All this week, Women and Hollywood will run our own “Best of” lists to honor and celebrate the year’s best women-directed and women-centric movies and TV shows. See our previous posts on the “Best Women-Directed Documentaries of 2013” and the “Best Women-Centric Films of 2013.”
Relive the agony and the ecstasy of caring about women at the movies through our list of the year’s most popular (meaning most trafficked) posts.
Jennifer Lawrence Calls Acting Stupid, Stares at Meryl Streep, Remains Insanely Likeable — When asked about how she stays grounded despite her fame, Lawrence responded bluntly. ‘Not to sound rude, but [acting] is stupid. Everybody’s like, ‘How can you remain with a level head?’ And I’m like, ‘Why would I ever get cocky? I’m not saving anybody’s life. There are doctors who save lives and firemen who run into burning buildings. I’m making movies. It’s stupid.’”
Alfonso Cuaron Defends Having Female Lead in Gravity — “When I finished the script, there were voices that were saying, ‘Well, we should change it to a male lead.’ Obviously they were not powerful enough voices, because we got away with it. But the sad thing is that there is still that tendency.”
This Woman is Too Fat for Hollywood? — “The fact that [Romola Garai] looks smaller than she is [as a result of magazine airbrushing] makes her nervous because she doesn’t want to anybody to think that she is anything other than who she is in reality. ‘And I know that people are accepting those images and are under the impression that that is really how my body looks, that I’m hairless and sexless and weigh 90 lbs. That really worries me. And I really don’t know what to do except talk about it.’”
Disney Fans Makeover Newest Disney Princess — “Disney fans on Tumblr, under the hashtag ‘This Could Have Been Frozen,’ took the new image and redesigned Elsa representing different races and in different (and at times more practical) costumes. One participant, Rachel McGuffin, explained her motivations for the project. ‘I was feeling rather hopeless about Disney’s whitewashing the past Princesses so I went ahead and racebent their future white characters.’”
Sony Head Amy Pascal on Women Directors: The Whole System is Geared for Them To Fail — “Amy Pascal does not have an answer on how to solve the problem of women directors. The fact that she knows the whole system is rigged against women and doesn’t have any kind of solution is disheartening. How about just saying, ‘We’re going to hire more women to direct and I’m going to lead on this and challenge my fellow studio chiefs to follow my lead?’”
Answer of the Day: Shonda Rhimes on Why She Has Many Gay Characters on Her Shows — “Question: Love your shows but why all the gay and lesbian storylines? Answer: Because I believe everyone should get to see themselves reflected on TV. EVERYONE. And because I love all my gay and lesbian friends. AND because I think same-sex marriage is the civil-rights fight of our era. And back when being a person of color was the civil-rights fight, people like Norman Lear put black people on TV and helped change some minds. So you know, it’s gotta be paid forward. As long as we are willing to sit by while one person is not free, none of us are free.”
Women Deserved Better at the Oscars — “With Seth McFarlane hosting the Oscars, we here at Women and Hollywood weren’t expecting much. But the sexist, racist, homophobic and completely unfunny spree that McFarlane hosted was even worse than imagined.”
Women, Aging, and Hollywood — “[Kim] Cattrall now spends her time on the stage and not in Hollywood. ‘I don’t have a relationship with Hollywood now. You can’t if you’re over 40. It’s a place where you go to make a lot of money and get out.’”
Spike Lee Thinks Only One Woman Has Made an Essential Movie — “His list of ‘essential’ films — which includes 87 films and 62 directors — is what he gives his students to watch to learn from. Now, of course, there are not as many female directors as male directors, but STILL. He is an educator. And this is what he is teaching the students — that only one woman (Katia Lund, who co-directed City of God) is worthy of having made an essential film.”
Why You Need To Go See The Heat This Weekend! — “It sucks to have your whole gender’s future at the movies is represented by the success of this film. Actually, I think it is more important for the film not to fail. Because it does not seem that success is getting us anywhere, but damn, if it fails, we will hear about The Heat forever. Every pitch will end with, well, The Heat couldn’t open so we aren’t doing any movies about women or some variety of that misogynistic bullshit.”
