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Reproductive Justice and Gender

Women Film Critics: An Endangered Species?

By Jennifer Merin, The Women's Media Center. Posted August 27, 2008.


The lack of female voices in film criticism is a manifestation of an industry that favors male-oriented movies and audiences.
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Mainstream media paid scant attention to Martha Lauzen's "Thumbs Down: Representation of Women Film Critics in the Top 100 U.S. Daily Newspapers" when the report was published on July 28 by the Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ), although the posting was supported by simultaneous distribution to 500 entertainment media and movie industry A-listers.

This latest study from the guru of women-in-Hollywood statistics and analysis indicates that 70 percent of movie reviews published in America's top 100 daily newspapers are written by men, and that 47 percent of those publications -- almost half -- ran no reviews written by female critics.

Lauzen's impeccably researched report shows that women are still marginalized in the national discussion about film, arguably our country's most influential cultural commodity -- a medium of sweeping social, political and economic significance.

AWFJ, an organization of which I am president, wasn't surprised by the report's findings, nor that they were so conspicuously underreported. Disappointed, perhaps, but not surprised. Why would newspapers -- or media in general -- call attention to or even acknowledge a situation that might inspire their readers and viewers to ask disturbing questions?

The deeply entrenched disparity between the number of women who go to movies and the number of women who write about them rankles female film critics. But the issues extend far beyond a relatively small group of media professionals to directly affect moviegoers -- especially women. Many, if not most, women look to mainstream media outlets for information, and it stands to reason that they'd find the perspective of perceptive, well-informed professional female critics useful. The relative paucity of female voices in film criticism is a manifestation of an industry that favors male-made, male-oriented movies despite the fact that women are avid moviegoers.

We escape into movies to laugh, cry and kick ass, alone or with friends. We learn from cinema how to solve problems in our relationships and careers, we let films baby sit for and educate our children. Sometimes we just marvel at the exquisite artistry of the movies.

Lauzen's report and her unimpeachable statistics have opened the door for a much-needed assessment of what's lost through gender disparity in film criticism.

That debate is taking place on the Internet, where mainstream media reporters -- notably Sean Means at Salt Lake City Tribune, Brandy McDonnell at The Oklahoman, Annie Wagner at the Seattle-based The Stranger, Rania Richardson at Indiewire.com and Anne Thompson at Variety.com -- used their well-read blogs to report on Lauzen's findings, although they were apparently given neither space nor leeway to do so in print. Collectively, they have a huge and diverse following on the web. Hopefully the awareness they sparked and discussions they initiated will be ongoing.

Indicating the report's web reach, UK-based ObsessedWithFilm.com's Michael Kaminski was inspired to present his own observations on gender bias: Amazon.com's list of 50 best-selling movie history and criticism books includes only seven women authors; and women inductees into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences averaged only 27 percent of new members over the last five years.


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See more stories tagged with: gender, media, movies, blogs, newspapers, female film critics

Jennifer Merin currently interviews directors and reviews films and DVDs for New York Press and covers nonfiction film for Documentaries.About.com.

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Has it ever been otherwise?
Posted by: www.suekatz.com on Aug 27, 2008 5:34 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I wonder if women reviewers are an "endangered species" or one that was never permitted to thrive. And I wonder if the situation of reviewers is much different from most other categories of film or journalism. It's great that someone is doing the count and that you are reporting on it.
www.suekatz dot com

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Well, duh...
Posted by: MartianBachelor on Aug 27, 2008 8:46 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The reason why the movies are "an industry that favors male-oriented movies and audiences" is because all of TV outside of sports is dominated by interests pandering to women and trying to sell them stuff -- because women control the vast majority of disposable income in this country and are thus the spending class which advertisers want to reach.

The movies operate on a different business model, and they're right to target a different demographic which isn't served by the TV biz.

So maybe I'll get worked up over a shortage of women film critics when the equality gang gets similarly worked up over a shortage of TV shows other than sports which guys can get into. After all, fair's fair.

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» RE: Well, duh... Posted by: sju
» RE: Well, duh... Posted by: chomsky
Shortage of women in entertainment journalism
Posted by: lynmarenjensen on Aug 27, 2008 11:45 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Not only is there a shortage of women in film journalism--despite the large number of women who study film and/or journalism in school, despite the large number of women who have experience in journalism--but there's also a shortage of women doing music, theater, TV criticism. Just look in any paper, and you'll see far more male by-lines than female ones. Thanks to the previous poster for being such a fine example of the attitudes that women must deal with.

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Porn, Once Again, Takes the Lead
Posted by: Darklady on Aug 27, 2008 11:47 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I've been reviewing films (and books and products) for nearly a decade... but they've been X-rated.

The adult entertainment industry is *packed* with women, and not all of us work as "talent."

There's probably not as much money coming our way as there would be if reviewed mainstream film or worked in the mainstream, but I've been able to work steadily as a self-employed freelancer while my mainstream writer friends have all had to take "real jobs" to supplement their writing...

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The BEST female critic around today is ...
Posted by: realmuzik on Aug 27, 2008 2:39 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly. She has an incredible history of pointing out sexism and misogyny in films with no apologies. If only she had a TV show of her own ...

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What difference does it make?
Posted by: countingdaisies on Aug 27, 2008 6:28 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It's just one person's opinion.

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Pauline Kael
Posted by: Sparks56 on Aug 28, 2008 2:49 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The author could have made a stronger argument if she had remembered the late Pauline Kael, film critic for the New Yorker in the late 70's, and, at the time, the most widely respected film critic in the country. I stopped going to the movies after she died.

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Listening to you.
Posted by: Sinibaldi on Aug 30, 2008 12:09 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In the cool
celerity of a
diffident young
bird I try
to forget a dying
behaviour, the
sound of a picture
and a luminous
care, easily,
like an earnest
desire.

Francesco Sinibaldi

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