Post 4: Women Making Movie Magic

What does it mean to be a woman? What does it mean to be a black woman? What does it mean to be a black lesbian woman? Are these types of women being represented enough in film over the last a hundred, no, over the last 30 years to give me a definite answer? Movies and films have become a cultural phenomenon across the globe. People go to the movies because they want to escape reality but are what they see on the big screen so different than what they see around them, in the real world. Big time movie makers in Hollywood thrive on making not only the best movie but the most profitable one and what’s more profitable than giving a select group of people (with the most money in their pockets) what they want; which is usually just sex and violence, especially towards women. In front of the camera the way women are depicted in films, for the most part, only feed into American stereotypes and further devalues the importance of a woman’s role in the society. If this is just in front of the camera what’s it like behind the scenes?

With hundreds of men dominating the multi-media industry, who have mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters, I found it difficult to believe that a woman’s story couldn’t be shed in a more positive light in a lot of grossing films - one where she’s not being used as an unnecessary accessory, or eye-candy as I like to call it, to the ever-popular male dominated cast.

To me it seems as if they think a misrepresentation is better than no representation at all. It’s as if they’re saying, “Hey there’s a woman in there so be happy about that.” In Debra Zimmerman’s article, Women Make Movies, a man sitting in the audience of the screening of Surname Viet Given Name Nam, asked, “there are so many important things to make a film about, why did you make a film about women?” (Zimmerman 265) Mind you, the film follows the lives of five women in Vietnam who struggles to overcome the harsh social norms placed upon them before, during, and after the war. If the filmmaker made the same exact story about five men trying to overcome adversity would the man in the audience ask her such a question? Black women are even more underrepresented in Hollywood mainstream media than most others. Why? Because white filmmakers are either unwilling to acknowledge the fact that black people have a story to tell or they acknowledge it and just don’t think it’s important enough to be told. Even if they believe the story is important to most white moviemakers the money is more important than the message. According to Bell Hooks, “most white filmmakers were interested in using black images only as a backdrop reinforcing racist paradigms …” (7).  American actress Lonette McKee states that, "We live in a racist and sexist society. Why expect Hollywood to be any different? Hollywood is a good ol' boys' club, and black women are not privy to entrance, and that's a fact” (Black Women and the Hollywood Shuffle).

As I was researching I came across an interview with an independent filmmaker by the name of Tiona McClodden who is of African American descent and is of the lesbian community. 

As I was reading about her she really gave me a lot of inspiration and motivation. Growing up, as a black woman was hard enough but breaking out of her sexuality and coming to terms with who she truly was made her adolescence that much more difficult. She found strength within herself to not only acknowledge her identity but take pride in it.  Her debut documentary entitled, “black. Womyn; conversations with lesbians of African descent” was an instant hit at numerous film festivals across the United States and even won awards such as the audience award for best documentary film at the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in 2008 and the 2009 award for Best of Newfest: New York LGBT Film Festival.  The film took focus on the lives of many different African, lesbian women, with various backgrounds and their stories about coming out as well as their thoughts on love, religion, discrimination, media, homophobia, gender identity, and activism. This documentary was so inspirational and the fact that it’s winning awards means that it’s something that shouldn’t be overlooked by the mainstream media in Hollywood. These women don’t fit the usual stereotypical portrayals that so many Hollywood film directors have established for black women. Tiona creates a film about real women, real black women, real black lesbian women living in the real world and not about someone that’s “the reimagined, reinvented version of the real.” (Bell Hooks 1).

Three Minute trailer for "Black.Womyn"

Works Cites:

BGG Interviews: Filmmaker Tiona McClodden. Black GAY Gossip. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://blackgaygossip.com/index.php/2010/07/23/bgg-interviews-filmmaker-tiona-mcclodden/>.

            Black./womyn.:conversations with Lesbians of African Descent.:a Film By: Tiona.m.Web. 01 May 2012. <http://blackwomynfilm.com/Home.html>.

            Burton, Nsenga. "Black Women and the Hollywood Shuffle." The Root. 06 Aug. 2010. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://www.theroot.com/views/black-women-and-hollywood-shuffle>.

In the Meantime... Web. 01 May 2012. <http://tionam.com/>.