Recently asked what her “leading frustration about Hollywood” is, Ava DuVernay offered a characteristically insightful and honest response. She identified gender inequality behind the camera as her biggest beef, specifically that “only four percent of studio directors are women.”
“It defies culture in so many ways,” said DuVernay. “It affects the way we see ourselves and the way we are seen by others. It gets into the DNA of how we treat each other, the policies we make, what we’re able to say and do to each other. For there only to be one dominant voice determining what’s said and saying it is something that all like-minded people who believe in the dignity of everyone should be concerned about.”
Amen to that. Seeing the world through a predominantly straight, white, male lens is a problem for exactly the reasons the “Selma” helmer outlines. We want — and need — to witness stories from more inclusive perspectives.
The underrepresentation of women directors affects not only the quality of entertainment on offer, but our perception of the world and everyone in it. Everyone has a story, and hierarchizing one particular subset of the human race above all others suggests that their stories are somehow worthier of being told. We demand an alternative — especially because it’s the profitable direction for entertainment to go in, as diversity sells, as do films by and about women.
[via The Hollywood Reporter]
