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Why your friend doesn't want to be Miranda from SATC, but they should.

Me: You’re totally Miranda!!

Friend: …..ugh.

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No one can deny that Sex and the City was a groundbreaking show for its time, specifically for powerful women who love having sex. Television rarely depicts the experience of women having sex, much less depict it at all accurately. Sex and the City was literally THE first time I saw women talking about their own sex lives with other women. Orgasms, fetishes, threesomes, impotence — you name it they were talking about it. This was inspiring to me because I LOVE sex and I LOVE talking about sex.

Recently I just went through a HUGE sex and the city phase — which of COURSE means I watched the show twice. ….back to back. I then proceeded to drag everyone around me into conversations concerning the show’s characters, plots, and sexual situations. This means discussions concerning the best episodes, the worst guys, the most relatable situations and lastly on what characters we were most like. After a while, I noticed that almost everyone who got pegged as a Miranda was usually disappointed. But why?

Miranda is without a doubt the most successful character on the show and SHOULD be the character we all aspire to be. Miranda went to Harvard Law School, became a law partner at her firm before the age of 35, bought her own apartment in the upper west side without any help, is a full-time mom while working her dream career, and still maintains a social life with her best gals. Literally she is living the dream! So why would my friend be disappointed when I said he was like Miranda?

My friend did try to explain himself and give valid reasons for not wanting to be Miranda. Miranda can be extremely negative and pessimistic compared to the other three characters. Her sex life definitely isn’t as consistent as Samantha and men aren’t throwing themselves into ridiculous impractical situations for her like they do Carrie. However, Miranda voices her opinions without fear, stands up for her friends no matter what the situation, and is unapologetically herself all the time. Oh, AND she still has crazy amounts of great sex that ends with starting a life with her soulmate. So why wouldn’t someone want to be a Miranda?

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The simplest answer is, powerful women who are vocal about their needs are often seen as bossy, rude, and controversial. Miranda has a great quote in Season 1 Episode 10 where she says “The witch in Hansel & Gretel is very misunderstood. I mean the woman builds her dream house and these brats come along and start eating it!” This quote translates to Miranda’s whole character — she’s a powerful woman and doesn’t want anything or anyone interrupting her incredible life. Why should that be a bad thing? Miranda actually a lot of similar qualities to Mr. Big. But Mr. Big is considered a smooth player, while Miranda is pegged as a negative snob.

Telling your friend they’re most like Miranda is literally like saying they’re in the Hufflepuff house at Hogwarts. They’re outwardly disappointed by your decision. However this should NOT be the case folks!!! I truly think if Sex and the City aired on television today, Miranda would be more popular than Carrie. She is the most relatable character on the show by a long shot. She never apologized for what she wanted, she wasn’t ashamed of her eating habits, she was the most realistic when it came to love, she was always there for her friends, she enjoyed talking about things other than men and she didn’t have to wear luxury designer clothes every second. Her feminist, no bullshit, take what you deserve attitude is something that all women should aspire to have. Honestly, we’d all be lucky to be Hufflepuffs and we’d all be blessed to be a Miranda.

Friday 01.08.21
Posted by Cait Schmitz
 

CAOS! The ending no one deserved.

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On December 31st, 2020 the final season of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (CAOS) was released to the public on Netflix. The show-runners announced in July that the show had not been renewed for a fifth season and that this was going to be the end of CAOS. Of course, as an avid fan of these fabulous teenage witches and warlocks, I was pretty disappointed by this news. However, four seasons is a good run and I like it when shows end on a high point, rather than dragging out every last mediocre second. So naturally, my best friend and I sat down on New Years EXTREMELY excited to watch the final season of Sabrina!

The season three finale of CAOS left the audience on a pretty big cliffhanger because Sabrina had decided not to complete a universe threatening time loop and instead let both her two selves live. One ruling as queen in Hell and the other just living a normal life as a teenage witch. Obviously, this set up complete chaos, as anyone who’s ever watched a show with a time loop knows you MUST complete it or a paradox is created. I thought this was a solid ending because now there are two incredible worlds that the writers built (Hell & Earth) and I was thrilled to see how they intertwined in this final season. They even had two INCREDIBLE villains that had been built up over the past three seasons: The Dark Lord Satan and Father Blackwood. I thought, even if it’s not perfect it can’t be too bad because seasons 1-3 of Sabrina have incredible character development, well thought out plots, and wonderfully evil villains. However, this is NOT the case with season 4.

Season four of Sabrina feels like the writers forgot they had to write an entirely new season and scrambled to write it all in 24 hours. It’s as if they got rid of the original Sabrina writers, threw the responsibility to the Riverdale writers, and said, “Have fun!”. Disappointing doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt and I am truly shocked by how awful the ending was. The last season had MANY issues, from small things like the uselessness of Sabrina’s mortal friends to enormous errors like making Roz a witch and completely disregarding the original basis of her character. Anyways, as I said there were many bad choices made, but the three main problems I had with season 4 are:

  1. NO development for characters or plot

  2. Villain choices??? Where was my Satan/Lilith power team???

  3. The ending….LITERALLY NO CLOSURE

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My biggest problem with the season overall was the lack of development for almost every single character and plotline. There was WAY too much going on. As soon as a storyline began, another one was introduced. It was almost like each character was being controlled by dice and their decisions were just random acts of fate. The lack of planning concerning the plot was absolutely ATROCIOUS. The sheer number of subplots that were thrown in at inopportune times was hard to fathom. There are literally scenes that have no contribution to the plot or the characters and are seemingly just thrown in an attempt to be progressive or push agendas for two minutes. One scene in particular that irritated me was when Roz randomly starts talking about how their school doesn’t teach sex education. Great thought Roz! ….but the characters literally never mention sex education again for the entire rest of the season….so what was the point? I’m literally the most sex-positive person you could meet and I HATED that scene because it felt pointless. CAOS is one of the most progressive and outwardly feminist shows on television right now, so why did the writers feel the need to throw in poorly developed scenes like this? Another plot that seemed to be taking off, but then after two scenes, was never brought up again, was Sabrina and Roz’s co-presidency of Baxter High. We literally see them doing something for the school one time, and it’s just to collect a broken telescope that Ambrose uses to see another universe coming at them. ….. I’m sorry — Ambrose doesn’t have a telescope? You’re telling me that if Sabrina and Roz hadn’t become co-presidents and hadn’t collected that broken telescope from that random kid, that they wouldn’t have noticed another universe barreling towards them????

So many incredible plotlines were thrown aside during this season to make way for absolutely terrible ones. Prudence’s story of overcoming adversity and childhood trauma, was reduced only to her need for revenge. Lilith’s entire story arc and plot — GONE. Satan’s entire story arc and plot — GONE. Basically, all of Hell in its entirety was just thrown aside, even though it really felt like that is what the show was building to for its first three seasons.

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This point leads me to my second biggest problem with this season, which was the lack of a threatening villain. This is INSANE because the first THREE seasons of Sabrina were all about building up the horrifying and undying power held by Satan. In the first season, Sabrina couldn’t even refuse to steal a pack of gum for Satan. He quite literally held all their power and could literally take it away at any second, leaving them helpless. However, again the writers seemed to have thrown out this character development without any thought. Even Blackwood was a great villain who you hated so much that you wanted the witches and warlocks to overcome and defeat by any means. But I guess the writers decided to throw all that out the window this season and instead give us the Eldritch Terrors. There are eight and each is as boring and unthreatening as the last. This all due to the lack of development for these characters. Each episode is a different terror that (usually) comes in the form of some sort of people or beings. However, I don’t care about these villains. I just met them and don’t have any attachment to whether they live or die. All I know is that there are eight, so all the characters are probably going to live until the eighth one anyway, so no need to feel any suspense until the final episode. The terrors were also pretty sympathetic at times; for instance, the uninvited I honestly felt extremely bad for when they tricked and trapped him. It felt like they were just fighting the wrong battles throughout this season. The feminist power that the first three seasons had is gone and now instead of fighting against society, they’re just fighting useless, seemingly harmless, monsters. The best episode of the season was probably the one where Blackwood wishes on the imp and becomes a Hitler like ruler of Greendale. That in itself could have been an entire season, but thanks to bad writing it was just a below-average, mediocre episode.

I will give the writers some credit though — I truly think the lack of interest I had for these Eldritch Terrors comes from my INTENSE interest in Satan. The character development for Satan and the writing behind his scenes are absolutely incredible. The dynamic between Satan and Lilith is remarkable and their relationship is fascinating. Season four of CAOS reduces their relationship to mere seconds of screentime and we barely get any closure on the endpoint of their characters. Both Satan’s powers and story arc, as well as Lilith’s, are completely thrown aside and dismissed to make way for the horribly boring Eldritch Terrors. Sure Satan’s a sadistic monster, but the audience is still half rooting for him to succeed and rule hell with Lilith by his side. So that begs the question…. WHY would they COMPLETELY disregard his character in the last season??? The audience response to Satan’s character was overwhelmingly positive (almost too good), so it obviously wasn’t a question of popularity. There was still so much there to unpack and the universe of Hell was incredibly intriguing. I guess we’ll never know.

My third biggest problem with the final season was the ATROCIOUS ending they gave us in episode eight. First of all, I didn’t even realize it was the last episode of the season until halfway through, because the finale felt like a midseason, loosely brought together plotline. The finale episode ended leaving SO many questions left unanswered and left me feeling extremely confused. There was also almost no closure for any character, even Sabrina who we probably see the most of. What happens to Harvey, Roz and Theo? How do they cope with Sabrina’s death? What happens to the Academy? Did Lilith really take Satan’s power away with one stab of a knife? And if so… WHY DIDN’T SHE DO IT EARLIER??? BEFORE SHE SACRIFICED HER CHILD??? This conclusion for Satan and Lilith makes absolutely no sense if you take into account the previous three seasons and is utterly unsatifying.

Another major issue I have with this ending is that Sabrina has survived far worse perils than what she was up against in the season four finale and has survived almost effortlessly everytime. However, when Sabrina dies on that stone, everyone just accepts the fact that it happened and it’s over (even Sabrina), which is straying SO far from what any of these characters have done in previous episodes. When Hilda “dies,” all the witches of the coven band together to bring her back. However, with Sabrina’s death, there isn’t even a conversation about how to save her — they just jump right to her funeral. Like…. don’t they have soil that magically brings people back to life? Just throw her in ya’ll!! This isn’t even the worst part about the finale episode.

The absolute WORST part about the ending is in the last three minutes when Nick joins Sabrina in the afterlife. Their dialogue HEAVILY implies that Nick had nothing to live for after Sabrina’s death and decided to literally kill himself to be with his girlfriend who he got back together with two episodes previously? Romanticizing suicide? Not really a good message for kids ya’ll. It doesn’t matter how it’s worded or portrayed, when shows suggest suicide within their final message it’s proven to cause an increase in real-life teen suicides. This issue has already been a conversation with Netflix because of their previous series 13 Reasons Why. The fact that Netflix would allow another teen show to end in suicide is thoughtless and extremely inconsiderate.

Overall I absolutely loved The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and seasons 1-3 were very enjoyable to watch. It was a fabulous campy tribute to an old popular comic series. This ending is not what the show deserved and has personally left me feeling extremely disappointed. Sabrina writers…. how did you go so wrong???? As far as I’m concerned, season four doesn’t exist!

Friday 01.08.21
Posted by Cait Schmitz
 

Skate Kitchen: girls in a boys world

I randomly decided to watch Skate Kitchen last night and I am SO glad I did because it has now SKYROCKETED to my top ten favorite movies I’ve ever watched. The entire film was beautifully made and had a stellar cast. It was directed by an incredible female filmmaker Crystal Moselle and I was hooked from the first moment, all the way to the last. This doc-narrative hybrid film does an incredible job depicting the difficulties women have when trying to enter and be a part of a male-dominated profession.

The film follows one girl in particular, Camille, as she becomes a part of the skater community in New York City. Camille begins the film feeling extremely alone, but as she skates with these other women, she feels more and more at home. She finds an amazing support system with a group of skater girls and then begins attempting to fit in with the male part of the community. We see throughout the first third of the film that there’s a harsh divide between the male and female skaters within the community. We also see that it’s mostly due to unfair prejudice against women through several scenes where the men are criticizing the women for not being able to keep up. Camille of course doesn’t understand why this divide is so extreme when she first enters the community of skaters, but begins to understand it as time goes on.

It took me so long to see Skate Kitchen because I thought — I’m not really a skater, why would I enjoy this film? I think a lot of people have this attitude towards this film because, as fascinating as skating is, it’s definitely not everyone’s favorite activity. However, this film is much more a story about the fundamental differences between how men and women grow up, as well as how fast they mature. It’s also a beautiful example of how hard it can be to enter a male-dominated profession and be just as confident. As a gal who was always wanted to play with the guys Skate Kitchen was inspiring to watch and I wish it had been around when I was a teenager.

I was always friends with guys when I was younger and I never felt that boys had an advantage against me at any point In elementary school. So that’s why I was extremely confused when I entered grade school and found that they began separating sports by gender, as well as during general physical activities. I found it infuriating that I wasn’t able to compete on the same team as the guys and I really didn't fully accept why until much later.

The opening sequence is an amazing example of this differentiation between girls and boys, even at a young age. We see Camille skating, but then she slips up on a trick and falls, hurting herself. The incident is officially called being ‘credit-carded’ and is extremely painful, not to mention it can also be dangerous for women’s reproductive health. This is a perfect example of how girls are constantly reminded of their reproductive responsibility, even when they’re only fifteen years old. The boys at the skatepark during this scene just joke around about how Camille got her period, which is extremely immature. Men honestly have no idea what they’re talking about when it comes to women’s reproductive health because men aren’t taught shit about it. Women’s menstrual cycles are considered a taboo topic in our society, yet somehow I feel as though I’m constantly being forced to think about it. However, women’s health issues are brought up quite frequently during this film; especially relating to their menstrual cycle and how to deal with it while skating. For example, the girls Camille befriends are shocked when they find out she hasn’t used tampons because her mother doesn’t trust them. They ask how she skates when she’s on her period because they know personally how difficult it can be without a tampon. This discussion is a huge moment of growth for Camille and we see her start to develop a huge amount of admiration for these women who are sharing all these intimate, helpful lessons with her. These are problems that men never have to deal with while skating.

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Another incredible example of how Skate Kitchen accurately depicts the differences between men and women is through the hangouts they have at their homes. Towards the beginning of Camille’s friendship with the group of skater girls, they all hang out at Janay’s house in her bedroom. They talk about skating, sexual preferences, periods, their families, mental health, and their mindsets as women overall. Camille is welcomed into the group and it’s obvious she feels comfortable as well as supported by these women. Fast forward to when Camille seeks solace from her problems by staying at Devon’s place — a trap house filled with all-male skaters. It’s loud, horribly messy, they barely even notice Camille has arrived and the television alternates between showing porn and skating videos. This stark contrast in living situations shows the harsh reality for why there’s such a different culture between young men and women who skate.

Rachelle Vinberg does an incredible job projecting the vulnerability of a young adolescent teen, trying to understand what’s happening to her mind and body as she matures. At one point during the film, Camille talks to her friend Janay about how she used to be closer with her father until she went through puberty. A lot of Skate Kitchen is devoted to Camille trying to come to the terms with the fact that she is in fact a girl and has to deal with the struggles that come with that.

Skate Kitchen is at its core a coming of age film for young women. It portrays how difficult it can be to be woman trying to fit into a male-dominated community through these young female skaters. It’s one of the most real representations of a teenage female friend group I’ve ever seen in the media. Men and women are fundamentally very different in wonderful ways and Skate Kitchen does an incredible job at portraying that difference through the story of Camille and her bomb ass squad.

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Friday 01.08.21
Posted by Cait Schmitz
 

Sex & the City S4 E11 -- Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda.

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Coulda, woulda, shoulda is a phrase often used by many as a fun silly phrase meant to lighten the air on missed opportunities from their past. However, in season 4 episode 11 of Sex & the City, it’s used to explain a life-altering decision process concerning pregnancy and the reasons behind women deciding to have an abortion.

Recently I’ve gone on birth control for various reasons, but mostly just to regulate my own health and ease my anxious mind. However, it has not been an easy process — in fact, I’d say it’s been an absolutely horrible few months of my body getting used to the change in hormones. This includes horrible nausea and vomiting for weeks, intense bloating, horrible cramps, and my period occurring at the wrong times or not at all. Now I’ve still been having sex throughout this process, which has given me extreme anxiety that I could be pregnant. Of course, I would have an abortion at this stage in my life, but there are so many more questions I’d have to answer if it did come to that. Anyway, the main takeaway from my little anecdote, is that throughout these past few months I’ve been thinking a lot about the topic of abortion and I just so happened to watch this incredible episode of Sex & the City.

The episode takes on the highly contested topic of whether or not it is ethically right to have an abortion and does it in a classy, sensitive way. The show takes a pro-choice stance, which is amazing concerning the time period for when it aired and how much visibility the show had. All the characters are very open to their past lives and divulge to each other if they’ve had an abortion, as well as if they regretted it. Both Samantha and Carrie sympathize with Miranda when she explains to wants to have the procedure. They explain when and why they decided to get an abortion, and why it was the right choice for them at the time. For me personally, this was extremely nice to have this representation on television; especially coming from characters I relate to and respect. The show also does an amazing job expressing what a difficult decision it was for these women, even if Samantha plays it off as no big deal. But of course, it is a big deal for a woman. However, it’s an even bigger deal to actually have a freakin baby!!!

For starters, consider what Miranda would be giving up in order to have a child she doesn’t even know she wants. Miranda is an incredibly hardworking lawyer at a well-respected firm and is constantly on the job. Not only does she work hard, but she loves being a lawyer. Miranda and Carrie have a conversation in the waiting room of the abortion clinic where she jokes, “No, I can't have a baby. I could barely find the time to schedule this abortion.” During this same conversation, she asks Carrie multiple times if she’s doing the right thing. This is a perfect example of how the show perfectly exemplifies the extreme stress and anxiety Miranda must be feeling towards this entire situation. There’s a very tear-jerking moment right before she goes into the doctor’s office, where Miranda questions if she’s making the right decision. Of course she doesn’t feel good about keeping this secret from Steve and of course she’s wracking her brain wondering if this is the right decision for her. But having a baby is a huge, life-altering commitment and a decision the woman should be free to make for herself.

The episode also asks the question “Is it ok not to tell the man that you’re pregnant if you’re going to have an abortion?” This is brought up during a conversation between Carrie and Aidan at her apartment when she tells Aidan the situation. Aidan is shocked and seems a little distraught over the fact that Miranda isn’t planning on telling Steve that she’s planning on having the procedure. Aidan says “Well it’s his baby too.” as an explanation for his discomfort. However, Carrie quickly retorts, “Well technically it’s not gonna be anybody’s baby.” I think this is an important point she makes, especially against pro-life advocators. There literally isn’t a baby yet, and that is why Miranda is rushing to make this decision as soon as possible. However, I think the conversation between Carrie and Aidan is important because it does show both sides of a difficult situation. It also provides the basis for why Carrie starts to feel guilty for not telling the guy who impregnated her about how she got an abortion. Aidan is basically subtly pressuring her into persuading Miranda to include Steve in this decision. Personally, I think it’s the woman’s body and the woman’s right to choose what she does with it. Of course, if she wants to disclose the situation to the guy she can, but I believe it is perfectly in her right to keep the information to herself. The man isn’t the one who has to give up her body and 9 months of an extreme change to it. Not to mention the immense responsibility after giving birth.

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One thing I found intriguing about this episode is that Carrie is very afraid to tell Aidan that she’s had an abortion. In fact, she lies multiple times to him before coming clean about her past. Of course, this is probably because he voices multiple times throughout the episode that he thinks the guy has a right to know he’s gotten someone pregnant (and not in a subtle way). I then thought about it and I would probably be a little concerned about telling a significant other as well. Men are often condescending when it comes to women with prominent sex lives and I think they are often critical when they hear women have had abortions. However, as they say, it absolutely takes two to tussle honey. I think this is a perfect example of how the episode shows how difficult a decision it is for women to get an abortion. What makes it even more difficult is the fact that most have to hide the decision from the world in order to avoid criticism. Samantha jokes “It’s not the kinda thing you list on the dorm activities board.” when explaining to Carrie why she went alone to get the procedure done. It really shouldn’t be this shameful thing someone has to hide, but that’s the world we’re living in right now.

Overall the episode treats the topic of abortion with perfectly executed sensitivity as well as a good sense of humor. It provided me with some relief regarding my concerns about abortion, even though it’s a fictional show. This episode unfortunately also plummets my respect for Aidan and makes me wish for the good ol days of Mr. Big. I mean Aidan actually says “It just seems like the guy gets the short end of the stick!” to Carrie. THE NERVE.

Thursday 01.07.21
Posted by Cait Schmitz
 

The Absence Of Women In The Film Industry

WHERE ARE ALL THE WOMEN??!?

There is a serious LACK of female recognition and acceptance within the film and television industry. As a female student at the Ithaca College Park School of Communications, I've had the unpleasant experience of noticing the absence of other girls on film sets I work on, in my classes, at the Park Equipment Center where I work. On film sets if I'm not the only female on set, I'm one of two. In my cinema production class this semester, I'm one of three girls in a class of fifteen. I also work at my school’s camera equipment center and the majority of my coworkers are male. In an effort to change this pitiful statistic, I reached out to some female underclassmen who I knew were hard workers as well as talented filmmakers and asked them to apply. However, all of them said that the equipment center seemed intimidating and were unsure whether they would get the job because they thought mostly men were hired. I was shocked and dejected that these young women were already assuming they wouldn’t get the job based on their gender.

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The unfortunate problem is that it’s not just Ithaca College that experiences this absence of women in media. A friend of mine, who is studying film at SUNY Purchase, has experienced the same trend and has expressed to me how discouraging it is. There are always more men than women in her classes and she is always one of the only girls on set. It also isn’t just at a college level and once we graduate, the the problem only escalates as a woman’s professional career begins.

Why is this the case? Are women simply not engaging in production due to lack of interest? Are women incapable of handling the amount of work film requires?

I’ll answer that with a simple and plain answer: NO. The lack of women within the film industry very clearly isn't due to lack of capability or interest; it has to do with gender bias, whether it be conscious or subconscious. The Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film recently did a study showing that the percentages of women working as directors and writers on independent films has continued to climb, reaching recent historic highs in 2019-2020. Women comprised 38% of directors working on narrative features and documentaries, up from 33% in 2018-19 and 29% in 2017-18. However, the unfortunate fact is that although these numbers are record breaking, they are still extremely low compared to the male percentages.

This lack of diversity can be recognized from my small liberal arts student experience as well as at the biggest awards shows in the world: The Academy Awards.

This past year at the Academy Awards there was a stunning lack of female recognition from Academy, specifically in the best director category. Not only was there a lack in this category, but there wasn’t a single female contender. This was shocking in a year filled with strong contenders such as Greta Gerwig (Little Women), Lulu Wang (The Farewell), and Olivia Wilde (Booksmart). In fact, only five women have even been considered for the best director category in the 92 year Oscar history.

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Of course, before I began spouting incorrect information to my colleagues, I did some research on the Hollywood Foreign Press. The Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences is an organization that supports the advancement of the arts and sciences within motion pictures. Of course, back in 1927, the organization was made solely of white men, but the Academy has diversified a tremendous amount since its creation. This is of course due to sheer amount of extreme backlash they received in the past twenty years. One particularly bad instance was in 2012, when the Los Angeles Times surveyed some 5,000 Academy members and discovered that 93 percent were white, 76 percent were male and the average age was 63 years old. Another instance was in 2016, when for the second year in a row all twenty of the acting nominations were white. So the Academy has (under an enormous amount of pressure) been making an effort to improve since these unfortunate statistics have come to light. In fact, this past year they released a statement saying that out of the 842 members invited to join the Academy: 45 percent are women and 36 percent are from underrepresented ethnic and racial communities. This makes you wonder then…. why aren’t more women and people of color getting nominated for their contributions to the entertainment world at these award shows? The answer is simple: there are barely any women weighing in on the decision.

The majority of the public is made to understand that the ENTIRE Academy votes on who and what is nominated for the categories at the Oscars. However, after doing more research, I discovered that the Academy has many different branches that are all overseen by a board of governors. I also discovered that the Academy has a long history with the lack of diversity within its members, as well as its selections. This is especially apparent within recent years because with the growth in diversity within the overall industry, people have begun to question why the recognition isn’t reaching the awards shows. I’ve concluded, along with many others, that is a plain and simple matter of leadership bias. 

Contrary to most people’s opinions, the entire Academy does NOT vote on who and what is nominated for the categories at the Oscars. In fact, it is ONLY the director's branch that weighs in on the decision. TIME magazine reached out to the Academy in order to find out the gender breakdown of the director's branch; however, the Academy refused to release the information. However, as TIME explains, we don’t need the Academy to figure out its gender breakdown. The Academy has very specific rules that allow one to qualify for admission into the director's branch. Those rules being that members must have a minimum of two directorial credits and one of which had to premiere in theaters in the last 10 years. The Academy also states that the films must also be deemed “of a caliber which, in the opinion of the executive committee, reflect the high standards of the Academy.” A director with only one credit to their name might also qualify if that film is nominated for Best Directing, Best Picture, or Best Foreign Language Film, or if the Directors Branch Executive Committee decides that the said director achieved unique distinction, earned special merit, or made an outstanding contribution as a motion picture director. These rules make it nearly IMPOSSIBLE for a female director to qualify given the already enormous obstacles and barriers thrown against her.

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Another driving factor for women not receiving the fair amount of nominations they deserve is due to the fact that they are making films pertaining to the female experience. So of COURSE men are less likely to vote for it, because they most likely haven’t even seen the film. Vanity Fair reported from multiple sources that many male voters didn’t watch Greta Gerwig’s Little Women. However, even though the Academy seems to think less of Little Women, the public sure doesn’t agree. Greta Gerwig’s film has a 95% on Rotton Tomatoes, a 7.8 on IMDB, and many raving reviews from major critics like Joe Morgenstern.

If the statistics of the Academy tell us anything, it’s that men are the dominant gender within the film and television industry which means they are the ones doing the hiring most of the time. This means at some level women are infiltrating a ‘boys club,’ even if they refuse to admit it. I’ve had first hand experience with this exact problem while applying to internships throughout my college experience. One instance was during an interview with a well known camera rental house. Halfway through the interview they '“joked” about how they hoped I would be comfortable being in “a bit of a boys club”. I smiled and laughed it off because I was so eager to work for this company, but looking back on that interview I began to think. Why should I have to sacrifice my comfort level because the company wasn’t able to find qualified women to work in the equipment department?

I know that from what I've seen and through my own professional experiences, women are more than capable of performing in the roles more frequently given to men. I also wouldn't hesitate to remark that they are consistently more organized, more prepared and more creative within their film choices because they HAVE to be in order to prove themselves in a male dominated industry.

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Why should we care whether there are more women making films?

Films can have an enormous impact on the way we think and the way we view the world. Visual media in general influences people daily and is CONSTANTLY being thrown at us, whether we want it or not. The industry is growing, as well as its influence. Women possess different perspectives than men do and therefore are going to produce different content than men. However, due to the lack of women in film, that opinion is often stunted by the lack of faith in female productions or misconstrued by male filmmakers trying to tell a story that isn’t theirs to tell. Role models are important when deciding what field of study a person wants to devote their professional life, but how can a little girl imagine herself as a successful director if female directors are shut out of award shows every year? If there are less women represented within the media, there are less female influences for the youth in our society to look up to. This lack of equal representation for women encourages a male dominated media industry.

Women deserve better. Get your act together Hollywood.

Wednesday 11.25.20
Posted by Cait Schmitz
 

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