Women are everywhere so why are we invisible on film?
Women are everywhere so why are we invisible on film?
There are three male characters for every female one and womens beauty is the story. Quotas are the way forward
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Geena Davis. Gender bias: kids films and TV shows children that girls are less important than boys, says Geena Davis. Photograph: REX Shutterstock
It was a symposium about gender so, of course, it was an audience of women. A vast auditorium of filmmakers, every seat filled, maybe 1% with male arses. The opposite proportion of the films.
This was one of the opening events of the BFI London Film Festival, the night after the Suffragette premiere where feminist activist group Sisters Uncut occupied the red carpet chanting: Dead women cant vote. I thought it was a publicity stunt, chuckled the person next to me as Geena Davis came to the stage. That evening, in Chelsea, Tina Brown brought Meryl Streep, Queen Rania of Jordan and German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen together for her Women in the World summit. Tickets cost £200 each. Judging by the photos, the audience was primarily female, too.
Davis, her voice low and stretchy (whatever that means), reviewed the findings of the research institute she founded into women in the media. In kids films and TV there are three male characters for every female one. And, she claims, that shows children that girls are less important than boys. It creates a problem which the world has to deal with later. She talked about the surfeit of female characters in kids and adult media whose beauty is a storyline and the lack of female characters with jobs. Across 6,000 samples, 12 female characters were politicians, and of them, one was Angie, an elephant. At this revelation the room roared, then went completely silent.
Her institute is hoping to use the research to change how films are made. But it wont be as easy as gathering a load of eager women in a room and sharing these numbers. Unconscious gender bias goes deeper than good intentions. Across 6,000 samples in kids and adult media, 12 females were politicians and one of them was an elephant
She told a story. In the 80s, after a long effort to equal the gender composition of orchestras in the US, where theyd slowly increased the number of female musicians from 5% to 10%, they came upon the idea of blind auditions. If the panel, behind a curtain, couldnt see who was playing, then they wouldnt be able to discriminate. It worked! Sort of. The numbers of female musicians rose, but not significantly. Was some element revealing their gender and skewing the results? Id love to have been in that room when they finally rasped: Carpet the stage! After the next round of auditions, Davis grinned, the orchestras were 50% women, because the panel had not been able to hear their heels.
. . . .
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/tvandradioblog/2015/oct/18/women-are-everywhere-so-why-are-we-invisible-on-film-eva-wiseman
malthaussen
(17,194 posts)I'm sure somebody at the time must have suggested that the women show up for the audition in sneakers. Y'know, because the burden of eliminating discrimination is on the discriminated against.
-- Mal
niyad
(113,302 posts)progressoid
(49,990 posts)They do blind auditions at the university. When she was a freshman, she was told (by a savvy female professor) to wear quiet shoes so they don't know.
Sad but true.
onehandle
(51,122 posts)Not saying this makes up for anything, or even makes a real difference, but regardless...
[img][/img]
niyad
(113,302 posts)does this woman actually play in the film? and, one role out of how many?
starroute
(12,977 posts)cyberswede
(26,117 posts)My kid has this one on his wall.
starroute
(12,977 posts)The one I posted is known to collectors as "Style A." It was the original, was featured in ads, and so forth. The one you posted is "Style C." It was done by a British artist and appeared mostly in international markets -- though apparently only about 500 were printed at the time. For obvious reasons, it's become more popular in the years since and has often been reprinted.
http://www.moviepostercollectors.com/MPC_Showcase_Star_Wars.html
http://moviepostercollectors.com/MPC_Authentication_Star_Wars_Style_C.html
http://chantrellposter.com/Star-Wars-Quad-Poster-Original/256
cyberswede
(26,117 posts)I saw SW in 1977 or 78 when I was in junior high and love it forever, but I'm not up on the collectibles.