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This post was along time coming, and here it is I wanna talk about what I think of feminism and whether I'm a feminist or not, and women in film from behind the scene jobs such as Directors, Producers, Writers and such, also I wanna talk about female characters and they're representation and what impact they have. I also wanna touch on another topic that's not talked about as much and thats a female who's a fan of films, like me.
Before you ask I am a feminist but I'm a quiet feminist I say that as the word scares me a bit and I'll explain why. When I first heard of the word 'Feminist' I was about 8 or 9 and we learnt about the Suffragettes in London fighting for the right to vote for women that's when I first heard that term and what it meant and since them until fairly recently that's just what I thought a feminist was. I thought a feminist was a woman who was stuck in the old Suffragette times thinking we needed rights for women and yes we do but not in the U.K which is where I live, but in some underdeveloped countries and countries that women don't have support and aren't as lucky we are in the U.K and USA where we have the vote and free speech if you get what I mean.
That term of what I thought what a feminist was which is very old fashioned and really bad to think that way, as recently its not the case anymore. Like with Emma Watson and the speech she gave at the UN and the HeForShe campaign, she made feminism much more modern and clear the light on it a little. She basically explained what feminism is much less about women but more of a whole issue with both genders, its about equality for everyone and thats what I believe in its not 'Women Vs Men' or 'Men Vs Women' its a human issue. I say I'm a quiet feminist as there are still some scary, crazy feminists out there, but obviously not everyone is and I'm sure everyone will know what I mean by crazy feminists.
Anyway that's what I think of feminism and me being a feminist, its not like its weird I think everyone is a feminist. In terms of films and the behind the scenes aspect, the gender gap is interesting as its not like women are rubbish at being Directors, or Producers and Writers. It is getting better, particularly in TV I feel as there are more Female Producers and Writers and definitely Directors than there were 10 years ago or so. It is getting better its just we're not choosing to see it, like for instance Breaking Bad an amazing TV Show, extremely popular and its had 6 female producers working on the show consistently for 5 years I think thats amazing and brilliant but often overlooked. Plus there are so many amazing Directors that just happen to be female like Sofia Coppola, Jane Campion and Jodie Foster who have made amazing films, but people don't put them in there favorite film list, its usually great films by a female director. It should be she's a great Director/Producer/Writer or whatever and she's a female, it should be about how good something rather than whether it was made by a woman or not.
Female characters have improved so much, its amazing in Film and TV. Female characters are just as good and strong as the Male characters if not better sometimes. I don't know one person who doesn't wanna be Arya Stark from Game Of Thrones or Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games, as they're so strong and admirable women to look up to. But with the amazing characters of women in Film and TV theres also the bad characters, where writers feel the need to show as much flesh as possible or to show how chivalry the man is by the woman being a damsel in distress. I feel there are some badly written female characters as well as badly written male characters, but again its getting alot better.
As a woman who loves Films and TV something that I find is quite typically a male thing to enjoy, I say that as there aren't many females my age, older, younger who like the same things as I like that could be my problem that I'm not expanding myself more, but its something I have had problems with. In my experience and with my age it can be quite difficult to talk to people about films as they just assume I love Chick Flicks, Romantic Comedies and thats all I know. With my age, its usually with the older generation of film lovers, who immediately make the assumption of young people only liking films that were made in the modern age which can be the case but not always.
Its not that bad its just annoying as you're not taken seriously as someone who genuinely enjoys films, but its something that I've kinda used to my advantage in a way. As I'm talking to someone about films and they mention an actress like Bette Davis or an Alfred Hitchcock film, and quickly they try to explain to me who Bette Davis is or what the Alfred Hitchcock film is about and them having to explain who he is, because I clearly wouldn't know being a young woman who only likes Chick Flicks. I do enjoy being quite smug about it when I turn round and go I know who Bette Davis is, or yeah I've seen that Alfred Hitchcock film by the way, and there faces are just priceless because they don't expect it and suddenly you're taken seriously.
There is this thing called 'The Bechdel Test' for those of you who don't know its the test that show the active presence of females on film. Its based upon this comic strip and the questions are 1) the film has to have at least two women in it who both have names 2) who talk to each other 3) about something besides a man. You'll be surprised about how many films don't pass this test and films that do, examples of films that didn't pass the test are, The Social Network, The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy and the Original Star Wars Trilogy, some examples that did pass the test are, Fifty Shades Of Grey, American Pie 2, and Deep Throat. I do find the test interesting as it should be so simple to have female presence in film, and the amount of films fail to do this its crazy, but its not the B-all and End all of good and bad films. I mean it doesn't distinguish whats a good film and a bad film that's matter of preference.
Overall I think women have flaws as do men, I don't believe there's a superior with them both in terms of characters and jobs in films because like with any job or character there are good and bad people, its not a case of Men are the best Directors because some Men might be crap, and also not all Women are only fit for Makeup Artists and can't Direct at all. I do think there should be more encouragement for women to partake in the behind the scenes jobs as it were, because we're not encouraged enough to believe that its a job just as important as an Actress, Makeup Artist, Costume etc, I don't think, but that's an opinion so I could be talking rubbish to you. Although I believe you should do something because you want to and have the ambition to not because you wanna be the first at it, or there's no enough females in this area of job so I'll do it.
I hope this post wasn't too waffleley and incoherent and I got my point across without sounding like a feminazi. So that's what I think of feminism and this will be only time I'll talk about this in real detail as I do have opinions, but I like talking about films and on this blog that's what I do I mean it says it in the title so it speaks for itself in a way. I do hope you enjoyed this rather opinionated post of me talking about women and women in films, as I did enjoy writing this but I'll talk to you all on Friday which I will do a review on and it will be back to normal. I would love to know your opinions on women in film, as its interesting to know about different opinions and such. My twitter is @zaravalerielane if you're interested, anyway I'll talk to you all on Friday!
