While Hillary Clinton‘s march toward the Democratic nomination is a measure of how far gender equality has come, the movie industry is a bracing reminder of just how much more work needs to be done. It’s a system that at all levels continues to marginalize the voices of women and people of color, and where casual acts of sexism are still part of day-to-day business. And as two recent examples note, it’s something that happens in all avenues of the moviemaking business.
The Guardian recently sat down with Yoshiaki Nishimura, a producer at the celebrated animation powerhouse Studio Ghibli. And when asked if the studio would ever hire a female director, he tried to explain that the very core nature of women makes them ill-suited to helming fantasy films.
“It depends on what kind of a film it would be. Unlike live action, with animation we have to simplify the real world. Women tend to be more realistic and manage day-to-day lives very well. Men on the other hand tend to be more idealistic – and fantasy films need that idealistic approach. I don’t think it’s a coincidence men are picked,” Nishimura explained, in what he probably thought was a well-reasoned argument. And it’s a dismaying statement, particularly from someone working at a studio that has such a good track record for telling stories around female protagonists.
Meanwhile, a Quentin Tarantino-produced western seems to be mounting, and before even a frame is shot, it’s generating controversy. A since-deleted Facebook casting call (via Women And Hollywood) reads: “Casting Whores for Quentin Tarantino project. Caucasian, non-union females, ages 18–35. Western film shoots June 21st-25th in Los Angeles. No highlights, natural eyebrows, natural breasts, natural hair color to be true to the period. Dress sizes 2–8. Please send photo, including sizes.”
The movie in question — written and directed by a woman — refers to the characters as “whores” in the screenplay, but the term itself is a loaded one, and there’s certainly no shortage of other terms that could’ve been used to describe the roles, and certainly when taking things public.
All of this can seem dispiriting, but we’ll close the article with the words of Ava DuVernay, speaking recently at the L.A. Film Festival (via The Guardian), who also noted the challenge women and people of color face in the industry, even when success does arrive.
“We exist and we make art. We make these projects within a sphere, within a system that is not built to support varied voices. It’s not built to support them, nourish them or amplify them. So when something does break through, it has to start all over again,” she said.
“That’s why it’s incumbent upon us, women film-makers, film-makers of color, to track our own legacy,” DuVernay continued. “This patriarchy is often shocked when a black film does well, or shocked when a film directed by a woman does well. That strips away the legacy from where that film-maker comes from. It assumes that because I’m the first black woman to do this and that, that I was the first one that had the capacity to do so – which is incredibly insulting to all the artists who have been doing the work for this moment.”
Lots to discuss, so let us know what you think in the comments section below.
