Sunday, December 21, 2014

Sorkin's Misogynistic Rant Got Me Thinking About Film's Strong Women

Strong Women in Film – by Anne Brodie

strong women

Strong Women in Film

Cate Blanchett stated the obvious last year when she took to task studio executives “who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films with women at the center are a niche experience.”  Her words sparked a spirited debate and some soul-searching.
Maureen Dowd published some startling figures in response. She found that women comprise 52% of moviegoers, 15% of protagonists and 30% of speaking characters in the top 100 grossing domestic films in 2013.  The Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University found that 6% of directors, 10% of writers, 15% of executive producers, 17% of editors and 3% of cinematographers in the top 250 films are women. 
One of the problems is that cavemen like Aaron Sorkin continue to pull women down. He stated in a New York Times op ed letter that male actors face a higher “degree of difficulty” than their female counterparts.  Sorkin, a writer known for his two dimensional female characters, said “Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep can play with the boys but there just aren’t that many tour-de-force scripts out there for women. That’s why year in and year out the guy who wins the Oscar for Best Actor has a much higher bar to clear than the woman who wins Best Actress." ...
 
....  Don't get mad, read more at WhatSheSaid Radio

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