Where are All the Women!?

In reflecting on Bielby and Bielby’s Women and Men in Film I couldn’t help but consider all the female screenwriters and directors that came to mind. While my mind was flooded with the names of men such as Michael Bay, and Martin Scorsese, two female directors did occur to me. First of which is Kathryn Bigelow who is best known for directing 2008s The Hurt Locker. In fact, in 2010 Bigelow became the first woman to win the Oscar for Best Director. As a fan of Twilight, the second woman who came to mind was Catherine Hardwicke. Along with Twilight, Hardwicke has directed blockbusters such as Red Riding Hood (starring Amanda Seyfried), Lords of Dogtown (staring Heath Ledger and Emile Hirsch), and Thirteen (starring Nikki Reed and Evan Rachel Wood).  While Bielby and Bielby discuss how women writer’s and director’s opportunities are limited to a narrow range of genres, these two directors illustrate how some (albeit few) women have excelled behind the scenes.  

As a self-proclaimed movie coinsurer I’m constantly analyzing my own movie and TV viewing habits. In both the Poniewozik and Rosenburg articles, the authors describe shows that are targeted at either women or targeted at men. This notion of “female media” or “male media” is flawed in my opinion for I think it is impossible to lump all of one gender together and say that this is what they should like. From my own reflection, I can undoubtedly say that I do not solely watch the shows “for women”. In fact, I much prefer the shows that are classified as “men’s media”. I’m assuming that many others are like me and don’t subscribe to watching shows that are stereotypically female or male. I believe that we would be better served if media focused less on what they think would be good for women specifically or men specifically and focus on making simply good media.   

From December 2010