Oscar Smoshcar

I posted quite a bit on my Facebook this past week about the sexist, racist tradition in Hollywood called the Academy Awards.  Again there were no women nominated for best director. Here's one article I posted:
/http://www.salon.com/2012/02/25/the_oscars_woman_problem/

And in general, I got a fairly good response to the reality of how the Academy is made up of mostly white men who make all these decisions.  (Sound familiar?  Congress?).  What really got me thinking, however, was one facebook "friend" who felt like it was women's fault for going to the types of movies that aren't good.  The suggestion was that as consumers, women needed to make better choices about what they watch and that would somehow affect who wins for best director.  Huh?

I'm not sure I buy this one.  It feels a bit like victim-blaming and I'm just getting tired of women being blamed for a patriarchal institution that runs Hollywood.  I agree that we need more women producing movies and you can be certain if I made enough money to finance movie making, I'd be first in line sending my best friend, Kristen Vermilyea, a fat check to produce some feminist movies.  Certainly Tina Fey is putting her money where her mouth is and supporting women filmmakers, but there is only one Tina Fey.  There is only one Oprah Winfrey.  There are way more white men with money deciding what movies are going to be produced and what they will be about.  Our stories don't get told because they are not the "everyman" experience, whatever that is. 

So while I'm a fan of the fun extravagant night where we honor the best of the best in any industry, I'm just getting too cynical and old to enjoy this event that not only hasn't changed since I was a little girl dreaming of myself up on that stage accepting my award, but has seemed to take four steps back in any representation of racial and gender diversity.  I boycotted it this year and I think that's my new plan of action for the future, until Hollywood catches on that women are over 50% of this world and deserve that same representation in film. 

And isn't all this too similar to seeing an all male panel decide what laws should be passed on birth control?  The backlash against women's rights is all too prevalent and present lately and that sets a sad tone for the future for little girls I love very much. 

Side note:  If this is an issue you care about, come to our showings of Miss Representation on March 1 and 28th at 5:30pm at UMass Dartmouth's Woodland Commons, or downtown New Bedford on March 8th at 6pm.  "You can't be what you can't see!"