Flavorwire: Last month, Flavorwire interviewed director Allison Anders, and at the end of the chat she threw down a challenge for big-name Hollywood actresses who complain about the dearth of female directors and other women behind the scenes: “I hear a lot of actresses these days lamenting about roles for women and saying that more women should be behind the camera,” she said. “But when big stars say that and they haven’t worked with women directors, I wonder why they don’t demand a woman director… Women stars, we know that they can decide. Big stars can have director approval.”
11 comments:
I find this article extremely powerful, especially in the light of all the articles coming out about gender pay inequality in Hollywood and the general lack of gender-based diversity in the entertainment business. With powerful, movie-making female role-models/stars like Witherspoon, Lawrence, and Streep, it seems hard to believe that they wouldn't have at least some sway in the pre-production business to entertain the idea that they wouldn't sign on to a movie if it wasn't directed or written by a woman, or a team of women. Then again, the author makes a firm point that the production companies sometimes have even more power than the women they hire to be their lead actresses -- case and point when it came to Lawrence being hired as a young actress in American Hustle, though she had already been solidified as one of the most powerful young feminist actresses of our generation. If these famous actresses have the ability to be more choosy with the screenplays they pick up, why are they not gravitating towards the scripts with female writers and directors at their helm? Is it the money? The promise of success? Because I cannot, and do not want to believe that there is nothing good coming out of a female pen in the screenwriting business.
I have been seeing a TON of articles on this green page about the unequal pay and job opportunities for women in performance, directing, and writing. I like that this article takes very successful actresses that the world is constantly looking at and tells the readers that they too want to see a change, not just in their salaries, but in the opportunities for other women. Also this article reminds me about how freaking awesome Meryl Streep is. I totally agree with her in that a huge issue is that there are too many men in the industry who are aware of the inequalities and don’t see a big enough problem with that. Men need to be in support of changes for serious change to occur. At the same time it’s not like these female actors are turning down jobs, it is still coming down to money and having a job.
This article brings up a god point about women in the film industry's power to implement their own change on some levels. Of course the issues of sexism and racism are predominant in the industry because they stem from the money making core of white male studio heads who allow the skewed system of white male dominance to continue, but there is validity in the fact that female stars can choose they projects they work on to help empower the strength of other women in the industry. While this is true, I think it's important to note that this isn't an issue as much as it is a way to implement change at a faster pace. Ultimately, “men should look at the world as if something is wrong when their voices predominate,” as Meryl Streep suggests, but when a female star has the potential to create change by choosing to work with female directors and/or crew why don't they? I personally think it would be great way to not only build up other women in the industry, but also bring focus to the larger issue of the lack of female representation and consideration in Hollywood.
This week has brought out so many articles about the gender inequality in Hollywood and the entertainment industry in general. While it sucks that these problems still exist, it's great to see them recognized and acknowledged so widely and openly. I think it's really great how he article discusses female directors, since female directors are so often disregarded as too bitchy or controlling, just because they are powerful women with leadership qualities. I like how the article points out how women should work with other women, but it is sometimes difficult for one's career. However, in the cases of huge stars like Meryl Streep and Reese Witherspoon, these changes are very possible.
I think that rather than suggest hypocrisy from Witherspoon, Lawrence and Streep, this article might have been more effective had it focused on the point that if even these ringleaders of equality cannot find work in female helmed films, things are worse than we thought. The issue lies in the fact that these women have clout because they are superstars. Would this power be diminished if they had refused to appear in what are now some of their most successful films? While we can applaud them for using what voice they have to speak out about injustice and inequality, these women are ultimately pawns in a much larger, male dominated game. While these actresses are at the mercy of those who will give them work, it is important to remember that the studios are at the mercy of the consumer. The only way for female helmed productions to get more traction is if they make more money. We need to support female artists using our dollars as our votes. The studios speak the language of money. Unfortunately, speaking their language is the only real way to make tangible change.
I appreciate what this article is trying to do, but I think that by the end it has done more damage than good, and just muddled the point that it was arguing for. She starts by, rather aggressively, saying that prominent female actresses, are not doing a good job at making sure they work with more female directors and screen writers. She criticized them, an then drops some statistics about the amount of female seen writers and play writes there are around the actresses, an includes that it actually seems like they are doing a good job. I had whiplash. One of my least favorite things that my generation does, is try and take something good that some one does (Jennifer Lawrence's article about un-equal pay) and talk about how that just it's not enough, and how there is so much more to fix, an shame on Jen for not including all that in her 1000 word piece for a blog. It's so frustrating. Yes there is more to do, and I am advocating for equality every day, but criticizing people who have the same goal as you do, is just counter productive. I really like what this article is trying to do, but it does it in such a negative way. I'm a firm believer in that in-fighting is one of the only things that can stop a force as large as half the population of the world. So i' hoping that we can all just start to get along, and stop being so critical.
I kind of just want to ditto Sarah.
Almost every actress that the article mentioned IS working with far more female directors and writers than the industry average. This constant battle of "Who's more feminist" isn't doing anything but giving anti-feminists perceived traction in their argument that "look, those man haters don't even know what they're arguing about!!!". There are so many more productive ways to combat systemic misogyny in entertainment than picking on the people who are at least talking about it.
And also, the argument that female movie stars should just insist on female writers and directors is exactly the kind of victim blaming that studio heads want. "See, if there were a problem with the way things were run, don't you think the women themselves would insist on change?" That's not how it works, and SHAME on Flavorwire for presenting that as a valid argument in the name of feminism.
This article has a very interesting take on getting more women in more important and equal positions in the entertainment industry. It really shows more of just how ingrained this problem really is in the world of entertainment. I don’t necessarily fault the actresses who are speaking up for more female powered roles; we don’t know the full story of what happens behind the curtain. It is really that female directors aren’t usually chosen to work on the blockbuster movie, which is what these well-known actresses usually work on. Really, having a disproportionate number of men in powerful roles is just a deeply ingrained and systemic issue that will be very difficult to overcome. Also, the stars that have spoken out so far have been making changes, which this article doesn’t really address. The article is really almost trying to discredit the actresses mentioned on their work to get more women into important roles within TV and film.
I think this article does a good job of noting these actresses’ intent, their problematic track record and also notes their limitations. I don’t think it’s fair to say that these strong female actresses should always demand to be working with female writers or directors because every time they make a demand like that they are possibly putting their career on the line. Some feminists would say that’s exactly what they should do, but if these women ruined their careers they would no longer be able to fight this cause IN the limelight. It’s there that they get the attention they need to make their point heard. It is fair to say that the problem is at the studio and aside from actresses speaking up there isn’t much else they can do. Every woman has limitations and instead of criticizing them for it let’s recognize that they are doing the best they can given the circumstances that they exist in.
It’s funny, because the only reason that we there has been more buzz about the problems that women actors face is because they are actors, and they get more attention. Honestly, people are more interested in the lives of the faces they see on the screen. Female directors have been facing these issues in a much harsher way for years now, it has taken us a long time to move up even just a little bit. At least women got to act pretty early on, even if the roles were horribly misrepresenting their gender. For a long time, women directors haven’t had any sort of opportunities, because its a role of power and therefore its even more dangerous to the patriarchy. We are still fighting to even have the opportunity for jobs. And the roles of women writers and directors are so important because we need to start with the writing and directing in order to create the complex, interesting roles that female actors want.
This article brings up so many interesting points, and even leaves us with more unanswered questions?
I think it is funny that the actresses mentioned in this article happen to be the women working, statistically, with far more female directors than the industry average.
There seems to be some sort of feminism-measuring contest going on, and it is doing anything but helping the issue.
I feel sort of odd commenting on this article, being male. I sometimes feel that a man's opinion on topics like this can come off as backhanded, or unsympathetic, but here goes nothing.
I feel that these actresses, like suggested in the article, are to some extent doing nothing to relieve the problem.
Whether these actress' like to admit it or not they go where the money is. If a male director asks to work with them most likely they will sign the contract.
I wish that money didn't affect the jobs we take but it does.
For the actresses mentioned in the article, I will take the liberty to assume that they can afford to decline an offer. If these actresses actually refused jobs unless a woman was put in charge, then we would actually see change. If they continue to just speak out, then go an work with males then who's to blame for the lack of work for female directors.
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