We'd Be Fools Not to Reminisce about Oscar Night

By Jennifer Merin

WeNews film critic

Thursday, April 1, 2010

April brings five fine movies directed by women, but first Jennifer Merin wants to look back at director Kathryn Bigelow's big night at the Oscars. Will it change the stats of a male-dominated industry heavily patronized by women?

Jennifer Merin (WOMENSENEWS)--We'd be fools not to savor Kathryn Bigelow's triumph on March 7 when she became the first women in Oscar's 82-year history to win a golden statuette for Best Director.

I know that might seem like ancient history by now, given the minute-to-minute Hollywood news cycle. (Since then, of course, we've all had to absorb the impact of Sandra Bullock deciding to get divorced and TLC cable channel's acquisition of the eight-part "Sarah Palin's Alaska.")

But it's worth backing up to before all that, because a few things about Bigelow's big night still deserve our retrospect.

Backstage, wielding an Oscar in each hand, Bigelow spoke about breaking through one of Hollywood's glass ceilings. "I wait for the day when the modifier can be a moot point." She was referring to the "female" modifier of course, and she's right to say that day has yet to arrive.

From the start, Bigelow's nomination was surrounded by disparaging gender bias. Women and men in the industry and media suggested she is "one of the guys" because she makes action thrillers rather than romcoms.

Some took shots at Bigelow for not including female soldiers in "The Hurt Locker." Why? This is a movie about a male bomb tech in an all-male bomb squad. Yes, women could function brilliantly on a bomb squad too. But "The Hurt Locker" doesn't happen to be about a female-male dynamic. It's about the addictive aspects of war; the danger, do-or-die commitment, adrenalin rush and interpersonal intensity.

Leading up to the awards Bigelow endured not only the media's smarmy harping on her former marriage to James Cameron ("Avatar"), a competitor for both Best Director and Best Picture, but the condescension of Cameron himself, who predicted Bigelow's win "because it's a good year for a woman to win the Oscar." How insufferable.

Cameron has entertained tabloid surfers with his serial spousing. Of five wives Bigelow was the third, following Gail Anne Hurd (who produced Cameron's "The Terminator" in 1984, "Alien" in 1986 and "The Abyss" in 1989); and preceding Linda Hamilton (star of Cameron's "Terminator" and 1992 "Terminator 2.") Somehow, little has been said about the roles women have played in Cameron's eye-catching success.

Blip or Break Point?

Oscar night 2010 leaves us wondering if Bigelow's Oscar nod is a blip, or a break for women in the movie industry.

Certainly, plenty of moviegoers should be watching for that answer, since so many who pay the price of admission are women.

Women buy a higher percentage of movie tickets--55 percent, or 778 million tickets-- than our 51 percent portion of the population, according to the Motion Picture Association of America's latest report.

San Diego State's Martha Lauzen, dean of the women-in-Hollywood stats-o-sphere, releases annual updates on Tinseltown employment that show scant gains for women working behind the scenes. In 2008, women were 9 percent of directors, 12 percent of writers and 16 percent of executive producers. Only six of the top 50 grossing films starred women or were focused on female characters.

If such numbers sound tired, that's because they are. They've held steady for about a decade.