Hey Ladies

Before I get to the bulk of this blog entry I will re-state what Mo already beat me to which is: Alex is coming back to LA! He's coming back only a week before I leave, but whatevs. I talked to my boss-man at my company and Alex will be working three days a week (two of which are days that I work, though since we only overlap a week that won't matter much). --End Blog Overlap--

Speaking of that company at which I work, I've spent today and yesterday doing a lot of answer phones, dealing with the exec's and their demands, internet shenanigans, and chatting with the other assistant in my area. I've gossiped with her before during other days that I've been perched in that area, but these past few days have had some particularly interesting conversation. 

She tells me, despite being a self-proclaimed feminist, "I truly hate saying this, but you don't want to work for a woman". She claimed that while she expected powerful women in the industry to embrace younger women trying to make their way she found that most of them were easily intimidated and often would not help other women working beneath them. Sadly, I can see it. Not like the male exec's are promoting their female assistants left and right, but there is a very odd sense of competition in the dynamic of a powerful female in the industry and the women working below her. I am not sure if this is the same with male/male boss/assistant relationships, but it's certainly an intriguing thought. 

Women and Hollywood had an entry a while back about Nora Ephron who stated in a recent article that she wanted women directors to "stop whining and just do it". I personally agree with that statement from Ms. Ephron (not just because I love her, I also think she's right), but the Women and Hollywood blog seemed hesitant, asking why Ms. Ephron didn't do more to aid up and coming female filmmakers. I do not think that Nora Ephron is guilty of the same bitterness that comes from the aforementioned female execs. I do think, unfortunately, that a lot of times it's very true that the people who are hardest to the women in the industry are other women. Even with a (slowly) growing number of female filmmakers, how many of them employ female department heads in their crew? Or female crew in general? WaH put out these fun statistics a few months ago. 

So, in the words of the Beastie Boys: "Hey ladies in the place I'm callin' out to ya"...go make some frickin' movies and be nice to other ladies. 

Bye kids,

Sarah

Listening to: (Surprisingly enough, not the Beastie Boys) Hey Mama Wolf - Devendra Banhart  

Chicks in Flicks

Cinematical put up an article last a week about about Girls on Film and why wanting more interesting female protagonists isn't just a feminist ploy for equality. The main gist of the article is that wanting to see some variety in the types of woman portrayed in film is not any different from other minorities wanting to see themselves represented on screen. I remember talking with George and Katie over some fried food at Deny's late one night last semester about the lack of female characters in both the junior and senior films last year. Even now as I write my senior project I made the decision for my character to be male without really considering it. The story could be exactly the same with a girl, why did I automatically make him a guy? While I don't think that all female protagonists go the way of Jezebel's breakdown of women in romantic comedies, it did get me thinking about the number of movies with female protagonists that aren't labeled 'chick flicks'. Personally what annoys me most is the fact that most the female-lead movies that aren't chick flicks are the movies specifically about female protagonists overcoming sexual adversity and that there is little to no middle ground. I'd like to see a strong and interesting female character in a movie that's not about how she is strong and interesting despite being a woman. 

EDIT 6/24: It's not a list of non-chick flicks with female protagonists, but it's close enough: a list of seven non-click flicks by female directors. I'm a little bummed out that American Psycho isn't on there. It did get a mention, though.