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Girls on Film: The Working Girl Only Thrives on TV
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Girls on Film
Last night the Emmy Awards aired, seeing television's finest come out and celebrate the magic of the small screen. Claire Danes' Temple Grandin won five awards, including Best Actress for Danes, who really hasn't had critical love like this since her small-screen, short-lived phenomenon My So-Called Life. Many of the remaining actress accolades even went to women-led television fare -- Nurse Jackie, The Good Wife, and The Closer. Naturally, that got me thinking about the other television series recently making waves -- the still-running Weeds and how that got a boost from Laura Linney and The Big C's killer, record-breaking ratings. Once I got thinking about women on TV, my brain zipped to thoughts of all of the professional ladies on the small screen.
Wherever you turn, working women are everywhere on TV. For some reason, however, while a majority of Hollywood's female roles continue to be cliche-constricted, television is a smorgasbord of female-centric options.
Girls on Film: Is 'Scott Pilgrim' Misogynistic?
Filed under: New Releases, Girls on Film
After lots of fanatic hope and unrealistic expectations, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World "bombed" at the box office, pulling in only $11 million to help pay back its $60 million budget. Never mind the fact that it's the best opening ever for an Edgar Wright film -- in fact, more than twice the opening gross of his two other cult hits, as Eugene pointed out this morning. But there's another bit of negative Pilgrim chatter that's caught my eye on this Monday: That Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is misogynistic.
io9 linked to a blog post at Asking the Wrong Questions, where writer Abigail Nussbaum states: "The most interesting question raised by Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is why it left me feeling delighted rather than quivering with feminist rage." She later continues: "But especially given that, according to my friends who are its fans, Scott Pilgrim the comic is a story that tries to combat much of the misogyny that underlies Scott Pilgrim the film and other works of its ilk, it's a shame that this is the best Edgar Wright could come up with -- a film that uses flashing lights and bright colors to distract its viewers from the unpleasantness at its core."
And that was one of the nicer accounts of male-female relations.
Girls on Film: Men, Women, and Movie Obsession
Filed under: Action, Romance, New Releases, Newsstand, Girls on Film
Some think that a war is brewing, ready to kick off at the end of the week as Julia Roberts' Eat Pray Love faces off against Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables. Oh yes, film fans -- it's the ultimate showdown between the women and men. One film is a new romantic journey of discovery that has much of the "chick flick" standards -- woman suffers a romantic meltdown and sets off to find who she is without a man, and does ... with the help of a bunch of men. The other is a smorgasbord of retro testosterone, an action fest full of names like Lundren, Statham, Rourke, and even just a little bit of Schwarzenegger and Willis.
With the summer winding down, and these being the premiere releases of the week, a new thought is brewing: Are men or women more obsessive about movies?
Girls on Film: Where Are the Big Screen Comediennes?
Filed under: Comedy, Columns, Girls on Film
Bette Midler made waves over the weekend whilst promoting her most recent film, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. While chatting about the new release, she offered her two cents on the state of women in film, explaining that there's a distinct lack of female comedians on the big screen, though there are plenty on TV. She said: "There are a lot of funny women out there, but they're not in the movies because there are not that many funny women in movies any more -- they're mostly carrying coffee for the Iron Man."
I'm not so sure that she meant to say that Gwyneth Paltrow (or Scarlett Johansson) was a wasted comedienne, but rather that funny women aren't really getting the prime gigs on the big screen. However, she did note: "But on TV there are a lot of funny women, tons and tons of funny women -- and all you have to do is turn on the television. So that's still fabulous." She went on to gush over the talents of Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Debra Messing, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, and Judy Gold.
It's an interesting thought. Is there's a wall up, like the now-destroyed partition in Berlin, keeping most of the women on the boob tube (pun intended) and away from the big screen?
Girls on Film: Ellen Page, Gender, and Cinematic Sexuality
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Girls on Film
When it comes to women and Hollywood, we always blather on about the body -- the stringent measurements for Hollywood beauty, or the faces and bodies sculpted by the surgeon's knife. We watch magazines and advertisements whittle every woman down to skeletal forms, and hear the ever-rampant stories of actresses being chastised for their size. For the most part, we forget the clothes that cover these diet-formed bodies, unless a frock is particularly hideous or ridiculously revealing.
But we live in a world where clothes matter -- so much so that a simple everyday outfit can rip away a woman's sexuality, and a baggy pair of pants can rip away her maturity. Just a week ago, Ellen Page was called asexual, childish, and a little boy for wearing slightly baggy clothes that covered her from head to toe in Christopher Nolan's latest, Inception.
Girls on Film: Angelina Jolie in a Man's World of Action
Filed under: Action, Casting, Angelina Jolie, Girls on Film
On July 23, 2007, Erik shared some news: Tom Cruise was circling a project called Edwin A. Salt, about a CIA officer on a mission to prove his innocence after accusations that he's a Russian sleeper spy. But soon the tides turned. Cruise left and Angelina Jolie took his place. Yes, Edwin A. Salt became Evelyn Salt, and Ms. Jolie joined an action film that would not only be marketed on the sheer power of her name -- a rare thing for the women of Hollywood -- but would also pay her $20 million plus a slew of ancillary benefits.
Her big-screen butt-kicking finally hits theaters this week, and The Hollywood Reporter says she's jolting the "man's world" of action films. In fact, they equate this cinematic sex change with the "groundbreaking" decision to adapt one of the white leads in Beverly Hills Cop so that it could star a fresh-faced Eddie Murphy. So what makes Salt different than her many other films and the women who came before her, and what does it mean for action women on the whole?
Girls on Film: Abolishing "Girl Films" and "Guy Films"
Filed under: Columns, Girls on Film
There are many problems to tackle when it comes to women and Hollywood; if it was all tiptoeing and daisies, this column wouldn't exist. To make things even peskier, most roadblocks can't be destroyed by one simple action. Each has a complex universe of factors keeping any seemingly simple desire -- like better female protagonists or women behind the camera -- from being fixed by one, two, or even three steps.
But there is one small, yet horribly irksome problem that could be fixed pronto. It does not require overhauling the studio system. It's just a simple change in phrasing -- one that doesn't require new language, and doesn't make any cinematic wording any more complicated.
It's time to abolish "girl films," "guy films," and any variation thereof. (Yes, "chick flicks" too!) Let's "use our words," people.
Girls on Film: Today's Love of Homogeneous Beauty
Filed under: Columns, Girls on Film
The other day I sat down and watched an indie that came and went without much buzz a handful of years ago -- 2006's I'm Reed Fish. The film starred Jay Baruchel -- after the likes of Undeclared, but before the likes of Knocked Up and Tropic Thunder -- as the radio voice of the people for a small town called Mud Meadows. Trying to exist under the heavy arm of his dead father's shadow, Reed has it rough, being romantically linked (either in real life or his own art) with the following beauties: Alexis Bledel, Schuyler Fisk, Shiri Appleby, and Valerie Azlynn. Additionally, one of his only friends is played by DJ Qualls (the weird guy from Road Trip), who is engaged to A.J. Cook (Mary Lisbon from The Virgin Suicides) in the film. Another apt title for the comedy would have been: How Awkward Geeks Get the Hotties.
Of course, this is nothing new, though I'm Reed Fish stretched the idea to its limits. When lots of boy geeks/dorks/nerds/etc get successful in Hollywood, of course they're going to perpetuate the dream -- that they'll get the girl that Duckie lost all those years ago. And that's not the only reason. Certainly, unlikely matches happen in real life too, like the oft-used example of Julia Roberts and Lyle Lovett. But it's also a matter of beauty.
Hollywood is no longer comfortable with a female lead or love interest who offers a different type of beauty.
Girls on Film: Cloudy with a Chance of Science
Filed under: Animation, Comedy, Family Films, Columns, Girls on Film
This weekend I had an excellent cinematic experience. I planned to head to the mall and see Splice (which I'm dying to see), but the timing just wasn't working out, so I sat my out-of-town visitor down to introduce him to the world of Netflix. After going back and forth between Chaplin and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, we chose the latter. I still remembered Todd Gilchrist's review and Weinberg's brief-but-ebullient rant, and I was itching for some family-style laughs.
What I didn't expect, but was blissfully surprised to experience, was a film that skillfully intermingled smarts and silliness, and best of all -- another awesome and animated female co-star, the perfect cohort to Up's Ellie. When not killing myself over Flint Lockwood's hand scanner, the food jokes, or noting the fact that the hero has the same name as Michael Moore's Flint, Michigan, I was falling in love with Sam Sparks -- an endlessly appealing character who starts off as cliche, but learns to bite her thumb at antiquated notions of girls and science.
Girls on Film: John August Discovers 'The Rule'
Filed under: Scripts, Columns, Girls on Film
If you're a fan of Cinematical or this column, you're familiar with The Rule. You know, the simple cinematic guidelines Alison Bechdel immortalized in comic strip form. Quite simply, there needs to be at least two female characters with names in a film, who talk to each other about something other than men. While by no means an irrefutable guide to cinema -- there are excellent films that fail and crap that passes -- its simplicity is perfect for revealing just how rarely we get to see female characters talk to each other about anything other than men.
I'm bringing this up again because there's a new pen to the fold. Last week, John August wrote a new post about discovering The Rule, and how it applies to his own work. August, of course, has a pretty varied selection of films. He's brought us the excellent drug-induced wonder of Go, adapted Big Fish, and created The Nines, while also tackling blockbusters like Charlie's Angels (that sequel's faults are explained here) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Though he's written a number of female-starring films, even his work doesn't always make the cut.
Why You're Not a "Moron" If You Enjoyed 'Machete'
Can a Sex-Free Movie Like 'Twilight' Sell Sex?
Trailers and Clips: Buried, Due Date, and Let Me In
James McAvoy and Tom Cruise Consider Trip to 'Mountains of Madness'
How Important is a Film Title to International Audiences?
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