s supposedly loosely based on an incident in Germaine Greer’s life but is not about Greer.  I really hope it gets to NY.

Annette Bening Likes Getting Theatrical (OC Register)

Just wanted to remind you all that the 6th Annual Bird’s Eye View Film Festival kicks off in London next month.

This is one of the most prestigious festivals that highlights films directed by women.

Here’s festival director Rachel Millward talking about why the festival is important:

Birds Eye View is the UK’s only festival celebrating international women filmmakers, founded as a positive response to the still startling fact that women make up only 7% film directors and 12% screenwriters. We passionately believe that a healthy culture requires a balanced perspective and we want to see that on screen. So, we celebrate the talented women making great work today, inspire, encourage and equip more women to make more films, and show the industry and our audiences that without a female perspective in cinema, they’re really missing out!

Birds Eye View keeps working all year round, with a First Weekenders Club, promoting the opening weekend of cinema releases written or directed by women, and bespoke training labs which hothouse exceptional female writers in order to get more commercial features from women into production.

They have a wide variety of films including: Amreeka directed by Cherien Dabis; and Lourdes by Jessica Hauser.

Director Susanne Bier (who directed Brothers which was remade into a horrible Hollywood version) will hold a masterclass, and the festival will close with the London premiere of Whip-It, directed by Drew Barrymore.

More from Rachel Millward:

This is the 6th Birds Eye View Film Festival and it’s a hum-dinger of a programme, celebrating such amazing women filmmakers as Drew Barrymore (Whip It), Jessica Hausner (Lourdes), Isabel Coixet (Map of the Sounds of Tokyo), Kim Longinotto (Rough Aunties), Wanuri Kahiu (From a Whisper) and Susanne Bier (with a retrospective and masterclass).

Plus Blonde Crazy: a celebration of dazzling iconic blondes from the silent era to the present day, and special live music commissions from female artists to silent film, including the first ever animated feature film The Adventures of Prince Achmed from pioneering artist Lotte Reineger. All this with BEV’s usual sprinkling of celeb presence… It looks set to be one to remember.

Support women directed films by attending this festival.

PS- If anyone is planning on attending and wants to write a report for all of us, just get in touch with me. Thanks.

Bird’s Eye View Film Festival

Drew Barrymore debut at Birds Eye View Fest (Hollywood Reporter)

Zoe Saldana is in a unique position.  She is poised to be in not 1 — Star Trek — but two — Avatar — of the top grossing movies of the year.

Not bad.  She recently spoke to the Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy blog and had some great feminist things to say about the state of women and hollywood.

How bad is the landscape out there for decent female roles?

They’re out there — people just aren’t investing in them. We can sit here forever discussing it, because it has a chicken vs. the egg quality. Bottom line, producers are business people. Hollywood is a money-making machine. At the end of the day, they have to produce numbers that will help them keep their jobs and companies alive. But we as consumers have a lot more power than we think. Women need to demand better roles and get audiences to see their films. Because if a film doesn’t make $150 million, producers and studios aren’t going to bankroll a similar film next time. If there were more filmmakers that were female, trust me, it would be all about women.

Avatar” Star Zoe Saldana on the State of Women in Hollywood (Wall Street Journal)

When I started Women & Hollywood one of the things I dreamed about was doing events with women to raise awareness of issues effecting women in film and other areas of pop culture, and to help build a community to make change in areas that need some serious work.

Never in my wildest imaginations did I think that I would ever get to plan and host an event like the one we had this week for Jane Campion at Gloria Steinem’s home.  (Disclosure: Apparition Films, the distributor of Bright Star paid for the event including my time.)

This was an event where I was able to bring together women who worked in different areas of pop culture including novelists, magazine writers, poets, tv professionals, bloggers, women’s organization leaders, playwrights and directors to meet Jane Campion and celebrate her film Bright Star.  Here’s just a sampling of some of the people who were in the room: Ines Alberdi from UNIFEM; Ann Curry from the Today Show; writer Patricia Bosworth; director Nancy Savoca; feminist media activist Carol Jenkins; playwright and director Emily Mann; writer Erica Jong, writer Susanna Moore; Julie Parker Benello and Wendy Ettinger from Chicken & Egg Picutres; Planned Parenthood leader Cecile Richards and many others.

I know I’m bragging, but it was a magical evening where the group was able to hear from Jane and her experiences and also to talk about figuring out ways to improve the situation for women directors.

I really hope it is the start of something special and that many more events will follow.

Since I was really busy I didn’t take such great notes but the thing that was so wonderful was that Jane was unafraid to talk about the abysmal situation for women directors.  As a successful female director, she knows how much things suck for women in the business.  Many women are afraid to speak out.  That needs to change.

Here are some of the nuggets Jane shared:

She is looking forward to the day when we stop saying women filmmaker and that women are introduced as artists.

That women directors in the US are more timid than their counterparts abroad.

Poetry is the only thing that does not disappoint on this planet.

Filmmaking seems to have a glass ceiling that is untransparent.

That is makes her furious that men aren’t more interested in what women think.

Thanks to everyone who took the time out to attend the event.  If you are interested, my remarks from the evening are after the break.  More photos will be posted on the Women & Hollywood Facebook page.

Continue reading ‘When Jane Met Gloria’

Emma went on The View yesterday to talk about Journey which is opening in NY today.  Kudos to the View for discussing the topic and really letting her talk about it in lots of details.  I was kind of surprised at how little Barbara Walters seemed to know about the topic but maybe she knew more and was prompting Emma with questions:

It seemed to me that she really didn’t know what sexual slavery is and was shocked to hear that there are women enslaved right here in NY.

Barbara: What do you mean by sexual slavery?

Barbara: Here in NY?

Here’s the full segment (in the segment is a great PSA on human trafficking that Emma did for the UN)

On another Emma note, Shakesville has reported that her name has now been fully removed from the pro-Polanski petition.  She is the first person to have done that and I commend her on realizing that it was a mistake.

I’m going to see the installation tomorrow afternoon.  Anyone want to come with me?

Actress Emma Thompson’s art project takes viewers on ‘Journey’ of sex slave (NY Daily News)

Journey NYC (The Brow)

Winslet just won $40,000 in damages from the Daily Mail which said she lied about her exercise regime.

Just so bizarre.  Why does anyone care what her exercise regime is.  Seems to me that these papers are finally getting caught out for lying when people fight back and say no more.

Here’s part of Winslet’s statement today:

“I strongly believe that women should be encouraged to accept themselves as they are, so to suggest that I was lying was an unacceptable accusation of hypocrisy.”

Hope she donates the money to organizations that helps work with girls on body image issues.

Kate Winslet accepts £25,000 libel damages from Daily Mail (The Guardian)

Lauren is a 21-year-old young director and has started a film fund for female filmmakers called X-Factor Filmmakers.  Her next step is to launch a contest: The Best Female Directed Picture where you can win a netflix subscription to make people aware of the lack of female filmmakers.

Impressive.

Lauren was interviewed in the Boston Globe this weekend.  Here’s one of the questions:

The contest is part of your project, X-Factor Filmmakers, which raises funds for grants to female filmmakers. Why do you think it’s important to have more female directors? When we go to the movies, we’re only viewing the stories by men. And I kind of feel like I’m not getting the whole picture in terms of our culture.

What an awesome young woman.  I am totally behind what she is doing.

Check out all her sites:

X-Factor Filmmakers

X-Factor Filmmakers Socil Network

Last week I wrote with frustration about the lack of public voices from feminist organizations and especially from women in the speaking out against setting Roman Polanski free.

I knew in my heart that many women felt the way I did and I wanted to hear from them.

Some have now spoken.  I have decided to link to women in the entertainment business who have taken a stand on this issue.   I will also make this site available for those women who want to have a voice but don’t have a blog.  Send me your thoughts and I will post it as long as you are a real person and a woman.  I will also post pieces (not tweets) anonymously if people are too nervous to put their name out in the public on this issue for fears of retribution.  If I can confirm that you are real (so if I don’t know who you are send me your bio or a link to something you have done), you will get posted.

The list is still way too short.

Here’s what I have as of Oct 6:

Why Are Female Directors Silent About Roman Polanski’s Arrest?, Aviva Kempner (documentary director)

Art Is Not Enough, Allison Anders (director)

I Work in Hollywood. I Do Not Support Roman Polanski. Even A Little Bit, Sarah Fain (TV writer/executive producer)

A Post Full Of Questions – the Polanski Issue, Lore Haroutunian (Cinematographer)

Crimes and Misdemeanors, Jamie Lee Curtis, (Her Polanski stuff is in the middle of the piece.)

Polanski to prison for at least ten years! Roseanne Barr

Polanski, rape, and the myth of Not Like Us, Abby McDonald (writer)

Roman Polanski and WTF, Kristin Cashore (writer)

No, Valerie Meachum (actress)

Does the Brotherhood of Fame Endow You With a Lifetime Exemption From Accountability? Eve Ensler (writer/activist)

HOLLYWOOD RAPE Rosie O’Donnell (a repost of Eve Ensler’s piece)

Update: October 8

Wanda Sykes- on the Jay Leno show

Please send me any posts I am missing and I will continue to add to this post.

From everything I’ve heard she is beyond spectacular in her film debut Precious so much so that there is already Oscar talk.  I loved what she had to say to NY Magazine about her weight and her body.  I cannot wait to see this movie.

“I learned to love myself, because I sleep with myself every night and I wake up with myself every morning, and if I don’t like myself, there’s no reason to even live the life. I love the way I look. I’m fine with it. And if my body changes, I’ll be fine with that.”

Have you seen the trailer yet?

Living the Life (NY Magazine)

Why We Love Gabourey Sidibe (Lemondrop)

So here we are on day three of Polanskigate on my blog.  Have to say that the amount of comments I’ve gotten on the site over the last couple of days has been incredible, however I wish as many people would comment on an interview with a woman director (like the one I just did with Sally Potter) or other issues that I write about regularly.

But no, this has been the big kahuna.  It seems that now that I have spoken up and levied deserved criticism on Hollywood and feminist organizations for not speaking up, the perception is that I have instantaneously abandoned my feminist roots and have joined the dark side.

That couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Because you know what?  Rape is a feminist issue.  If it wasn’t for feminists rape would still be know as “life” for so many women across the country and the world.

So just to clarify.  I am a feminist.  I don’t buy into the bullshit that I have to vote for a woman because she is a woman.  I would never, ever vote for Sarah Palin.  Because you see –  I am a feminist.  I believe in equal rights for all.  I believe in a woman’s right to determine what happens to her body.  I believe that we need to see more women’s visions in film because it will expose us to a vast amount of important stories that are missing and will improve the cultural dialgoue.

I know that my fellow feminists are out there with my back because I have heard from them on Facebook and twitter.  Feminists everywhere are aghast about the fact that we have lost sight that this man raped a 13-year-old girl.  Feminist everywhere stand up against rape because it is endemic in our society.

So to just remind people why we are all livid about this:

• 1 in 6 women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime.
• In 2007, there were 248,300 victims of sexual assault.
• Every 2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted.
• Approximately 73% of rape victims know their assailants.
• Only 6% of rapists will ever spend a day in jail.
• 44% of victims are under age 18.

Statistics from RAINN

So even though this has been a disturbing topic to focus on for the last couple of days, and who knows if I will suffer for speaking out as I did in the LA Times this morning, at least it has afforded us an important conversation about how pervasive rape is in our culture and that it can happen to anybody at anytime.

I am facinated by Catherine Deneuve.  She recently spoke with the Times of London on the release of her new film Je Veux Voir (I Want to See) in which she plays Catherine Deneuve, an actress touring war torn Lebanon in a partially ad-libbed docudrama. The film played at Cannes.

For one of the most beautiful women in the world (who has stated she has not had work done on her face) she sounds quite uninterested in being the center of attention:

To be the centre of attraction is something I have a lot of problems with. The idea of being on a stage with people looking only at me terrifies me. On a film set it is very different. Everyone there, perhaps 25 or 30 people, they are all working, all involved in whatever they are doing. Whereas in the theatre you rehearse and rehearse and rehearse and then you present this thing which is completely finished, and in front of you.

What’s cool is that she has always been political and supportive of women’s issues including being a part of Voix de Femmes pour la Démocratie (Voice of Women for Democracy) and as one of the signers of the 1971 Manifeste des 343 Salopes (Manifesto of the 343 Sluts), in favour of the legalisation of abortion. (OK- has anyone ever heard of the Manifesto of the 343 Sluts? I gotta read this.)

When I signed that [1971] petition, I was not officially a feminist. Yet I have always been one. I was from a family of four sisters…But I am not political in the same way as Marguerite Duras [the writer] or Simone Signoret [the actress] were. I refused to belong to a political group. But it [the abortion issue] did become political because people were going on trial, and what they had been doing was pursuing love.”

She was recently one of 8,000 signers of a petition of the sexist treatment of Segolene Royal when she ran for president:

I think many found it difficult to accept the fact that a woman woman wanted to be elected president…But then they still have difficulty admitting that a woman could direct a company, or a group of men.

Catherine Deneuve: politics, plastic surgery and her new film Je Veux Voir (The Times of London)

It is absolutely unacceptable that we have a slave trade in the 21st century.  It is beyond belief – Emma Thompson

I saw this Fatal Promises on Saturday and I have not stopped thinking about the topic.  It’s not because Emma Thompson was there and was so passionate about the issue, it’s because I felt — and still feel — really ignorant on the topic.

To me it’s unfathomable to believe and understand how people can feel that’s it’s ok to sell other people.  They sell people and make money at it.  All day, every day.  This is a huge business.  Bigger than arms and drugs, yet we all want to get rid of drugs and keep trying unsuccessfully to deal with the arms topic, but the selling of people — mostly women and girls — just passes us by as we go about our every day lives.

The film tells the story of several people — both men and women — who have escaped from slavery.  Yes, they are slaves.  It’s not what we think of as slavery, but they are held against their will, lots of time transported to foreign country, lots of time sexually abused, not fed and made to do work that they are not paid for.  That’s slavery.

Emma Thompson became moved by the issue because she met a woman, Elena, who worked in a massage parlor on Emma’s street in London.  It was a place she and her family passed every day and joked about and behind the glass window was a young woman who was a slave.

Lots of people who are trafficked are women and girls who are forced into sex work.  Girls are kidnapped or sold and young women are lured lots of times by other women into situations they can’t escape from. Fundamentally as Emma Thompson said: “I suppose that it has to do with the fact that in the world there is not enough safety for women.  Women are not safe in many places and that’s a huge and complex issue but in essence the undervaluing of the female is at the root of all of this.”

As an individual, the whole issue seems so overwhelming because there is so much that is unknown.  It’s an underground issue that is about power, sex and money   But you can do something.  First, think about the people around you. Lots of times people who have been trafficked are hidden in plain sight.  If something looks fishy call the cops.  Problem is that lots of times the women who have been trafficked are treated like criminals because there are no good laws to deal with persons who are in another country against their will without proper papers.

Another thing to do is to learn about the issue.  That’s on my list.  If you are in NY go and see this film.  It opens tomorrow at the Cinema Village.

In November, Emma Thompson who is the chair of the Helen Bamber Foundation an organization that works with survivors of human rights abuses, will bring to NY Journey an installation that “bring the reality of the sex trafficking industry to the forefront of social consciousness and empower people to take action. Shackles bind perpetrators to victims, and victims to the punters who exploit them.”

Here are some tidbits (courtesy of Charlotte Cooper and her Flip Cam) from Emma and director Kat Rohrer talking about the issue after the screening on Saturday.

You can check out the trailer for the film on the Fatal Promises site

Diablo Cody is one of the figures who gets both the love and hate especially from other women.  On the one side she used her sexuality (her stripper book and pole-dancing life) to get her break in Hollywood and I bet that meetings in Hollywood with Diablo are nothing like meetings in the past with female screenwriters.

On the other hand she used what she knew and broke into the boy’s club and now in two years is kicking ass up and down the street with a new movie (Jennifer’s Body- out September 18) and a successful TV show The United States of Tara.  She has figured out what works (like so many guys have) and has run with it.  Her success opens the door for other women.  Her success also opens the door to lots of scrutiny and because there are so few other women at her level, she has a lot of responsibility to continue to be successful cause you know the saying (in Hollywood) when one women fails — we all fail.

I know that women and lots of feminists have issues with Cody and her work.  But I am impressed with her.  She stands up for herself and her beliefs and for women and feminism.  Who the hell else in Hollywood admits so publicly and proudly that she is a feminist and that everything she does is layered with feminism?  Let me think.  No one.

Here’s some stuff she said in a great interview on The Frisky:

My feminist hat is permanently welded to my head—I definitely can’t take it off! It’s so important for me to write things from the female perspective and in service of women and in the right roles for women. That’s usually what I’m thinking going into it. Obviously, the story goes first. But then my next priority is how am I going to sneak my subversive feminist message into this?

The Frisky: Do you always think the female perspective is the feminist perspective, though?

DC: No, not always. But I think representation is obviously the first step to equality, so if women aren’t being represented in a diverse way in movies, they’re going to remain marginalized.

You have to listen to her on Elvis Mitchell’s show, The Treatment.  She’s humble, smart, in awe of the opportunities she has gotten, and is a true lover of pop culture.

Now I haven’t seen Jennifer’s Body yet (I will at the end of this week.)  I have never been interested in the horror genre before but I want to see this film because Cody wrote it and because it is directed by Karyn Kusama.  (Cody also has an executive producer credit on the film.)  Who knows if the film will be feminist.  Just because the person who wrote it is a feminist doesn’t mean that the film will be feminist even if it stars women.  This is a mainstream Hollywood movie.  It was bought by Fox Atomic (which doesn’t exist anymore) and now is being released by big Fox.  It’s opening wide which means 2500 plus screens.  It could potentially gross 30 million or more on opening weekend.  It’s going to attract young men and young women.  The men cause Megan Fox is hot and the women cause young women seem to love horror films.

Here’s what the NY Times had to say about women and horror:

And yet recent box office receipts show that women have an even bigger appetite for these films than men. Theories straining to address this particular head scratcher have their work cut out for them: Are female fans of “Saw” ironists? Masochists? Or just dying to get closer to their dates?

Jennifer’s Body is a film created to appeal to both men and women (I think it will skew young).  If they can manage to pull it off it will be a big deal.

“Jennifer’s Body” was designed with both feminists and 15-year-old boys in mind, a seemingly eccentric blueprint that, as Ms. Kusama points out, is in line with the best movies of the slasher tradition. “It may be one of the best ways for a young male audience to experience a female story without feeling like they have been limited by a female perspective,” she said.

I think that women, feminists, need to stop beating up on Diablo.  We love to eat our young.  Sure her feminism is different but does that mean it’s not feminism?  Just the fact that we are having a conversation about feminism in a horror movie to me is a step forward.

Here’s the trailer:

The Fempire (Women & Hollywood)

Taking Back the Knife: Girls Gone Gory (NY Times)

Exclusive Q&A: Diablo Cody Talks Megan Fox, Therapy, And Doing “The View” With Courtney Love (The Frisky)

All of a sudden HBO seems to have gotten the feminist bug.  First they commissioned Theresa Rebeck to a do a pilot for Julie White called Women’s Studies, and now the team of Marti Noxon and Dawn Parouse Olmstead are writing a pilot for Diane Keaton to play a “Gloria Steinem” type editor who tries to reignite feminism by starting a porn magazine.

I personally don’t think starting a porn magazine would reignite feminism but Diane fucking Keaton in a TV show?  Another nail in the coffin for movies cause if Diane abandons there is only Meryl Streep left and she can only make so many movies a year.

But seriously, I love Marti Noxon (not that we know each other).  She recently worked on Private Practice and Grey’s Anatomy as well as Mad Men and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  She is an incredible writing talent and Keaton is very lucky cause I guarantee that script will be way better than some of the movie ones she has been in lately. The article stated that once Keaton signed on they decided to incorporate some of her personality in the character. I just hope the character doesn’t wear gloves ever except on a winter day, shows her neck, and wears other colors besides white cause I can take that in one or two films but in a whole series, please.

The only thing I’m concerned about is whether HBO would move ahead on two similarly themed shows.  I want both those shows on the air.   How cool would it be if there were feminist shows on TV with both Julie White and Diane Keaton.  I’d just pee in my pants with excitement.  I wish I could get this excited about some of the upcoming movies.

Noxon, Olmstead set Grady Twins slate (Variety)

h/t Rebecca Traister

Update: There was an article in the HR about this too and I have to say I’m disappointed with both women’s quotes.  First, Parouse Olmstead says:

“There seems to be a new evolution of what women are sexually. Women are acting more like men sexually.”

then Noxon adds:

“We’re attracted to genres, horror and darkness, and we wanted to make sure we reminded each other that we won’t become Vagina Prods.,…Our goal to make scary shows for television.”

I hate both quotes so much!  What is all the crap about women acting more like men sexually?  Isn’t it just that women are actually talking about sex more and more comfortable talking about it more and that TV and films are exploring it more?  We’ve come a long way from Lucy and Ricky having one foot on the floor.

Maybe to some it seems like men are the norm that everything is based on, but I don’t operate in that universe.  Women are not little men.  We react differently to drugs, radiation, commercials etc.  Just because something is about women doesn’t mean that all women want to talk about is their vagina or their feelings or their laundry or god forbid their cats. Give me a break.  Have you watched Saving Grace or In Plain Sight recently?  Those women.  Tough.  Scary.  Intense.  Real.  That’s how I like my TV.

I beg you ladies, don’t buy this crap.  If you make a strong show about women being women we will watch.  If you write a show about a woman who wants to be a man we won’t.  It’s pretty simple.

Diane Keaton Set for HBO Comedy (HR)

Multi-talented recording artist, producer and actor, Queen Latifah is releasing her ninth album later this summer Persona.  She had the courage earlier this summer to talk about her child sexual abuse and she has always been a role model for women who are not skinny yet powerful and comfortable with their bodies.

She has a built in following and is able to get her audience out to see her flicks.  Her production and management company Flavor Unit Entertainment is successful and she wants to be able to emulate the Tyler Perry model of having her own studio.  I also think her acting ability is underrated.  She was very good in The Secret Life of Bees and was nominated for an Oscar for Chicago.

Here are some of the quotes from a recent LA Times piece:

Can you tell me a little more about your production company, Flavor Unit Entertainment? It seems like you have your fingers in a lot of pies.

We’ve had a production company for quite a while now. We’ve produced “Beauty Shop” to “The Cookout” to “The Perfect Holiday,” and now “Just Wright.” We’re developing film and television production. We’ll be having a big announcement soon — it’s not ready yet. I shouldn’t tease you like that! We were a big music management company. As my career started to gain more strength on the film side than the music side, we started to swing our resources over to the film side.

And these movies have made money?

They’ve all made money.

Where does this all end up?

I don’t know that it ends up. If anything it continues up. I would love to eventually have our own studio. A real studio to produce films, television, whatever it is we like to do. To be a self-contained company, like a Tyler Perry, I suppose. You write it, you shoot it, you market it, you license it.

I’m excited that she is thinking this way.  We need more women to dream this big.

The Sunday Conversation: Queen Latifah (LA Times)

I asked Abigail who has written for this site before to put down her thoughts on the gender equity conference Vamps Vixens and Feminists that occured in London earlier this week.

Thank you Abigail for taking the time to do this.  We are all so appreciative.

Here’s what she wrote:

French Film Director Arnaud Desplechin once said, “People go to movies to see a woman’s face.”

With this in mind one wonders why a conference like Vamps, Vixens and Feminists has to be held in the twenty-first century, in such a progressive country as the UK, and yet it does, and it was.  (The event was hosted by Sphinx Theatre in partnership with Equity, the Actor’s Union; Women in Film and Television; Arts Council England; the Directors Guild of Great Britain, and the Writers Guild of Great Britain.)

Contrary to the Guardian’s coverage I felt, as an actress and cinemagoer, that it was a wholly positive event and uplifting to note that women, and a few men, around the UK recognised that women are poorly represented in the performing arts, and had come together in the hopes of making a difference.

The conference was held not just to promote the plight of actresses who are stereotyped by their roles and outnumbered, in British television and theatre 2 to 1, but to discuss how, in all types of arts jobs women are stereotypically-portrayed, and discriminated against, and how the Gender Equality Duty, an act passed in 2007 making it compulsory for all public bodies to actively promote and take action to bring about gender equality, could impact women’s working lives in the arts.

Oona King

Oona King, Head of Diversity at Channel 4, who chaired the event, spoke eloquently and passionately about the need for three basic changes:
1.    Recruitment from a wider base onscreen and off
2.    Encouragement of diversity in output and the portrayal of women
3.    Encouragement of diversity at senior decision-making levels

She suggested that more events like this be held across the UK, to arm more women and men with the resources and know-how to make changes in the way they run their workplace, whether they be producers, commissioners, actors, ADs, cinematographers or editors.

Personally, I think getting the policy makers to attend more meetings like this one would be another huge step in the right direction, and it was good to see that Baroness Margaret Prosser, Vice President of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, admitting that often the entertainment sector is passed over when discussing workplace issues.
Continue reading ‘Guest Post: Report from the Vamps, Vixens and Feminists Conference in London by Abigail Tarttelin’

Jezebel did a look at 20 feminists on TV.  Personally, I think this is a really good period for feminists on TV.  Their post made me think and here are some of my favorite TV feminists.  So here’s my list:

Dana Whitaker -- Felicity Huffman (Sports Night).  God I loved that show.  It was Aaron Sorkin’s first foray into TV and it rocked.  Felicity played a female executive producer on an ESPN type Sportnight show.

Angela Chase- Claire Danes (My So-Called Life)

Kerry Weaver- Laura Innes (ER)

Continue reading ‘Feminists on TV’

I love it when guys stand up for their female colleagues.  4,000 people and Sir Ian McKellen have signed a petition urging British broadcasters to get a clue and stop discriminating against women over 45.

Here’s what he said:

People might have thought ‘Who wants to see plays about older women?’ Well, the general public do. An awful lot of older women and gentlemen go to the theatre, and the population is getting older.

Plays about getting older are perhaps going to be more popular than they used to be and that should help playwrights think, well, we can find some fabulous parts for the fabulous actresses that are around.

Everybody wants to see actresses like Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. It’s just up to people to provide them with the material to do so.

It’s kind of funny that Sir Ian is now appearing in Waiting for Godot a play with no female roles.  We’ll give him a pass on that one.

Sir Ian McKellen: older women should have more stage and screen roles (The Telegraph)

Sir Ian call for more women roles (BBC)

Princeton invited Katie to be its first female Class Day speaker and she made sure they knew how unacceptable that is:

But, actually, I do have a bone to pick with you. I have discovered I am the first female Class Day speaker in Princeton’s history. OMG, WTF [Thanks for the LOL]

All these years, and only one woman? Now, I understand this isn’t Lilith Fair and there are plenty of great men out there…… but you actually asked Bradley Whitford of the West Wing BEFORE you had a woman? I understand the concept of casting a wide net…but great women like Madeline Albright, Sally Ride, Mother Teresa, Ellen Degeneres all bested by a fake political advisor to a fake president!? And then you had Stephen Colbert, a fake TV anchor? Actually, Stephen could be a REAL anchor…with just a little more product in his hair! I must say, I’m shocked you didn’t invite Doogie Howser this year, a fake doctor and graduate of Princeton Class of 83. Or maybe you did, but he was too busy on the set of “How I Met your Mother.” Or as we call it, My Favorite MILF.

So, I’d like to officially welcome Princeton to the 21st Century. You’ve embraced the female gender at the perfect time…because it’s been quite a year for women.

Way to call out the gender inequities with a sense of humor.  Read the full speech (it’s really good.)