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Why film schools teach screenwriters not to pass the Bechdel test
While writing Female characters exist to promote male leads for network profits, I realized something I had never quite put together in so many words. It's important enough to deserve its own article (thanks, Bellatrys!), so here it is: my screenwriting professors...
Nobody knows anything, but don’t tell the financiers
Reader Jack Ketch commented on Why film schools teach screenwriters not to pass the Bechdel test something I think deserves more discussion:
William Goldman described the phrase “non-recurring phenomenon” in his book The Big Picture, a collection of essays...
Film people talk about racism and sexism in film, anonymously
Karen Healey highlighted this link on her LiveJournal, and I encourage everyone to check it out. It's just what I've been talking about for years, the faux-liberalism of Hollywood.
"Hollywood is anything but liberal. I call them liberal bigots. Hollywood is filled...
Why, if you think women should be flattered by your harassment, you are stupid
I recently wrote a post to explain the difference between street harassment and sincere flirtation. Unthinkingly, I wrote it to an audience of women. I guess I unconsciously assumed any man who would yell sexual remarks at strange women would not come to this site in...
Why, if you think harassment is flattering, you are stupid
From CNN: Catcalling: creepy or a compliment?
Naturally, in the above linked article, the woman who argues it's flattering to be catcalled and looked up and down when she walks on the street is from... wait for it... you can guess this... Los Angeles. (If I start...
by Jennifer Kesler
Here’s a neat bit of doublethink I’ve never been able to comprehend. I live in a culture which informs me:
Men are natural leaders, and therefore should run countries, corporations and households. Women in charge would just do whatever their PMSing hormones made them want to do, and
Men are ruled by their hormones, can’t help themselves, so it’s the job of women to avoid provoking men into raping us, cheating on us, or hitting us.
How does that work? Let’s follow the ...Read More
by Maria
It’s very, very rare that I only have praise for a book. But I just gotta say it: Wicked Gentlemen is a gem. Comprising of two shared-world novellas, this work centers on the adventures of Belimai Sykes, descendant of demons and survivor of the Inquisition’s torture chambers, and Captain William Harper, a deeply conflicted Inquisitor.
Sykes is a Prodigal. The Prodigals’ demonic ancestors were persuaded to give up ruling in Hell for a chance at redemption on Earth. Now, they’re the ...Read More
by Maria
Porn featuring small breasted women is child porn.
How much more awesome would Avatar have been if it featured queer Latinas… IN SPACE?
Here’s a good example of why that would never ever happen.
Article quote time!
Is she still frightened that the gang is looking for her? “In a way, yes…” and then she pauses. “And in a way, no,” she continues. “It is children they scare, not grown women, and I am a grown woman now. So, yes, I ...Read More
by Jennifer Kesler
This is not reassuring. Talented director and writer Kathryn Bigelow has been nominated for the Best Director Acadamy Award. In fact, the film for which she’s nominated got the same number of Oscar nominations as James Cameron’s Avatar. This is fantastic because she deserves it, because only three other women have ever had this nomination, and none of them won it. My fingers are crossed.
But there’s a problem. Bigelow was once married to Cameron. They divorced in 1991. And yet:
Or ...Read More
by Jennifer Kesler
When I was in my early twenties, I told a young white guy how sick I got of all (non chick-flick) movies being mostly populated by white men, with other types of people only showing up as sidekicks, romantic interests or acknowledgments of how gosh-darn difficult it was not to be a white man. His initial response was,”Oh, god, why does everything have to be politically correct?”
At the time, I was naive. I didn’t realize how prevalent bigotry still was ...Read More
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