Bitch Flicks’ Weekly Picks

Amber‘s Picks:

Hollywood’s Year of Heroine Worship by A.O. Scott via The New York Times

Oscars and casting: Hollywood insiders discuss diversity by Solvej Schou via Entertainment Weekly

30 Lessons We Learned From Amy Poehler in 2012 by Krutika Mallikarjuna via Buzzfeed

Megan‘s Picks:

7 Ways Women and Girls are Sexualized, Stereotyped and Underrepresented On Screen by Dana Liebelson and Asawin Suebsaeng via Mother Jones

“There Is an Audience for Our Films”: Four African-American Female Filmmakers Speak Out by Lorenza Munoz via The Daily Beast

Surprise! Attempted Rape Scene in Episode of ‘The Walking Dead’  by Tizzy Giordano via Fem2pt0

TedX Women Talk about Online Harassment and Cyber Mobs by Anita Sarkeesian via Feminist Frequency

Is Historical Accuracy a Good Defense of Patriarchal Societies in Fantasy Fiction? by Dan Wohl via The Mary Sue

Google Grants $1.2M to Help Analyze Female Roles in TV, Film by Angela Watercutter via Wired 

Hollywood’s Power 100 Mingle at THR’s Women in Entertainment Breakfast by Sophie A. Schillaci via The Hollywood Reporter

The Divine, Difficult Women of ‘Treme’ and David Simon’s Female Characters by Alyssa Rosenberg via ThinkProgress

Dreamworks Animation Is Proud of Having an 85%  Female Group of Producers by Susana Polo via The Mary Sue

Sexist Quote of the Day by Bret Easton Ellis Melissa Silverstein via Women and Hollywood

What have you read (or written) this week that you’d like to share?

Oscar Hosts Preferable to Seth MacFarlane: An Abbreviated List

Seth MacFarlane, unpleasant person and recently-announced host of the 85th Annual Academy Awards 
Seth MacFarlane has been tapped to host the 85th Annual Academy Awards next February.  MacFarlane is the creator of The Family Guy and several other animated television programs (American Dad, The Cleveland Show) known for their blatant hostility toward women, people of color, the LGBTQ community, and the basic tenets of comedic storytelling.  MacFarlane’s first motion picture, Ted, was a box office hit last summer.  He can sing and do funny voices and he looks pretty good in a tux.  The producers of the Academy Awards ceremony are hoping he can bring in his lucrative young male demographic to boost the declining ratings for the Oscars telecast.  [And I guess they already forgot about that whole debacle with Brett Ratner and Eddie Murphy last year.]
While it’s possible MacFarlane as host will bring in droves of 18-year-old boys to watch montages celebrating old movies they’ve never heard of interspersed with awards being granted to movies they’ll never watch, the Academy Awards have alienated at least one lifelong die-hard Oscars fanatic: me.  
It’s hard for me to think of someone I’d be less excited about seeing host the Oscars than Seth MacFarlane.  Instead, I humbly present an abbreviated list of potential Oscar hosts I think would do a better job:
1. Miley Cyrus

2. Billy Ray Cyrus
3. James Franco in a wig made from Anne Hathaway’s Les Mis chop
4. Tom Brokaw after half an Ambien
5. A brigade of mimes from Cirque du Soleil
6. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon [The 90s are BACK, people!]
7. On that note, how about reuniting the dynamic duo of the 1994 Oscars:

Oprah. Uma.
8. The Oogieloves
9. Anne Curry
10. One of the lesser Kardashians
11. A fully-articlated Oscar statuette, played by Andy Serkis in mo-cap, IN 3D
12. The Romney Sons
13. The cast of The Avengers dressed as the “Let’s All Go to the Lobby” snacks
Sam Jackson can play the popcorn.
14. The cast of Magic Mike in fat suits, because LULZ 
15. Jennifer Aniston handcuffed to Angelina Jolie
16. Suri Cruise with a Speak & Spell
17. Mrs. Knerr, my first grade teacher
18. This guy:
That blue bodybuilder dude from Prometheus
19. The reanimated corpse of Bob Hope
20. The reanimated corpse of [insert non-dead previous host, but not Billy Crystal, I like him]
21. Clint Eastwood, live via satellite from an empty furniture store
22. The Fandango lunch bag puppets
23. Daniel Day-Lewis in character as Lincoln and Bill Murray in character as FDR
24. The last five hosts of the Sci-Tech awards, mud wrestling
25. Jay Leno. I mean it: Jay. Leno. I would rather watch Jay Leno host the Oscars than Seth MacFarlane. Let that sink in. Think about what that means. Jay Leno would be better. Did you ever think those words would appear on the internet? Well there they are, and they are true.
    Robin Hitchcock is an American writer living in Cape Town, South Africa. Her actual proposed Oscar host is Paul Rudd.

    ‘The Girls on Film’ Project Challenges Viewers’ Expectations

    Here at Bitch Flicks, we discuss at length the under-representation (and often problematic representation) of women in media. In 2011, 11 percent of protagonists in the top 100 domestic grossing films were female (down from 16 percent in 2002). In contrast, women make up more than 50 percent of the population in the United States.
    Toronto filmmakers Ashleigh Harrington and Jeff Hammond’s “The Girls on Film” project was inspired by an acting class the two took together. In an interview, Harrington says that their instructor would sometimes give male parts to female acting students as an acting exercise, and they decided they wanted to do something with that concept. Hammond adds that their goal is “entertainment” and to “stir up some questions” about gender in film. 
    Ashleigh Harrington and Jeff Hammond, the duo behind “The Girls on Film”
    They note that it seems natural to act in and watch these ultra-masculine scenes with women playing the men’s roles (although Hammond says that while it works with women playing men’s roles, when men play feminine characters often the result is “comedy”). Of course, this reinforces the notion that female characters are often marginalized, and the masculine–the lead–is what we aspire to be.
    Harrington, left, as Tyler Durden and Cat McCormick as the narrator in Fight Club
    So far, the two have produced scenes from Fight Club, The Town, No Country for Old Men, Star Trek, Twilight and Drive. The Fight Club (no, not Jane Austen Fight Club) and Drive scenes are particularly powerful in the fact that they aren’t spectacularly jarring. Instead, they seem organic, like women belong in those roles.
    Laura Miyata as Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men
    In a piece at The Guardian, Mathilda Gregory favorably reviews the project and analyzes what it is that we as audiences want and need:

    “‘The Girls on Film’ project also raises a more subtle point. Do we need more films about what is      typically seen as ‘female’, or do we just need to relax more about which roles women can play? What is most astonishing about these gender-switched scenes is how well they work. … I quickly forget I was watching anything other than a scene from a movie.”
    The fact that we can forget we’re watching “anything other than a scene from a movie” would suggest that the answer to Gregory’s question is a resounding both
    Comparisons of the originals and their remakes

    Hammond speculates what it might be like if Hollywood remade classics like Back to the Future with a female lead. Perhaps instead of regurgitating remakes ad nauseum, that could be one way to refresh old stories. (Ridley Scott–who has provided audiences with noteworthy female leads–has already said that the Blade Runner sequel will have a female protagonist.) While the answer to our female protagonist woes certainly isn’t recycling men’s stories and casting women in historically masculine roles, “The Girls on Film” provides an interesting and meaningful perspective into what it would look like if we allowed and expected women to have leading, “powerful” roles.

    The possibilities could be endless.



    Leigh Kolb is a composition, literature and journalism instructor at a community college in rural Missouri. 

    2012 Oscar Nominations Roundup

    The Oscars air this Sunday night on ABC.

    Thanks to all who contributed reviews of this year’s Academy Award nominees!

    Best Picture:
    The Descendants reviewed by Stephanie Brown
    Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close reviewed by Jennifer Kiefer
    The Help reviewed by elle
    Hugo reviewed by Scott Mendelson
    Midnight in Paris reviewed by Megan Kearns
    Moneyball reviewed by Robin Hitchcock
    The Tree of Life reviewed by Lesley Jenike
    Best Documentary:
    Hell and Back Again
    If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
    Pina reviewed by Ren Jender
    Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
    Undefeated

    Best Actress:
    Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs
    Viola Davis in The Help
    Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady reviewed by Gabriella Apicella
    Michelle Williams in My Week With Marilyn reviewed by Danielle Winston
    Best Supporting Actress:
    Berenice Bejo in The Artist reviewed by Candice Frederick
    Jessica Chastain in The Help
    Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids reviewed by Janyce Denise Glasper
    Janet McTeer in Albert Nobbs
    Octavia Spencer in The Help

    Best Original Screenplay:
    The Artist
    Bridesmaids
    Margin Call reviewed by Jessica Pieklo
    Midnight in Paris
    A Separation

    Best Adapted Screenplay:
    The Descendants
    Hugo
    The Ides of March
    Moneyball
    Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

    Be sure to join us on Twitter during the Oscars!

    Bitch Flicks’ Weekly Picks

    Stephanie’s Picks:

    Sundance, Women In Film Promote Female Filmmakers from Boston.com

    Naomi Watts, Judi Dench–The Women of J. Edgar from ClickTheCity.com

    The Rise of the Female-Led Action Film from The Atlantic

    The Bigger Picture: What Happens When We Find “The Line” as Viewers? from HitFix.com [Trigger Warning for discussion of rape]

    Top Ten Kickass Movie Women from Time

    Amber’s Picks:

    Five Female-Directed Films that Deserved Oscar Nominations from Canonball

    Bridesmaids‘ Melissa McCarthy: Hilarious Performance, Not Oscar Worthy from Time

    It’s a Good Time to Be a Black Woman, Except on TV from Jezebel

    I Write Letters: Dear Parks and Recreation from Shakesville

    Three Women Red Tails Left Out from The Root

    Megan‘s Picks:

    The Oscar Noms: It Sucks To Be a Female Filmmaker Part 2 from Women and Hollywood

    What Bigelow Effect? The Number of Women Directors in Hollywood Falls to 5 Percent from Women and Hollywood

    5 Black Actresses Who Deserve an Oscar from Clutch Magazine 

    What Charlize Theron Doesn’t Get About Black Hollywood from The Daily Beast

    What have you been reading–or writing–this week? Leave your links in the comments!

    2012 Oscar Nominations

     

    I just watched the live announcement of the Oscar nominations. My only thoughts right now are 1) Where the hell is Tilda Swinton’s nomination for We Need to Talk About Kevin? 2) Did Woody Allen’s piece of shit film Midnight in Paris seriously get a best picture nomination? 3) Yay Melissa McCarthy! 4) The Help? Really? 5) Did Hollywood miraculously get more racist this year?

    Best Picture

    • The Artist
    • The Descendants
    • Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
    • The Help
    • Hugo
    • Midnight in Paris
    • Moneyball
    • The Tree of Life
    • War Horse

    Best Actress

    Best Supporting Actress

    Best Actor

    • Demian Bichir, A Better Life
    • George Clooney, The Descendants
    • Jean Dujardin, The Artist
    • Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
    • Brad Pitt, Moneyball

    Best Supporting Actor

    • Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
    • Jonah Hill, Moneyball
    • Nick Nolte, Warrior
    • Christopher Plummer, Beginners
    • Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

    Best Director

    • Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
    • Alexander Payne, The Descendants
    • Martin Scorsese, Hugo
    • Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
    • Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life


    You can view the rest of the nominations as a PDF or on the Web site for the Academy Awards.

    Bitch Flicks’ Weekly Picks

    Between the Personal and the Political: The Lawyer, Her Boss and Their Investigator from in media res

    For Your Consideration: 13 Underdog Actresses that Deserve Oscar’s Attention this Year from indieWire

    Feminist Ryan Gosling (even though you’ve all seen it, right?)

    Lifetime to Remake ‘Steel Magnolias’ with All-Black Cast from Deadline Hollywood

    Bringing Up Baby: Childbirth as Male Bonding Experience from Bitch

    Report: Reality TV Encourages “Mean Girl” Behavior in Teens from Deadline

    You Are Not Alone: Black Male Feminists in Action from Clutch

    Young Girls’ T-Shirt Inventory Isn’t Looking Good from Jezebel

    Leave your links in the comments!