Tutor: Rona Murphy 26th June 2010
Saturday film school to focus on the idea of women in the American film industry and to examine the work of Kathryn Bigelow. How far have women progressed in the film industry?
Whilst many signficant strides have been taken for women to work within the film system, the evidence suggests that they are still in the minority particularly in the area of directing. Many women take on roles in production but they are mainly working on 'womens film' such as rom coms, and melodramas. Film is still seen as a male dominated area and this can be traced back to the beginning of cinema.
One could argue that in the early days of film, it was simply a matter of physicality that led men to dominate the area. With the first cameras being heavy and labourous, it was something a man could manouvuer that a woman could not. However thesedays with smaller kits and a bigger availibity this should surely address that issue?
The female’s relationship with cinema and her role within it has been a social struggle since the very origins of the film medium began. There was a need for better representation that was originally conceived onscreen, to go beyond preordained constructions of the female form and allow them a rightful position in the narrative rather than occupying screen space for their desirability. Though it was not only achievable if female filmmakers emerged, the industry certainly required, and deserved, the input of more women, who have been (and continue to be) in the minority of the studio workplace. From the early days of cinema, through the studio era to present day, women have been producing, writing and directing films, to create their own visual identity however much of the work they created has been lost or destroyed over time. Dorothy Arzner was a female director from 1922 to the 1940s who set a new a new standard for women in film by trying to push the subjective. Actress Ida Lupino, emerged as the most prolific of her time, deciding to take more creative control over the roles she was surrounded with. She created her own production company, to make films of a modest budget to tackle subjects that Hollywood rarely touched.
Returning to the modern day cinema, women are beginning to be recognised to co-inhabit the space on the screen and justifiably be more than visual stimulus. Yet as the movie business is finally taking those tentative steps towards bringing a social equality to the industry, they are still reluctant to lose the tradition of Hollywood. The ethos of the boy’s film club is still present in contemporary cinema with directing and the film spectator still being viewed as a primarily male area. www.indietalk.com/showreel states that only 4 of the top 100 films of 2005 were directed by women, and though they have begun to take more roles in the executive end of the movie business, they are still rarely chosen to direct.
One could argue that in the early days of film, it was simply a matter of physicality that led men to dominate the area. With the first cameras being heavy and labourous, it was something a man could manouvuer that a woman could not. However thesedays with smaller kits and a bigger availibity this should surely address that issue?
The female’s relationship with cinema and her role within it has been a social struggle since the very origins of the film medium began. There was a need for better representation that was originally conceived onscreen, to go beyond preordained constructions of the female form and allow them a rightful position in the narrative rather than occupying screen space for their desirability. Though it was not only achievable if female filmmakers emerged, the industry certainly required, and deserved, the input of more women, who have been (and continue to be) in the minority of the studio workplace. From the early days of cinema, through the studio era to present day, women have been producing, writing and directing films, to create their own visual identity however much of the work they created has been lost or destroyed over time. Dorothy Arzner was a female director from 1922 to the 1940s who set a new a new standard for women in film by trying to push the subjective. Actress Ida Lupino, emerged as the most prolific of her time, deciding to take more creative control over the roles she was surrounded with. She created her own production company, to make films of a modest budget to tackle subjects that Hollywood rarely touched.
Returning to the modern day cinema, women are beginning to be recognised to co-inhabit the space on the screen and justifiably be more than visual stimulus. Yet as the movie business is finally taking those tentative steps towards bringing a social equality to the industry, they are still reluctant to lose the tradition of Hollywood. The ethos of the boy’s film club is still present in contemporary cinema with directing and the film spectator still being viewed as a primarily male area. www.indietalk.com/showreel states that only 4 of the top 100 films of 2005 were directed by women, and though they have begun to take more roles in the executive end of the movie business, they are still rarely chosen to direct.
Someone who is taking on the boys club and redefining the action genre is Kathryn Bigelow. Aside for the glaring fact that she is the first female to win the best director Oscar, there is much more to this filmmaker that deserves analysis. Key to Bigelow's position in comtemporary cinema is that she is has body of work that showcases her auteur stylistics, her famed action sequences and her playful genre-bending tendencies. She started as a painter and an artist and this is evident in her use of lighting and framing within scenes, she was also heavily influenced by Sam Peckinpah whose violent westerns would provide reference for her own films. Though she is known for her action films, Bigelow first appeared in avant garde films using these notions in her early work and she was associated with 1980s feminist cinema.
Kathryn Bigelow's first taste of cult success was with her 1987 film Near Dark, a Western/Vampire hybrid that also contained aspects of melodrama with the vampire family unit central to the plot. Her breakthrough movie was Point Break (1991) a action-heist-thriller in which an FBI agent Jonny Utah (Keanu Reeves) must uncover the culprits of a string of bank robberies by going uncover as a surfer and infiltrating the gang behind the crimes. Whilst doing so he becomes involved in an intense friendship with the leader of the gang Bodhi (Patrick Swayze)whom it transpires is behind the robberies. It is this aspect which turns the action picture off kilter and provides a new viewpoint for the audience, turning mainstream entertainment into a gender challenging male melodrama. It is the men who are objectified in this film, shot in some scenes in an almost fetishistic manner, particularly Bodhi who becomes the fixation for both Jonny and the audience, his hippy, yet masculine physic, complete with golden tresses becoming problematic for the hero of the piece. The only female character interestingly, is presented as a tomboy with an androgynous look complete with short cropped hair. Yet as Bigelow casts these characters and plays with the gender stereotyping, she still delivers the action sequences with aplomb, adapting her cameras to create fluid, rhythmic sequences. Bigelow manages to combine the concept of pure cinema, where it is simply to entertain and excite, but also with a subversion to challenge ideas of masculinity and femininity.
Kathryn Bigelow took a eight year break after her 2000 film Weight of Water struggled to find its audience. Different to her previous work, the film followed a non linear structure which alienated a lot of her audience. After working in Television for a while, she returned to film with The Hurt Locker(2008) for which she again took on a male orientated genre, the War film, and continued to show her autueristic nature with innovative camera work and keen viewpoint on highly charged maschoism. She was rewarded with the Best Director Oscar and though some may argue that see received this for simply being female (Sigourney Weaver commented she only won 'because she has breasts) she has proved that a female filmmaker does not simply have to make womens films for women but can bring her own personal vision and blend this with artistic competency to provide cinema with progressive, entertaining narratives.
