Why do you think that so many directors are men?
- Thread starter alexpw
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Kind of fun to revisit (for us oldtimers) a 6 year old thread.
but I think Marshall could a director who got a break through
a family connection. Brother and husband both successful, famous
directors.
I think I can name a few women who didn't get their break through
a family connection - but did get their break by working their way
through the ranks:
Amy Heckerling
Julie Taymor
Rachel Talalay
Catherine Hardwicke
Jane Campion
Mira Nair
Nancy Meyers
Robin Swicord
I know we've had quite a debate in the past on what is "nepotism"
but I think Marshall could a director who got a break through
a family connection. Brother and husband both successful, famous
directors.
I think I can name a few women who didn't get their break through
a family connection - but did get their break by working their way
through the ranks:
Amy Heckerling
Julie Taymor
Rachel Talalay
Catherine Hardwicke
Jane Campion
Mira Nair
Nancy Meyers
Robin Swicord
Actually, women have much better multi-tasking abilities than men - however, a woman's quality of work begins to deteriorate after 12 hours of work and a man's doesn't until about 18 hours. That's from a Psychology topic I researched for my Psych class at university
Actually, women have much better multi-tasking abilities than men - however, a woman's quality of work begins to deteriorate after 12 hours of work and a man's doesn't until about 18 hours. That's from a Psychology topic I researched for my Psych class at university
LJ I think one missed the ;-0 -
Because all high-risk endeavors are dominated by men. Directing isn't a job you choose if security and stability are your thing. Find an endeavor where someone can spend his whole life working for little or no financial reward, but lots of "intangibles" like "living the dream" or "building it just to see it made," and you generally find a lot of men. OTOH there's motherhood... 
I know what you mean. As a man, I hear a lot of negativity when I express my dream of becoming a mother. People are so quick to generalize. It's that kind of attitude that is holding back so many nurturing men from becoming mothers.
I know, right? The generalization I hate the most is the one about generalizations being untrue. How can I not hate it? It has "generalization" in there twice and I hate generalizations so I hate that one twice as much.
Another generalization I hate is how people say topics like this one always have people falling all over themselves to banish all "generalizations" to the outer darkness of Political Incorrectness. So untrue! Never happens.
This may seem like it's out of left field, but you might want to look up the definition of "generalization." You seem to be substituting in the definition of "anecdote" in its stead. Not being snarky here, at least not on purpose.
I've heard several times that George Lucas' wife was editor for the first (or 1st and 2nd) Star Wars film, and was the "secret sauce" that put the work she was involved with head and shoulders above the rest of the SW films. I don't know WHO the secret sauce was, personally, but I'm pretty sure there WAS a secret sauce, mostly because of the obvious lack of it later on.
Haha, I had the EXACT same experience with my GF. We were laughing our asses off and nobody else was laughing. I think half of them wanted to strangle us to death.
Course I don't have any pet theories to jam the experience into, but that's just me.
Because all high-risk endeavors are dominated by men. Directing isn't a job you choose if security and stability are your thing. Find an endeavor where someone can spend his whole life working for little or no financial reward, but lots of "intangibles" like "living the dream" or "building it just to see it made," and you generally find a lot of men. OTOH there's motherhood...
In the field of fine arts (a VERY high risk endeavor in light of economics) you will see an almost 1:1 ratio of men to women. Women, when given the opportunity, have shown that they will overide any *genetic predisposition* towards finding security and stability (from a man) and will happily pursue their own vocation.
joe citizen said:
So, women only aspire to be mothers? Nonsense, but if possible, I'm all for men carrying babies.
I think the take home point on the topic of the demographics of film is:Haha, I had the EXACT same experience with my GF. We were laughing our asses off and nobody else was laughing. I think half of them wanted to strangle us to death.
Course I don't have any pet theories to jam the experience into, but that's just me.
If white men are overrepresented, it's because white men are oppressors.
If Jewish men are overrepresented, it's because Jews are more talented.
Yes, that's exactly what I was saying. Exactly. It's like you can read my mind!
Of course you are. But note the subtle "female privilege" here. You say "carrying," as if to imply men cannot conceive or birth babies, only carry them. And the "if possible" thing is the soft bigotry of low expectations, I think.Nonsense, but if possible, I'm all for men carrying babies.
I think the take home point on the topic of the demographics of film is:
If white men are overrepresented, it's because white men are oppressors.
"I's born a poor white boy, I remember the days, sittin on the porch with my family, singin and dancin down in Mississippi...."
Fine arts is risky. But as risky as directing? As in, scrounge up all the cash yourself directing? Okay, I'm narrowing the subject to a fairly small field here, but only to dial up the risk and highlight the differences more starkly. The number of people in general who will do stuff like live out of their Beetle and eat rice and beans to "get their vision on film" is vanishingly small in terms of percentage of the population, that's obvious. But how many of that group is going to be female?
"Us poor Jews, oppressed and persecuted bosses of Hollywood...""I's born a poor white boy, I remember the days, sittin on the porch with my family, singin and dancin down in Mississippi...."
More risky than directing, IMO, simply because there really isn't the market for fine arts when compared to commercial film. Personally, I have invested everything in my arts, be it painting, film, or many of the other visual arts I engage in. I never wanted to be a mother so (my) sacrifices have been the tangibles...much like many men here. Given an assumed parity between men and women in a field, I would agree that men would be more likely than women to engage in the more rudimentary 'living in their car' scenario in order to pursue their goal ...make no mistake, though, I've been very close to that as I'm sure other women have been.
One of my favorite generalizations is that they almost always break down at the personal level. I wish they taught more logic in schools because people are trained to respond to generalization with anecdotes, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense (not talking about you here, just making another generalization).
That doesn't sound as conciliatory as I was trying to make it. :| My point is, exceptions? Of course there are exceptions, lots of them! But we're talking generalizations right from the word "go," unless I'm REALLY misreading the thread title.
No doubt, there are women who will "live out of their cars" and such. But if we're being honest, I think we can all admit that kind of stupidity is a "man thing."
Like walking on girders a hundred feet up or getting waaaay too into a video game.
Stick your head outside at night.
What do you hear?
Crickets chirping. Frogs croaking. A whip-poor-will, maybe?
In the daytime you'll likely hear all kinds of birds hootin' an' hollerin'.
Why? Don't they know predators can hear them.
Why don't they just yell "EAT ME! I'M RIGHT HERE! EAT ME! I'M RIGHT HERE!"
When, in fact, what they're really yealling is "SCREW ME! I'M RIGHT HERE! SCREW ME! I'M RIGHT HERE!"
Yes, it's only males you'll hear yelling for sex.
It's a high risk/reward activity.
Been successfully going on for... more than a few million years.
Males do stupid (AKA risky) things.
We have a lot of practice at it.
Women TEND to wait to see what everyone else is doing.
Primitive hunter-gatherer female - "Gog! Get down from that tree! You'll fall and break your neck!"
Gog survives the midnight lion attack, mates with Mumu.
Mumu - "Gog Junior! Get out of that cave before a snake or spider bites you!"
Gog Junior survives the lightning strike to the tree, mates with Leelee.
Leelee - "Gog-gog! Quit hitting those rocks before you poke your eye out!"
Gog-gog's stone handtool carves more high protein meat from the gazelle carcass than others, mates with Zee, Loko and Bu.
Same thing now.
Suburban, overly educated female - "Honey! WTF is this $X,000 credit card bill! No one's gonna watch your stupid short!"
Honey's youtube short leads to music video work then a small feature then a studio contract, mates with Katie, Jennifer & Ashley.
What do you hear?
Crickets chirping. Frogs croaking. A whip-poor-will, maybe?
In the daytime you'll likely hear all kinds of birds hootin' an' hollerin'.
Why? Don't they know predators can hear them.
Why don't they just yell "EAT ME! I'M RIGHT HERE! EAT ME! I'M RIGHT HERE!"
When, in fact, what they're really yealling is "SCREW ME! I'M RIGHT HERE! SCREW ME! I'M RIGHT HERE!"
Yes, it's only males you'll hear yelling for sex.
It's a high risk/reward activity.
Been successfully going on for... more than a few million years.
Males do stupid (AKA risky) things.
We have a lot of practice at it.
Women TEND to wait to see what everyone else is doing.
Primitive hunter-gatherer female - "Gog! Get down from that tree! You'll fall and break your neck!"
Gog survives the midnight lion attack, mates with Mumu.
Mumu - "Gog Junior! Get out of that cave before a snake or spider bites you!"
Gog Junior survives the lightning strike to the tree, mates with Leelee.
Leelee - "Gog-gog! Quit hitting those rocks before you poke your eye out!"
Gog-gog's stone handtool carves more high protein meat from the gazelle carcass than others, mates with Zee, Loko and Bu.
Same thing now.
Suburban, overly educated female - "Honey! WTF is this $X,000 credit card bill! No one's gonna watch your stupid short!"
Honey's youtube short leads to music video work then a small feature then a studio contract, mates with Katie, Jennifer & Ashley.
One of my favorite generalizations is that they almost always break down at the personal level. I wish they taught more logic in schools because people are trained to respond to generalization with anecdotes, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense (not talking about you here, just making another generalization).
That doesn't sound as conciliatory as I was trying to make it. :| My point is, exceptions? Of course there are exceptions, lots of them! But we're talking generalizations right from the word "go," unless I'm REALLY misreading the thread title.
No doubt, there are women who will "live out of their cars" and such. But if we're being honest, I think we can all admit that kind of stupidity is a "man thing."
Yes, I assumed your question was rhetorical or you would have researched the statistics (had you really been interested) yourself. As for anecdotal postings in regards to this, or any other topic, well, this is a message board, that's pretty much all you're going to get, it's a valid form of communication, on-topic. The only high-risk vocation I've researched was the field of fine arts, which has a 1:1 ratio of men to women (Oh, and I still believe it's a far more risky economical venture than film). I think I can extrapolate a fair distribution of the same gender balance into the field of fine art filmmaking. Commercial filmmaking, probably not even close. I've already agreed that men would more probably 'live out of their car'.
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