Good point, Rochelle. That may not have been the right phrasing. Quite frankly what I probably meant was "more women who think like me!" Seriously, though, I teach at a woman's university, so that drives a lot of my frustrations. For the most part these are young women, pretty unsophisticated, and would not identify as feminists. I certainly did not mean that women lack the intellect or education to do film reviewing, though I do suspect that that assumption on the part of editors and producers is an underlying reason there aren't more women film critics. As I said, back in the day, and I'm talking about the 80s, for example, almost all the film panels at conferences I attended were exclusively, though of course not explicitly, male. I agree what others have said about having more critics of color as well, it's just that I rarely know the ethnicity of critics unless I see a picture. With gender I can usually go on name, though not always of course (I am a woman named Lou, after all). And Waitress is indeed more complex, but I was just commenting on it from this one narrow perspective. Lou ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rochelle Mabry" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Monday, July 28, 2008 4:47 PM Subject: Re: [SCREEN-L] film critics > Dipping my toe into the big pool for the first time to respond to this: > > "If we had more educated women reviewing films, I think that might > change." > > I have to admit I find this statement a bit problematic on a couple of > levels. First, it makes what to me is an essentialist assumption that > only a female critic is capable of writing a feminist critique. > Second--and again, this is solely my reading--I'm not quite comfortable > with the idea of "educated women." It strikes me as saying either that > women still don't have the educational/intellectual capacity to do work > like competent film viewing, or that film viewing should only be the > province of an elite cadre who have been trained according to a certain > canon of history, theory, and critical practice. > > Finally--and a bit off the topic at hand--I find the film Waitress a bit > more complex--even from a feminist viewpoint--than the description below > may indicate. > > Rochelle Mabry > Florida Atlantic University > > ======================================= > "So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when > shouldn't it be the other way around?" > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: Lou Thompson <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] > Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2008 5:34:01 PM > Subject: Re: [SCREEN-L] film critics > > Thanks to all of your for your thoughtful responses. I hope to read more! > > What I have been thinking about is how few women are film critics, > something > I've always wondered (and it was tough to break into film scholarship as a > woman too, in my experience), but recently there have been some films that > got pretty universal critical acclaim but that I found appalling because > of > their not-so-subtle sexism. I have pretty much determined that those films > were liked because they are being reviewed by men who don't see anything > wrong with sexism (and I'm not saying all men are like that, just most > male > film critics that I've read)--in fact, they don't even notice it. > > For example, take the film "Waitress." I should warn you that spoilers > follow. > > I had heard great things--nothing but great things, in fact, about this > film. When I saw it my first reaction was one of disappointment, mostly > for > the stereotyping of Southern characters and also that the so-called > "cleverness" of the whole pie recipe story was kind of a joke--none of > these > recipes were original, they were just given "cute" names. > > But as I got further into the film I was really disturbed by the fact that > all the women were subservient to men, that the protagonist was having an > affair that was three times inappropriate (she was married, he was > married, > and he was her doctor!), and she is saved only by a lecherous old rich > guy > who dies at a convenient time. And the doctor was rejecting his perfectly > lovely, pleasant, physician wife in favor of a waitress who was in an > abusive relationship but fed him pie. > > There have been quite a few films like that lately. I'll admit that even > my > female students like these films, just as they don't see the problems I > have > with "Pretty Woman" or "Love, Actually" (again for my feminist ideology), > but they're young and unschooled, and so I wish critics would look a > little > more closely at the ideological assumptions that these films perpetuate, > since most filmgoers obviously do not. > > If we had more educated women reviewing films, I think that might change. > > Not that I want to do it, though. > > Lou > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Holiday, Frederick N." <[log in to unmask]> > To: <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 11:23 PM > Subject: Re: [SCREEN-L] film critics > > >>I don't really have a list if the best, but I know who the absolute worst >>is: Peter Travers of ROLLING STONE, without a doubt. >> >> Fred A. Holliday II >> >> ________________________________________ >> From: Film and TV Studies Discussion List [[log in to unmask]] On >> Behalf >> Of Lou Thompson [[log in to unmask]] >> Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 8:12 PM >> To: [log in to unmask] >> Subject: [SCREEN-L] film critics >> >> The announcement today that "Ebert and Roeper" were going off the air >> came >> at one of those serendipitous times for me, as I've been thinking a lot >> about film critics--who they are, where they come from, how (or if) they >> are trained or schooled. >> >> I was wondering if those of you on the list would be interested in >> sharing >> your list of the top film critics/reviewers (not scholars), past and >> present. >> __________________________ >> >> Lou Ann Thompson, Ph.D, >> Professor of English >> Texas Woman's University >> _____________________________ >> >> "One Law for the Lion and the Ox is Oppression."--William Blake >> _____________________________ >> >> "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do >> nothing."--Attributed to >> Edmund Burke >> _____________________________ >> >> "It could be worse. I could be Sting."--Ozzy Osbourne >> _____________________________ >> >> ---- >> Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite >> http://www.ScreenSite.org >> >> ---- >> Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite >> http://www.ScreenSite.org >> > > ---- > Learn to speak like a film/TV professor! Listen to the ScreenLex > podcast: > http://www.screenlex.org > > > > ---- > To sign off Screen-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF Screen-L > in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask] > > ---- To sign off Screen-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF Screen-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]