Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Contre le Sexisme


I was reading an article about the absence of female leading roles in this year's films, with few exceptions that did not suceed in the box-office (In her Shoes, North Country). Even Reese who got the Oscar for best actress, was actually supporting Joaquin Phoenix as Johhny Cash, playing his wife June Carter Cash . The same absence of female leadership is eminent in the directing field as well. How many women directors have actually managed to make more than one films (or even one) and establish themselves as directors to trust? (only Sofia Coppola and that because she is supported by her father, a powerful male in the film industry). Oh yeah, I forgot, it is still legitimate that they sometimes write or co-write scripts!Again women left in the background, reduced to the safety of writing in isolation and not actively taking part in the production of a film. Women in cinema are still objects of male or even (female) voyeurism annihilatinmg their bodies to please the male gaze, mainly remembered for their lovely breasts, thighs or face and not for their talent (one of the few exceptions is Emma Thompson or Tilda Swinton). Now this is what I call lamentable!!

And it makes me wonder....

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting topic. I think it is related to money. Usually producers or directors are in some way tied to the financing of the film.

Maybe female producers/directors have it more difficult to get the funding to make their films?

Mia Wallace said...

Exactly. The point is why.... (my feminist vibe is urging again!!)

Anonymous said...

You are focusing on US cinema here.

If you take a look on the french market you will see movies actrice/director like Tony Marshall, Agnès Jaoui, ...

and they are not a few execptions over here.

Mia Wallace said...

I agree. Yet, unfortunately US cinema is massively consumed worldwide and it has a definitive role to play in the shaping of the image and the role of the female subject, imlpicitly and explicitly . Thank god there are still women directors/actresses/producers to defy that!(Btw Pascal, I really like Agnes!!) ;)

Anonymous said...

εγώ πάντως ώρες-ώρες πιστέυω πως αυτός ο κόσμος είναι αποκλειστικά φτιαγμένος για γυναίκες!

Mia Wallace said...

Ναι, άμα έχει να κάνει με καταναλωτικά προϊόντα σίγουρα!!

Anonymous said...

Curse you, all men
Whose coil is strong.
I recognise the sparrows heart
Beneath the theatre of misery.
Disbelivers shalt by dawn
Be forced to forever mourn.

Curse you, all men
That resent my empire.
Cause I have risen again,
At war this time.

The truth I speak is your decease.
My word is your defeat.

Anonymous said...

leni riefenstahl

Mia Wallace said...

Θέλω τη βοήθεια του κοινού λίγο εδώ πέρα...Από πού οι στίχοι Insahn?

Anonymous said...

a seldom quoted songwriter by the name of Annie Fripp. she lived in New Orleans during the seventies and committed suicide in 1978 after suffering abuse in an asylum. her band was called Loaded Gun but it's kind of hard to track down the songs...it's really a shame that she lived and died in obscurity...

Mia Wallace said...

There you go then! I am not denying the existence of women directors etc I am just criticising the prevailing patterns in popular culture.

Anonymous said...

eerm...actually the lyrics belong to insahn from the infamous black metal band EMPEROR. nothing to do with women whatsoever...just a wizard prevailing over others of his ilk.still it's funny what the mind can devise when in a feminist mode- it's all in the eye of the beholder- you see what you wanna see.

Mia Wallace said...

Are you messing with my mind δηλαδή?Τι να πω τώρα, για τη γυναικοκρατία στο South Ken??:))