hooper_13

Hi,
I'm currently studing media studies at a level and have got to prepare an essay regarding women in film with our own specific subject and would like your help. My chosen question is 'Are women easily identifable as female directors compared to that of males' I will be exploring this question using 10 different research types, both primary and secondary and would like anyone who can help me give me there personal response.
I will be comparing films of Kathyn Bigelow, 'Strange Days' and 'Point Break' along with other female directored films and boldly male films such as Matrix. My focus will be on Sci Fi films as this is regarded by audience as a stereotypically male genre.

Thanks for your time any response welcome

Tom Hooper - Bournside School and Sixth Form Centre

christoph404

Sounds like an interesting subject for an essay. what are the ten research types you are using? What other films are you looking at and what have you come up with so far? Might be more helpful if you could outline the structure of your essay and some of the ideas and conclusions you are hoping to present and perhaps we could comment on that, in other words present us with some ideas of your own on the topic and Im sure a discussion could ensue.

batman

While I was watching Strange Days for the first time (on TV) I thoroughly enjoyed it, but kept thinking there was something 'different' about it, but couldn't put my finger on it. I had missed the start so didn't know who the director was. The story seemed all set up for some Cameron or McTiernan style shoot 'em ups but they never happened. The Fiennes character seemed less 'gung ho' than usual and the female characters more rounded. When I found out the director was female it didn't surprise me at all. Strange Days IMHO is a fine thriller which, in male hands, could've ended up as bad as, say, Total Recall. It wasn't the style of the camera movements or production design, which are often a director's calling card, but the overall 'feel' of the piece that made it 'different' for me. If that makes any kind of sense ....

Bats.

I'm the cutest bottom judge!

Steve Crook

Yes, they're the ones with the curvy bits that sit in the chair labelled "Director"

Steve

Steve Crook

I would have thought it would be easy to differentiate between "female directored films" and the really macho films. But what about the more delicate and sensitive films that have been made by male directors?

It's an interesting idea but like with all gender distinctions there is no clear dividing line. There will be a lot of people that cross it, from either side

Steve

batman

These two directors had a few curvy bits .... were they really ladies?



Bats.

I'm the cutest bottom judge!

Dame Starry

Steve, I just don't know what we'd do without you. You know everyfink!


YDSL x.

Saw the World turning in my sheets......

Dame Starry

Sadly those directors' curvy bits were too far South to qualify.

YDSL x.

Saw the World turning in my sheets......

rjd0309

I tend to notice that having a female director (or a female writer) results in some very unnatural male-to-male dialogue. For example:

MALE-TO-MALE DIALOGUE AS IMAGINED BY FEMALE

"That new haircut really makes your eyes stand out."

"Well, I felt that the old style hid my eyes. Eye contact is important, because I want to communicate my feelings to my girlfriend, who is always right about everything, by the way."


NORMAL MALE-TO-MALE DIALOGUE

"New haircut?"

"Yeah."

Steve Crook

They aren't "curvy bits", they're bulges.
Lots of us have got those

Steve

silverwhistle

Yup. Most of the "women's pictures" 1930s-50s were directed by men.

There's also a question of gay directorial sensibilities, too: Dorothy Arzner, one of the main female directors, was a lesbian, and there have been quite a few gay male directors.

"Trust me, I'm a doctor...!"

Steve Crook

That's ridiculous. As if a male would notice that another male had had his hair cut

Steve

hooper_13

good replies...i feel that female directors tend to bridge the gap of feminity in directing by adding male characteristic in filming, but not sure what you would consider male characteristics? other than showing a female through the eyes of a male, this is the one visible difference between male and female directors.
This is conevyed in the film Girl next door which is directed by Christine Fugate and the tagline suggest 'from housewife to porn star' are these typical female directing trates or just a one off.

interesting points on the lesbian and gay directors that would make an interesting point

thanks again for all replies

tom

silverwhistle

I've got an interesting book, Andrea Weiss, Vampires and Violets: Lesbians in the Cinema (1991), which deals with on-screen and behind the screen, and male and female directors' depictions of lesbian characters.

Meanwhile, a lot of the "women's pictures" aimed at straight women reflect the sensibility of gay men such as Cukor (much as there's a strong gay male input into the making of series such as Sex & the City, again aimed at straight women).

"Trust me, I'm a doctor...!"

Steve Crook

Another good one is Stephen Bourne's Brief Encounters (Continuum, 1996. ISBN: 0304332860). Although that is about the people, actors, directors etc., as much as the films

Steve