Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Maureen Dowd, "Frozen in a Niche?": Uber-Liberal Hollywood Is Sexist?

Sex discrimination in an uber-liberal Hollywood? How can that be?

In her latest post-Oscars New York Times op-ed entitled "Frozen in a Niche?" (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/05/opinion/dowd-frozen-in-a-niche.html?hpw&rref=opinion), Maureen Dowd tells us that this is indeed the case. Dowd writes:

"The percentage of women directing, writing, producing, editing and shooting films has declined since 1998, according to an analysis of the top 250 grossing films of 2013 by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. (The anticipated halo effect from Kathryn Bigelow becoming the first woman to win a directing Oscar for 2009’s 'The Hurt Locker' never happened.)

The center’s latest report had some stunning stats: Women accounted for 6 percent of directors, 10 percent of writers, 15 percent of executive producers, 17 percent of editors and 3 percent of cinematographers. And women are still more likely to be working on romantic comedies, dramas or documentaries than the top-grossing, teenage-boy-luring animated, sci-fi and horror movies."

Well, given how anxious I am to correct this wrong, my "action" screenplay is now being read by a female Hollywood producer. Moreover, Hollywood moguls would be wise to consider the success of "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Zero Dark Thirty," two of my favorite films of all time.

My fantasy? That Meryl Streep will agree to take one of the lead roles in my movie, which will almost certainly never be made.

During these dark days, with Putin invading Crimea, Assad dropping barrel bombs on civilians in Syria, and Khamenei periodically threatening Israel with atomic annihilation, it is important to still be able to dream.

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