It seems insane that, with all of the warranted uproar these days over diversity, inclusion, and representation, that a prestigious film critics association would completely ignore what’s been happening in the film writing world, but the New York Film Critics Circle has gone ahead and done just that.
Today it was announced that five new critics were added to the voting roster of the New York Film Critics Circle. All of them are white men. This is not only unacceptable, but it’s completely unfathomable that the leadership of NYFCC would look at the list of chosen new members and not think that there is something wrong. But when the governing persons in charge also wholly consist of white men, that’s what happens.
It’s time for these organizations to look for potential members who don’t look like themselves. Yes, this takes work, and this may push them outside of their comfort zones, but this is exactly what has to happen in order for the industry, and each body within the industry, to address the growing disparity of voices.
With a total voting body of 38 critics, NYFCC has only seven female film critics on its roster — a mere 18 percent. And from what we can tell, the majority of its members are white as well.
We addressed this issue back in May when a whole series of white men were hired at prestigious film publications. We called it “The Dudeocracy of Film Writers,” and argued that what we saw happening around us was that women were being passed over for some of the great film writing jobs out there.
Our hypothesis was proven correct when, a month later, a study by Dr. Martha Lauzen called “Gender @ the Movies: Online Film Critics and Criticism” showed that that men outnumbered women in every film writing job title category considered. Men comprised 87 percent of contributors, 75 percent of freelancers, 74 percent of film critics, 72 percent of individuals with other titles (e.g., television critics, features editors, etc.), and 59 percent of staff writers.
As NYFCC Chairman David Edelstein said in the announcement, the group “gutted some bylaws…allowing a far more representative range of critics into the Circle.” That is a ridiculous statement based on the the names they added.
The dudeocracy lives on.
A full list of NYFCC voting members is below, with asterisks next to the female members:
*Melissa Anderson
VILLAGE VOICE
John Anderson
FREELANCE
Michael Atkinson
VILLAGE VOICE
Richard Brody
THE NEW YORKER
Dwight Brown
NNPA SYNDICATION/BLACKPRESSUSA.COM
Bilge Ebiri
VILLAGE VOICE
David Edelstein
NEW YORK MAGAZINE
David Fear
ROLLING STONE
Marshall Fine
FREELANCE/GENERAL MANAGER
Graham Fuller
THECULTURETRIP.COM
Owen Gleiberman
VARIETY
Ed Gonzalez
SLANT.COM
Rafer Guzman
NEWSDAY
Jordan Hoffman
THE GUARDIAN
Stuart Klawans
THE NATION
Eric Kohn
INDIEWIRE
Richard Lawson
VANITY FAIR
Lou Lumenick
NEW YORK POST
Joe Morgenstern
WALL STREET JOURNAL
*Farran Smith Nehme
NEW YORK POST
Andrew O’Hehir
SALON.COM
Nick Pinkerton
FREELANCE
Peter Rainer
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
Rex Reed
NEW YORK OBSERVER
Joshua Rothkopf
TIME OUT NEW YORK
Alan Scherstuhl
VILLAGE VOICE
Richard Schickel
TRUTHDIG.COM
Matt Zoller Seitz
ROGEREBERT.COM
Matt Singer
SCREENCRUSH.COM
Kyle Smith
NEW YORK POST
*Dana Stevens
SLATE.COM
*Sara Stewart
NEW YORK POST
*Amy Taubin
ARTFORUM
Peter Travers
ROLLING STONE
Keith Uhlich
FREELANCE
Stephen Whitty
THE STAR-LEDGER/NJ.COM
*Alison Willmore
BUZZFEED.COM
*Stephanie Zacharek
TIME
