Seth MacFarlane's Oscars Had a Deaf Ear and a Blind Eye to Women

[backtoblue]

And the Oscar for the most painful opening moments of an Academy Awards ceremony goes to ... Sunday night's telecast.

Rarely has such a high-profile cultural event so boldly and blatantly turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to the female half of the population. In an apparent attempt to reinvent the telecast to appeal to a younger audience, the producers stole a page out of Rupert Murdoch's playbook, taking the show decidedly down-market.

Within the first 20 minutes of the program, the show's host, Seth MacFarlane, sang a song called "We Saw Your Boobs" about films in which actresses go topless, demeaned Academy-Award winning actress Sally Field in what can only be described as a bizarre skit in which he impersonated the flying nun and pretended to come on to her, and for the big finish, hoofed with a bevy of dancing girls.

That's some hat trick.

Why not make a joke about beating women? Oh wait, MacFarlane did that when he referenced "Django Unchained" as a date movie for Chris Brown and Rihanna. The digs kept on coming, with MacFarlane commenting on how Jessica Chastain's character in "Zero Dark Thirty" was a typical woman, unable to let anything go.

The broadcast made abundantly public what many people working in and around the industry already know. Hollywood has a woman problem. According to the latest Celluloid Ceiling study conducted by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, women comprise a scant 9 percent of directors, 25 percent of producers, 20 percent of editors, 17 percent of executive producers, 15 percent of writers, and 2 percent of cinematographers.

In 2012, a whopping 38 percent of films employed 0 or 1 woman in the above roles. The under-employment of women working behind the scenes translates into fewer roles for women on screen. Female characters account for only 11 percent of protagonists.

What did the latest Academy Awards prove? The Academy's younger cohort can be just as sexist as the old guard? Any hopes that a new generation might value diversity in ways that the previous generation could not fathom are unfounded, even absurd?

Humor is a display of power. Those telling jokes occupy positions of privilege by commanding our attention and often disparaging members of other social groups. On Sunday evening, Seth MacFarlane, the Oscar production team, and the Academy – a group whose voting membership is 77 percent male -- clearly reiterated and reinforced who wields power in the film community.

If MacFarlane had donned a gorilla suit and beat his chest, the message couldn't have been any clearer. Filmmaking remains a predominantly male pursuit in which men make films featuring mostly male characters for a male audience. The films are then reviewed by a predominantly male community of reviewers and critics, who reinforce the attitudes already held by the mostly male community of Academy voters.

If there were any (gender) justice in the world, special Academy Awards would go to front-row occupants Helen Hunt and Jessica Chastain. These actresses gave the performances of the year when they remained in their seats and wore their best poker faces as MacFarlane tripped through his opening repertoire of jokes proving once again who's really in charge in Hollywood.
http://movies.yahoo.com/news/seth-macfarlanes-oscars-had-deaf-ear-blind-eye-142707300.html

[MotherPetrie]

1. So what else is new? Hollywood has a long, sordid history of demeaning women.

[backtoblue]

6. the difference is that progressives seem to be getting on the train of laughing at a very real

civil rights issue that is going on worldwide. We are the ones who are supposed to be shouting for and advocating equality and rights.

Downplaying these issues to a level of laughter is demeaning in itself. How many high school/college aged paradies of the "i saw your boobs" song are going to be made because it's "just funny" ?

[MotherPetrie]

24. Again, that is nothing new.

[backtoblue]

25. So, how do we fix the problem?

I don't know of any other way than bringing attention to it. I'm up for suggestions, though. How in the world do we reach equality status?

[chimpymustgo]

42. So we should just ignore it? You're part of the problem then. We've got to shout it down.

And shut it down. Misogyny, sexism, racism - just say NO.

[Union Scribe]

2. Expect him back, though.

Because the ratings were up, and that's all they care about.

[morningfog]

7. He reportedly said "no way" he would do it again.

[goclark]

30. Good! Hope he stickes to his words

IMO, he was awful.

I'm a woman but I thought he was boring and from another plant with his "jokes."

[hlthe2b]

3. But the so-called "progressive" climate on DU includes many who find no problem with it.

Deriding and devaluing women is sport for many here (along with yelling "prude" at anyone who objects)...

"Progressives", indeed.

[backtoblue]

5. I wasn't going to post this at first, but

I'm tired of women being attacked for just being women. It's a civil rights issue and nothing to laugh about. There's no joke to be laughed at while watching a rape scene showing a woman's breasts in a movie. There's no joke to be made about abusive relationships.

Progressives - where?, indeed

[redqueen]

35. +1

[MadrasT]

54. People who do that are not "progressives".

Period.

Regardless of their tenure at DU or what street cred they claim to have when it comes to supporting women's issues.

[Ian David]

4. Well, Dennis Miller thought it was funny. So there, Cha-Chee!

[Vinnie From Indy]

8. Humor is a display of power

"Those telling jokes occupy positions of privilege by commanding our attention and often disparaging members of other social groups."

Actually, you do have a choice and you can turn off the TV. Maybe that would get the attention of the people that make the decisions you hate so much.

Cheers!

[KharmaTrain]

9. The Best Satire Gets The Strongest Reaction...

...and here's your proof.

Cheers...

[backtoblue]

10. I could turn it off, walk away, and say "oh well"

"not my problem"

But, it is my problem because our society is modeled after hollywood and media.

[leftyohiolib]

11. if women exposing their breast on film is demeaning then why do so many do it

dont they know it's demeaning? and how is a song about women showing THEIR breasts( their bodies their choice, remember?)on film demeaning to women who show their breast on film? you may not like it but your not liking it doesnt make it demeaning.

[Arugula Latte]

17. Some of those roles were very serious, like Jodie Foster being gang raped in The Accused.

And what's important about that movie and Jodie Foster is that her breasts were exposed during a very realistic scene of violence?

[Luminous Animal]

20. Bare breasts are not demeaining. Reducing women's contribution to film by focusing on their

boobs is demeaning. We are talking about women who Hollywood (that is their peers) considers at the top of their field and a highlight of the entertainment is a 12-year-old-boy giggly song about their boobs? As one women commentator put it, it was sexual harassment.

[redqueen]

36. +1

I am all out of energy today. So glad there are so many women (and a few men, too) speaking up about this.

[Starry Messenger]

48. +1000

And crying Jesus, doesn't anyone remember any Hollywood history? Women have been forced to do demeaning crap since always to get work in film.

[truebrit71]

12. ....really, DU needs ANOTHER Oscars poutrage thread?

....Oy...

[backtoblue]

14. It's not about the Oscars at al... It's what constitutes humor and what constitutes blatant misogyny

It's a discussion worthy of a democratic board and if you do not want to participate than I suggest you trash the threads, ignore them, or put forth your views on the topic... which is NOT about the oscars.

[Floyd_Gondolli]

15. Poutrage!

I love that term. Stealing.

(and you are dead on with this thread. Lots of folks reading WAY too much into some crummy Oscars production number. Move on with your lives folks)

[niyad]

16. so talking about sexism and misogyny is poutrage? not surprising, considering some of the

comments we see on this board.

[Luminous Animal]

22. Yes. DU does. Hide the post if it offends your tender sensibilities.

[Arkana]

13. Surprise, surprise, Seth MacFarlane's an unfunny turd.

Misogyny or not, he's still unfunny, and Family Guy's slow descent into shit has proved it.

[Tom Ripley]

18. I'm a fairly nihilistic person, but I a little Seth McFarlane goes a long ways...

I can enjoy only one of his cartoons at a time before I get an uneasy, somewhat self-disgusted feeling.
It's the feeling that other people tell me that they get after watching pornography or true crime accounts. I have no problems with either of those, but I find McFarlane's loathing and overall misanthropy a bit too much to take.

[Tom Ripley]

19. Sometimes I suspect his misogyny is overcompenation for his obvious love for musical theatre...

he doesn't want anyone to get the idea that "he's y'know..."
It's a stupid and immature solution to a stupid and immature fear.

[Luminous Animal]

21. Huh? Three things:

1) What does being, "y'know" have to do with love of musical theater?
2) What does "y'know" have to do with misogyny?
3) Straight men can be (and many are), misogynist. No need to blame the "y'knows".

[Tom Ripley]

23. You misunderstand...

1) I suspect that McFarlane is straight, but fears the homophobia, and perhaps embraces the homophobia, that often equates musical theatre and gay. It is a stupid equation, but it undeniably exists in American culture.
2) In my experience, straight men are generally the crudest misogynists, hence McFarlane upping the ante on misogyny.
3) I am hetero, not that it really matters, but I am the one who runs around the house bursting into selections from "Gypsy", "Cabaret", "Damn Yankees", "Kiss Me Kate", "Kismet","Annie Get Your Gun", "Pal Joey", and so on and so on. I love that stuff, and my love for it does not make me any less "than a man", "one of the guys", blah, blah, blah... all of the things that your typical 8 year old boy is too often unfortunately taught to fear.
I just don't think that McFarlane has ever progressed beyond that playground mentality.

I apologize for the confusion.

[Dreamer Tatum]

26. Or maybe he's worth over $100MM

because he writes a lot of fart, dick, boob, and gay jokes?

Funny, he was the toast of DU when there was a swipe at Bush in most of his shows.

[Tom Ripley]

28. I don't dispute any of those facts you present (n/t)

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

27. Yup he really did waylay Sally Field backstage

She clearly wasn't expecting that.

[MindPilot]

39. You do realize it is a "show" right?

It is actors...on a stage...acting, as in make believe. The entire schick of the show was "Mcfarlane is the worst host of all time."

So much so that Capt Kirk had to come back in time to try to fix it by showing him all the things he did wrong.

Sally Fields was acting; Seth Mcfarlane was acting. None of that was real.

[Beaverhausen]

41. This is what I keep trying to say

glad a few others actually got it. Sheesh

[MindPilot]

43. Thanks. Had that discussion with my SO last night.

Even I--who couldn't give less of a shit about the Oscars--know enough about the movie biz to understand it. So many people it seems have no clue, watch it, and still have no clue. And they hate--HATE I tell you!--Seth Mcfarlane even though they have no idea who he is or what he's done. (Personally I think it is because he is very attractive, very talented, and very smart...a triple threat.)

And when all is said and done, it is still Hollywood, not a place that has ever been known for showing a lot of sensitivity to peoples' feelings.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

49. Oh, is that so?

I clearly thought Sally didn't notice the cameras in the room as she was stuffing her face as well a guy being rigged up on wires in her old flying nun's outfit.













In case you didn't figure it out, my original post was

I find these articles hilarious when they write it like the actors and actresses aren't willing participants in the mockery.

[MindPilot]

51. Sorry...hard to tell sometimes

Especially this, especially today.

you got me....but yeah you are correct

[davidn3600]

29. "Female characters account for only 11 percent of protagonists"

Yet you would be surprised the number of people who complain about there being too many female protagonists. Movies with a female lead tend to get the dreaded "chick flick" label. That's a death knell for a film at the box office because men will avoid it like the plague.

Movie studios dont make many movies with female protagonists because producers are convinced people won't turn out. The reality is, the majority of movie-goers are male. Men are loyal fans of the industry and will keep going back to see movies. So the industry gives men what they want.

It's the same with video games. Men make up the vast majority of gamers.

The only time the female protagonist is accepted by the male audience is when she acts like a male hero or is sexualized.

[cthulu2016]

31. It would be interesting to see that adjusted for budget

I suspect that more than 11% of all movie production dollars go to movies with female protagonists, though obviously still not a big number.

In the horror and sci-fi action niches male audiences seem to have a substantial niche female protagonists, though they are not exactly sensible female role models since they get their shirts ripped up strategically and fight monsters.

Alien franchise, Bloodrayne franchise, Resident Evil franchise, etc., etc. And there are female serial-killer hunter movie... (I hope Clarisse Starling is th protagonist, though Lecter is what the audience comes to see)

Hardly feminist ideals, but better than the space captain's bicep-gripping baby-voiced girlfriend who used to be the only woman in the sci-fi future.

Star Wars seemed to have only one woman in the universe! No wonder Lando and Han and Luke were all fighting over her.

I don't know... but the general point remains that by far most protagonists are male, and that is a thing also driven by world markets. The effect is even greater in the money US movies make abroad.

(Action and violence are more viable cross cultural than, say, romantic comedy and relationship drama, which rely on social nuance.)

[redqueen]

32. Citations for your claims re male "vast" majority moviegoers and video gamers? nt

[davidn3600]

34. It's pretty much common knowledge

The majority of the world audience for movies and video games are male. In recent years women have pulled nearly even in movies based on box office numbers in the US, part of which is due to some recent specifically female-targetted movies (like Twilight, which most men would rather have a root canal than go watch). Internationally however, men pull ahead in the numbers.
Meanwhile a male-dominated movie like the Avengers grossed more than a billion dollars at the box office...most of the audience for that was male.
Hollywood may have found a rare exception to the rule with the Hunger Games franchise which is popular with young women but draws a 40% male audience. But there was grave concern among studio execs that men would not turn out.

In the video game industry, only about 1/3rd to 2/5ths of gamers are women (depending on the study you want to believe). 9 out of 10 people involved in video game design and production are male. There are many video game franchises where there are only 1 or 2 female characters in the whole universe...especially the first-person shooters. 85% of playable characters in video games are male.

[redqueen]

38. Yes, I thought I'd read that women were half if not more than half of US moviegoers.

I don't think 'well men dominate, and that's cool, so let's keep it this way' makes sense. Do you?

If more women were featured as protagonists, maybe we would buy more tickets. And if those.video game statistics were improved, maybe more girls would want to play. If its all about money, then it would have changed. What else could be at play?

[davidn3600]

46. Just social gender roles for the most part

I once remember discussing something like this with an author once who had an interesting take on it. He said it just seems that it is much easier to write a male character because the readers/audience tends to forgive him for his faults and is given the benefit of the doubt. He can be flawed and yet remain the hero. When it comes to writing a female protagonist taking the lead of the story, the audience is not quite as forgiving and it's like she has to prove herself in some way.

I think its just social conditioning at play. In movies and literature, women have always played the support role to the male hero. When you try to switch it around, it does seem as though the writer has to go out of his or her way to justify it. The exception seems to be like another poster pointed out in the horror and sci-fi genres where female heroes seem to have found a little niche over the last few decades.

As far as video games...I think originally the industry was just flooded by guys. It was boys that jammed into the arcades in the late 70s and 80s. And these guys grew up with it and a few became designers. When 90% of the production staffs are male, it's really only going to cater to what men want. It's missing female input. These guys don't know what girls want in a video game. They have no idea. They've tried. But there idea of attracting female gamers is by making the controller pink. That's the typical guys way of thinking...

Here is actually a funny and cartoonish (but serious) discussion of the whole thing of women and gaming..

[redqueen]

47. So women have to accept shitty treatment because doing otherwise is hard.

I'm being sardonic of course.

But it seems like the screamingly obvious answer is to change it, not accept it as just the way things are. And making it into a big joke seems even less helpful.

[davidn3600]

52. The industry is going to cater to its market

Entertainment as a whole tends to mirror society. When you look back through history, you can get an accurate picture of how a people and culture once was by looking at what they did to entertain themselves. When you look at our entertainment industry today...the issues that are portrayed in and around it are the same issues we talk about on a daily basis in our politics.

[chimpymustgo]

45. Thanks for the mansplaining. Sources can help disprove MYTHS.

http://jezebel.com/5491281/women-now-majority-of-moviegoers

Women: Now Majority Of Moviegoers
Exploding an oft-cited myth behind movies intended for women being both crappy and few, new MPAA stats said women actually bought 55 percent of movie tickets in 2009. Hollywood, are you listening? [Women & Hollywood, Image Via]

[davidn3600]

50. Yeah and what came out in 2009?

Twilight. A franchise that many feminists were calling a "disaster."

Is that the type of film you want to see more of since it brings female movie-goers out in droves?

[LittleBlue]

55. I think that will soon change as women become more action-oriented

Men typically like action-oriented movies, which were dominated by men in the 90's, rather than relationship movies.

There are new faces like Jennifer Lawrence and Scarlett Johansson who have the charisma and demeanor to pull off action roles. I read that Matthew Vaughn had barely been edged out by JJ Abrams to direct the new Star Wars reboot, only after direct intervention by Spielberg, and Vaughn had pitched the idea of Chloe Moretz (the Kickass girl) to be the trilogy protagonist. She's only 16 and already carrying the Kickass movie series. Hailee Steinfeld did a good job as the protagonist using just her wits in True Grit. I think these young actresses are building on what older actresses like Julia Roberts started in films like Erin Brockovich. The writers are realizing this too, with the boredom of traditional actor/object sex roles finally forcing some creativity.

The girls no longer want to be the objects in movies, and writers no longer want to give them such objectified roles, as that type of writing is now seen as old-fashioned. Male audiences are more receptive now, since most of the guys my age were saturated with Arnold and Stallone as kids and are looking for something new. There will always be the muscle bound heroes like Thor, but now we're seeing more diversity at least.

[SpartanDem]

33. "The Academy's younger cohort can be just as sexist as the old guard?"

That or they don't have a huge stick up their ass

[tinrobot]

37. What do you expect from the creator of "Family Guy"

It was a "Family Guy" version of the Oscars. Same type of humor. Not for everyone, but some find it entertaining.

The people who run the Oscars hired him and they knew what they were getting.

...and it is not like the Oscars or Hollywood have ever been non-sexist. He just pointed it out.

[Beaverhausen]

40. Streisand, Bassey, Adele, Zeta-Jones all performed

give me a break.

And yes, I'm female.

If you watch the entire opening, you get the context of the boobs song, making him the worst host in Oscar history.

was it tasteless? of course- it was MEANT TO BE.

[bigwillq]

44. One of the worst Oscars ever

It was so bad. Seth M was awful.

[Number23]

53. Good read. I kept hearing how sexist the Oscars were this year

But since I didn't watch them, or any other previous Oscars, I wasn't sure what the problems were.

Also saw this on buzzfeed - http://www.buzzfeed.com/hillaryreinsberg/sexist-things-at-the-oscars