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Wednesday, November 06, 2019
Documentaries Lead the Way for Gender Parity, but Challenges Remain
Variety: Women may be the gatekeepers of the documentary arm of the entertainment industry, but this year marks the first time they have helmed the majority of awards season’s high-profile documentaries.
So many articles I’ve read on this blog about the film industry deals being completely male-dominated so it has been very nice reading this article. I had no idea that the documentary industry was so female-dominated but I am glad to know that now. To me, I find Dawn Porter’s comments interesting as she speaks as if these problems were specific only to working documentaries but in fact, every industry in entertainment and in the world also deals with these problems. The problems that Porter and Taylor Brodsky talk about seem to be problems that any minority working in a technical position deal with. I hear about these problems from my friends here at school. It is still sad to read about these problems and I don’t mean to negate them but I find it interesting how the article frames them as issues unique to documentary filming. It is interesting to hear about the problem that female-directed films usually get less money than male-directed films as I didn’t know this was an issue faced in the film industry. Lastly, it was really good to hear that the #metoo movement seems to be helping change the industry.
While I really like hearing from women in the documentary industry that it isn't such a "boys club" anymore, its disappointing to read that there is still an issue for women to get put onto projects with higher investments and that making the jump from smaller documentaries to big-budget projects is still harder. This disparity makes even less sense in the work of documentarians because, in the documentaries I have seen, white men often do not have the right perspective required to do justice to many topics that documentaries focus on. When white men take the lead on a project with a subject outside the scope of their experiences, it shows in the end product. I know this isn't really a radical statement anymore, but I still think its important to say I think its ridiculous that women are still so disrespected in more technical design work, especially because the world of art often projects an image of inclusivity and equality. And maybe that is where the majority of art is pointing, but a small group of people is holding us back.
I had not previously given a lot of thought to the world of documentaries and how they functioned as a separate entity within the world of film-making in general. It is great to see the gender parity is lessened in their world but as mentioned in the article one of the reasons for this is due to the fact that the documentary world is a lot lower budget than the adjacent fiction industry and that is why women are more accepted into power. That idea is one of those sad but true facts that if it’s believed in capitalist mindset to be less money and therefor less power there is an acceptance to allow women in be in charge but if it is perceived to be high stakes then it’s believed women can’t be as successful as male counterparts. It is incredibly frustrating and certainly not limited to the film industry to be disregarded and believed that you don’t have basic skills never mind advanced skills to be successful. I’m glad to hear that there has been a shift in the industry and the women in the industry don’t feel like it’s a boys club anymore because of the strong cohort of women they have in the industry.
3 comments:
So many articles I’ve read on this blog about the film industry deals being completely male-dominated so it has been very nice reading this article. I had no idea that the documentary industry was so female-dominated but I am glad to know that now. To me, I find Dawn Porter’s comments interesting as she speaks as if these problems were specific only to working documentaries but in fact, every industry in entertainment and in the world also deals with these problems. The problems that Porter and Taylor Brodsky talk about seem to be problems that any minority working in a technical position deal with. I hear about these problems from my friends here at school. It is still sad to read about these problems and I don’t mean to negate them but I find it interesting how the article frames them as issues unique to documentary filming. It is interesting to hear about the problem that female-directed films usually get less money than male-directed films as I didn’t know this was an issue faced in the film industry. Lastly, it was really good to hear that the #metoo movement seems to be helping change the industry.
While I really like hearing from women in the documentary industry that it isn't such a "boys club" anymore, its disappointing to read that there is still an issue for women to get put onto projects with higher investments and that making the jump from smaller documentaries to big-budget projects is still harder. This disparity makes even less sense in the work of documentarians because, in the documentaries I have seen, white men often do not have the right perspective required to do justice to many topics that documentaries focus on. When white men take the lead on a project with a subject outside the scope of their experiences, it shows in the end product. I know this isn't really a radical statement anymore, but I still think its important to say I think its ridiculous that women are still so disrespected in more technical design work, especially because the world of art often projects an image of inclusivity and equality. And maybe that is where the majority of art is pointing, but a small group of people is holding us back.
I had not previously given a lot of thought to the world of documentaries and how they functioned as a separate entity within the world of film-making in general. It is great to see the gender parity is lessened in their world but as mentioned in the article one of the reasons for this is due to the fact that the documentary world is a lot lower budget than the adjacent fiction industry and that is why women are more accepted into power. That idea is one of those sad but true facts that if it’s believed in capitalist mindset to be less money and therefor less power there is an acceptance to allow women in be in charge but if it is perceived to be high stakes then it’s believed women can’t be as successful as male counterparts. It is incredibly frustrating and certainly not limited to the film industry to be disregarded and believed that you don’t have basic skills never mind advanced skills to be successful. I’m glad to hear that there has been a shift in the industry and the women in the industry don’t feel like it’s a boys club anymore because of the strong cohort of women they have in the industry.
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