Here’s some shameless self-promotion and a shout-out to feminist media for your Thursday! I review There She Goes: Feminist Filmmaking and Beyond, edited by Corinn Columpar and Sophie Mayer, for the latest issue of Bitch magazine, which you can get here. This is a very worthy collection of academic essays, and it makes me excited about a whole ton of new directions in feminist film scholarship.
I confess that I haven’t done a great deal of publication writing lately. I’ve been awfully busy with client work. However, I’m always so pleased to be a part of a lot of very important feminist conversations!
I’ve been singing the praises of Kathryn Bigelow ever since I first saw Near Dark in the mid-1980s. As a horror fan, a cinema junkie, and an emerging feminist, I couldn’t help but love that film even more after I realized who directed it. I was so excited that a woman was making bloody awesome movies, and I was all sorts of anxious to see what other women film directors would do, as it really seemed as if Bigelow had started to blaze some trail.
And then… nothing happened. Bigelow continued to direct films and television – some exceptional and some engaging-but-kinda-meh – but no wave of women filmmakers followed in her wake. And whenever I found myself talking with someone about women directors (in high school, college, and graduate school) we could always name just a small handful, and then we’d say, “But Kathryn Bigelow – she’s made it!” In fact, Bigelow has never – EVER – made a major studio movie (yep, including Point Break). She has always had to pursue independent financing for her projects. And there have always been long periods of time when she disappeared. But still, I really wanted and needed to assert that she’d made it. Because, despite all of my optimism, women directors have continued to be a rare commodity.
ok
Hey, New Yorkers! I’m moderating a post-show talkback for Meg’s New Friend at Manhattan Theatre Source this upcoming Monday night. I hope you’ll join me for the show and the conversation!
MEG’S NEW FRIEND
by Blair Singer
Directed by Mark Armstrong
@ Manhattan Theater Source
177 MacDougal Street, NYC
November 29-December 20, 2009
Mondays @ 8pm
Wednesdays – Saturdays @ 8pm
Sundays @ 3pm
The Production Company re-teams with playwright Blair Singer, author of their hit play The Most Damaging Wound, for MEG’S NEW FRIEND, a timely, provocative play. Meg, a local New York television features reporter, realizes that, in the age of Obama, she doesn’t have one African-American friend. When she meets her best friend’s new beau, a sexy African-American yoga teacher, Meg thinks she’s found exactly what she was looking for.
Tickets are $25 here.
Post-Show Talkback: The Feminist Perspective
Featuring a lively discussion with Felice Belle, Courtney E. Martin & Tammy Oler
Monday, December 7th, immediately following the performance
Star Trek, which is being released on DVD and Blu-Ray today, was an official sponsor of Sunday Night Football this past weekend. E. was watching the game, and I was putzing around online, but when we heard that official endorsement, we both stopped and said, “Whoah!”
Star Trek sponsoring the NFL. It looks like J. J. Abrams’ re-branding of the science fiction franchise is complete. Star Trek has been remasculinized. It’s too bad that women lose out in the bargain.
(Minor spoilers ahead.)
ok
The Book: Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (2009)
The Goods: Half the Sky is both an investigation into women’s oppression worldwide and a moving call to action to economically and socially empower women in developing countries – not just because it’s the morally correct thing to do, but also because the authors believe that it’s the most effective way to fight poverty and extremism. To make their case, Pulitzer-Prize winning authors Kristof and WuDunn focus on three major issues facing women around the world — forced prostitution and sex trafficking, gender violence, and maternal mortality — blending grim reportage and ample statistics with individual stories of women who are triumphing over their circumstances and making real change for their families and communities. The authors also observe and report on the pros and cons of varied international development/aid strategies and argue that grassroots, ground-up activism and support is the most effective way to fuel change. ok
