In 2014 Women kept disappearing.

If you're not already familiar with the Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film from San Diego State University you should be. They do annual reports of the representation of women in front of and behind the camera.

In 2014 among the top 100 grossing movies 
Women represent 12% of the protagonists. The number of women who were represented as major characters and speaking characters were the same as last year,  both figures were about 30%. A staggering 74% of all women characters were white. 

If you further read the study there are interesting statistics regarding the decrease of female characters from their 30's to 40's compared to the increase of male characters in the same age range. There are also statistics regarding the role of women in leadership positions, whether their marital status is known, and whether they were identified via a work related role (ie, doctor, lawyer) vs a personal role (ie, mother, sister.) It's a pretty clear analysis of the ways in which women are marginalized on film.

Their study for the role of women behind the camera looked at the top 250 domestic grossing films in 2014. 
Specifically they looked at the roles of directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers.

"38% of films employed 0 or 1 woman in the roles considered. 23% of films employed 2 women, 29% employed 3 to 5 women, 7% employed 6 to 9 women, and 3% employed 10 to 14 women. In contrast, no films employed 0 or 1 man in the roles considered, and 69% employed 10 to 27 men."

A whopping 93% of films had no female director, and 79% of the films had no female writer.

The figures for women working as cinematographers or composers? Even more depressing.

Women looking to work in these industries should see these figures as empowering. Awareness can change views. These are opportunities for women to break into these new markets. It might be a challenge to find someone out of the ordinary for roles in front of and behind the camera, but we need unique voices to keep movies alive.

Some fantastic films came out this year that told the stories of women, and by women including The Hunger Games, Wild, Maleficent, Selma, Cake, Gone Girl, Camp X Ray, Obvious Child, and more. If you want more films like those, get out there and make those movies.

• It's a Man's (Celluloid) World: On-Screen Representation of Female Characters in 2014
• Celluloid Ceiling: Behind the Scenes Employment in 2014
• The Hollywood Reporter - Major Film Roles for Women drop in 2014

87th Annual Academy Awards Wrapup

The 2014 award season is finally coming to an end, and last nights ceremony seemed to show that one topic was getting ripe on the vine; Hollywood sexism.

#AskHerMore

Reese Witherspoon

The night started before the ceremony with Reese Witherspoon, nominated for her role as lead actress in Wild, demanding one thing: #AskHerMore

The last few years, women have been showing a distinct annoyance with the Red Carpet treatment. Men who walk the red carpet get asked questions about their co-stars, their upcoming projects, philanthropy, anything really, women get ask a series of condescending questions about frivolous topics, usually clothes hair, nails, shoes, etc. 

Photo posted by @ReeseWitherspoon 

❤️ this movement #AskHerMore..have you heard of it? It's meant to inspire reporters to ask creative questions on the red carpet. I love the Oscars AND fashion like many of you - & am excited to share #WhoAmIWearing later tonight. (not yet!!) But I'd also love to answer some of these Qs....And hear your suggestions?! (Share em below!) There are so many amazing, talented nominees this year..! Let's hear their stories! Spread the word. #AskHerMore #Oscars #Countdown
@ReeseWitherspoon 

Last October at the Women in Hollywood event, Jennifer Garner compared notes to her husband, Ben Affleck who both had similar press junkets scheduled on the same day. She was asked questions about making time for her family, while he was asked about models.

Elizabeth Moss showed her frustration at the Golden Globes. She was asked to use the "E! Mani Cam" where famous celebrated women are asked to walk their fingers up a miniature red carpet "like children." While many other celebrities including Jennifer Aniston and Julianne Moore, opted out, Moss received a lot of praise for showing the camera her manicure - on her middle finger. The Mani Cam did not reappear at this years Oscars.

The #Oscars red carpet is open! Let's #AskHerMore and re-direct the conversation!! 🙌🎉
— AmyPoehlerSmartGirls (@smrtgrls) February 22, 2015

Patricia Arquette 

Best Supporting Actress

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Patricia Arquette

And then of course, the scene stealer herself. Patricia Arquette. She won her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Richard Linklater's Boyhood. A fantastic movie, and a fantastic role she spend 12 years filming. With a prepared speech, she hit some major talking points during the 30 seconds or so winners are given.

“To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights. It’s time to have wage equality once and for all. And equal rights for women in the United States of America.”

Congratulations Patricia. Very well said.

Julianne Moore 
Best Actress

Julianne Moore

One of our favorite women, Julianne Moore was also awarded an Oscar for her work in the moving drama, Still Alice. This was her fifth time nominated and her first win. She gave a beautiful speech as well.

"There is no such thing as Best Actress as evidenced by the performances of my fellow actresses."

We're with you, Julianne. Women supporting women is what the world needs more of.



Let us know what you thought of the 2015 Academy Awards in the comments below.

Further Reading...

• The Hollywood Reporter - Is Red Carpet Coverage Sexist?
• The Independent - #AskHerMore: Patricia Arquette, Reese Witherspoon and Julianne Moore back red carpet campaign to take women seriously

87th Annual Academy Awards - The One Where They Forgot about Women

This week the prestigious annual Oscar nominations were revealed for the 2014 year in film.

In the past, there has been commentary about the quality of roles for women, and the lack of representation for women in the writing and directing categories. The awards have always been drama-heavy, almost creating it's own genre of Christmas released biopics. If we are being honest about what happens behind the curtain, then we can be honest about the way studios intentionally create "Oscar-dramas" then campaign to leverage wins. Thank Harvey Weinstein for that.

Last year was fortunate to have women nominated for writing, and Jennifer Lee won for her role writing and directing the animated feature Frozen. Several of the Best Picture nominees, like Her and Gravity actively featured women. A few years ago Katheryn Bigelow even won for Best Director. Against men! I know, pick your jaw up off the floor.

Unfortunately this year's crop are some of the least diverse awards in years. The writing categories snubbed some of this years talent, like Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, and Ava DuVernay and Paul Webb for Selma. Ava DuVernay was also ignored in the Best Director category. This Martin Luther King Jr. Biopic should be the kind of film the Academy falls in love with, like last year's 12 Years a Slave (Best Picture Winner). Instead the general notion is that Selma was snubbed, only being nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Song. Although not as favorited as Selma, some felt Angelina Jolie was deserving of a Best Director nomination for Unbroken. 

Best Picture

American Sniper

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Selma

The Theory of Everything

Whiplash

Achievement in Directing

Alejandro G. Inarritu - Birdman

Bennett Miller - Foxcatcher

Morten Tyldum - The Imitation Game

Richard Linklater - Boyhood

Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel

In the Acting categories we saw Jennifer Aniston get overlooked for her groundbreaking role in Cake. She's an actress I often dismiss for the "Rachel" typecast, but Cake turns her into a broken down, suicidal woman dealing with chronic pain. Both Amy Adams for Big Eyes and Emily Blunt for Into The Woods were considered front runners early on that got overlooked. While Julianne Moore and Marion Cotillard gave excellent performances, to be blunt, no one saw them. It's hard to get excited about a movie that didn't even make it to theaters. For a comparison, 4/5 of the Best Actor nominees were from Best Picture nominated movies. 1/5 of the Best Actress nominees were. 

Actress in a leading Role

Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything)

Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night)

Reese Witherspoon (Wild)

Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)

Actress in a Supporting Role

Emma Stone (Birdman)

Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)

Laura Dern (Wild)

Meryl Streep (Into the Woods)

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

While Rosamund Pike picked up a Best Actress nom for Gone Girl the film was snubbed in all other categories. Similarly, Wild picked up acting nominations for Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern, but nothing else. Both films should have been contenders for Best Picture. Interestingly, both films were produced by Witherspoon's newly founded production company Pacific Standard. Perhaps the takaway for her is that good movies aren't enough, political lobbying is needed for the win.

Adapted Screenplay

American Sniper (Jason Hall)

The Imitation Game (Graham Moore)

Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson)

The Theory of Everything (Anthony McCarten)

Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)

Original Screenplay

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo)

Boyhood (Richard Linklater)

Foxcatcher (E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)

Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy)

Academy Awards Wrap Up

The Oscars are done, the awards given out, In And Out burgers consumed.

Big props to Ellen DeGeneres for hosting. She was pretty funny all night, and kept things moving, in my opinion. A lot of critics are saying she wasn't a great host, but I disagree. The Oscars are such an old fashioned mode of entertainment that they're always going to be boring and slow. Ellen has made a name for herself by being so nice to everyone, rarely does she mock individuals, so anyone looking for a scathing monologue making fun of the nominees was clearly looking for another host. 

Highlights: 

• JLaw tripping again. It sure would be embarrassing if someone brought that up...
• Ellen asking if anyone in the audience wanted pizza and Kerry Washington shot her arm so fast. 
• Pizza's legitimately arrived and Brad Pitt got super into it.
• Harvey Weinstein not understanding a joke "Pizza costs more than $200?" Leave it to the professionals. Lupita paid in Lip balm. Girl knows whats up.  
• The selfie that broke Twitter (Alyssa and I were booted from LiveTweeting) 

Whatever complaints people have about Ellen's job hosting, I think the most important thing was she got into the audience and got the celebrities involved. Sure some people love a song and dance routine, but I found her interactions with the nominees to be fun and refreshing. 

As for the rest of the show... There were some ups and downs. Some long speeches, some adorable moments, Amy Adams almost fell asleep at one point. 

Other Highlights

•  Let It Go won for Best Original Song...Actually no one cares about the song, but they made the cutest acceptance speech ever made. The married couple who wrote the song recited with enthusiasm a rhyming sing-song. They were my favs. Also, EGOT is a thing! 
• Pharrell's Best Original Song nomination for Happy was the best musical number of the night. He had a huge number of choreographed dancers, bright colors, and a great up tempo song to dance to. Lets be honest though, the best dancers were Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, and Lupita Nyong'o.
• Now that Lupita has her Oscar win, she's going to transition into a first-name only, fashionista starlet. Oh wait, she's already that. 
• Cate Blanchett. The Queen of Red Carpet Fashion. The Queen of the movie The Queen. One Bad-Ass Mother. She got to take home her Oscar for Best Actress from her role in Blue Jasmine. She's the only Red Carpet diva who can make us go "huh, that dress is... interesting." and then still end up on our Best Dressed List. 
• Kerry Washington got pizza, by the way. So Did Jared Leto's Mom. SoCute.
• Kevin Spacey showing up everyone by giving Frank Underhill on stage. I may have screamed a little. 
• Love for Whoopi Goldberg who's kind of a hosting legend. 
  
• Love for Liza Minnelli who's a living legend. 
• Love for Liza Minnelli who showed up in Pajamas and no one cared. She still rocked them. 
• Love for Liza Minnelli who tried real hard to get into a picture with Ellen, then got denied. (It's ok, she might not be in the photo that broke twitter, but she had her own Ellen Selfie.)
• Everyone brought their Mom's. Seriously, everyone. Jared Leto had a family reunion. Matthew McConaughey showed where he gets his "Vegas Pimp" fashion sense from. Jonah Hill's Mom was so cute, and pretended not to notice that everyone was making dick-jokes. And of course, Bruce Dern brought his talented daughter Laura Dern. What a sweetie.

Here at Fempire, we try to support women in writing and directing roles, as well as behind the scenes. So congratulations to Jennifer Lee for winning Best Animated Feature with Frozen. 

We are also super proud of Melisa Wallack, screenwriter for Dallas Buyers Club. Although she lost out on Best Original Screenplay to Spike Jonze's Her, and Best Picture to 12 Years a Slave, her movie still took home some statues. Matthew McConaughey won Best Actor, and Jared Leto won Best Supporting Actor. The film also took home the trophy for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, which was an incredible win for the ladies involved. They did such an incredible job, with a $250 BUDGET. Are you kidding me? I've got more makeup than that in the bottom of my purse. Girl's a damn miracle worker. Again, big props to Robin Matthews and Adruitha Lee for making that happen. 

To celebrate these wins, we're going to review Frozen and Dallas Buyers Club for you this week. Right, Alyssa and Sarah? You're not going to get lazy and forget about it, now are you? What did you think of the 2014 Oscars?