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For calling out Hollywood on its ageism and sexism.
It may seem a little harsh to say this, but this town is like a factory that needs fresh flesh, and once actresses become 40 or 50 they are forgotten," the Latin heartthrob said. "That's the opposite of Europe where actresses like Simone Signoret are respected as they age and work until they die.via LA Times
Sex and the City finally opens on Friday.
Honestly, I really can't wait for this to be over. We need for the movie to make at least $30 million (that's the prediction for the weekend) on opening weekend so that Hollywood will (maybe) finally (again) view women as a legit audience. Yet even as women are making their viewing plans for the weekend and beyond, leave it to the media to do its best to diminish any gains we might make by actually scaring off any guys by saying, in essence, that no guys are going to be caught dead in the theatres interested in seeing this (except of course, for all the gay guys.)
This is such a sexist double standard.
It makes me angry that it is all on women to make SATC a hit. No other film has that burden. As Philadelphia Inquirer Flickgrrl Carrie Rickey and said on her site last week: "Remember when movies -- and books -- were mass-marketed? When studios assumed that moviegoers were equally interested in Working Girl as Superman?"
No movie about men or starring men has ever had to deal with a headline like yesterday's AP story- Can Women Alone Make Sex and the City a Hit? or today's Variety story Sex sells, but will men see 'City?
Think about last year's hit film Wild Hogs. It was about four guys (including Tim Allen and John Travolta) on a middle age road trip. The film opened in March to $40 million, with over 53% of the audience male, and 65% over 25. Even though this was not a film targeted at women, women went to see it because the point is that no one gives you the impression that seeing a movie about four guys going through a mid-life crisis is not worthy of your time and your money.
Even though Sex and the City is going to be a hit what the media and the marketing has done here is to really divide the sexes. I don't blame New Line/Warner Brother for marketing the film this way. They need to make it big and they know that guys would rather not see the "so-called chick flick" so they are eliminating the guilt that women feel when dragging the guys to see these types of films by saying essentially, don't bother bringing him this time, leave him home with his friends and the kids. Give yourself the night out.
I just worry that this has clearly become more than just a movie -- it's an event -- and these types of events are very, very hard to replicate. And also, maybe because it's become such an event (and looking at the pipeline there are not too many others coming down the pike) it will be another excuse for Hollywood not to take women seriously.
But, then, on the other hand, I was heartened to read yesterday on Hollywood Wiretap that someone else has put in writing what I say consistently- that this film (and other films about women) might have some serious legs beyond opening weekend (I really hope someone will keep track)
Because Females 25 Plus are generally not the crowd that always rushes out to see a movie on opening weekend, "Sex and the City" is more likely to open very well and then hold even better in coming weeks. I am looking for at least $30 million on opening weekend, and with nothing particularly adult-skewing until Fox's "The Happening" on June 13, this movie, starring decidedly grown-up women, has a chance to join "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Hairspray" in the very exclusive $100 million Summer Chick Flick Blockbuster club.Flickgrrl
This comment comes yesterday from the blog Hollywood Elsewhere. I hate giving sexist comments additional air, but this one can't go by without a WTF! No wonder these women start botoxing themselves at 30. God forbid you should actually look your age. Shame on you Jeff Wells for this lame ass comment.
Slight Disparity
The only "hmmm" issue that may affect What Happens in Vegas is a cultural- chemical rapport thing, given that the Ashton Kutcher-Cameron Diaz romance may seem to some like an older-woman, younger-guy thing. (Which Kutcher is obviously familiar with in real life.) Kutcher turned 30 two months ago; Diaz is now 35. Thing is, Kutcher looks his age (if not a year or two younger) and she looks...well, like she's almost nudging 40, no? The last time Diaz radiated anything close to a spring-chicken glow was when she costarred in There's Something About Mary ('98).
It's perfectly fine and cool for this kind of relationship to be depicted, of course. I don't have any surveys to point to, but there are presumably plenty of slightly older women going out with slightly younger (or markedly younger) guys. It's interesting. I can remember thinking when I was in my early 20s that the best women to know were in their early 30s -- past the foolishness, earthier, more passionate, etc.
YUCK! Cameron, says it best in the the picture to the left.
Now that this year's Oscars are over and the critics agree that the ceremony and the awards themselves are out of date (the ratings this year were lower than the first night of American Idol), the Academy will have to struggle to figure out how to make the Oscars, and the movies more relevant.
Here's my answer: Make more movies about women. Not just crappy reductive chick flicks (I'm not saying all chick flicks are crappy), but movies about real women.
In this year's lead up to the Oscars there were several stories written (mostly in the British press) about how the Oscars had gotten so dark, and so male. (Imagine the conversation if Juno hadn't been included as a nominee.)
But is this year any worse than previous years, or did it just actually get some press this time around?
A new study by Stacy L. Smith and her colleagues at the Annenberg School of Communication at USC took a look at all the speaking parts in films nominated for the Best Picture award over the last 30 years (not including this past year) to see what the gender balance looks like. (This research is part of a larger research program on looking at gender roles in the media that is funded by actress/activist Geena Davis.)
The news is not good.
"Of the 6,833 single speaking characters only 27.3% were females." (The data set included anyone who spoke a line onscreen no matter how big or small their part was. The leading character counted just as much as the person who said one line.)
"Very simply, there has been no change in the frequency of roles for females in best picture nominated films in the last 30 years."Smith spoke with Women & Hollywood about the research.
Stacy Smith: We had been doing some other work on films and were curious about how these prestigious films might do in terms of gender balance. They often tackle controversial issues of historical import. We were looking to see where people are doing a good job and where there is room for improvement.W&H: What did you learn?
SS: The previous 30 years don't look so great. Are things getting better? No, they're not. Now we have hard evidence to show that there is lots of room for improvement. Without the data it's hard to know. Any way you slice it up this representational portrait is out of balance.W&H: Why did you decide to track the data this way?
SS: This is the whole bandwidth of characters from the most prominent to the least prominent not the amount of words they say. If we think about representation and that females should represent half the characters or half the space we want to make sure that it is across all characters not just the ones that have compelling lead roles.Of the 150 films nominated for best picture from 1977-2006. Only 5 and a half of the films are directed by women.
"An analysis revealed a significant difference in the percentage of females depicted on screen by director sex. The proportion of females on the silver screen is significantly higher when a female is directing a motion picture than when a man is at the helm."W&H: The data clearly shows that when a woman directs, the number of female speaking parts is higher.
SS: We just know that the numbers make a significant jump when the female is a director and that's a positive. It would suggest that maybe we need more female directors.W&H: What are your hopes for this research?
SS: I spend a lot of time educating my students and sending them into the film industry informed is really important. It's about empowering them and giving them the courage to tell stories that are rich and multi-dimensional. This data suggests that there is a lot of room for improvement and it's important to educate the next generation of filmmakers about these issues so they remember issues of representation and diversity when they are creating their scripts and pitching their stories. The goal is not to deal with this on the back end in the research, but that the next generation of content creators are thinking about these issues when they tell the stories.
Hell, no. Let's not paint too rosy a picture on the nomination of three women in the original screenplay category (but it does say we are more original thinkers), and one woman in the adapted category.
An AP pre-Oscar piece takes a look at the writing nominees (sadly it is a record)
Some quotes:
To "Juno" screenwriter Diablo Cody, the attention she and three other women are getting for their Academy Award nominations in the typically male-dominated screenwriting categories is "kind of a double edged-sword.""You don't want to be singled out as a woman," she says. "On the other end, as a feminist, and someone who feels that women are marginalized in this industry, I'm thrilled that women are getting this sort of recognition."
"We're given this chance to promote fresh representations of women. For me, my thought is if I wrote a movie, I'm not going to fill my movie with stock girlfriend characters. I'm going to write about a girl who wears hoodies and likes the Stooges (punk band)."
All the writers lament the lack of women in the directing category, reflecting a dearth of female directors in general; only three women have been nominated for a directing trophy in Oscar history: Lina Wertmuller, Jane Campion and Sofia Coppola.
Could sexism be considered a factor?
"Call me an idealist, but I don't think so," says Bruce Davis, the academy's executive director, who acknowledges that academy voters are mostly men. "To get nominated as a writer and director, you have to impress other writers and directors. These groups -- I meet with them all the time -- they are about as unprejudiced of a constituency that you can think of."
I have to laugh. Writers and Directors in Hollywood unprejudiced. Sure.
But discrimination remains a fact for women in Hollywood, from Cody noting that some film critics have criticized her own body in their reviews of "Juno" to Polley bemoaning that women are "still obligated" to sell their sexuality with their careers.
"The way we're raised up, girls are raised in a different way -- that they have to be cute and sweet. But you don't have to be cute and sweet," says Satrapi, who once fired a male employee who refused to listen to her.
And, says Cody, "Women tend to be crippled by what they believe is their own incompetence."
"We need to do it like men, charge it like a bull, no matter if it's bad," says the writer, who first gained media attention for penning a book about her stint as a stripper.
"I've gotten an excessive amount of attention because I have that cheesy back story," she says, sighing. "It's really a lot of bells and whistles. We're really all just sedentary geeks, who love to write."
I am again impressed by Cody and Polley. Both of them are of a younger generation and are really speaking truth to power. We need to figure out a way to support and nurture both these women's visions because they are truly unique.
Full story: Women Writers Make Strides in Oscar Nominations (AP via Seattle PI)
