Art

It all started in Ancient Greece, which is also the source of a major number of plays. In Ancient Greece, women had no rights, and of course, they couldn’t play roles. There were two common types of drama. The first one was more elevated and discussed moral issues, while the second was comedy with toilet humor. In both of them, you could rarely see women. Even if there was a female character, she was usually only the love interest of the main character, basically a trophy. Moreover, if there was a woman in the play, her role was played by a young boy.

After a few decades, women started to play female roles. However, they were still mostly roles of women seen from a man’s perspective. She was either an elevated figure who helped the main character or played some comic and funny role—nothing complex or more developed.

Going further into cinema and theater, they were originally created by men for men, and women came into these fields much later, only toward the end of the 20th century, when women had their own careers, jobs, and money. From the beginning, these industries had already been shaped by the male perspective. That’s why, if you look at classic films from the beginning, middle, and end of the 20th century, most women were objectified and were more like a nice addition than fully developed characters. Women’s appearance and everything about them were often designed to make men enjoy watching them.

There is a statistic that in 2002, only 16% of roles were played by women, while this number increased to 33% in 2022. Do you know in which genre women are more common? Horror. Do you know why? What do pornography and horror have in common? They evoke similar emotions. Because of women’s sexual behavior, screams, and the way they act, they can make men feel similar emotions of fear and sexual arousal.

When a maniac is following a blonde woman wearing heels and a mini dress, it again evokes those feelings. Fear and sexual arousal can be very similar in the way they affect the body. This is one of the reasons why women are more popular in this genre. Women are presented as desirable objects once again, especially when they are screaming and running from a killer, looking so innocent, cute, and helpless. Most of the time, they just run from one place to another without doing anything, and even when they try to protect themselves, they are often portrayed as weak. No matter the circumstances, women are expected to wear revealing outfits and look gorgeous, as if they weren’t stuck in an apocalypse.

In addition, horror films don’t only sexualize women; they also impose the idea that women should be punished for their actions. For instance, in many films, female characters who have sex, have boyfriends, and like to hang out with friends mostly die first. If a girl survives, she must be a virgin, she must be pure, avoid those “dirty” human desires, and be morally elevated. That is the rule. In Scream, they talk about these rules and, fortunately, break them. So, Sidney has a boyfriend. Of course, she is a “good girl” and stays a virgin. Her boyfriend tries to arrange for them to have sex, and the killer tells her that she can’t survive because she no longer fits the rules. But she survives.

Let’s talk about older women. Unfortunately, we have seen a decrease. In 2015, we had 20% of women aged 40 and over on our screens, but in 2022, it was only 15%. In films, the majority of female characters are between 20 and 25 years old. However, men don’t have the same limits. When you’re 30, what kind of role can you play? A witch, a villain, a kind mother, an evil stepmother, and that’s all. The realization that a woman over 40 can have a life and a sexual life has only come in the last few years. I mean, okay, we don’t have enough older women, but the ones we do have are often represented as rude, grumpy, and egotistical women who refuse to talk to other people.

But what happens with older men? Nothing. As a reference, we can take the film The Intern, starring Anne Hathaway. She plays a middle-aged woman who is a working mother and happily married. Oops, never mind—she gets divorced by the end because her husband is bored and wants something “new.” Also, what about the main character, played by Robert De Niro? He is retired but wants to work. Surprisingly, he finds a job. He successfully works in a prestigious position, and moreover, he has a love interest. What a shock, isn’t it? Even though neither the actor nor the main character is at the age when we would normally expect them to be portrayed as a romantic hero.

I think we’ve had enough negative information. There is something positive, of course. The Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at the University of San Diego found that a record number of women directors worked on the top-grossing films of 2020. The researchers examined the 100 highest-grossing movies. Women accounted for 16% of their directors. This was higher than in 2018 (4%) and 2019 (12%).

Three blockbusters directed by women made it into the top 100 highest-grossing films of 2020: Mulan, directed by Niki Caro; Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, directed by Cathy Yan; and Wonder Woman 1984, directed by Patty Jenkins. There could have been more such films if not for the pandemic, which caused Black Widow, directed by Cate Shortland, and The Eternals, directed by Chloé Zhao, to be postponed until 2021.

In other professions, the figures were as follows: women accounted for 28% of producers, 21% of executive producers, 18% of editors, 12% of screenwriters, and only 3% of cinematographers.

In addition, female directors were more likely to hire women for other positions. For example, in their projects, women made up 53% of the writing teams, compared with only 8% on projects directed by men.

Information from media sources (authenticity not verified).

Furthermore limits for female producers is real. I want to tell about some “conspiracy theories” going throw stranger thing fans. That one of Duffer brother’s wife Leigh Janiak helped them to write script for stranger things. She is known for directing trilogy “Fear street”, in my opinion both of the creations have something in common. Especially season 3 reminds me of that trilogy, they have exact same vibe. I mean don’t you some resemblance, the final act happens in mall, everything so neon, that clothes just everything. Thus it explains why the last season was such disappointment, because he got divorced, and there was no one else to help them write the script, but chat GPT.

Another accident, I’m sure you’ve heard about “Euphoria” and that neon vibe it got so viral was also stolen from a women. It got stolen from Petro Collins, Canadian photographer, who invented that neon vibe with glitters, besides she shoot such teenagers melancholy before. She was invited by Sam Levinson to direct the 1 season, after working for that project 5 month, before the premiere she got rejection because she is too young and they can’t give her a job. After some time she is crying under “Euphoria” billboard considering it is her work but stolen by men.