A vision in brown robes that caress his shapely curves, OBI WAN strides toward LUKE, placing his thick, pleasure-ready fingers over LUKE’s eyes before revealing the supple visage beneath his hood in a rapid striptease.
Actress Speaks Up Against Absurd Hollywood Casting Conventions
Posted on March 27, 2015 at 3:57 pm
Cheers to the understandably anonymous “Miss L,” an actress in Hollywood, for her Tumblr posting real-life casting information that shows how limited and misogynistic Hollywood casting is. Casting Call Woe shows actual casting call notices, most of which require actresses to be hot (no matter what the character). Here’s an example: “We need women comfortable dressing in revealing clothes, for the scenery.” And “She might not be the most beautiful woman in the room, like only a 7 on the typical hotness scale.”
A touch of almost Beckett-ian irony in this one: “Single mom desperate to pay her bills. Salary: no pay.”
And these: “Her scene will include being screamed at by a clown and being gagged briefly.” “Involves some leather clothing to attract YouTube fans.”
Of course it is fair to expect that performers will be attractive. But Miss L is absolutely right to call out these demeaning casting notices and I hope the existence of this Tumblr will mean there will be fewer of them.
Guardians of the Galaxy Merch: Where’s Gamora???? Sigh.
Posted on August 10, 2014 at 8:00 am
Guardians of the Galaxy is enormous fun and a huge box-office hit, with loveable characters and a refreshing sense of humor about itself. Who wouldn’t want to extend the pleasures of the film with some merch, perhaps an action figure or a backpack?
The answer: anyone who is a fan of Gamora, the green-skinned assassin played by Zoe Saldana and the only female of the group.
Star-Lord is everywhere but there was not a single Gamora to be seen. Even on the Guardians of the Galaxy t-shirts, no Gamora. Hey Marvel! She is one fifth of the team, what they heck! Even my six-year-old son noticed and passed up a t-shirt because he wanted her on it too. I asked the store if they were out, they said they do not carry her and suggested a Rocket raccoon instead. Not The Same.
Other people say “Well, just order her one online.” Okay, wait, so I get to say to my son “Hey here is your Star-Lord action figurine, we will buy him.” and to my other child “Oh wait, no Gamora, well we can order her online and you will get her in 5 to 6 business days.”
Something is very wrong here. Marvel, 44% of the opening audience of Guardians of the Galaxy were women! I know! I have seen it three times. And this is not just a problem with Gamora. We had this problem with Black Widow. We encounter this problem with her DC favorite, Wonder Woman. (I found her Wonder Woman t-shirt in a thrift store. And my daughter made the crown and bracers herself because she loves Wonder Woman so much.) I understand the politics of it, but a four-year-old does not.
So Marvel, do you know what my daughter thought after not finding yet another superheroine she loves in stores? Do you know what she said to me with her sad green eyes?
“Maybe superheroes aren’t for girls Mom.”
Superheroes are for girls. Bonehead studio and merchandising executives on the other hand, need to get a clue. Many thanks to Jenna Busch for alerting me to this problem.
Should There Be a Bechdel Test for Rating Movie Sexism?
Posted on November 19, 2013 at 8:00 am
Alison Bechdel once had a character in her comic strip explain what she looked for in a movie. There had to be two named female characters and they had to talk about something other than men. It was a joke, but it has come to be known as the Bechdel test. And while some people point out that a movie like “Gravity” can have a strong, independent, female lead (indeed one who is alone on screen for most of the movie) and still fail the test, it is still a good reminder that many movies fail to include female characters with anything to do but sigh and say things like, “Johnny, when are you ever going to grow up and learn to commit?” (I’m talking to you, Seth Rogan and Seth MacFarlane.)
There’s a website that rates movies according to the Bechdel test. Four Swedish theaters have now made the Bechdel test an official movie rating. No one, and certainly not Bechdel, intended the test to be definitive. But, just consider, as Entertainment Weekly’s Mark Harris did, what it would be like applied to male characters.
If the Bechdel Test had suddenly landed in Hollywood with the force of law, it would have seriously jeopardized five of last year’s 10 Best Picture nominees. If we’d rewritten the rule to apply to men, it would have seriously jeopardized… um… let’s see… “Precious.” And that inequity only covers good movies. Apply the comparison to a roster of summer blockbusters, and the results are even less attractive. Not to mention Comic-Con, which now represents the ruling aesthetic of mainstream Hollywood movies and which, under the Bechdel Test, probably could have been knocked down from five days to 45 minutes and not strained the seating capacity of a local Olive Garden.
. Four of the five Guardians appear on it. Guess who is missing? (If you need help, read the comments.) Weirdly, Amazon also lists a “