Women
in films
Dominican
cinema
How awesome is
Princess Leia?
editorial. Magazine
Women’s Cinema
Year 001, Edition 001
July, 2014
Pontificia Universidad Cat’olica Madre y Maestra
Departamento de Comunicaci’on Social
Editor
Laura Amelia Gil Beras
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The good journalist is impartial, avoid adjectives and quotes other for comment. This is true sometimes, to write news in the newspaper and write reports for television. This is true, for now, there are no paradigms that say otherwise.
In Women’s Cinema, magazine journalism review on women in film, review, analysis and reflection are applied as tools, not necessarily to persuade or convince the reading public, but to present a new perspective on a topic, a new look.
However, not to be confused commitment to the truth of the claim journalist should refrain from positions and leave Reviews. And the impartiality and information are tools, the ability to declare or rather biased beings, declared humans-is also part of what makes a good reporter.
For the magazine, be subjective is a duty towards society. For while it is true that we have to tell what to think, if we are responsible for ensuring that new prospects are available to whom you do need one.
content. Women in films
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Dominican Cinema
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How awesome is Princess Leia?
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Women’s cinema | July, 2014 | Santo Domingo
THE BIG REPORTAGE
Women in Films
What’s the role of women in the film industry?
W
hen talking about famous movie film directors’ names like Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, Woody Allen, Stanley Kubrick, Orson Welles, and Quentin Tarantino come up in our minds. And all they have in common, beside the love of cinema, is one thing: they’re all male. Whether it is science fiction, romantic, or even comedies, there are not a lot of women with director’s credit in the film industry. And even though today’s world is changing the perception of women aprons for business suits, the director’s chair still belongs to men. Knowing
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this we need to understand what is the problem with producers who don’t want to take women stories, why are more men winning awards and why the values of women and men film directors are equal. But how the notion of women’s cinema arose out of a desire to resists Hollywood’s treatment of women and depiction of gender relation. In this case it is important to consider the ways in which statement society is comparing women and men film directors. n 2011 Kathryn Bigelows became the first female film director to win the award of Best Director thanks to her Best Picturenominated The Hurt Locker. Sin-
Women’s cinema | July, 2014 | Santo Domingo
ce the inception of the academy awards, The Oscar, 83 years ago over than 400 Best Director Nominations have been given out and only 4 of those were given to women. According to a study published last year by the Center of the study of women in Television and Films the Celluloid Ceiling report said “Women accounted for 9% of directors in 2012, an increase of 4 percentage points from 2011 but even with the percentage of women directors working in 1998. In other roles, women comprised 15% of writers, 17% of executive producers, 25% of producers, 20% of editors, and 2% of cinematographers”. Over
the years, this stagnation in the progress of women in theaters has often been attributed to a chauvinist culture. But the biggest problem faced by female film directors is maybe the motherhood and been caged in cultural differences and sexism between men and women. But if we make motherhood aside, the problem would be that the producers are not supporting films made by women with the excuse that these don’t leave the high-grossing that they are looking for. This makes it seem that women film makers are the greatest financial risk, although in fact the key to the highest
Reportage
grossing it’s not the gender or that men make better movies, but the budget. It is true that men have rule the high-grossing margin in the last 10 years but it is also true that lately the best blockbusters are directed by women such as Mama Mia by Phyllida Loyd, The Proposal by Anne Fletcher, Something’s Gotta Give by Nancy Meyers, Twilight by Catherine Hardwicke and many more. And this only happened because the budget that the producers gave to make those movies was similar or equal to what they give to male directors. This is a men’s world and in
all the careers there are issues when it comes to women ruling the higher positions. Once, the dearth of women entering to films schools was the problem that delimited the entry of women to the film industry. These days, that’s not the case. Nowadays women that study cinematography usually stay focus on documentaries or independent films when they finished the studies and start making productions. Over the years, women were and often still be recognized as a victim or an accessory and almost always as a love interest. Claire Johnston a famous feminist film theoretician once
wrote in one of her essay that: A sociological analysis based on the empirical study of recurring roles and motifs would lead to a critique in terms of an enumeration of the notion of career/home/motherhood/sexuality, an examination of women as the central figures in the narrative etc. If we view the image of woman as sign within the sexist ideology, we see that the portrayal of woman is merely one item subject to the law of verisimilitude, a law which directors worked with or reacted against. The law of verisimilitude (that which determines the impression of realism) in the cinema is precisely
responsible for the repression of the image of woman as woman and the celebration of her nonexistence. (26). n conclusion it’s impossible to say who is better in the film industry, women and men have shown that they have the potential and desire to make excellent movies but women definitely break the circle of men domination in film directing. Women need to conquer themselves and believe that they represent the 51 percent of the world population; this means that is the time for women to be the action heroes and the dominant characters of our time.
Santo Domingo | July, 2014 | Women’s Cinema
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LOCAL
DOMINICAN T
he passion for filmmaking in Dominican Republic comes from the 1980s and 1990s when the revival came our cinema. By then the Dominican film trying to be a reflection of the reality in which they lived. The appearance of a one-way ticket (1988) and Nueba Yol: Finally arrived Balbuena (1995) represented a further rise in domestic production as a viable economic and cul-
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tural activity on the island. Many researchers take as their first reference of cinematic stories The Legend of Our Lady of Altagracia (1923) of Francisco Palau, as the first audiovisual work of a Dominican to be showcased in cinemas (Lora, 2011).
with the idea of keeping them” (Rodriguez, 2012).
Over the years the visions of the filmmakers do ¬ minicanos have changed and with them the productions. These film events were decisive initiated policies to preserve and stimulate However, according to audiovisual productions film critic Armando Al- for being a cultural inmanzar of this work and dustry that streamlines there are no copies “... the Dominican econovanished in time because my and create a national nobody ever came up identity (Soto, 2011).
Women’s Cinema | July, 2014 | Santo Domingo
Currently in the country, the film is in a developmental stage for the enactment of the Act ¬ Promo of Film Activity 108-10, benefiting investment in ¬ tographic cinema productions. But this has had a positive response to the economic aspect in the development of cinema industry lithographic Dominican¬(Lockhart,2012).
Local
CINEMA The year 2013 has been the most theatrical releases Dominicans comedy. (13 films) and most (8 films) were comedy genre. Before the law took effect Theater, there was no industry nematográfica ci ¬, ¬ only filming independent projects sporadically coughing and international projects with low pre ¬ course. The film industry and its development in Domini
can Republic has had a look andocentrista, overshadowing female participation in both roles behind the camera as protagonists of stories.
The Dominican cinema and his films have screened women constantly as a sex worker, unfaithful wife, illiter ate housewife, victim of physical and psychological violence, and this image even though a part of reality, is not the only one who can be recreated to represent women in film.
Following the spaces as film festivals, which since 2006 have been performed in the country, womendirectors and producers have been escalating film about the con- An important factor restruction and exhibition lated to this lies in that the of their audiovisual works. great majority of film di-
rectors in the country are men, which promotes a vision that prevents andocentrista other matrices. From 2000 to date 61 have been filmed Dominican movies of which 27 of these fall in the line of comedy. The year 2013 has been the most theatrical releases Dominicans (13 films) and most (8 films) were comedy genre.
Santo Domingo | July, 2014 | Women’s Cinema
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In the world
?
How awesome is Princess Leia
P
rincess Leia is rightly regarded as a female role model, yet I still feel like there are certain displays of heroism in the original Star Wars trilogy for which she doesn’t get enough credit. When talking about Leia in general circles, it seems like two things come up over and over again: her sassy comebacks and the metal bikini. I enjoy both of those things as well, but she’s so much more than that, and there are certain excellent, perhaps underappreciated moments in the films that really make Leia stand out as a hero. There’s a reason that she became a symbol of inspiration and
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accomplishment to young girls of my generation, and it wasn’t for her clothing. Her strength is apparent in A New Hope, when she is tortured by a Sith Lord to find out the location of the secret Rebel base — and tells him nothing. Vader even acknowledges the surprising depth of her resistance. Then, when she’s brought before Grand Moff Tarkin and threatened with the destruction of her entire planet if she doesn’t give up the location of the secret base once and for all, she stands there, with this merciless man before her and the man who tortured her gripping her shoulder behind her, and lies. She lies. It’s an incredible moment of steel will
Women’s Cinema | July, 2014 | Santo Domingo
on her part. Did I mention that she’s only 19 at the time? Take a moment to think about what you accomplished at age 19. For me it was mostly drinking my weight in coffee at college. Her empathy is on display after our heroes have escaped the Death Star, when Leia takes the time to console Luke — who she just met a few hours ago, remember — about the death of Obi-Wan. That’s right, she takes the time to console a guy she’s just met on the death of a man who that guy just met, when her entire planet has just been disintegrated (and she was recently tortured and about to be put to death. I’m just saying.). She may have a sassy mouth on her, but
she also has a big heart. Her loyalty is shown in The Empire Strikes Back, during the battle of Hoth, when even though Echo Base is falling down around them and Imperial forces are knocking at the door, Leia is still at the command center, coordinating combat efforts while she ducks falling chunks of ice. She’s on the front lines just like everybody else. And even when Han finally manages to drag her off (and I love that he knows that’s where she’ll be), she stops to tell the person working with her to get to the transport, too. She’ll never ask anyone to do something she wouldn’t do herself.
FINAL PROJECT LAURA AMELIA GIL BERAS 2008-5249