The radical notion that women like good movies
Female friendships are the bedrock of feminism. The ideal of a community of women who support, understand, and love each other is a source of succor for sisters in need and a dream towards which the feminist movement strives. There are endless power and agency in female friendships. There is purpose in those bonds, a purpose outside the pursuit of men, even if Hollywood doesn’t see it.
Grier’s legacy has lasted over four decades, but there’s something about her career that leaves me feeling unsettled, as if her filmography is indicative of larger (backward) social trends. She started out headlining action films–an amazing feat for a woman, much less a black woman in the early 1970s. A glance at a few of these films show feminist themes that are incredibly rare 40 years later. Her early films were groundbreaking, but nothing much was built after that ground was broken.
Most disturbing is the message the film conveys (or fails to convey) about rape and war. Artemisia herself presides over the sacking of Athens, during which we see several Athenian women stripped, raped, and hacked to death with short blades. Does Artemisia see this as suitable retribution? Does the memory of her mother’s suffering cause her to feel any empathy for these women? We do not know, because she makes no comment. This was a huge missed opportunity.
Check out all of the posts for Child and Teenage Girl Protagonists Theme Week here.
We thought it might be a fun note to end the year on, with the exploration of films like Harry Potter and Matilda, while also taking a closer, more serious look at portrayals of adolescence and girlhood in films and TV. Some questions to think about include, what are Hollywood’s expectations of girls and teenage girls in films and TV? And how do those expectations feed into the public’s acceptance of a teenage girl’s sexuality, for instance. Further, how might a girl character impact a young girl who’s viewing her on screen?
# 50/50 5 Broken Cameras 500 Days of Summer 45 Years The 40-Year-Old Virgin 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days 9 to 5 1971 101 Dalmations 127 Hours 10 Days in a Madhouse 10,000 km 3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets 300: Rise of an Empire 12 Years a Slave 28 Days Later A Abuse … Continue reading “Film Directory”
Pam Grier was the first black woman to be on the cover of Ms. Magazine (August 1975). Jamaica Kincaid wrote the article, “Pam Grier: The Mocha Mogul of Hollywood.” Written by Leigh Kolb[Warning: spoilers ahead!] The first time I saw Pam Grier in a film, I blurted out, “Why isn’t she in everything?” I first saw Grier … Continue reading “The Unfinished Legacy of Pam Grier”
To quote The Awl’s headline from December 2, 2011, Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison is a woman on the verge of a nervous breakthrough. Carrie Mathison burst onto our television screens in October of 2011 as the central narrator to Showtime’s superbly riveting political thriller, Homeland. Based on Israel’s Prisoners of War and driven by … Continue reading “Women in Politics Week: Homeland’s Carrie Mathison”
From the Women’s Media Center website: As part of this year’s Women’s Media Awards, the Women’s Media Center is opening voting for its Social Media Award to the public. Cast your vote today for one of nineteen incredible bloggers, social media gurus, activists, and new media makers for gender justice! The winner will be honored … Continue reading “The Women’s Media Center Announces Social Media Award Nominees”
Still from The Expendables 2 [source] “You want to man up? I’ll man you up.” – Sylvester Stallone in The Expendables 2 It’s a good thing The Expendables 2 was released after the Olympics ended, or a lot of innocent athletes might have tested positive for testosterone doping. Where 2010’s The Expendables set out to … Continue reading “‘The Expendables 2’: Masculinity Porn”
How excited are you for this?! We’ve reviewed a few science fiction films at Bitch Flicks, but at the end of July we want to run a whole series on Women in Science Fiction. Why? Because women in sci-fi are often independent, badass, strong, fully fleshed-out characters who run the show–a rarity in film and … Continue reading “Call for Writers: Women in Science Fiction”
Kristen Stewart as Snow White in Snow White and the Huntsman This guest post written by Scott Mendelson was originally published July 2011 at Mendelson’s Memos. Cross-posted with permission. There were a few interesting articles written over the last several months about the unusual amount of ass-kicking (or at least take-charge) young female roles being … Continue reading “Guest Writer Wednesday: Happily Never After: The Sad (and Sexist?) Rush to Cast Some of Our Most Promising Young Actresses as Fairy Tale Princesses”
