Women's Cinema

Women's cinema primarily describes cinematic works directed (and optionally produced too) by women filmmakers. The works themselves do not have to be stories specifically about women, and the target audience can be varied.

It is also a variety of topics bundled together to create the work of women in film. This can include women filling behind-the-scenes roles such as director, cinematographer, writer, and producer while also addressing the stories of women and character development through screenplays (on the other hand, films made by men about women are instead called Woman's film).

Renowned female directors include Alice Guy-Blaché, film pioneer and one of the first film directors, Agnès Varda, the first French New Wave director, Margot Benacerraf 1959, the first woman to win th
Cannes International Critics Prize
and be nominated for the Palme D'Or,Yulia Solntseva, the first woman to win the Best Director Award at Cannes Film Festival (1961), Lina Wertmüller, the first woman nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director (1977), Barbra Streisand, the first woman to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Director (1983), Jane Campion, the first woman to win the Palme D'Or at Cannes Film Festival (1993), and Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director (2009), along with many other female directors from around the world such as Dorothy Arzner, Ida Lupino, Lois Weber, Leni Riefenstahl, Mary Harron, Sofia Coppola, Kira Muratova, Claire Denis, Chantal Akerman, Catherine Breillat, Lucrecia Martel, Lynne Ramsay, Céline Sciamma, Claudia Weill, and Julie Dash. Many successful cinematographers are also women, including Margarita Pilikhina, Maryse Alberti, Reed Morano, Rachel Morrison, Halyna Hutchins, and Zoe White.

Women's cinema recognizes women's contributions all over the world, not only to narrative films but to documentaries as well. Recognizing the work of women occurs through various festivals and awards, such as the Cannes Film Festival, for example.

"Women's cinema is a complex, critical, theoretical, and institutional construction," Alison Butler explains. The concept has had its fair share of criticisms, causing some female filmmakers to distance themselves from it in fear of being associated with marginalization and ideological controversy.

Famous women in film history

Silent films

Alice Guy-Blaché was a film pioneer and the first female director. Working for the Gaumont Film Company in France at the time that the cinema was being invented, she created ''La Fée aux Choux'' (1896). The dates of many early films are speculative, but ''La Fée aux Choux'' may well be the first narrative film ever released. She served as Gaumont's head of production from 1896 to 1906 and ultimately produced hundreds of silent films in France and the United States.

In Sweden, Anna Hofman-Uddgren was that country's first female film maker—producing the silent film '' Stockholmsfrestelser'' in 1911. She also acted in the film. However, Ebba Lindkvist directed the short drama, ''Värmländingarna'', which premièred in Sweden on 27 October 1910, thus technically making her the first woman film maker, and chronologically, the second ever female feature film director in the world, after Alice Guy-Blaché.

Luise Fleck was an Austrian film director, and has been considered the second ever female feature film director in the world, after Alice Guy-Blaché. In 1911 Luise Fleck directed ''Die Glückspuppe''.

Elvira Notari is the first Italian woman director to make a film. Notari's first films are ''Maria Rosa di Santa Flavia'', ''Carmela la pazza'', ''Bufera d'anime'', all made in 1911.

Helen Gardner, a Vitagraph Studios player who had won acclaim for her portrayal of Becky Sharp in the 1910 version of '' Vanity Fair'', was the first film actor, male or female, to form her own production company, The Helen Gardner Picture Players. Gardner's first production was ''Cleopatra'' (1912), one of the first American full-length films.

In 1913 Russian filmmaker Olga Preobrazhenskaya began directing films in the "Timan and Reingardt" studio. She is the first Russian woman director. Her first work as a director was the 1916 film ''Miss Peasant'' based on the work of the same name by Aleksandr Pushkin.

American-born director, Lois Weber was coached and inspired by Guy-Blaché and found success in creating silent films. Weber is well known for her films ''Hypocrites'' (1915), ''The Blot'' (1921), and ''Suspense'' (1913). Weber's films often focus on difficult social issues. For instance, her film '' Where Are My Children? (1916)'' addresses the controversial issues of birth control and abortion. And she questioned the validity of capital punishment in ''The People vs. John Doe'' (1916).

Mabel Normand was another significant early female filmmaker. She started as an actress and became a producer-writer-director in the 1910s, working on the first shorts Charlie Chaplin did as The Tramp at Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios. She further collaborated with Sennett on other Keystone films and, during the late 1910s and early 1920s, she had her own movie studio and production company. Other notable actresses who became directors include Grace Cunard and Nell Shipman. The first documented Asian woman director, producer and actress is Marion E. Wong, who created the Mandarin Film Company in 1916. She wrote, directed, produced and acted in The Curse of Quon Guon.

Women screenwriters were highly sought after in the early years of the cinema. Frances Marion, Anita Loos, and June Mathis all had successful careers in the silent and early-sound eras. Mathis was also the first female executive in Hollywood.

See Mary Pickford

Classical Hollywood

As the American cinema became a highly commercialized industry in the 1920s and its content became more and more conventionalized, the opportunities for women producers and directors became fewer and fewer. By the time sound arrived in the US in 1927 and the years immediately after, women's roles behind the camera were largely limited to scriptwriters, costume designers, set decorators, make-up artists, and the like. And the industry's implementation of self-censorship in the form of the Hays Code in 1934 meant that topics such as birth control and abortion were taboo. Dorothy Arzner was the only woman director to survive in this unfriendly environment. She did so by producing well made but formally rather conventional films. Nevertheless, it is possible to trace feminist elements in her films. Film critics find her film, ''Dance, Girl, Dance'', about two women struggling to make it in show business, to be particularly interesting from a feminist perspective. When the film was selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry, it was noted that "The dancers, played by Maureen O'Hara and Lucille Ball, strive to preserve their own feminist integrity, while fighting for their place in the spotlight and for the love of male lead Louis Hayward." Beyond ''Dance, Girl, Dance'', Arzner also worked with some of Hollywood's most formidable actresses—including Katharine Hepburn in ''Christopher Strong'' (1933) and Joan Crawford in '' The Bride Wore Red'' (1937).

First woman to direct a film noir, Ida Lupino, is widely regarded as the most prominent female filmmaker working in the 1950s during the Hollywood studio system. She is best known for directing ''The Hitch-Hiker''. Ida Lupino is also famous for her work as an actress.

Experimental and avant-garde cinema

The experimental and avant-garde cinema is the genre considered to be closer to women filmmakers and one that also advances women themes. Annette Kuhn, for instance, noted such special affinity by citing that low investments of money and 'professionalism' have meant that it is more open than the mainstream film industry for women. Both Pam Cook and Laura Mulvey also noted an alignment and alliance of experimental and avant-garde cinema with feminist interest and feminist politics. Specifically, Mulvey explained that mainstream or Hollywood films are unable to provide the experience of contradiction, reinforcing anti-realism and, this is where the avant-garde cinema is useful for women and feminism because they share "a common interest in the politics of images and problems of aesthetic language."

Women's involvement in the experimental and avant-garde cinema started in the early twentieth century, although it was limited due to the constraints of the social conventions of this period. It was only after the war when women became actively involved in this cinematic genre. Germaine Dulac was a leading member of the French avant-garde film movement after World War I. There is also the case of Maya Deren was a leading figure of the independent American film scene in New York in the fifties. Her work is unusual, insofar as she directed outstanding experimental and feature films as well as documentaries. Joyce Wieland was a Canadian experimental film maker. The National Film Board of Canada allowed many women to produce non-commercial animation films. In Europe women artists like Valie Export were among the first to explore the artistic and political potential of videos. Her art works incited controversy due to sexual and feminist qualities.

Impact on society

Impact of second-wave feminism

In the late sixties, when the second wave of feminism started, the New Left was at its height. Both movements strongly opposed the 'dominant cinema', i.e. Hollywood and male European bourgeois auteur cinema. Hollywood was accused of furthering oppression by disseminating sexist, racist and imperialist stereotypes. Women participated in mixed new collectives like Newsreel, but they also formed their own film groups. Early feminist films often focused on personal experiences.

Second-wave feminism would reveal itself in different forms in films in the latter part of the 20th century such as with the idea of "sisterhoods" in movies (however many of these movies were made by men). Other concepts of second-wave feminism in films involved women's oppression and the difficulty in identifying with the idea of femininity. During this time, feminism in movies would also be represented as a counter-cinema whereby filmmakers would attempt to intentionally deconstruct the model of the classical film. This style of feminist counter-cinema can be seen in the works of artists such as Sally Potter's ''Thriller'' in 1979.

Representing sexuality

Resisting the oppression of female sexuality was one of the core goals of second-wave feminism. Abortion was still very controversial in many western societies and feminists opposed the control of the state and the church. Exploring female sexuality took many forms: focusing on long-time censured forms of sexuality (lesbianism, sado-masochism) or showing heterosexuality from a woman's point of view.
Liliana Cavani, Birgit Hein, Elfi Mikesch, Nelly Kaplan, Catherine Breillat and Barbara Hammer are some of the directors to be remembered.

A film notable for its empathic portrayal of sex work is Lizzie Borden's '' Working Girls'' (1986). Molly, a white lesbian in a stable mixed-race relationship, is a Yale-educated photographer who has chosen to augment her income through sex work in a low-key urban brothel. We accompany Molly on what turns out to be her last day on the job, understanding her professional interactions with her "johns" through her perspective, a completely original point of view, since, until Borden's film, sex workers had largely been depicted stereotypically. The story's sympathetic, well-rounded character and situation humanizes sex work, and the film itself combats the anti-pornography stance touted by many second-wave feminists, which Borden rejects as repressive.

Typically women are portrayed as dependent on other characters, overemotional, and confined to low status jobs when compared to enterprising and ambitious male characters (Bussey & Bandura, 1999). Women in cinema are grossly misrepresented and definitely under represented. The roles that men play are the superhero, the wealthy business man or the all-powerful villain. When it comes to the roles females play they tend to be the housewife, the woman who cannot obtain a man, the slut, or the secretary. The true comparison is masculinity versus femininity. The Bechdel test for film is a type of litmus test that examines the representation of women in media. The three factors tested are: 1. Are there at least two women in the film who have names? 2. Do those women talk to each other? 3. Do they talk to each other about something other than a man? (Sharma & Sender, 2014). Many roles that are given to women make them either dependent on the male counterpart or limits their role. Another characteristic of their role placement is that women are twice as likely to have a life-related role rather than a work-related role. Hollywood rarely chooses to have women be the all-powerful boss or to even have a successful career. There have been some examples that break this norm, such as '' The Proposal'' by Anne Fletcher. Even in these two films, the male counterpart is a strong role and in both the female lead is reliant on both actors for the storyline. Women do not stand on their own in movies and rarely are the center of attention without a male being there to steal the limelight. Some roles that have been portrayed in recent films have worked against this norm, such as Katniss in ''Hunger Games'' and Furiosa in '' Mad Max: Fury Road'' (both films are directed by men). These roles break the norm, as women typically are portrayed as dependent on other characters, overemotional, and confined to low-status jobs compared to enterprising and ambitious male characters (Bussey & Bandura, 1999). Women in cinema are grossly misrepresented and underrepresented.

Fear of entering cinematography

Many women fear(ed) even entering the film industry, let alone produce multiple pieces of work in the industry. It is said that both male and female workers believe hiring women into the industry is taking a big chance, or being risky. There are many discriminatory acts toward women during the hiring process into the industry such as age discrimination and providing them with lower pay rates. Most women workers in the film industry only become freelancers, which in most cases prevents them from creating careers and making a living out of their film/cinematography passion. These are the fear tactics in place, whether purposely or not, to prevent women from thriving in the film industry.

However, there is much more gendered discrimination towards women after they receive the job and actually begin to help and/or produce work. Statistics show that there are not many women in senior positions in the industry. Compared to the number of women hired, it is clearly shown that women are not given the chance to keep their jobs for long periods of time. "However, it is notable that women lost their jobs at a rate that was six times that of men, indicating the particular and heightened vulnerability of women in the industry." Women are not being promoted into higher positions as often as their male counterparts and are not even given the chance to stay long enough to get promoted. These are multiple issues happening during the hiring process and even the post-hire experiences of women which may make other women fear entering the industry in the first place.

The way women are treated in the workplace are also evidence of the inequalities against them in the film industry. Women's pay rates and expectations in their background/experience in cinematography is much different than male workers. There are many scenarios in the industry that displays the woman with more qualifications for the job than the man, yet earns less money for the same job than the man. "It is worth noting that women in this field are significantly better qualified than their male counterparts, with a greater proportion being graduates and an even more significant difference in the numbers of women, compared to men, with higher degrees (Skillset, 2010a: 6)." Even the women who are overqualified are treated as if they are not, resulting in them working extra hard to become better and be rewarded as their male counterparts. All of these inequalities and discrimination toward women in the film industry creates a fear for women to even want to enter the industry.

Statistics

United States

A study done by USC Annenberg in California researched what it meant to be a female in the film industry, no matter if they were working behind the scenes or were fictional characters. USC Annenberg looked at two test groups for films, the top 100 films every year from 2007 to 2015 and the top 100 films in 2015.

For the top 100 films in 2015, women were leads and co-leads in 32 of them, while of the 32 films, only 3 of them included a race other than Caucasian. Out of the thousands of speaking roles, only 32 characters were LGBT and of those characters, 40% of them were racially diverse. Female characters were also three times more likely to be seen in a sexual context.

Behind the scenes had similar statistics to the female fictional characters. Female directors, writers, and producers made up 19% of the 1,365 people that it took to create the top 100 films in 2015. The percentage of female writers (11.8%) and producers (22%) can be seen as high compared to female directors (7.5%). Of the 7.5% of female directors, three of them were African American and one was Asian American.

For the top 100 films every year from 2007 until 2015, of the 800 films, 4.1% were directed by females.

Documentaries

While there is still a gap between the percent of female and male filmmakers, women tend to be more involved in documentary films. There is a higher percentage of women directing documentaries than women directing narrative films. There came a point where female directors were barely noticed or not recognized at all.

Female filmmakers as feminists

In the film world, many female filmmakers are not given much attention or chances to show what they are capable of. This issue is still being debated on, but several activists aim to change and overcome this type of inequality. These activists aim to raise awareness and produce a social change to what is currently shown in the media. During the 1990s, many films came about presenting female filmmakers from different nationalities and racial groups. For example, one of the films released that year is called ''Sisters in Cinema'' directed by Yvonne Welbon. This documentary was to demonstrate how African American female directors inspect their present spot in the business. By giving these female film directors the opportunity to showcase their work and demonstrate their actions then feminist documentaries will be as equally important to any other documentary. Not only this, but many documentaries tend to showcase different social activists who aim for a social change by raising awareness and reinforcing female film directors.

Celluloid ceiling

The Center of the Study of Women in Television and Film has dedicated 18 years to the study of women in the film industry. An annual report is created, discussing how women have contributed to as filmmakers. Most of the findings from the research shows that, statistically, it says the same from year to year. The highest earning movies of the past 20 years, with the exception of foreign films and reissues, have been monitored and studied by the Celluloid Ceiling to provide information on the contributions and employment of women on these films. According to the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, as of 2017, "women comprised 18% of all directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers working on the top 250 domestic grossing films." The same study concluded that in 2017, 10 or more women were given one of these positions in 1% of films, compared to 10 or more men being hired for these jobs in 70% of films. Information from the Celluloid Ceiling shows that more women tend to be employed on film projects directed by women. According to the Duke Journal of Gender Law and Policy, "in films with at least one female director, women comprised 53% of writers. Conversely, in films with male directors, women comprised just 10% of writers." Statistically, female directors generally create films about and for women, and hire women to assume the roles of main characters or protagonists. The Duke Journal of Gender Law and Policy additionally found that "in 2015, women comprised only 22% of protagonists and 18% of antagonists. Just 34% of major characters and 33% of all speaking characters in the top 100 domestic grossing films were women."

The group also contributes their time to creating articles discussing how women are viewed in film, not only as filmmakers but as fictional characters as well.

North America

Canada

Mary Harron is a famous woman director from Canada who is active in Hollywood. She first gained recognition with the film ''I Shot Andy Warhol'' which premiered at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. She also directed ''American Psycho'' (2000) and ''The Notorious Bettie Page'' (2005).

Joyce Wieland is a notable Canadian experimental filmmaker and mixed media artist. She was active from 1950s until 1980s as a filmmaker. In recent years the actress-turned filmmaker Sarah Polley has made several notable films. In 2022, she wrote and directed the film '' Women Talking'', based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Miriam Toews, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

United States

Hollywood

=Silent era

=

In the silent film era American women were heavily involved in cinema in all occupations.

Helen Gardner was the first film actor, male or female, to form her own production company, "The Helen Gardner Picture Players". The first feature film by the company was the 1912 film ''Cleopatra'', which she produced and starred in.

American director, Lois Weber is one of the most prolific film directors and producers of the silent era. Weber is well known for her films ''Hypocrites'' (1915), ''The Blot'' (1921), and ''Suspense'' (1913).

Mabel Normand was another notable early female filmmaker. She started as an actress and became a producer and director in the 1910s. During the late 1910s and early 1920s, she had her own movie studio and production company. Other notable actresses who became directors include Grace Cunard and Nell Shipman.

1940s-1950s

Dorothy Arzner was one of the very few women in executive positions to be successful from 1920s until 1940s Hollywood. From 1927 until 1943, Arzner was the only woman director working in Hollywood.

First woman to direct a film noir, Ida Lupino, is widely regarded as the most prominent female filmmaker working in the 1950s during the Hollywood studio system. Besides directing, she was also an actress.

Ukrainian born American filmmaker Maya Deren

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases