Two women have been nominated for academy awards

1
Two women have been nominated for academy awards

• In fact, only two have ever been nominated --
  Lina Wertmuller for "Seven Beauties" in 1976 and
  Jane Campion for "The Piano" in 1993.
• No woman has ever won.

2
Guerilla Girls Billboard

• The U.S. Senate is more progressive than
  Hollywood. Female Senators 9, Female directors
  4." That's according to a study undertaken at
  San Diego State University, and it suggests the
  extent to which the dreams that radiate off
  theater screens and into our culture are still
  almost exclusively the dreams of men.

3

• in film and TV, women directed 7 percent of the
  top-grossing 100 films released in 2000
• n 2001. The percentage of the top 100 films has
  gone way down. It looks like 4 percent, which
  means it's below 1992 levels.
• 2005 back up to 7

4
Women Film Directors

• in film and TV, women directed 7 percent of the
  top-grossing 100 films released in 2000
• n 2001. The percentage of the top 100 films has
  gone way down. It looks like 4 percent, which
  means it's below 1992 levels.
• 2005 back up to 7

5
Is there a difference? Is it natural?

• What is the nature of their creative expression?
• Is there a distinctly female sensibility?
• New meanings?
• Do these films address audiences in different
  ways?

6
Maya Deren Meshes in the Afternoon 1943

• Inauguration of the American Experimental Film
• Poetic dreamlike quality of film
• Innovative technique to evoke conflicting
  emotions-like fear and desire

7
Dorothy Arzner and Ida Lupino Early Hollywood
Directors

• The history of women directors during the golden
  age of Hollywood from the 30s-60s can be summed
  up by two somewhat short careers
• Womens place in cinema has historically been in
  front of the camera as love interests, objects of
  desire, sexual threats, or negligible characters

8
Lack of Equality leads to Ghettoization

• Women filmmakers arent judged by their films
  necessarily
• They are immediately labeled as women directors
• The achievement of men sets the standards to
  which women aspire and against which womens
  achievements are measured
• The problem is perceived as womens need to catch
  up to men--not as a socioeconomic disparity or as
  an institutionalized power differential

9
Leslie Harris--

• first movie, "Just Another Girl on the IRT," got
  positive reviews and made a profit, 10 years
  later she's still trying to put together funding
  for her follow-up, "Royalties, Rhythm and Blues,"
  a behind-the-scenes look at a woman working in
  the hip-hop industry.
• She has been told that African American Women
  cant carry a film

10
Directors of the 90s have taken over 10 years to
make a new film

• Alison Maclean Crush 1993-Jesus Son 2000
• Rebecca Miller's first film "Angela" won the
  Filmmakers' Trophy and the cinematography award
  at the 1995 Sundance--it took her until last year
  to make her second movie

11

• Mary Harron notes that while she's happy with her
  career, "'American Psycho' made a huge amount of
  money. It did very, very well in Europe and
  tremendously well on video, and I think if I was
  a guy I would have had a lot more offers having
  made that film

12
Hollywood according to writer Robin Wood

• There is no womens movement
• Only individual women directors
• Not all women make chick flicks--or feminist
  films

13
Susan Seidelman

• Old formats new sensibility
• Interesting feminine perspective
• Doesnt glamorize women at the expense of men
• Shares an affinity with desperate, aggressive
  women

14
Smithereens and Desperately Seeking Susan Examine
Contemporary Themes

• Fame
• Self-fulfillment
• Personal identity
• Social relationships

15
downtown sensibility

• First to show the Lower East Side of Manhattan
• Shows the negatives and positives and the seedy
  vs. Bohemian

16
Smithereens 1982

• 80,000
• About a hustler who wants to manage a rock band
• Wren, a village hipster who wants fame and lacks
  talent
• Tale of punks immersed in media and addicted to
  TV
• Products of a demoralized era

17
First American Indie to be shown at Cannes Film
Festival

• Why did it have success in critical environments
• Radical Portrayal of Character

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First American Indie to be shown at Cannes Film
Festival

• Why did it have critical success?
• Radical Portrayal of Character
• Character similar to the Madonna in Desperately
  Seeking Susan, but limits identification

19
Didnt make Desperately Seeking Susan until 1985

• Only offered dopey teen flicks after Smithereens
• Comedy about identity Mixup between a wealthy
  housewife and and a hustler
• Made for 5 million

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Success

• Presence of a Pop Star--
• Up and Coming Star
• Stars from other indies John Lurie and Richard
  Edson from Stranger than Paradise
• Plots complication comes from an ancient device
  amnesia

21

• Studio wanted to cast a perfect blonde for the
  role of Susan
• Seidelman wanted someone more gritty who acts
  like a princess (or pop icon)
• Seidelman was able to get larger budgets after
  this film, but wasnt able to achieve the same
  critical success of her first two films

22
Seidelman has directed many episodes of Sex and
the City

• Along with other important female directors of
  the 80s 1990s
• Along with directors like Alison Anders and
  Alison Maclean