Tag Archive for "Hollywood"

Posts Tagged Hollywood

Summer box office numbers down as Hollywood continues to ignore female moviegoers

Oops, it seems Hollywood’s stubborn refusal to cater to female movie-goers may be hurting the bottom line. Summer box office numbers are way down–resulting in a 20 percent decline in revenue in North America–this year, and it could be because Hollywood is still making crap targeted at the long-coveted young dude demographic when they’re going to the theater less and women have become a more reliable audience.

According to data from the Motion Picture Association of America, the young male demographic that most big Hollywood movies are aimed at is making fewer trips to the theater and hurting box-office totals. Who is spending money at the movies? Women, and movies aimed at women are reaping the benefits. ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 9 years ago

Infographic: Only 5 percent of recent major films were directed by women

Women and Hollywood has a depressing new infographic on what has got to be the biggest gender gap in Hollywood–an industry not exactly known for being a paragon of gender equality. Despite the fact that women make up their fair share of film school grads, and there are plenty of great female directors, less than five percent of films produced by the major studios in the last five years were directed by women.

Women and Hollywood has a depressing new infographic on what has got to be the biggest gender gap in Hollywood–an industry not exactly known for being a paragon of gender equality. Despite the ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 9 years ago

Black women run Hollywood

Turns out its not a combination of sexism and racism that keeps Black women relegated to minor roles in Hollywood. As this star-studded video reveals, it’s because they’re in a secret cabal that runs the whole damn industry.

Black Women Run Hollywood from Funny Or Die

Mystery solved.

Turns out its not a combination of sexism and racism that keeps Black women relegated to minor roles in Hollywood. As this star-studded video reveals, it’s because they’re in a secret cabal ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 10 years ago

“Royals” parody video takes aim at typecasting of women of color in Hollywood

Lorde’s “Royals” continues to be an eminently re-makable song. In this lolsob-inducing parody, “Typecast,” actress Tess Paras highlights the frustrations of being a non-white actress in an industry that — despite the popularity of recent shows like Scandal and The Mindy Project — still doesn’t give women of color the opportunity to be much more than the white girl leading lady’s sidekick. From “oversexed Asian” to “urban girls of flavor,” the range of roles available is pretty bleak.

(h/t PolicyMic)

Maya loves New Girl and would love Other Girl too.

By Syreeta McFadden • 10 years ago

It’s time for Hollywood to take advice from Octavia Butler and stretch its imagination

In this deliciously rare clip, Octavia Butler talks about how she began writing science fiction in response to an absence of great storytelling she felt. After seeing a terrible sci fi film when she was 12, she explains, “I turned off the television and said to myself, I can write a better story than that.” Let Butler’s thoughts on the possibility inherent in science fiction serve as talisman and inspiration:

It’s a wonderful way to think about possibilities. It’s a wonderful way to explore exotic politics. It’s a wonderful–it’s a freedom. It’s a way of doing anything you want. There are all sorts of walls around other genres. Romances, mysteries, westerns. There are no real walls around science fiction. We can build them, ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 10 years ago

Watch: Ellen Page’s coming out speech

In case you missed it in the Weekly Feminist Reader rest of the internet this weekend, get your Monday morning cry by watching actress and unapologetic feminist Ellen Page’s moving speech at the Human Rights Campaign conference.

By Katie Halper • 10 years ago

Infographic: How to win a Best Actress Oscar (spoiler alert: play a wife)

Hey ladies! If you want to win an Academy Award for Best Actress, get cast as a wife, mother, sister, daughter, or girlfriend STAT! Fellas! If you want to win an Academy Award for best Actor, get cast as a husband, father, brother, son, or boyfriend STAT an important historical figure. That’s the lesson from these two fascinating infographics at The Huffington Post.

Hey ladies! If you want to win an Academy Award for Best Actress, get cast as a wife, mother, sister, daughter, or girlfriend STAT! Fellas! If you want to win an Academy Award for best Actor, ...

By Jos Truitt • 10 years ago

The Golden Globes gave Jared Leto an award for playing a trans woman because Hollywood is terrible

Last night Jared Leto won a Best Supporting Actor (the award for ladies is Best Supporting Actress, so this was in the dude category) for playing a trans woman.

I have not seen Dallas Buyers Club, in which Leto plays Rayon, a trans woman with AIDS. I will not see Dallas Buyers Club because I don’t hate myself. Leto’s performance may be a “revelation” as some have called it, though I highly doubt I’d see it that way. It also may be awful, stereotypical, and offensive, which sounds like the way Rayon is portrayed based on the opinions of folks who’ve seen the movie and actually care about trans women. I suspect the latter, since Leto gave ...

Last night Jared Leto won a Best Supporting Actor (the award for ladies is Best Supporting Actress, so this was in the dude category) for playing a trans woman.

I have not seen Dallas Buyers Club, in which ...