Tag: Call for Writers

Call for Writers: Gender and Food in Film and TV

From decadent desserts to sumptuous savory morsels, the holidays often revolve around food. We congregate with friends and family over food, sharing stories, connected by culinary traditions. So we thought it would be a great time to explore gender and food in film and television.
Food in film and TV crosses the spectrum of genres from weighty dramas (Babette’s Feast, Like Water for Chocolate), bittersweet dramedies (Fried Green Tomatoes), light-hearted comedies (Woman on Top), how-to cooking shows (Giada at Home, The Barefoot Contessa, Boy Meets Grill) and competitive reality series (Chopped, Iron Chef).

We don’t often think of food as gendered, but it is. Society unofficially mandates that men devour meat, women nibble chocolate. Women bake, men grill. Cooking and the kitchen have long been viewed as belonging to the female sphere while the culinary world remains a male-dominated profession. 
All of these gender themes and stereotypes emerge on-screen.

Food symbolizes nourishment, fulfillment and passion. Food can be a way to connect with family (Soul Food, Tortilla Soup, Pieces of April) or even rekindle love (Chocolat). Competitive cooking shows like Top Chef or Hell’s Kitchen often divide teams into men vs. women. For vegans and vegetarians, food intertwines with identity (The Simpsons‘ Lisa Simpson, Roseanne‘s Darlene Connor). Some women have found liberation through food (Eat, Pray, Love) and a way to express their voice through cooking (Julie & Julia, Waitress).

We want to hear from you. We want to publish your reviews and analyses of food and gender in film and TV. A feminist review of Julie & Julia? How food serves as an on-screen symbol of expression for women? How female families in film connect over cooking? An article on gender tropes in cooking TV shows? We want it all…and more!
Here are some suggested food movies, documentaries, and TV shows:
Julie & Julia
Soul Food
Waitress
Pieces of April
Like Water for Chocolate
Eat, Pray, Love
Chocolat
Babette’s Feast
Alice
Eat Drink Man Woman
Tortilla Soup
Eating
Cheers
I Am Love
Super Size Me
No Reservations
Sideways
Ratatouille
Tampopo
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover
The Mistress of Spices
Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place
Top Chef
Woman on Top
Fried Green Tomatoes
As a reminder, these are a few basic guidelines for guest writers on our site:
–We like most of our pieces to be 1,000 – 2,000 words, preferably with some images and links.
–Please send your piece in the text of an email, including links to all images, no later than Friday, December, 21st.
–Include a 2-3 sentence bio for placement at the end of your piece.
Email us at btchflcks(at)gmail(dot)com if you’d like to contribute a review. We accept original pieces or cross-posts.
Submit away!

Call for Writers: Women in Politics in Film and TV


Call for Writers: Women in Politics
In the United States, women make up only 17% of Congress, and there has never been a female president or vice president. These are sad facts that many of us know and often trot out in political discussions. How can any government claim to be representative when there are so few women in positions of power? Women have it worse in oppressive societies that refuse to even allow them suffrage, and women are far better represented politically in others.  
When we turn to media–contemporary television especially–we see numerous women in leadership positions. In the world of fiction, women have been presidents and vice presidents, congresspersons, community leaders, and the list goes on. Even when they are present in larger numbers, the representations tend to have many of the same problems that we discuss generally with women in media: the women are objectified and their stories are sidelined. You can’t be what you can’t see, after all. We need to see more women in politics in movies and TV.
With election season nearing its end, we encourage you to step into the world of Women in Politics for our latest theme week. We’re interested in fictional women in politics and representations of women in politics today and historically. We want to talk about women in politics here; a marked contrast from the 2012 election cycle. You can pretend the current election isn’t really happening, if only for a little while. (Don’t forget to vote, U.S.)
Here are some suggested movies, documentaries, and TV shows.

Commander in Chief
The West Wing
Veep
Parks and Recreation
A Foreign Affair
Miss Representation
The Iron Lady
John Adams
The Manchurian Candidate
Saturday Night Live
Bhutto
Iron-Jawed Angels
Battlestar Gallactica
24
Chisholm ’72: Unbought and Unbossed
Made in Dagenham
The Lady
The Contender
Mrs. Mandela
Election
Game Change
W.
The Kennedys
14 Women
Frontrunner: The Afghan Woman who Surprised the World
l’Etat de Grace
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
Political Animals

As a reminder, these are a few basic guidelines for guest writers on our site:

–We like most of our pieces to be 1,000 – 2,000 words, preferably with some images and links.

–Please send your piece in the text of an email, including links to all images, no later than Friday, November 23rd.
–Include a 2-3 sentence bio for placement at the end of your piece.

Email us at btchflcks(at)gmail(dot)com if you’d like to contribute a review. We accept original pieces or cross-posts.

Submit away! 

Call for Writers: Women in Horror Films

Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween

Last year’s Horror Week was so awesome that we’re doing it again this year!

Confession: I love horror films. Sometimes I endlessly scroll through Netflix in search of the film that will most scare the shit out of me. Of course, many horror films subject their women characters to endless torture, brutal deaths (usually as punishment for engaging in sexual relationships with men), and gratuitous nudity as they inevitably fall seventeen times while running from the Almost Always Male killer. I struggle to reconcile the sexism-induced rage I often experience while watching horror films–especially with this recent eruption of the “torture porn” genre–with my need to get the shit scared out of me. (You can play The Never-Ending Story on repeat only so many times before The Nothing starts ruining your life For Real.) We can’t, however, ignore Carol J. Clover’s Final Girl theory. She argues in her book Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film, that horror films are actually obsessed with feminism in that they force male viewers to identify with the Final Girl, the lone girl who doesn’t die, who gets her shit together, who kills the killer (or at least escapes him). I can think of several Final Girl films off the top of my head: Halloween, Scream, Friday the 13th, and many more exist. Others believe Clover’s theory doesn’t hold up, arguing that the Final Girl theory excuses the audience’s sadism.

Well, Bitch Flicks is interested in reading your perspectives on women in horror films. We’ve compiled a list of women-centered horror-esque flicks from last year’s theme week for your perusal (see below). Note that “women-centered” doesn’t necessarily mean “feminist,” and the film you choose might in fact be anti-feminist; but as for guidelines, reviews should be from a feminist perspective (and you can certainly choose not to discuss the Final Girl theory in your review).  

Feel free to take a look at last year’s reviews for some ideas:

Sleepaway Camp by Carrie Nelson

The Silence of the Lambs by Jeff Vorndam

The Sexiness of Slaughter: The Sexualization of Women in Slasher Films by Cali Loria

Amanda Young, Gender Erasure, and Saw’s Unexpected Pro-Woman Attitude by Elizabeth Ray

Hellraiser by Tatiana Christian

Drag Me To Hell by Stephanie Rogers

The Blair Witch Project by Alex DeBonis

The Descent by Robin Hitchcock

The Madwoman’s Journey from the Attic into the Television – The Female Gothic Novel and its Influence on Modern Horror Films by Sobia

Let This Feminist Vampire In by Natalie Wilson

House of 1000 Corpses by Dierdre Crimmins

A Feminist Reading of The Ring by Sobia

Ellen Ripley, A Feminist Film Icon, Battles Horrifying Aliens…And Patriarchy by Megan Kearns

Rosemary’s Baby: Marriage Can Be Terrifying by Stephanie Brown

As a reminder, these are a few basic guidelines for guest writers on our site: 
>–We like most of our pieces to be 1,000 – 2,000 words, preferably with some images and links.
>–Please send your piece in the text of an email, including links to all images, no later than Friday, October 19th.
>–Include a 2-3 sentence bio for placement at the end of your piece. 

Call for Writers: Women and Gender in Musicals

Here at Bitch Flicks, we love watching all types of movies. And that includes musicals. Hell, some of us even call ourselves musical geeks, that’s how much we love them! So this month we’re hosting a Women and Gender in Musicals Theme Week. 
Sure it might seem strange (or awesome!) that characters spontaneously belt out a song or break into a choreographed dance routine. But music transcends boundaries. Evoking nostalgia, they remind many of us of the animated films from our childhoods. Sometimes songs convey a more impactful message lyrically than mere prose ever could. They illicit and express a spectrum of emotions: searing pain, indomitable hope, budding love, roaring anger, jovial humor, the disillusion of dreams, unrequited passion, burning desire, driving ambition, sheer joy. 
Musicals also tackle social issues such as race, class, war, HIV/AIDS, poverty, teen angst and sexuality. And yes, feminist themes emerge too. So how do musical films depict women and gender? How are female characters portrayed? Does it promote gender equality or purport sexism? What about female friendship?
Here are some ideas of musicals to write about but please feel free to propose your own ideas too: 
West Side Story
Dreamgirls
Rent 
Funny Girl
Mamma Mia 
My Fair Lady 
Grease 
The Sound of Music 
Singing in the Rain 
Hairspray 
Meet Me in St. Louis 
Hedwig and the Angry Inch 
The Wiz 
Once
Chicago
Evita 
Pocahontas 
Moulin Rouge 
Rock of Ages 
Dancer in the Dark
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog 
Oklahoma
As a reminder, these are a few basic guidelines for guest writers on our site: 
>–We like most of our pieces to be 1,000 – 2,000 words, preferably with some images and links.
>–Please send your piece in the text of an email, including links to all images, no later than Friday, September 21st.
>–Include a 2-3 sentence bio for placement at the end of your piece.
Email us at btchflcks(at)gmail(dot)com if you’d like to contribute a review. We accept original pieces or cross-posts.
Submit away!
 

Reminder: Buffy Theme Week Deadline — Friday at Midnight!

Cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Hi everyone,
This is just a quick reminder to let you know the deadline for receiving pieces for our Buffy theme week is this Friday. Check out our Call for Writers, and see below for guidelines:

–We like most of our pieces to be 1,000 – 2,000 words, preferably with some images and links.

 
–Please send your piece in the text of an email, including links to all images, no later than Friday, August 24th.
 
–Include a 2-3 sentence bio for placement at the end of your piece.

Email us at btchflcks(at)gmail(dot)com if you’d like to contribute a review. We accept original pieces or cross-posts.

Submit away!
 
 
 

Call for Writers: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Theme Week

That’s right. August is Buffy Theme Week OMFG!!!! This topic is so freakin’ wide open I don’t even know what to say. 

Buffy (the TV show specifically) has given rise to such amazingness as Buffy Studies courses in college, academic and pop culture conferences, and the online academic journal: Slayage: The Journal of the Whedon Studies Association. And let’s not forget the ever-popular Joss Whedon weblog Whedonesque. 
So … is Buffy feminist? Anti-feminist? How are women of color treated? How are lesbian relationships treated? How is rape treated? How is violence against women treated? What about mothers and motherhood? Does Buffy hold up as a feminist hero in 2012 (if you ever believed she was one)? So much etcetera.
We want to know! TELL US.

As a reminder, these are a few basic guidelines for guest writers on our site:

–We like most of our pieces to be 1,000 – 2,000 words, preferably with some images and links.
–Please send your piece in the text of an email, including links to all images, no later than Friday, August 24th.
–Include a 2-3 sentence bio for placement at the end of your piece.
Email us at btchflcks(at)gmail(dot)com if you’d like to contribute a review. We accept original pieces or cross-posts.

Submit away!

Call for Writers: Women in Science Fiction

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 TV these days. Of course, that isn’t always the case, and we’re interested in your take on those films and television shows as well. I’ll link to some Web sites that list possibilities for TV/movies to review, and you can also read the following reviews of films we’ve written about here. Please share this Call for Writers widely! Our last several theme weeks have been such a tremendous success, and we welcome contributions (and cross posts!) from both past and new writers for us! The details about deadlines and other requirements follow as well.
Alien/Aliens by Megan Kearns
Prometheus by Rachel Redfern
Avatar by Elizabeth Tiller
District 9 by Sarah Domet
Prometheus by Megan Kearns
Source Code by Markgraf
Avatar by Nine Deuce
Sucker Punch by Tami Winfrey Harris
Battlestar Galactica by Leigh Kolb
———-
———-
These are a few basic guidelines for guest writers on our site:

–We like most of our pieces to be 1,000 – 2,000 words, preferably with some images and links.
–Please send your piece in the text of an email, including links to all images, no later than Friday, July 20.
–Include a 2-3 sentence bio for placement at the end of your piece.

Email us at btchflcks(at)gmail(dot)com if you’d like to contribute a review. We accept original pieces or cross-posts.

Submit away!

 
 

Call for Writers: LGBTQI Representations in Film and Television

It’s that time again!

This is a wide-open theme, and we welcome all proposals that examine LGBTQI themes in film and television, however one chooses to interpret it; there are, after all, no strict definitions. You can find a slew of lists online that might give you some ideas on where to start, and I’ll link to a few here:

Greatest Lesbian Movies

List of Television Programs with LGBT Characters

Lesbian Film Review

The Big Queer Movie List

List of Transgender Characters in Film and Television

———-

These are a few basic guidelines for guest writers on our site:

–We like most of our pieces to be 1,000 – 2,000 words, preferably with some images and links.
–Please send your piece in the text of an email, including links to all images, no later than Friday, June 22nd.
–Include a 2-3 sentence bio for placement at the end of your piece.

Email us at btchflcks(at)gmail(dot)com if you’d like to contribute a review. We accept original pieces or cross-posts.

Submit away!

Call for Writers: Motherhood in Film and Television

We decided that, in honor of Mother’s Day, May would be the perfect month for our Motherhood in Film and Television series. Many films and television shows don’t do a great job of portraying mothers; they’re often shown as either entirely absent from their children’s lives or completely overbearing nurturers–an example of what we like to call (s)mother love. But some films and television shows manage to convey the complicated experiences of motherhood by creating three-dimensional characters who connect with their children in complex ways. 
We want reviews of films and television shows that both positively and negatively capture motherhood. We want to explore what it means to be a mother, including how step-mothers, foster parents, single mothers, gay and lesbian parents, primary caretakers, women-run households, etc, fit into definitions of “motherhood.” We welcome critiques of downright awful illustrations of mothers (Monster-in-Law, anyone?) as well as praise for more nuanced examinations of mothers (as in Pieces of April–one of my personal favorites). We want to see representations of motherhood in different cultures and how the rules of what it means to be a “good” or “bad” mother may vary.
Our culture in particular obsesses over mothers. We sexualize them: MILFs. We chastise them: no breastfeeding in public! We ogle them: celebrity baby bumps, for instance. And we blame them for pretty much everything: check out Katha Pollitt’s piece “Wisconsin GOP Legislators Go After Single Mothers” for a recent example of this horrifying conservative (gasp!) phenomenon.
In short, this is a wide-open theme, and we welcome all proposals that examine motherhood in film and television, however one chooses to interpret it; there are, after all, no strict definitions. You can find a slew of lists online that might give you some ideas on where to start, and I’ll link to a few here:

Here are a few basic guidelines for guest writers on our site:
–We like most of our pieces to be 1,000 – 2,000 words, preferably with some images and links.
–Please send your piece in the text of an email, including links to all images, no later than Friday, May 18th.
 
–Include a 2-3 sentence bio for placement at the end of your piece.
Email us at btchflcks(at)gmail(dot)com if you’d like to contribute a review. We accept original pieces or cross-posts.

Submit away!

Call for Writers: Reproduction and Abortion in Film and Television

In the United States we are experiencing unprecedented attacks on reproductive rights, with record numbers of bills introduced in states in 2011 and already in 2012 that restrict access to abortion. A major national debate revolving around female contraception and whether or not it constitutes “preventative care,” and whether employers and insurance companies should be required to cover things like birth control pills and IUDs, is raging. While this is a brief overview of the issue, one thing is clear: rights that U.S. women won in the 1970s are once again under attack.
Anyone who cares about media knows that it reflects and shapes our values and opinions. For some time at Bitch Flicks we’ve wanted to focus specifically on how reproductive issues and abortion are represented in movies and television shows. A moment like the infamous “schmamortion” scene in Knocked Up–when a character can’t even speak the word “abortion”–says that Hollywood isn’t helping the reproductive rights cause. However, you can contrast that with the strikingly honest and realistic take on abortion represented in the television show Friday Night Lights. But there are always more than two sides to the story, and we’d like to explore as many as we possibly can.
Here are some ideas for films and television shows to write about, but please propose your own ideas. Your piece should (in case it’s not obvious) focus on how the film/TV show treats the issues surrounding reproduction. (Note: We’re not looking for pieces specifically about motherhood; that’s an upcoming theme we’ll announce.)
Friday Night Lights
Vera Drake
Roseanne
Knocked Up
Juno (we’ve already published a review, but will accept a piece looking specifically at Juno’s choice)
House
American Dreams
Mad Men
Grey’s Anatomy
Waitress
American Horror Story
Obvious Child
Six Feet Under
If These Walls Could Talk
Dirty Dancing
Maude
The Cider House Rules
Greenberg
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Degrassi
American Horror Story
Battlestar Gallactica
Mother and Child
The High Cost of Living

…and the list goes on

Here are a few basic guidelines for guest writers on our site:
–We like most of our pieces to be 1,000 – 2,000 words, preferably with some images and links. 
–Please send your piece in the text of an email, including links to all images, no later than Friday, April 20th.
–Include a 2-3 sentence bio for placement at the end of your piece.
Email us at btchflcks(at)gmail(dot)com if you’d like to contribute a review. We accept original pieces or cross-posts.

Submit away!

Call for Writers: Biopics/Documentaries About Women

March is Women’s History Month. In honor of that, we’ve decided to feature reviews of biopics and documentaries about women. Many biopics about women tend to focus on their relationships and love lives exclusively, in a way that biopics about men usually don’t. So, we’d love to read reviews that praise these films, but feel free to write about biopics and documentaries that seriously fail the women being depicted. (Check out Gabriella Acipella’s analysis of the Margaret Thatcher and Marilyn Monroe films for an example of this.) There are currently TWO Linda Lovelace biopics in the works, yet we rarely see biopics or documentaries about women who changed lives (and cultures) … and there are plenty of women who did.

Here’s a very, very brief list of biopics–many of which are terrible, ha, and include lots of singers and entertainers–to think about, but please propose your own ideas for film reviews–including reviews of documentaries about women, too.

Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen

Meryl Streep as Julia Child in Julie & Julia

Angela Bassett as Tina Turner in What’s Love Got to Do With It?

Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich in Erin Brockovich

Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose

Reese Witherspoon as June Carter Cash in Walk the Line

Diana Ross as Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues

Angelina Jolie as Gia Carangi in Gia

Faye Dunaway as Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde

Jennifer Lopez as Selena in Selena

Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner’s Daughter

Charlize Theron as Aileen Wuornos in Monster

Halle Berry as Dorothy Dandridge in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge

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Here are a few basic guidelines for guest writers on our site:

–We like most of our pieces to be 1,000 – 2,000 words, preferably with some images and links.
–Please send your piece in the text of an email, including links to all images, no later than Friday, March 23rd.
–Include a 2-3 sentence bio for placement at the end of your piece.

Email us at btchflcks(at)gmail(dot)com if you’d like to contribute a review. We accept original pieces or cross-posts.

Call for Writers: Animated Children’s Films

Red from Hoodwinked Too
Yesterday, I wrote a blog post about watching my niece Chloe play with her Baby Alive doll. That led to a quote from an essay about children and gender-typing and how toys teach antiquated gender roles to both girls and boys. But you know what else teaches antiquated gender roles? Children’s movies. The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media “is the only research-based organization working within the media and entertainment industry to engage, educate, and influence the need for gender balance, reducing stereotyping and creating a wide variety of female characters for entertainment targeting children 11 and under.” The Institute’s extensive research shows that many animated films portray girls and women in negative ways (over-sexualizing young girls, for instance), while others don’t even bother including women and girl characters, especially as leads (see every Pixar movie ever made). However, some animated films must exist that impact girls and boys in positive ways, right? Well, we welcome your reviews–whether they praise or scathe the films! (We’d like to discourage reviews of films that we’ve already reviewed at Bitch Flicks, but please browse them to get an idea of what we’re looking for: Fantastic Mr. Fox, Howl’s Moving Castle, Tangled, Toy Story 3, Up, WALL-E.)

Email us at btchflcks(at)gmail(dot)com if you’d like to contribute a review. We accept original pieces or cross-posts. The DEADLINE for us to receive your finished review is Wednesday, November 23rd.
Some of our film suggestions include (but are definitely not limited to) the following:
Toy Story (1 and 2)
Finding Nemo
The Lion King
The Incredibles
Monsters, Inc.
Beauty and the Beast
A Bug’s Life
Ratatouille
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Aladdin
How to Train Your Dragon
Kung Fu Panda
The Little Mermaid
Ice Age
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Fantasia
Coraline
Pinocchio
Cars
Despicable Me
The Jungle Book
Bambi
Shrek
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Dumbo
Cinderella
Alice in Wonderland
Peter Pan
A Bug’s Life
The Land Before Time
The Iron Giant
101 Dalmations
The Secret of NIMH
Mulan
Mulan II
Corpse Bride
Sleeping Beauty
The Sword in the Stone
An American Tail
Wallace & Gromit
Madagascar
The Fox and the Hound
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Kiki’s Delivery Service
Ponyo
Charlotte’s Web
Prince of Egypt
Ice Age
Megamind
Meet the Robinsons
Rango
Bolt
The Princess and the Frog
Monster House
Mars Needs Moms
Alpha and Omega
Lilo & Stitch 
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hercules
Chicken Run
Monsters vs. Aliens
Anastasia
The Polar Express
Antz
Rio
The Aristocats
Flushed Away
James and the Giant Peach
Bee Movie
Pocahontas
Robots
Happy Feet
Open Season
Gnomeo and Juliet
Hoodwinked 
Ferngully
Astro Boy
The Tale of Despereaux
Dinosaur
Thumbelina
The Swan Princess
The Ant Bully
Alvin and the Chipmunks
The Wild
Tokyo Godfathers
Rock-a-Doodle
Spirited Away

YOU GET THE IDEA. :-)