The radical notion that women like good movies
The cast of Sports Night This is a guest post by Artemis Linhart. “If you haven’t binge-watched Sports Night within one weekend, then you haven’t seen Shakespeare the way it was meant to be played.”* This nuanced end-of-90s sitcom offers a peek behind the scenes of a cable sports news show, all the while mixing … Continue reading “Women in Sports Week: ‘Sports Night’: That ’90s Show”
Saber Sharifi trains women boxers in The Boxing Girls of Kabul This is a guest post by Rachael Johnson. The Boxing Girls of Kabul is a Canadian documentary about the boxing careers of three young Afghan women, sisters Sadaf and Shabnam Rahimi and Shahla Sikandary. It was written and directed by the Afghan-Canadian filmmaker Ariel … Continue reading “Women in Sports Week: The Toughest Trio: A Review of ‘The Boxing Girls of Kabul’ (2011)”
Skyler is calling the shots now. Written by Leigh Kolb Warning: Spoilers Ahead Throughout the last five seasons of Breaking Bad, the female characters have played key roles–from playing adversaries to aiding and abetting–yet they are often overlooked as secondary characters. In fact, a recent article in The Atlantic doesn’t even mention any of the female characters … Continue reading “‘Breaking Bad’ and the Power of Women: Skyler, Lydia and Marie Take Control”
Salmai movie poster. Written by Leigh Kolb In the village of Thuvarankurichi in rural India, young Muslim girls are locked away once they start their periods. While their early years are filled with school and play, once puberty hits, they are taken away from the outside world and relegated to the confines of their family homes until … Continue reading “‘Salma’: The Poetry of Repression and Seclusion”
For some reason, Netflix keeps giving me a list of Sports Movies I Might Like. It took me about nine years of scrolling through the list to find a single Sports Movie featuring a woman—A League of Their Own (which is also the only woman-centered film Complex included on their list of “25 Best Sports … Continue reading “Call for Writers: Women in Sports”
Fruitvale Station movie poster. Written by Leigh Kolb Fruitvale Station, unlike most feature films, is not told from and for the perspective of the white gaze. For white audiences, this is startling, uncomfortable and heartbreaking. It should be. The film is a harrowing re-telling of the true story of Oscar Grant, who was killed by a … Continue reading “‘Fruitvale Station’: White Audiences Need to Look, Not Look Away”
This is a guest review by Jarrah Hodge. An earlier version appeared at her Tumblr, Trekkie Feminist. “Melora” is one of many Star Trek episodes that uses an allegory about an alien to comment on an issue in our human society. In this case, Ensign Melora Pazlar comes to Deep Space Nine. She is unable … Continue reading “‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ Explores Disability in "Melora"”
Movie poster for Benny & Joon This is a guest review by Carleen Tibbetts. When Bitch Flicks put out the call for reviews regarding the portrayal of “disabled” women, I had a mixed reaction. Most of the suggested films and TV series deal with both physical disabilities and mental illness, but there’s far greater stigma … Continue reading “Disabilities Week: The Patronizingly "Adorable" Side of Schizophrenia in ‘Benny & Joon’”
Love Is All You Need film poster. Written by Janyce Denise Glasper Amongst the lush beautiful paradise of scenic Italy, a wedding is underway in Oscar-winner Susanne Bier’s Love Is All You Need or as the original title translates–The Bald Hairdresser. Danish, English, and Italian languages weave a trilingual story about Ida, a mother of … Continue reading “In The Hardest Of Moments, Susanne Bier Proves That "Love Is All You Need"”
Shooting Fog City This is a guest post by Liz O’Neal. I am not a traditional filmmaker, and to be honest, I was not an experienced filmmaker until I produced Fog City. I moved to SF a year ago to manage a video studio – from operations and client services and video production — for … Continue reading “When Opportunity Knocks”
Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers Written by Lady T. A year ago, I began writing a series called “Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Consent Issues,” looking at specific episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that included a major plot point related to consent, rape culture, and sexual violence. What I found was illuminating. The … Continue reading “‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and Consent Issues (Seasons 1-2)”
Filmmaker Jillian Corsie It all started with a simple idea. I wanted to make a short documentary about Trichotillomania, the impulse control disorder that causes people to pull out their hair, because I wanted to better understand what once ailed a childhood friend. It would also give me a chance to edit my own piece … Continue reading “Overcoming Doubts: Jillian Corsie on Her First Feature Film, ‘Trichster,’ and its All-Female Creative Team”
