Women & Hollywood

Women Directors Meet and Organize

2008-07-07T08:55:00.002-04:00

Any regular reader of this blog know that lamentable pathetic statistics of women directors in Hollywood. The women directors have been trying to organize for years to get same movement in these numbers. Now that the numbers are continuing to go backwards, I think they're really pissed and are organizing again. Veteran TV director Rachel Feldman held a meeting in her home last week and submitted this report.

On July 2, 10 women met at the home of Rachel Feldman, DGA director and WGA writer, to discuss changing the world for woman in media in several different ways. Undaunted by 30 years of things only getting worse for women behind the camera in Hollywood and the issues that their employment disparity breeds, these ten women from a variety of perspectives; academic, creative and non-profit, put their heads together. Crystal Allene Cook who runs the the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media suggested examining the similarities between our issues and connecting our struggles under an umbrella alliance. Actress and activist Susan Davis, spoke about her documentary “Invisible Women” - which highlights the age discrimination issue for actresses. Lindsay Horvath from NOW would like to put some muscle behind our issues and help to create a media event making our struggles loud and clear to the industry and to world, who don't yet seem to hear, care or want to understand the relevance of our issues.

We represent 53% of the population and 65% of the financial resources in the US. By 2010, women between the ages of 40-60 will be the largest demographic in America. We are tired of being underrepresented, misrepresented and discriminated against. Our goal is to flood mainstream media with our brilliance and do nothing less than change the society we live in. Soon, we will figure out our next step.

Stay tuned.

Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Charlize Theron

2008-07-07T08:37:00.001-04:00

Charlize co-stars in the mega hit Hancock and she said a bunch of interesting things in recent interviews.

On women in film: 'People just aren't willing to see conflict, or ugliness or the more flawed side of life through a female character's eyes. I mean, can you imagine a woman playing Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver? When Robert De Niro does it, it's fine, [but] people are very uncomfortable about seeing that through a woman's eyes. We aren't allowed complexity.' (The Guardian)

On gay marriage: Everyone should have equal rights, especially when it comes to love. But it broke my heart that my friends couldn't do it. I have two girlfriends who are getting married today: I always felt like I wish I could give them my right to marry. And today they get to have that." (The Age)

'I like the way I look. I celebrate that. I don't make excuses for it' (The Guardian)
Standing tall (The Age)

Dara Torres - Pushing Boundaries

2008-07-07T08:25:00.003-04:00

Couldn't resist this: At 41, Torres swam faster than any US woman ever in the 50 meter freestyle. The woman in second place was 20 years younger.

One reporter called her Hillary in the pool. Awesome.
After turning pool into fountain of youth, Torres set for Games (USA Today)

The First Original Play by a Woman at the National Theatre

2008-07-03T09:25:00.005-04:00

How is this possible? How can it be 2008 and that a woman has never had an original play produced at the National Theatre in London. Sadly, this is true, but the record will fall this summer when Rebecca Lenkiewicz's new play Her Naked Skin about the suffragettes will open on July 24th.

Here are some quotes from The Guardian piece on Rebecca:

And it seems appropriate, under the circumstances, that suffragettes should be striking a blow for freedom at the Olivier. Nicholas Hytner, the National's artistic director, admits the absence of female playwrights seems 'extraordinary' but points out that it would be easy to misrepresent the situation. 'The context is that there are not many original plays at the Olivier by writers of either sex,' he says. 'It is a theatre that requires a particular set of skills: a muscularity of rhetoric, theme and imagination that will reach a thousand people.'

Hytner said:

Of the 1,000-1,500 unsolicited plays he receives each year, 'only one out of five is by a woman'.

Women: write more!

'I wrote the play because I felt the suffragettes had been forgotten. They suffered so much. I admired their comradeship, strength and old-fashioned pluck. Girls with guns, girls with bombs - but never wanting to hurt anyone.'

None the less, she believes that women are still trapped today, though in a 'different way'. She was particularly shocked by the way the suffragettes were force-fed in jail. 'Anorexia is the modern parallel - women trapped by body image. It is all about wanting to control the body. Women's bodies, through the ages, have been so much more used and abused than men's.' And she says firmly: 'Feminism has regressed a lot recently. On the news and television... there is so much woman as object.'

Can't wait for this to come to NY! If you are looking for a great movie on the suffragettes now pick up Iron Jawed Angels. I love that movie.
Turning the tables (The Guardian)
photo: Richard Saker

More September 12th Madness

2008-07-03T09:07:00.002-04:00

The good news is that according to Nikki Finke Warner Brothers is going to spend $25 to $30 million in prints and advertising for The Women opening on September 12th. This clearly means more people will be able to see it. I am waiting with baiting breath for my screening invitation.

The bad news as I've mentioned before is that two other women centric films open that weekend -- Towelhead and The Duchess (see this post: September 12th Just Got Really Busy

The worse news is that it seems that Tyler Perry's newest movie The Family That Preys is also opening that weekend. I wouldn't care so much if the film didn't star Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodward as best friends whose families are falling apart. Film also co-stars Sanaa Lathan, KaDee Strickland and Taraji P. Henson.

This is just crazy.

Another Perspective on Wall-E

2008-07-03T08:36:00.005-04:00

This take on Wall-E comes from the awesome Kathy Najimy (who just happens to be a fan of Women & Hollywood.)

I have a small part in Pixar's Wall-E. I found it to be a great film for girls. It is one of very few animated hits (Number 1 opening weekend) ) that stars a female Heroine. Eve is a robot who comes to earth, after the planet is overrun by trash and no human life is left, seeking life forms. She finds one and above all else (weather, love, etc.) is dedicated to her job of returning it to space. She is strong, purposed, fierce, powerful and dedicated. In essence she kicks ass.

Eve is a fantastic example of a strong non-compromising, female character for girls. (One of the best I have ever seen and as the mother of an 11 year old girl-- I have seen them all and am frequently disappointed-- I LOVED EVE!) The thing that impressed and delighted me the most is that Eve is one of very few female animated characters that isn't female identified by red lipsticked lips or a big pink bow in her hair or long false eyelashes or high heels to indicate she is female. She is, instead, a sleek white round ipod looking character that could be any gender. I applaud Pixar for not drawing or writing her in the usual gross, stereotypical manner. She is strong and in charge and saves the day.

Wall- E is a trash compactor left to clean thing up on Earth. He falls for Eve (sans eyelashes) for who she is-- -- and she is who she is with no apologies. Flawed, powerful, dedicated to her purpose and well...the hero. Wall-E is a great film that speaks courageously to the environment, the future of our planet, as well as depicting its lead male character as warm, funny, caring and sensitive (and into musicals)! And its lead female character as the confident, fantastically fierce woman in charge. That they find love together with neither "acting their gender" is a glorious relief and something I have never seen in a film before.

Thanks Kathy
photos: Walt Disney Pictures

Review: Kit Kittredge - An American Girl

2008-07-02T09:20:00.005-04:00

Way back in the 70s the role model options for little girls like me who hated Barbie and played outside all day were quite limited. But I remember learning about the depression through the musical Annie. I remember Hooverville and the cheery optimism of Annie singing Tomorrow (which I belted out all day long.) Annie was our Kit Kittredge. Today, girls are inundated with many choices -- too many -- and I imagine that as a parent (which I'm not) it's probably a breath of fresh air to give your daughter (if have $100) an American Girl doll to play with rather than a Barbie (which coincidentally happens to be made by the same company -- Mattel.)

I saw Kit Kittredge at a screening where the girls in the audience were breathless with excitement. They were just too cute sitting down in the front row talking to the screen like they were seeing their friends, so cute that even the curmudgeon reviewers in the room cracked a smile. The film is adorable, really how can I have a problem where the opening montage includes photos of Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt who reside on the bulletin board in Kit's treehouse. What I loved about Kit is that she is the girl in charge. You hardly ever see girls so strong and confident. There is no doubt that she is the leader and her group of friends (boys and girls) looks to her for all decisions. While she's dealt some serious blows throughout the film -- her dad loses his business and is forced to leave town for a job, her family takes in boarders to help pay the rent -- she still soldiers on with her desire to be a reporter. I mean what 9-year-old knows what she wants to do and has enough moxie to show up at a major city newspaper and demand that the editor read her story. Her confidence in herself is infectious whether you are 9, 49, or 69.

A.O. Scott wrote in the NY Times this weekend about taking his daughter and her friends clutching their dolls to see the film. It seems that girls across the country are bringing their dolls with them. Cute. But let's put a little perspective on this. A month ago women were vilified as materialistic and stupid for wearing their Manolo Blanick's to see Sex and the City. One month later it adorable and empowering that girls are bringing their dolls with them to the movies. It just says to me that we love our girls like Kit to be strong, smart and bold (like Girls Inc. says) but not our women.

Kit Kittredge is a film that boys and girls should see and honestly, any parent who lets their son see something else because it's a "girls movie" is just plain wrong. Boys need to see girls in strong roles even more than girls do. I hope that we will see lots of dads and their daughters -- maybe it will spawn a take your daughter to a movie day.

This creative team on this film is infused with women power. Kudos to Patricia Rozema, the Canadian director who respected the kid actors and was also to get great performances from the adults who include Chris O'Donnell, Julia Ormand, Stanley Tucci, and the great comedian Joan Cusack. The film is produced by Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas and Lisa Gillan who runs Julia Roberts film company (Julia is an executive producer). It is written by Ann Peacock based from the stories by Valerie Tripp.

film opens across the country today on 1800. It will really need support to compete against Hancock and the other big summer films.
photo: Cylla von Tiedeman

The Producers of Kit Kittredge Talk About Making the Film

2008-07-02T08:43:00.002-04:00

I always love to here from the creative film people about how they got a film made. Kit Kittredge is produced by all women and several of them including Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Ellen Brothers (president of American Girl Doll) and Lisa Gillan attended a Q&A.

It was kind of strange to have a person who is a corporate brand leader talk about producing a movie but since everything is about marketing these days it was illuminating to see the impetus for taking the dolls to the screen.

I'm one of the people who really doesn't know much about the American Girl doll. For those others of you out there is the doll desert, here's what they are from the woman who runs the brand.

Ellen Brothers: American Girl is a 22 year old business all about celebrating girls. It's all about about developing products and experiences for girls that generations can share. If you go to one of our stores there are manners classes and cooking classes and muffins with mom and all sorts of things you can take with you. American Girl is about the emotional connection. Our audience is girls 3-12 and we have about 92% awareness of the brand and if you're not we have zero.

Manner classes? Cooking classes? I think that kind of regressive. How about climbing on the jungle gym classes?

Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas: I was aware of it because of my niece. I was always aware of the characters and knew they were more than a doll. American Girl, to me, was in a league of its own. There were toys and then there was American Girl, and the only reason I say that is that it's history come to life. What other product shows you history through the eyes of a nine year old? What was so impressive to me is that they vet everything. They have a whole department that historically looks at what life was like for a nine year old so you are looking at history through the eyes of a child, and sometimes you need to look back to see where you are going. Whether its Kit or Felicity when dealing with war, or Julie dealing with divorce -- each one of these girls is thinking how am I going to get through this.

How do you make sure that it is up to your standard?

EB: you control every single detail. We were very respectful of entertainment because in a girls eyes we have sold over 120 million books and these characters live in a girls imagination. We were very concerned that when we picked an actor to play the lead that forever more she would be that character so you have to make sure that you control all the details. I was so impressed when Elaine and her team came in to talk about this. She could have been interviewing for a job that's how well she knew the intellectual property and we always start with the story and then the doll. We start with the story first, the values we want to infuse, and then decide what the characters is going to look like and Elaine knew that to its core. We were pretty sure that we found the right partners and we made three TV movies in o4, 05, 06 and the logical extension of the success of those was to move to feature films.

EGT: We also knew that there was no family audience in TV. With very little media we sold 1 million units and what what that told us that while advertisers are not going to pay a lot to reach a family audience in TV, there is a family audience in features. And while others audiences are dwindling and coming and going what I kept on saying to anyone who would listen is this could be a movie because it's a family movie. I don't think its just for girls. I hope boys go and hope dads go. I know that our target is girls but I think its empowering for kids. It tells kids you can get through it. If a movie can entertain and educate a little bit, hallelujah.

We never say when it's a movie for boys or men that we need to get women and girls to attend, but when it's a movie for girls or women we say we need to get the male audience in. How can we overcome these stereotypes?

EGT: It's hard because this is American Girl. It bothers me to no end. I've given lots of interviews where I've said why does the success of Sex and the City limit or define an audience? The female audience has been there. For 15 years it was there with Julia (Roberts, an Executive Producers on this film) and everyone says oh it's just because it was Julia, then it was Sandra Bullock, then it was Reese Witherspoon, then it was The Devil Wears Prada and Chicago. We are always the exception why can't we just be the rule? I just don't understand it. Now they are saying that we are Sex and the City for little girls. No, we're a good movie. I don't like being the exception. I think the female audience has been there. I think that Julia Roberts did define it for our generation for 15 years, but before her there was Barbra Streisand there were always women there. It exists, it's healthy we have to feed it. And we have to stop treating every movie like its the definition or the end.

Why Kit's story?

Lisa Gillan: Kit is very popular and it's a time period that kids don't know very much about and are fascinated with. There is no technology and it opens up a world that their grandparents lived in and there are fascinated by little things that we at our age take for granted like typewriters. When Abigail first sat down at the typewriter she said: "where's the screen? and then how do I delete?" Kit's story was also expandable. We have a young boy who's a co-star. Valerie Tripp (the book writer) made these characters real. What we tried to do was dramatize it and honor her work as best as we could but expand it. It's hard because the 12 million girl fan will bust you.

EB: We love the way that the depression, 1934 Cincinnati, resonates with what we are going through today. It's about losing your home, relying on family and friends to get through, it's about loss, and we just thought that when we were putting this movie together a year ago we thought there were wonderful links that girls would understand. You can't ignore the relevance.

9 year old girls are strong and powerful and soon after that they lose a lot of that power. Why did American Girl pick 9 as the age of the dolls?

EB: I think that's one thing the founder of the brand Pleasant Rowling did. She didn't really understand what she was doing but took girls seriously. Now we look at the tween market which has 220 billion dollar in discretionary spending. No one was marketing to them 22 years ago when American Girl started. They decided not to pander to them. The books are written at a second grade reading level, and the whole premise is to compare and contrast points of American history that is taught in public schools. We've never done TV advertising. We market through catalogs and the catalogs are a real emotional hook because moms and girls keep them in their houses. There is an emotional connection.

A Conversation with Patricia Rozema, Director of Kit Kittredge

2008-07-02T08:24:00.005-04:00

I attended the junket for Kit Kittredge recently. Here is some of the conversation director Patricia Rozema. (Not all the questions are from me- but thought you'd enjoy the answers)

How did you get involved with the film?

I was approached by Jill Goldstein at HBO Films. I had worked with her at Miramax. I spoke with Colin Callendar and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas and they gave me the script which already had Abigail Breslin attached. I was looking for a children's movie and then they mentioned the American Girl doll connection and I said no, I'm not doing a doll movie. But then I read the script and realized it's not a doll movie- it's about a kid in the depression. I realized that those dolls are embodiments of characters and it suddenly seemed really attractive to me to direct something about a family that could lose it all. It spoke to me as a parent. This idea that there is so much more to hang onto than physical wealth.

It's ok not to just provide happiness in film. Ithink that kids are underestimated in their capacity to feel in a lot of movies. They get a steady diet of fantasy or super strength super wealth or super popularity with the action movie or the princess movies. It seemed to be a good balancer to provide them with something that showed a little gravity and loss and that also values writing and journalism. I was a journalist for a while and I can't imagine giving my kids something better than the wish to write well.

What are your feelings on why there are there so few women directors?

I have had good luck. I don't really know how to answer that and I am the kind of mind that if I think about glass ceilings and why people won't watch female protagonists then I just want to go home and lie down. So i can't think that way. All i can think about is that there are a few films I've seen made by women that have inspired me to carry on.

Which ones?

When I first saw Jane Campion's The Piano I realized that my top ten list had all been men. I didn't think I don't have a penis so I can't make movies, I just wanted to make movies. I've turned down projects that would have made me a lot more money and had a lot bigger audience in the past because they didn't inspire me. To do that sucks the life out of you and it takes your energy away. I hope to be one of those filmmakers who can go from very small to bigger and mainstream. I have a huge pop streak in me and I have an experimental streak in me. I'll just shift around.

Discussing the success of the HBO drama Tell Me You Love Me which she directed this year.

There are certain conversations that you have with adults in the room and certain conversations that you have when children are in the room. Adults have to allowed to speak frankly amongst themselves and that's what Tell Me You Love Me was about but there has to be respectful communication with kids and that's what this was. Maybe because I had done Tell Me You Love Me I knew I wouldn't be typed as a little kids director if I do this one. I feel like I can relate to both those sides because I have two daughters 4 and 12. I'm proud of Tell Me You Love Me. I didn't write it. I was able to do a polish on the script so I feel like I was at least able to guide it in a direction. It was very much a collective effort on Kitt Kittredge but Tell Me You Love Me is very much Cynthia's Mort's brain child.

We don't have enough girl heroines in our culture and Kitt is one. What does that mean to you?

If she can be a role model and can be taken seriously by real live girls today I could just die and go to heaven. She's a decent human being, she's hard working, generous, and still has a sense of humor. It's an honor to be able to engage children and I don't take it lightly.

Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Meryl Streep

2008-07-02T08:19:00.001-04:00

Two pieces on Meryl from the Guardian as Mamma Mia! is opening there this weekend. (I saw it last night, corny, hysterical and fun- fuller assessment to come)

She attributes the strong roles she's landed in the last decade to the rise of female executives such as Amy Pascal and Sherry Lansing. With male executives, she says, they don't employ older women 'because they don't want to see their first wife in a movie'. Super trouper of the silver screen (The Guardian)

But why did she accept the role? "It's a requirement of popular culture that you strike an ironic distance. This doesn't. It's a film about women and their whole experiences being hopeful and youthful and older and suffering the regrets that you have over a long life. It's visceral and I love that."

What happened to all those strong celluloid women? "It's a very big question," says Streep. "Women's real change in our society has been disruptive, but feels evolutionarily necessary. So now 60% of the kids in college are women. More than 50% of medical students are women. They're not at the top in government and business, but there is real change and I think that has terrified everybody. It's terrified men and it's terrified women." As a result, she thinks, "women have performed a compensatory step back". Streep starts imagining out loud what the women who have made that step back tell themselves. "'I won't be sexy if I'm this - even though I want to be paid an equal amount, I still want to appear sexy, I still want to appear fragile, so I'll lose weight.' That's my theory about what women are doing anyway."

How does this theory play out in Hollywood? "Before the war," says Streep, "there were strong women in cinema played by women like Barbara Stanwyck, Hepburn and Crawford, who were allowed to be strong and dominate movies because they were in no way a threat. In the real world, the characters they played were a fantasy. Basically, women were at home. When the second world war - in which women had been working and liked working - was over, in the 50s, suddenly there was Marilyn Monroe, Jill St John and Brigitte Bardot because women could not be seen as strong any more. And that was because, in the real world, it was no longer just a fantasy that there were strong women."

But why did the era of the 70s and 80s, when there were once more strong roles for women in Hollywood, come to an end? I can understand why men might be terrified of strong women, but why would women find them frightening too? "Because," says Streep, "women want to be with men." She starts to laugh and shrugs as if to say - it happens. "You're so slow!"

A legend lightens up (The Guardian)

photo: lahiquera.net

Teen Pregnancy Hits the Small Screen

2008-07-01T10:43:00.004-04:00

Last week we were inundated with the supposed pregnancy pact made by teens in Gloucester, MA that turned out to be false. We're all wigged out because the latest stats show an increase in teen births (girls 15-19) from 40.5 births per 1,000 in 2005 to 41.9 births per 1,000 in 2006 (thanks to the Guttmacher Institute for the stats). BTW births increased for all women during this time period.

Everyone is quick to blame Juno and Knocked Up for what University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor Jane Brown, calls "The Juno Effect."

Professor Brown runs the Teen Media Project and said:

It may have had a kind of agenda-setting effect, and that's what may have happened with 'Juno,' 'Knocked Up' and the celebrity baby-bump watch we're on -- all that is glamorized pregnancy...

Two new shows on teen pregnancy are on the air this summer, one The Secret Life of an American Teenager starts tonight on ABC Family. Molly Ringwald stars as the mom of a "good girl" who gets knocked up. (I still can't believe that Molly Ringwald is playing a mom on TV.) The other show the Baby Borrowers on NBC gives teens babies so they can understand what it's like to be parents.

I remember the good old days of my youth when they gave kids on TV fake babies or even eggs to show how hard it is to be a parent. The Secret Life comes from Brenda Hampton the creator of 7th Heaven. Hampton gave this quote about the show: "I don't have anything to say about the issue of teen pregnancy," Hampton said. "I'm just telling a story about a girl who happens to get pregnant."

Note to Brenda: that's a completely disingenuous quote. I'm not for blaming the culture for teen pregnancy or anything else but I truly believe that it is a part of the issue. TV shows and movies shouldn't take all the responsibility, but people, especially kids, are so influenced by the culture that by shrugging your shoulders and saying I'm not saying anything about teen pregnancy is bunk.

Baby' and 'Secret Life' explore teen taboo (Hollywood Reporter)

Mother and Daughter- Huh?

2008-07-01T08:49:00.000-04:00

Molly Shannon and Selma Blair are playing mother and daughter in the new NBC comedy Kath & Kim based on the Australian show of the same name. NBC has just added 7 more episodes for a total of 13.

I don't know how they think we can believe these women are mother and daughter since they are only 8 years apart. Molly will be 44 this fall and Selma turned 36 last week.

Give me a break.

Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Gillian Anderson

2008-07-01T08:33:00.003-04:00

For acquiring the biography of trailblazing journalist Martha Gellhorn who covered both the Spanish Civil War and Vietnam. Anderson will star in and produce the film through her production company. She's also going to play Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House at the Donmar Warehouse in London next year. Oh, and she's in the X-Files film sequel that opens later this summer.
Gillian Anderson acquires 'Gellhorn' (Variety)

Little House on the Prairie Musical Breaks Advance Sale Record

2008-07-01T08:20:00.004-04:00

A new musical based on the beloved Little House on the Prairie books broke the box office in advance sales at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis where it will open in August. 58% of the ticket buyers said they has never seen a show at the theatre before.

Melissa Gilbert, who starred in the TV series and is the former head of the Screen Actors Guild, takes on the role of Ma and the creative team is all women: music by film composer Rachel Portman, lyrics by Donna di Novelli and book by Rachel Sheinkin (“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”). Francesca Zambello (“The Little Mermaid”) directs.

Let's hope this show does well and has a long life.

'Little House' breaks bank (Variety)
photo: Robert Torrence/ PR Photos

The Facination with Celebrity Women in Crisis

2008-06-30T09:46:00.002-04:00

Are women celebs in peril treated differently than male celebs? I don't think I really need to answer that question. Our culture, especially women, are obsessed with celebrity and when these women are in crisis, our interest is only heightened. So the question is, why are we continuously so interested in Britney, Lindsay, Paris, Nicole, Amy etc.? Don't you think we've had enough?

We can lay some of the blame at the foot of Bonnie Fuller who after working at YM and Cosmopolitan went and remade US Weekly and then the Star. I remember the days when the Star was just supermarket trash like the National Enquirer. By making it into a glossy and including tons of pictures of celebrities she made it into a "reputable" magazine like People, except for the fact that it is all celebrity focused. She was profiled in this Sunday's NY Times the 101 Secrets (and 9 Lives) of a Magazine Star as she embarks a creating a new media brand that will, in no doubt, continue to feed our celebrity centric diet. As writer David Carr says in the piece: "celebrities have always been with us, but not quite in the way they are now since Ms. Fuller rethought them as familiars, our fake friends whom we can slag or praise, depending on the moment."

This past week a couple of English professors -- Prof Diane Negra and Dr Susan Holmes -- from University of East Anglia in England, put together a conference that focused on whether female celebs are getting a raw deal. The conference was called Going Cheap? Female Celebrity in the Tabloid, Reality and Scandal Genres and included panels like Britney's Tears: The Abject Female Celebrity in Postemotional Society and Hooker, Victim and/or Doormat: Lindsay Lohan and the Culture of Celebrity Notoriety. Other topics discussed included: Mother of the Year: Dina Lohan, Lynn Spears and the Discourse of Bad Motherhood; Toxic: Perez Hilton, Gossip Blogging and the Spectacle of Female “Train Wreck” Celebrity; and ‘She has it all’—Style, Iconicity, and Celebrity Motherhood in the Sarah Jessica Parker Brand.

The goal of the conference was to study why women celebrities are treated in a more punitive way when in peril than their male peers, why we get pleasure out of seeing these "train wrecks" and as Professor Negra says our "pleasure in seeing women brought low."

Dr. Su Holmes gave a little perspective on the topic for Women & Hollywood.

Women & Hollywood: Why are we so obsessed with these young women in peril and what does that say about us as a culture?

Dr. Su Holmes: First, it reflects on the wider desire to see celebrities ‘stripped bare’ – as ‘damaged’, more ‘ordinary’, and in some ways, apparently more ‘real’. This might be cast as a kind of democratisation of the relationship between audience and celebrity, or at least a means of venting public frustration with inequalities in wealth, privilege etc.

However, in looking at the different treatment of male and female celebrities – especially with respect to young women – it is clear that this is far from a ‘democratic’ culture, as often sexist and misogynist discourses are still in play. Female celebrities are often treated far more punitively – and judged more harshly for their actions – by the media/ public. One of the reasons for this may be a cultural anxiety around gender roles in a post-feminist context.

Seeing Britney Spears ‘fail’ as a mother, or young women lurching in and out of ‘re-hab’, might be seen as ‘proof’ of the fact that women can’t ‘have it all’ (work, career, family, love life) and be successful. This is then seen as essentially ‘reassuring’ in terms of traditional gender boundaries. We might also point to the fact that women, and especially young women, are often positioned as epitomizing a decline in the cultural value of fame (‘famous for being famous’). The fact that women are more likely to be conceived as ‘trivial’ celebrities reflects the fact that women’s work (in terms of career) has always been less valued than men’s.

W&H: What can we (as women) do to not be complicit in this vicious cycle?

SH: In terms of existing debate in the media, it has regularly been claimed that the punitive treatment of young female celebrities is effectively perpetuated by female audiences. After all, the dominant explanation for what was seen as an explosive interest in the female celebrity as ‘trainwreck’ narrative was that the answer was rooted less in ‘sexism, [than]… the demographics of the [celebrity] audience’ (Williams, 2008).

In other words, at least with respect to the celebrity magazine market, it is the desires of the female audience which are posited as driving the interest in these representations (Rebeck, 2008). We are informed that: ‘women readers actually like to see pretty girls screw up, we're positively obsessed by it, to the degree that we want them to do drugs and get into drink-driving accidents and act like total freaks and end up in rehab or worse’ (Rebeck, 2008). Whilst relying on sexist ideologies in itself (women are seen here as innately ‘competitive, jealous and individualist), this certainly suggests that women are complicit in these representations. Yet what ‘drives’ media coverage is clearly a complex issue, and there is also very little research into how ‘female celebrity damage’ is used/ interpreted by audiences.

In other words – do we know that women are ‘all’ complicit? Maybe these images are read critically – and not just by academics? If the audience – whether male or female – stopped consuming such images of celebrity culture, it would cease to be profitable and thus produced, but this doesn’t seem like a likely outcome!

FYI- the Rebeck referred to in Dr. Holmes' second answer is Theresa Rebeck the playwright and novelist who has just written a cautionary tale about the celebrity culture, Three Girls and Their Brother. Here's the Guardian piece:
Why the media will hound the girls - but leave the boys alone

Professor Negra also had some good thoughts.

But Negra said the coverage of women is more judgmental, casting wayward female celebrities as "cautionary tales." She said coverage of female celebrities is less likely to celebrate a troubled star's triumphant comeback, the way Downey has been lauded for "Iron Man," or Owen Wilson has been shown returning to work after a reported suicide attempt.

"We seem to have a lot more fixed ideas about what women's lives should be like than we do of men," she said.

"When we use female celebrities this way, we see them failing and struggling, they serve as proof that for women the work-life balance is impossible. Can you have it all? The answer these stories give again and again is 'absolutely not.'

Experts debate lure of 'train-wreck' female celebs (AP via CNN)
Why are we obsessed with female celebs? (Evening News 24)

First Mamma Mia Review is a Rave

2008-06-30T08:40:00.003-04:00

It doesn't get much better than this.

No matter how many blockbusters there are, Universal's screen version of the global hit stage musical "Mamma Mia!" is the most fun to be had at the movies this or any other recent summer.

Teenage boys may be glued to the latest action adventure, but the rest of the family will have a rollicking good time dancing in the aisles to Swedish pop group ABBA's irresistible songs. It's a delightful piece of filmmaking with a marvelous cast topped by Meryl Streep in one of her smartest and most entertaining performances.
Streep is sensationally good in rendering the whole yarn credible and in performing dramatically moving songs such as "Slipping Through My Fingers," sung to her departing daughter, and "The Winner Takes It All," to a lost love. It's no stretch to think of her performance in Oscar terms, ranking with such previous musical winners as Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

And when Streep teams with Walters and Baranski for dynamic and crowd-pleasing numbers such as "Dancing Queen," "Mamma Mia!" and "Super Trouper," there's not an audience anywhere that won't be smiling.

Can't wait. Opens across the US July 18.
"Mamma Mia!" will pull in money, money, money (Hollywood Reporter via Reuters)

Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Antonio Banderas

2008-06-30T08:38:00.000-04:00

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

Women at the Box Office This Weekend

2008-06-28T13:34:00.002-04:00

Everybody's been talking about Wall-E and I have to say that I might be the only one in the country no interest in seeing this film. I remember seeing a preview and ignoring it thinking that it was a commercial.

I am kind of interested in seeing the Angelina Jolie flick Wanted since we don't see women kick ass often, but the previews are really violent with tons of gun action. Speaking of guns, Jolie now wears a gun charm around her neck which was a gift from her partner Brad Pitt which he had made for her after their son Maddox drew it. Yuck. Angelina, aren't you a peace activist? Do you wear the gun to your UN humanitarian missions in countries where you meet with women who have been raped by men and their guns? Take it off. It sends a really bad message.

Also on tap this weekend is French director Catherine Breillat's new period piece The Last Mistress in limited release. Having missed the screening I can't give any assessment and I am embarrassed to admit that I have never seen one of her films. I have added her to my netflix list and will be hopefully catching up on her work.

Brick Lane expands into the SF, Chicago, and Boston areas. Read my review and some comments from director Sarah Gavron
Kit Kittredge (review and quotes from the producer and director next week) stays in limited release in cities with American Girl doll stores before it expands to 1800 theatres on July 2.

This weekend on my list are Trumbo the documentary about the blacklisted writer (because I am obsessed with the blacklist) and Mongol about Genghis Kahn cause every single review has been spectacular.

Remaining in Theatres
My Blueberry Nights
Sex and the City
Baby Mama
Under the Same Moon

Is the Academy Sexist?

2008-06-27T09:16:00.003-04:00

We know that very few movies starring women are made by Hollywood. Now it seems that the stories Academy of Motion Picture Art sand Sciences the organization that runs the Academy Awards continues the industry marginalization of women by inviting only 32 women to join its ranks out of the 105 invitations. That means they invited 73 men.

Sigh.

I also noticed that Ruby Dee who has been working for ages just got her invitation this year. Shameful.

Here are the list of women.

Actors
Marion Cotillard – La Vie En Rose, A Good Year
Ruby Dee – American Gangster, Just Cause
Allison Janney – Hairspray, Juno

Animators
Caroline Leaf – Two Sisters, The Street
Suzie Templeton – Peter & The Wolf, Dog

At-Large
Sheila Nevins

Casting Directors
Ronna Kress – Beowulf, No Reservations

Costume Designers
Isis Mussenden – 10 Items or Less, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

Directors
Kimberly Peirce – Stop-Loss, Boys Don’t Cry

Documentary
Nanette Burstein – The Kid Stays in the Picture, On the Ropes
Heidi Ewing – Jesus Camp, The Boys of Baraka
Liz Garbus – Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, The Farm: Angola, USA
Deborah Shaffer – From the Ashes: 10 Artists, Witness to War: Dr. Charlie Clements

Executives
Dana Goldberg

Film Editors
Juliette Welfling – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Science of Sleep

Makeup/Hairstylists
Jan Archibald – La Vie en Rose, The Illusionist
Kate Biscoe – Memoirs of a Geisha, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Producers
Jennifer Fox – Michael Clayton, Syriana
Lianne Halfon – June, Ghost World
Karen Murphy – For Your Consideration, Best in Show
JoAnne Sellar – There Will be Blood, Boogie Nights

Public Relations
Stephanie Allen
Suzanne Fritz
Stephanie Kluft

Set Decorators
Katie Spencer – Atonement, Pride & Prejudice
Sandy Reynolds Wasco – Rushmore, Jackie Brown

Sound
Alyson Dee Moore – American Gangster, Blood Diamond

Stunt Coordinators
Melissa R. Stubbs – Fido, Along Came a Spider

Visual Effects
Helena Packer – Charlie Wilson’s War, X2

Writers
Diablo Cody – Juno
Tamara Jenkins – The Savages, Slums of Beverly Hills
Nancy Oliver – Lars and the Real Girl

via Anne Thompson at Variety

Rod Lurie Loses All Feminist Credibility

2008-06-27T08:17:00.005-04:00

Rod Lurie used to be the feminist guy in Hollywood. No more. He had good credentials. He was the guy who brought us the first potential female Vice President on film in The Contender (which I recently saw again and still love), and did bring us the first female President on TV in Commander in Chief and has an upcoming film Nothing but the Truth based on the Judith Miller saga. BUT now he goes ahead and creates a show for Showtime Hilary Jones about a LA vice cop who moonlights on the weekend as a legal prostitute in Nevada. Double yuck.

He knows he's in trouble with the women when he gave this quote:

"I hope it doesn't obliterate my credentials with women," he quipped about "Hilary Jones." "I imagine feminists will have us in their cross hairs, but once they see it, they will realize it is very warm and humanizing." (Hollywood Reporter)

Note to Rod: Credentials officially obliterated.

Zeitgeist Films Celebrates 20 Years

2008-06-26T09:55:00.008-04:00

Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo are anomaly in the film business. Their company, Zeitgeist Films is the only woman run distribution company and they have been working successfully together for 20 years. This week the Museum of Modern Art kicks off a retrospective of their cutting edge and exciting work ZEITGEIST: THE FILMS OF OUR TIME that they have been involved with over the last two decades.

Gerstman and Russo talked with Women & Hollywood about their work and some of the keys to success.

Women & Hollywood: What made you start your company?

We didn't know what we were getting into. We had a very strong desire to work for ourselves and to work with each other and to be able to select the films we wanted to work on and to be able to handle them in the way we thought they should be done.

W&H: You've stayed true to your vision throughout the years.

We have grown a lot. For three years it was just the two of us sitting across from each other at a tiny desk. Now we sit across from each other at a slightly bigger desk and have 8 staff members. We have grown organically and gradually.

W&H: Which filmmakers careers are you most proud to have been a part of?

First of all Bruce Weber. He was our first filmmaker. Broken Noses and Let's Get Lost were big films for us. We had Bruce's films for 18 years and he now distributes them himself. We really launched his career. Todd Haynes was also very important to our company because he brought Poison to us. It was an extremely important film in the history of cinema, and that we made almost a million dollars theatrically was extraordinary.

W&H: How do you pick the films?

It's a very personal process. We really have to love a film to take it on. We also need to believe we can find an audience for the film as well. Generally, if we love it we feel that other people will love it. But it really comes from the heart, the emotions of whether we connect with the movie.

W&H: What women's films are you most proud of?

One of our first filmmakers was Yvonne Rainer and we released Privilege. We also distributed her last feature MURDER and Murder. She is a world renowned filmmaker and we have done well with handling her films on a worldwide basis. Her following is enormous and is still growing.

We also worked with Caroline Link who directed Nowhere in Africa which was our highest grossing film and an Academy Award winner. We worked with Laura Poitras on My Country, My Country which was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary. We also distributed both Fire and Earth by Deepa Mehta.

W&H: There has been a lot of turmoil in the indie film world lately yet you are thriving. What lessons can people learn from you?

We've never overextended ourselves. We do the same thing that we did 20 years ago. We take on 5 or 6 films for theatrical release per year. We're very picky about what we take and we work extremely hard on those films. We now have ancillaries to back us up which has helped us over bumpy roads. This is not the only time that companies have gone out of business. Over the 20 years we've probably seen a hundred go out of business -- sometimes it happens in clusters, sometimes they flame out dramatically and sometimes one big company can bring down a bunch of small companies. But that isn't us.

We've always been a tightly run company, a fiscally conservative company that takes its risks with the films but not in the way we manage the business. That's been the key to our survival. We've been around for 20 years and I can tell you a lot of money has been floating around and Nancy and I have never benefited from that. Sometimes we looked at each other and said gosh everybody's getting rich but it wasn't about that for us and now that the tide is turning and things aren't so good - I won't say that we are not feeling it because the business is tough all around - but we're not feeling it as much. We have a sustainable business and that's what we are able to celebrate on this anniversary.

W&H: What are your hopes for the next 20 years?

We just expect to have a wonderful business identifying some great talent, distributing better films, seeing what new technologies will be out there, and finding out what this wonderful world of distribution will be.

W&H: What advice would you give to women who want to get into the business?

Most of the small businesses in the country are started by women but we have not seen any other distribution companies run by women. I want to encourage women to follow their dreams and while distribution may not be on the top of the list its an interesting area to be in. We would love to see more women in the business.

Check out Zeitgeist's site for information on the films they have released. Most are available for rental and purchase.

Jon Stewart -- Where are the Women?

2008-06-26T09:30:00.004-04:00

I'm a big fan of Jon Stewart's Daily Show. I try to watch it as much as I can. But when I saw the new correspondent Wyatt Cenac it made me realize that hardly any women are on the air (except a couple of guests) on The Daily Show. What's up with that?

The show was started by Lizz Winstead and Madeline Smithberg way back in the day before Jon Stewart got involved, but I haven't been feeling the love lately. Samantha Bee hasn't been on in ages (did she have another kid?) and I've seen Kristin Schaal once or twice in the last six months mostly acting like a complete idiot.

Does anyone know how many of the writers are women? Please don't tell me they can't find any funny women to be correspondents on the show.

Has anyone else noticed?

Hollywood Feminist of the Day: Meg Ryan

2008-06-25T08:54:00.000-04:00

Meg Ryan was given a tribute (by William H. Macy) at the Nantucket Film Festival this past weekend. She's excited about her upcoming film The Women which she has been involved with for 13 years.

Here are some quotes from the Boston Herald:

Meg said English and the cast are hopeful that the big box-office numbers put up by the “Sex and the City” flick will help boost their all-gal flick this fall.

“We were all excited and calling each other,” she laughed. “We hope it opens doors. Especially for the 40-plus set in Hollywood,” said the 46-year-old mother of two.

“Turning 40 in Hollywood was definitely something,” she groused. “But it doesn’t feel like an ending to me. My interests have expanded and I haven’t felt more creative than I do right now.

(photo Mark Garfinkel)

News Briefs

2008-06-25T08:51:00.000-04:00

A very interesting story about actress Greta Scacchi who incidentally turned down the Sharon Stone role in Basic Instinct.

A determination to make her own choices has defined Scacchi's career, as well as a desire to be taken seriously as an actress. Her relationship with her looks is fractious - they got her some roles, but they also meant she was often typecast as eye candy. Acting her own age (Sydney Morning Herald)

Director Chantal Ackerman at MIT (NY Times)

The 61st Locarno International Film Festival has announced it will give its Excellence Award 2008 to actress Anjelica Huston.

Mary Tyler Moore will join NBC's Lipstick Jungle playing Brooke Shields mother

Penny Marshall will return from directing oblivion to direct episodes According to Jim the Jim, the Jim Belushi show that for some bizarre reason will return for its 8th season. (How is this possible?)

'Lioness' Tracks Female Soldiers' First Forays into Combat (audio)

Courtney Hunt's Frozen River and Irena Salina's Flow: For the Love of Water won the audience awards at the Provincetown Film Festival.

Living Proof the Lifetime film on the doctor who developed Herceptin is currently shooting in New Orleans. Awesome cast includes: Angie Harmon, Amanda Bynes, Bernadette Peters, Swoosie Kurtz, Regina King, Jennifer Coolidge, Trudie Styler, Tammy Blanchard, John Benjamin Hickey Paula Cale and Harry Connick Jr.. Movie is executive produced by Renee Zellweger, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. (Hollywood Reporter)

Tank Girl actress Lori Petty becomes a director. Lori Petty has a film of her own: 'The Poker House' (LA Times)

Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, starring India.Arie and produced by Whoopi Goldberg, will begin previews Aug. 19 for a Sept. 8 opening at the Circle in the Square Theater. Show will be the Broadway debut for director Shirley Jo Finney. (Variety)

What's the Problem with Female Ensembles?

2008-06-24T09:44:00.000-04:00

Jeanine Basinger one of the few women who writes about women and film from an accessible academic perspective (have you read A Woman's View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women? It's a great look at women in film from the 30-60s) takes a look at the lack of female ensemble films over the years for Variety.

It's significant that a film starring a female, no matter what other genre it might be (comedy, romance, musical, crime, Western, film noir, melodrama), was always known as "a woman's film." There was no equivalent "man's film" category.

Films with men didn't need to worry about genre status, but the female ensemble gave the woman's film a chance to grab some.

The female ensemble movie spins off from the woman's film, which was usually about a single woman, using her as an individual role model. The ensemble makes women important, and "The Women" is a perfect example. In it, men are simply eliminated. The women become the heroes. Audiences can't ignore them.

Today female ensemble movies are hard to cast since there's a shortage of top-ranked box office stars. It's easier in television, where actresses can be introduced into a series when they are unknowns and made famous as the characters they play. Television's ability to assemble successful female foursomes is a foundation of the sitcom: "Designing Women," "The Golden Girls," "Desperate Housewives" and "Sex and the City" -- all of which are female ensembles.

It seems to me that nowadays whether it is on screen or off anytime more than one woman is discussed in the context of another the whole premise is to try and create a cat fight. Think about the conversation over the last week about Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain. Who did better on The View? Who will make a better first lady? Just wants to make me barf.

I guess the more important point is -- what is so scary about women working together on film or off?
Few female ensemble films (Variety)