Dargis' "fuck them" - the first of several - refers specifically to a fact she highlighted in her piece this weekend on the lack of progress in Hollywood films for and about women: Two major studios, Paramount Pictures and Warner Brothers Pictures, didn't release a single movie directed by a female, even in a year of renewed prominence for women in film. One bright spot: The Hurt Locker by Kathryn Bigelow (pictured above) is sweeping the early critics' awards: in the past two days alone she and her film have gotten top accolades from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Boston Society of Film Critics, the American Film Institute, The New York Film Critics Online, and the Alliance of Women Film Journalists.

In a wide-ranging conversation this morning on women in Hollywood, Dargis, who has been a chief New York Times film critic (a title she shares with A.O. Scott) since 2004, had similarly strong words for Hollywood conventional wisdom and the studio system overall. "My tendency is not to talk in sweeping terms, but one thing I can say in sweeping terms is that there's a lot of sexism in the industry," she says. Here are some of the other highlights from the conversation.

On why women in Hollywood aren't faring any better: This business is really about clubby relationships. If you buy Variety or go online and look at the deals, you see one guy after another smiling in a baseball cap. It's all guys making deals with other guys. I had a female studio chief a couple of years ago tell me point blank that she wasn't hiring a woman to do an action movie because women are good at certain things and not others. If you have women buying that bullshit how can we expect men to be better?

On working within the system: For me the most sobering thing of the last ten years is that there really was a point where four of the studios were run by women… and you would have thought that would lead to an uptick of women directors. I'm not saying I've done a systematic analysis, but it doesn't look like it changed very much… Working within the system has not worked. It has not helped women filmmakers or, even more important, you and me, women audiences, to have women in the studio system. … I think the studio system as it exists now is a no-win situation for women filmmakers.

On director Kathryn Bigelow's success (achieved in part by getting funding outside of Hollywood, detailed in Dargis's June profile of her): Something like a woman winning best director for directing an action movie and not a romantic comedy is symbolically important. Whether it then leads to a lot of women doing things outside of the pathetic comfort zone of romantic comedy – and I say that as someone who loves romantic comedy – we'll see. We know that because women are allowed to make romantic comedies that they can make romantic comedies. That's in everyone's comfort zone. The idea that a woman can be a great action director is not is everyone's comfort zone. That's [Bigelow's] exceptionalism.

On Bigelow's chances for Oscar or future commercial success: The only thing Hollywood is interested in money, and after that prestige. That's why they'll be interested in something like The Hurt Locker. She's done so well critically that she can't be ignored.

Let's acknowledge that the Oscars are bullshit and we hate them. But they are important commercially... I've learned to never underestimate the academy's bad taste. Crash as best picture? What the fuck.

On male and female directors being held to different standards, as Dargis suggested in comparing Bigelow and Michael Mann in her piece: Do you think that a woman would have been able to get forty million dollars to make a puppet movie the way that Wes Anderson has been able to make, bringing to bear all the publicity and advertising budget of Fox? After two movies that didn't make a lot of money? I think this is true for a lot of black filmmakers too – they're held to a higher standard. And an unfair standard. You can be a male filmmaker and if you're perceived as a genius – a boy genius or a fully-formed adult genius – that you are allowed to fail in a way that a woman is not allowed to fail.

On whether there's an essential difference between male-made and female-made movies: Flaubert wrote Madame Bovary. That's all we need to say about that. But I do think as 51 percent of the population we should be given a chance… It's very boring to watch the same people coming from a certain kind of background make the same kinds of movies.

On Nancy Meyers and Nora Ephron: I personally don't think either of them is a good filmmaker — they make movies for me that are more emotionally satisfying but with barely any aesthetic value at all. I really like Something's Gotta Give, but I don't think it's a good movie…. I'm of two minds. Sometimes I think what women should do what various black and gay audiences have done, which is support women making movies for women. So does that mean I have to go support Nora Ephron? Fuck no. That's just like, blech.

On Sandra Bullock, whom she recently wrote should use her production company to "start giving female filmmakers a chance to do something other than dopey romances": Use your power for good, Sandy!

On why so many romantic comedies are so terrible: One, the people making them have no fucking taste, two, they're morons, three they're insulting panderers who think they're making movies for the great unwashed and that's what they want. I love romantic movies. I absolutely do. But I literally don't know what's happening. I think it's depressing that Judd Apatow makes the best romantic comedies and they're about men. All power to Apatow, but he's taken and repurposed one of the few genres historically made for women. ….We had so few [genres] that were made specifically for the female audience and now the best of them are being made by Judd Apatow. But what are his movies supposed to be about? Nominally about the relationship between a man and a woman, but they're really buddy flicks. Funny People was supposed to have an important role for a woman, but she was uninteresting and an afterthought.

On representations of women onscreen: There's a reason that women go to movies like Mamma Mia. It's a terrible movie… but women are starved for representation of themselves. I go back to Spike Lee and She's Gotta Have It. I remember going to see it at the Quad in New York, surrounded by a black audience. People are starved for representations of themselves.

On women being taken seriously as moviegoers: It's a vicious cycle. We're not going to movies because there aren't movies for us. Therefore we're not seen as a loyal moviegoing audience. My point is that if there are stories about women, women will come out for that…

That's why [women] go to a movie like The Devil Wears Prada and make huge hits. They want to see women in movies. People in the trade press constantly frame that as a surprise. This, gee whiz, Sex and the City's a hit, Twilight, hmm, wonder what's going on here. Maybe they should not be so surprised. In the trade press, women audiences are considered a niche. How is that even possible? We're 51 percent of the audience.

On this quote from a box office analyst for Hollywood.com, in The Washington Post: Fuck him. What an asshole. Yes, that's what I want! That's exactly what I want. If Angelina Jolie had been cast in a movie as a good as The Bourne Identity with a filmmaker like Paul Greengrass, I would have gone out to see it, and I'm sure I wouldn't be alone. That is absurd. That's blaming female audiences – you get what you deserve? Is that what he's saying?

On being a female critic reviewing and featuring women's films: I wanted to get [Bigelow] on the cover of 'Arts and Leisure'. I wanted this fantastic woman director to get her face on the front of the New York Times…[But] I am an equal opportunity critic. I will pan women as hard as men. I've had testy people imply that I should go easier on women's movies. I find that incredibly insulting. Are you kidding me? I don't want to be graded on a curve. None of us want to be a good woman writer.

I don't want to be the woman critic. I don't want to be the feminist critic. I don't want to be the shrew. What I want to do is talk about the art that I love and point out, every so often, inequities….It's a weird balancing act and I'm not saying there aren't contradictions.

On whether the prominence of women-directed films in 2009 will change anything, even if they're not statistically significant compared to other years: It's pretty shitty right now. Anything positive can only help a little bit. How's that for optimism?

Women In The Seats But Not Behind The Camera [New York Times]
Kathryn Bigelow Makes Movies That Go For The Gut [New York Times]
Now Starring At The Movies: Famous Dead Women [New York Times]
With Strong Female Characters, Hollywood Suffers From a Fear Of Failure [The Washington Post]

Related: Double X Films [The Atlantic]

Earlier: Things Are Not Getting Better For Women In Hollywood

Women & Hollywood's Melissa Silverstein took a look at two pieces: the Actress Salary Report by The Hollywood Reporter and Box Office Of the '00s: The Top Grossing Female Films on IndieWire. Here's what she found:

• Of the 241 films in the last decade that have grossed over $100 million, only five of them are directed by women. (Twilight, What Women Want, The Proposal, Mamma Mia, Something's Gotta Give. Julie & Julia made just under $100 million with $94,125,426.)
• "Only 31 films directed or co-directed by women grossed over $20 million.  Over 1,000 films directed by men did the same."
• The list of the top earning actresses? All white, and (mostly) the same old faces: Julia Roberts, Katharine Heigl, Cameron Diaz, Reese Witherspoon, Kate Hudson, Sandra Bullock, Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Rachel McAdams and, of course, Jennifer Aniston. (Silverstein writes, "I expect to see more boring romantic comedies from her for another 10 years.")

Some of the women on this list are great; many of the women on this list have made flicks (marketed to women) that looked terrible (The Ugly Truth? All About Steve?). But since we know that women buy 50% of all movie tickets, how do we get better product — or at least, quality, profitable product out there?

Keeping the list of successes and the actresses in mind, expect to see, very shortly: A musical romantic comedy about a vampire chef who can't decide if she wants to propose to her werewolf boyfriend. Starring Meryl Streep as the demanding restaurant owner; Julia Roberts as the FBI agent who suspects too much; Sandra Bullock as the Vampire Queen, Cameron Diaz as the health inspector, suspicious of the "special ingredient" in the vampire chef's delectable meals; Jennifer Aniston as the food critic; Reese Witherspoon, Amy Adams and Rachel McAdams as the chef's bffs/potential bridesmaids. With any luck, [insert your favorite vastly underused actress here] could play the chef, in the role of a lifetime.

Women, Hollywood and Money [Women & Hollywood]
Actress Salary Report [The Hollywood Reporter]
B.O. of the ‘00s: The Top Grossing Female Helmed Films [IndieWire]

Bloggers, writers, filmmakers, producers. The poet and actress Sarah Jones. Pamela Tanner Boll, director of Who Does She Think She Is? Leslie Harris, director of Just Another Girl On The IRT. Fear Of Flying author Erica Jong. Kitty Kolbert, of Barnard's Athena Leadership Program. And many more. Amazing, accomplished women (including my nemesis, Ann Curry).

There was a bar in the dark, book-lined bedroom and hors d'oeuvres were passed in the elegant, well-lit living room, and then Ms. Steinem spoke. "I'm writing an on the road book, but I feel bad, because I don't know how to drive," she told the room of 30 or so women. "But then I found out that Kerouac didn't either."

Ms. Steinem introduced Jane Campion, whose new film, Bright Star, is a dreamy, touching tale about the poet John Keats, and his relationship with his neighbor, Fanny Brawne. (Excellent performances in those roles by the foxy Ben Whishaw and the luminous Abbie Cornish.) Ms. Campion spoke about the film, and then the topic of filmmaking came up. "I look forward to the day when we stop saying 'woman filmmaker,'" she said. "I mean, you just say 'artist.' And there are so many women novelists…" But she admitted that filmmaking has a glass ceiling, when it comes to women, and Ms. Steinem pointed out that Campion is the only female director to have won the Palm D'or at the Cannes Film Festival — an award that was introduced in 1955. In addition, Campion is one of only three women — out of 396 people — ever nominated for a Best Director Oscar. No woman has ever won.

Melissa Silverstein reminded everyone that 50% of movie tickets are purchased by women, yet women direct 9% of films. She insisted that purchasing a movie ticket is like a vote, and urged those listening to vote for women, and to vote well — opening weekend.

The conversation touched upon how hard it is to get funding, and how, since many film critics are men, films made by women often suffer from harsh reviews after they're made. Campion admitted that her career was given a boost by grants given to female filmmakers by the Australian government.

Ms. Campion closed with this thought: "Women gave birth to everyone on this planet. No one, no one on this planet didn't come through a woman. It makes me furious that people don't seem to care what women think."

I decided to ask a few professionals. Raves and nominations notwithstanding, as casting director Mark Bennett (The Hurt Locker, Junebug) puts it when asked for his professional opinion, "Unfortunately Hollywood is still a system that doesn't produce a lot of great parts for black women and doesn't produce a lot of parts for women who aren't conventionally beautiful. And that's not going to change overnight."

In a piece last month on The Root, cultural critic Stanley Crouch was outright pessimistic:

"Gabby Sidibe better enjoy her fame while she can because black actresses never have less than a hard row to hoe. Even if the inner life they bring to characters is as beautiful as they are physically, they have little chance."

Crouch cited several black actresses whose careers were, as he puts it, "pissed away by the system," and argues that even with Precious's success, at the end of the day, "Hollywood will continue to go along as it has gone." And he didn't even touch on the fact that Hollywood has had little use for any women larger than a size zero.

So far, Sidibe has shot a pilot for Showtime – The C Word, a dark comedy starring Laura Linney – and also wrapped a Sundance lab film called Yelling to the Sky. But her most significant post-Precious performance has probably been on the talk show circuit.

The greatest risk Sidibe initially faced was best articulated (inadvertently) by Roger Ebert in his November 4 Chicago Sun Times review of Precious:

"Her work is still another demonstration of the mystery of some actors, who evoke feelings in ways beyond words and techniques. She so completely creates the Precious character that you rather wonder if she's very much like her."

You can wonder, but the answer is no. "It's called acting," her manager, Jill Kaplan, says. Sidibe herself has skillfully, but seemingly effortlessly, put space between her character and herself with her television appearances, which exhibit both poise and comic timing.

"When you see her being interviewed, she's so charming. You look at her and say, I'd like to watch her in other parts so you can see her acting different personalities," says Bennett.

Both Bennett and Billy Hopkins, the casting agent who co-discovered Sidibe at an open casting call (and Precious director Lee Daniels' former partner), point out that cable television offers a far greater range and depth of roles for actresses. And they both speculate that she'd make a good talk show host. (An appealing, if entirely premature, prospect).

Hopkins sounds determinedly optimistic about Hollywood's receptiveness to an actress like Sidibe. "Is she a hard type to cast? Yes. But is she talented? Yes. So I think those will balance each other out," he says.

Eyde Belasco, who cast Sidibe in Yelling To The Sky and has worked on movies like (500) Days of Summer and Half Nelson, writes in an email that her own choice had "very little to do with her look and everything to do with her amazing acting abilities." She adds, "I think the best types of roles for Gabby going forward, to keep her from being typecast, are ones that are not linked to her look. Maybe it's about taking on a great supporting role (such as her role in Yelling To She Sky) that has very little to do with her physical appearance and all to do with her performance. If an actor can afford to do it, it's about waiting for the right role. Gabby does have a very specific look. But, hopefully, filmmakers and casting directors will want the best actress for the role."

It can be hard to get insiders to discuss industry prejudices on the record, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. "Hollywood tends to think of actors like Gabby as being perfect as a white person's friend. She'll have to work really hard to distinguish herself in their eyes," says Bennett. "The soft prejudice that she's going to face is going to be getting cast in parts that aren't written for a black girl. At the end of the day, I find there's a certain risk aversion in terms of Hollywood casting. It wouldn't surprise me if she finds her most fulfilling professional opportunities in the coming years outside of Hollywood."

Bennett's advice to her is not to wait to pursue the parts she wants: "It's a mistake for actors to sit around and assume that Hollywood as a monolith will have imagination. Actors have to insist on what they're capable of."

Kaplan, Sidibe's manager, is reluctant, for obvious reasons, to have the actress pigeonholed or even discuss that risk. She says Sidibe has gotten all kinds of scripts sent her way. "It doesn't have to be about changing Hollywood's ideals – it's just about a talented actress," she says.

She adds, "I think she can do anything. She's a prodigy – she's very funny. She really loves Judd Apatow movies and comedies in general. We're looking for a big fun comedy for her, or maybe something romantic…She loves superhero movies."

Speaking of Apatow and comedies, I tracked down Allison Jones, the casting director who has worked with him since Freaks and Geeks, and who was also responsible for the inarguably inspired casting on Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Office. Here's what she writes:

A good comedy director I think values instincts more than line readings...so if her comedy instincts are as solid as her dramatic ones (on talk shows she is a riot and so delightful), then she will have no problem... Someone's funny, she's funny. Someone's good, she's good. [In addition] as much as anyone's physical appearance can limit their appropriateness for a role (including the stick-thin actresses), she will not be right for everything. But maybe there are more opportunities out there rather than fewer.

Hopefully those opportunities will exceed the comic roles that the industry has so far offered larger black women (or men pretending to be them)—where their sexuality is a punchline in itself.

As the awards season kicks off, Sidibe's name is already on many ballots — she was just nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for best actress — and expected to be on more, including those for the Oscars (announced February 3). And maybe that's what it'll take to clinch her broader appeal, should anyone need convincing. Kaplan doesn't want to make predictions. "I can't say what's going to happen," she says. "I'm definitely trying. I'm working on it right now. People are going to see outside the box."

Hollywood: Same As It Ever Was [The Root]

Related: Et Tu, Amy Poehler? What's So Funny About Desiring A Big, Black Woman? [What Tami Said]
Sumpin' Turrrrble: SNL's Keenan Thompson Performs Minstrel Act [Racialicious]

Variety reports that Princess Tiana-oriented merchandise is outselling other Disney Princess-branded items by double digits. (Disney hasn't had a new princess-like character since Mulan in 1998.)

The LA Times spoke to The Disney animation team of Ron Clements and John Musker — who wrote and directed the The Little Mermaid and Aladdin — about the first animated African-American Disney heroine (who has an interracial relationship!)

Clements explains:

"Disney has actually been interested in the Frog Prince all the way back to Beauty and the Beast. They never got a version they were totally happy with. Weirdly enough, Pixar had been developing versions and they never got quite a version they were happy with. Their version actually started in Chicago and then moved to New Orleans partly because that is John Lasseter's favorite city in the world. Even more recently, Disney bought the rights to a book called The Frog Princess by an author called E.D. Baker and that was a twist on the fairy tale… We took elements actually from everything and came up with our version, which is basically an American fairy tale set in New Orleans in the 1920s."

The Princess and The Frog is family-friendly fare, but considering the fact that Precious broke records for an indie flick (and continues to see strong numbers as it goes nationwide) and New Moon broke a box office record set by The Dark Knight, Hollywood should be learning that women are not to be ignored.

"New Moon explodes the myth… that fanboys hold all the power," Pamela McClintock writes for Variety. Last year seemed to be the year of the dick flick, but with major successes from Julie & Julia, New Moon and Precious (keep in mind that New Moon's opening weekend beat Transformers, X-Men Origins: WolverineTransformers and Star Trek), the message is clear: Women buy movie tickets, and we're interested in great stories with women in the lead roles. And! Fangirls should be taken seriously. As Women & Hollywood's Melissa Silverstein writes for The Huffington Post:

Women accounted for 80% of the New Moonticket buyers; and [the audience was] divided evenly between women under and over 21. …There is an audience out there hungry to see films that appeal to them. I'm not trying to say that all women's films will be as successful as New Moon because that's silly. These kinds of movies come along rarely cause Hollywood hardly makes them. But this weekend's number indicate that they should make more of them.

'New Moon' Shines At Box Office, New 'Princess' Lifts Disney [Variety]
New Moon Brings a New Dawn in Hollywood [The Huffington Post]
Q & A With 'Princess And The Frog' Animators [LA Times]
Anika Noni Rose In Disney's 'The Princess and the Frog'; 'Dreamgirl's' Latest Role Is History Making [NY Daily News]
A Frog Of A Different Color [Newsweek]

Hornaday argues that Amelia's box office results will essentially be a failure either way: "If 'Amelia' earns respectable receipts," Hornaday writes, "chances are it will be dismissed as a lucky break. If it fails, it will be cited as yet more proof that strong female protagonists are box office poison."

While fluffy romantic comedies and films based on television shows are still successful, due to excellent cross-promotion, branding, and the offer of escapism, Hornaday still wonders: "In an era when women in movies fall along a spectrum defined by Hannah Montana and 'Twilight' on one end and 'Sex and the City' and 'Mamma Mia!' on the other, where are the screen heroines of yesteryear, who could be strong, serious and sexy?"

She answers her own question later in the piece, conceding that television has become the home for dramas and the actresses who shine in them: Glenn Close, Holly Hunter, Kyra Sedgwick, Mary-Louise Parker, and Sally Field, just to name a few, have found success on the small screen, starring in quality shows that provide them with a chance to play something other than "someone's mom," or "woman who stands looking shocked while giant robots attack the earth."

The shift of dramas from film to television, and the failture of Hollywood to properly market to women are at the heart of Hornaday's piece, and judging by the slightly depressing insights she receives from Hollywood insiders, it doesn't look like dramas are going to shift back to the silver screen anytime soon. Big budget blockbusters, superhero films, and bromance comedies are the money makers, and Hollywood is eager to cash in while it can. A film like Amelia, unfortunately, isn't going to be the turn around needed to push strong female characters back onto the big screen, and part of the reason, according to the critics, anyway, is that the movie just isn't that good.

Paul Dergarabedian of Hollywood.com makes an interesting argument in Hornaday's piece, noting that women prefer films about shoes and vampires as they provide an excuse for a "Girl's Night Out" of sorts; silly, somewhat mindless entertainment that includes two hours of social bonding time with the ticket price. He has a point, I suppose, though one wishes it didn't take sparkly vampires or women waxing poetic about handbags and idiotic boyfriends in order to get women interested in seeing films together. It all comes back to escapism, I suppose; as Dergarabedian notes in a somewhat cringe-worthy quote: "It's almost as if in real life, women want to be empowered and in control, but on-screen they seem to like the old-fashioned damsel-in-distress, love-struck female."

I'll admit that I don't go to the movies as often as I used to; I typically go for an "event" film or for a comedy, as it's hard, at times, to justify dropping $10 on a ticket to a mediocre film that will most likely be out on DVD three weeks later. The loss of strong females on the big screen has turned movies, for me, anyway, into pure escapism: I go to laugh or to watch superheroes run around. Television, on the other hand, is where I turn for quality dramas; I'd much rather stay in on a Sunday night and watch Mad Men than drop ten bucks on the latest hooker-victim-doormat flick playing down the street.

I feel simultaneously guilty and frustrated by this: I should be spending more money in support of films that feature strong women as leads, but at the same time, those films are hard to find. I'm not sure I agree with Dergarabedian's claim that women are looking for "the old-fashioned damsel-in-distress," as much as they are, perhaps, looking for a happy ending to offset the often gloomy realities of the world. I suppose the only silver lining at this point is that those of us who leave the theater in search of something more than "happily ever after," can easily find it waiting for us at home, on our television sets.

With Strong Female Characters, Hollywood Suffers From A Fear Of Failure [WashingtonPost]

Earlier: Amelia: "The Entire Movie Is A Failure To Communicate"

Right off the bat, Finke admits she's not into lists, writing:

"Last year I was on Elle's Women in Hollywood power list; this year I was asked to write it. That's ironic, because I hate power lists more than one-size-fits-all spa robes. These influential jobs are not necessarily comparable. Are the casting directors I included more important than the cinematographers and film editors I didn't? So what I have is a very subjective roster of women I deem essential to a town run by alpha males who don't play well with others. Women in general do."

The List is split up into sections; there's The Movie Executives; The TV Executives; the awfully titled "The Wives & Daughters." But first and foremost there's The Talent — which includes Tyra Banks, Beyoncé, director Kathyrn Bigelow, Miley Cyrus, Ellen DeGeneres and Tina Fey. Also on that list? Michael Patrick King, whom Finke calls "2009's honorary female." Finke explains:

He gave us the best years of Sex and the City on TV and can be credited for reviving the chick flick in Hollywood when the movie version grossed $415 million.

The commenters on Women In Hollywood are split. One writes:

I just dislike that she left out a woman in order to include Michael Patrick King as an "honorary female". It is not good to be told that a man knows and produces women's films better than women.

But another replies:

That bugged me as well… but then I thought, well… It's the biggest film starring a cast of women of all time. He may not be a woman, but his film surely did something great for women in Hollywood, especially with a cast of women 40+.

Here's the question: If a man sympathetic to women is in power, is it as good as a woman in power? I'm going to go with: No. Because the more women pulling strings and making executive decisions the better. But since Finke makes a point about the SATC franchise being a powerhouse — and generates some buzz by including a man — she gets a pass from me. Disagree?

The Most Powerful Women in Hollywood According to Nikki Finke [Women In Hollywood]
Nikki Finke's Power List [Elle.com]
Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood

Earlier: Hollywood Heavy Nikki Finke: Victim Of Misogyny, And Misogynist Extraordinaire

Whip It's Rotten Tomatoes score is a whopping 82%. The people who have seen it love it. Yet The Invention Of Lying, with a 57% Rotten Tomato score and bad reviews, made more money. Even craptastic-looking Bruce Willis flick Surrogates made more money than Whip It this weekend, and its Rotten Tomato score is an abysmal 39%%.

So what the hell happened?

NPR's Linda Holmes writes that she was "utterly enchanted" by Whip It, and has a theory about why it didn't do well:

Not only is it touching and funny and a rollicking good time, but it's a movie that rarely finds its way to the multiplex  it's a sports movie about a team of women, it's got a cast chosen mostly for suitability and not perceived hotness, and it's warmly funny but almost wisecrack-free.

Of course, all these things are box-office poison. Without wisecracks, what do you put in the trailer? Without perceived hotness, who do you put out front to promote it?

Of course, Zombieland didn't have a hottie, but it did have wisecracks ("Nut up or shut up"), lots of humor, and, of course, zombies.

Silverstein notes that 52% of the Whip It audience was 25 and older, meaning young people did not come out for the flick, opting to see Zombieland instead. She writes:

What this says to me is that [the marketers] didn't figure out how to get the young girls who live the "girl power" lives. Maybe they couldn't get their guy friends/boy friends to go, so they just acquiesced and went to see Zombieland. Maybe the girl power message is a turn off to guys? Maybe some of it is about how women's sports is treated in the culture?

I saw  and enjoyed  both of these movies, but where I would recommend Whip It to anyone  mom, sister, friends, landlady  I couldn't do the same for Zombieland. And it sucks to think that young women might have picked the zombie flick over Whip It (with its female-driven story, female director, and female star) because of guys.

Luckily, NPR's Holmes believes this is not the end for Whip It:

I have to think, and I admit it may be wishful thinking, that the story of this movie making money is far from over. At the end of the showing I went to on Friday night, the audience  mostly made up of groups of women and girls  cheered. One friend who saw it immediately vowed to buy it on DVD and put it in his five-year-old daughter's room to be opened when she turns 13…

Not that many people made it out to see it on opening weekend, but the people who love this movie are going to love it. It's not a movie like The Proposal, where you watch it and it's fun and then you forget all about it. I like to think it's going to live on cable and on DVD and at slumber parties, and even before it leaves theaters, it may make a few more bucks on word of mouth.

Fingers crossed! And even though this ladycentric flick wasn't a box-office smash, Silverstein reminds us that that Julie & Julia "has quietly amassed almost $100 million at the box office." Women can make it happen.

What Happened To Whip It? [Women & Hollywood]
Box Office Report: 'Zombieland' Rises To The Top With $25 Million [EW]
Weekend Box Office: 'Whip It' Has A Tough Weekend, But Don't Count It Out [NPR]

While Rosenberg was at USC, she wrote a script. It got passed around a bunch of different offices, and a bunch of different people told her, We love this; we're not gonna make it, but let's get you an agent. Then suddenly, someone called saying, "Get me that script, get it to me right away, I need you to send it this weekend, hurry, hurry!"  

She explains:  

I'm like, Wow… This is fantastic! I send them the script, and then I go in to meet with one of them. Everyone in the agency wants to meet with me, and I'm going, This is amazing. And one of them says, Yeah, we just made a deal with your mother. And I'm going, Okay, my mother's been dead 10 years, so you guys are great!

As it turned out, they thought I was Joan Rivers' daughter, because her name was Melissa Rosenberg also. I had this nepotism going for me without being related to anyone. 

Rosenberg went on to write Step Up and to work on The O.C.; I'm thinking about changing my name to Dodai Winfrey, Dodai Bruckheimer or just "D. Goldwyn."

Not Being Joan Rivers' Daughter Led To 'Twilight,' 'Dexter' [The Wrap]

Of the 85 or so live action flicks released by the big studios in 2009, 93% were directed by white men. And those dudes hover at around 45 years old.

Cieply writes:

Box-office revenue has been growing, and theater attendance has held steady for years in the face of extreme competition from other media. Revenue from DVD sales has been drifting, but there is no evidence that Hollywood has lost its grip on the audience.

And then:

Uniformity would seem to shut out potential viewers and revenue. But there is really no way to be sure whether sales would go up or down if the studio directing pool were more diverse.

Silverstein counters:

That sentence reeks of discrimination.  Same shit was said before women got the right to vote.  Same shit was said before African Americans got the right to vote.  Same shit was said before we had a women Supreme Court justice.  Sane shit was said before we got an African American president.

In addition, Cieply also actually argues that it's kind of a good thing that only white guys get to direct:

In one respect, homogeneity among its film directors might actually help Hollywood in a business sense. Studio films, year in and year out, continue to pull in crowds worldwide at least in part because they look, sound and feel like what has gone before.

Funny, I'd say that homogeneity is what was killing the movies, for me. Because the bland claptrap like He's Just Not That Into You, Bride Wars and New In Town ("like Fargo with vomit") isn't drawing me to theaters; and neither are the supposedly tried and true formulas based on toys (GI Joe; Transformers). In any case, a lack of diversity "because it's always been that way" is a bad reason. Come on, the country's demographic makeup is changing. Why wouldn't the heart of its entertainment industry change?

When you look at the casts of popular reality shows like American Idol, Project Runway and America's Next Top Model, you see a hell of a lot of diversity: Women of different ages; men and women who are black, Asian, Latino and gay. It makes white male-dominated Hollywood (and the white "A-list" stars) seem outdated. So how could diversity hurt Hollywood?

As Karyn Kusama, the part-Japanese director of Girlfight and upcoming thriller Jennifer's Body tells the Times: "In so many parts of the business, the numbers have changed. What do we stand to lose by accepting that homogeneity of vision?" The answer is obvious: We lose ourselves.

See Any Similarities in These Directors? [NY Times]
Studio Films Are Directed By White Men [Women & Hollywood]

According to The Independent, The Streep Effect is reaching beyond the box office. Women & Hollywood's Melissa Silverstein breaks it down:

- The bump in Greek marriages the month after the release of Mamma Mia (flights were up 13%),
- Increase in cookware sales, cookbooks, and French cooking classes since Julie & Julia.
- Sales of Abba albums soared after Mamma Mia
- The books My Life in France and Julie & Julia are on the NY Times best selling list
- Tourism in Kenya increased after Out of Africa was released in the 80s
- Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf made it to the best seller list for the first time  after the release of The Hours.

It's interesting that studios scramble to make money with action figures, fast food tie-ins, expensive special effects and GCI guinea pigs when what really has staying power is an excellent actress who chooses good projects. As Silverstein puts it:

I just love the fact that we are talking about a 60 year old woman with ancillary economic power… If she continues to pick films that are diverse and interesting and continues to show us all how she is enjoying her work and her life she will be successful.

Continue to be successful, that is. Without blowing anything up, and without talking guinea pigs (where are her glossy covers?).

The Streep Effect: Why Economists Love Her [Independent]
The Economics of Being Meryl Streep [Women & Hollywood]

First, the numbers: While G.I. Joe made $56.2 million, according to Time, it cost $175 million to produce and more than $100 million to market worldwide. Will the studio recoup those costs?

On the other hand, Julie & Julia cost $38 million to make. And Time's Richard Corliss notes that the Julia Child-oriented movie got loads of free publicity: "Nora Ephron, the movie's writer-director, was the subject of 15 New York Times articles in the past month."

Next, Women & Hollywood's Melissa Silverstein offers some other numbers for perspective:

Nora Ephron's Sleepless in Seattle opened in 1993 on over 1700 screens to a approx $17 million gross. It earned $126 million domestically. You've Got Mail opened in 1998 on over 2600 screens and earned a little over $18 million. Film went on to earn $115 million domestically.
And from Meryl Streep. The Devil Wears Prada opened in 2006 on 2,847 screens and grossed $27 million. The total domestic gross was $124 million. This film made more overseas with a total box office cum of $326 million. Mamma Mia opened on over 2900 screens and grossed approx $27 million on opening weekend. The domestic gross topped out at $144 million and the worldwide total is an astounding $600 million.

These women make hits.

But even more noteworthy is the fact that the true star of Julie & Julia is not a slinky young ingenue (coughMeganFoxcough) but 60-year-old Meryl Streep. Corliss writes: "With The Devil Wears Prada and Mamma Mia! both earning well over $100 million domestic, and her new picture on its way to hit status, she is arguably the movie's top female star. And she's 60. That's never happened in Hollywood history." (Yet who's on Vogue's August issue? G.I. Joe's Sienna Miller.)

Lastly, and maybe most important: Julie & Julia is a movie about two women whose romantic lives are secondary in the plot. While other comedies focus on beaus and babies, the movie manages to acknowledge that women have other hopes, dreams, desires and things to talk about. Which is, of course, something to savor.

Box Office Weekend: G.I. Just-OK, Julia Delicious [Time]
Julie & Julia By The Numbers [Women & Hollywood]

[Image via Sony Pictures]

(Sadie is yellow; I am pink.)








In closing: it seems that, repeatedly, there's always one female star — very often blonde — thrust into the spotlight, built up as the next big thing… and the only thing the public loves more than adoring her when she first explodes in popularity is tearing her down when they're bored with her.

Why Is Katherine Heigl So Annoying? [Newsweek]

LA Times writer Mark Olsen says that Doris Wishman, who made the 1965 flick Bad Girls Go to Hell, was in many ways the forerunner of the feminist exploitation genre. The movie involves a woman being raped by her janitor while her husband is at work; she kills him with a bowl. But fearing the consequences of the murder, she flees the city and travels to New York, where she changes her name and has a tryst with a woman, then gets raped by some other guy, then eventually wakes up to find it has all been a dream. Then her husband leaves for work… And the janitor comes in and rapes her. Uplifting? Here's the trailer:





Then there's Terminal Island, directed by Stephanie Rothman. The movie revolves around a an island penal colony where the male and female prisoners fend for themselves without guards. But the subtext is all about power, sexism and social upheaval. Critic Dave Kehr claims the film can be seen as a "lurid exploitation subject turned into a crafty feminist allegory… It's difficult now to believe there was a time when such progressive politics could be expressed in a drive-in movie." This is not the original trailer, but a remix that might not be safe for work, view with caution: (And check out the trashtastic poster!)





"No She Didn't" will also look at Gator Bait, what's called a "hicksploitation" movie directed by Beverly Sebastian. Kathleen McHugh, director of the UCLA Center for the Study of Women says: "Even in the mid-'70s, the kind of proto-feminist element was being written about… you have these powerful, self-assertive, one might even use the term 'extremely aggressive' women who are wreaking vengeance against forces, people, men who are trying to keep them down." Gator Bait, looks, in a word, awesome:





Of course, all of these films are still part of a genre which is deemed "exploitation." So you'll find gratuitous nudity, violence and general sleaze. But the female filmmakers were following what was — at the time — a viable career path in Hollywood. Notes Olsen: "Where many male filmmakers who worked the same route moved on to more respectable projects and acclaim, their female counterparts largely faded into obscurity." Still, the women making these movies injected their point of view. McHugh points out: "A significant part of feminism was women taking charge of representations of sexuality. And you clearly see, albeit in an extreme and sort of trashy way, you do see it in these exploitation films." Paul Malcolm, who is the programmer of the UCLA series, puts it this way: "The films are really flat-out fun genre films, but there's something else at work."

Female-Exploitation Films Seen In New Light [LA Times]
Bad Girls Go To Hell [YouTube]
Gator Bait [YouTube]
Terminal Island [YouTube]

[Image via MovieGoods.com]

According to Variety's Nicole Laporte:

A number of edgy, raw comedies, all written by women, have been hitting theaters — and doing well — making the case that, as [writer Kirsten] Smith puts it, "As women, we can bring it the way guys bring it."

Laporte calls this "The Naughty Girl movement," and includes Diablo Cody (Juno), Dana Fox (What Happens in Vegas), Liz Meriwether (the upcoming Fuckbuddies) and Lorene Scafaria (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist).

Silverstein writes:

"Naughty girl" movement (could that be more sexist?)

But the point is that many female screenwriters have felt reigned in for years. Now that more edgy fare is being embraced, they have, in Silverstein's words, "the freedom to write like a guy."

Apparently, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, who wrote the script for The Ugly Truth along with Nicole Eastman, told Variety they were excited to have an R rating:

"When they told us to make it R, the heavens opened and the angels sang," Lutz says. "We always pitch our dirty jokes to each other knowing we can't use them. Suddenly, it was like, 'Oh my God! We can write like we actually talk!' "

But Silverstein, who says the film is "riddled with cliches about competent women" and portrays them all as non-masturbating control freaks with cats, ponytails and comfortable clothes, doesn't know if dirty jokes are such a great trade off. "Basically the film's premise tells women to throw out 40 years of women's progress cause it's such a turn off," she writes. "But just because you have the freedom to say fuck or cock as many times as you want does that mean that you should?"

The obvious answer is no, but when women are trying to keep up with the guys, it's hard to blame them for trying to match swear for swear. While females don't have to be delicate, the ideal dirty joke is A. appropriate in the storyline and B. actually funny. As for swapping the cats, ponytails and comfortable clothes in order to get a man, well, a chick getting a makeover isn't a cliché at all, right?

Can Girls Out-Gross Guys At Box Office? [Variety]
Women & Misogyny – The Ugly Truth [Women & Hollywood]