Let’s start with looking at how women on big and small silver screens are depicted.
Let’s be real, it’s a pretty common guilty pleasure to watch The Real Housewives or Keeping Up with the Kardashians because they allow us to participate in a fantasy world that is distant from the reality that we’re living in. I’m not attacking those reality shows—even though I don’t personally watch them, I do believe that people can still enjoy them while they are able to analyze the content critically. And in some cases, they do reveal a hint of female empowerment throughout their luxurious, fancy lifestyles.
But some of our other favorite TV shows, especially from the early 2000’s, are actually pretty problematic. For example, if you watch closely, the beloved show Friends can be quite biased, sexist, and homophobic, and lacking racial diversity overall (Ross’s disbelief that his son was holding a Barbie doll; Chandler’s transgender Dad being mocked). In countless science fiction movies, the lead hero is almost always a white male, with most of the women characters in more nurturing roles. Even in our many projected utopian futures, we still have the same social roles and social norms that we are expected to conform and commit to. Sounds a little messed up, right?
Unfortunately, as we continue to look down the pipeline of who’s in charge of casting, writing, directing, financing…we see that the people at the helm of those projects are still largely men. The chance to sit in the director’s chair is far from equal; according to the Hollywood Diversity Report, only 4 percent among Hollywood directors are females. Female directors are pigeon-holed into directing documentary, independent and smaller films, not seen as capable of handling the heat of top-grossing blockbuster films. Men seem to better fit into the ruthless, tough, driven, strong role that producers believe is necessary to directing a film.
These problems often happen from the very beginning of a Hollywood career, especially when recruiting and selecting writing interns, because people in the dominant positions will often want to reproduce the same dynamics they’ve enjoyed (and benefitted from) before. In comedy sitcoms writers’ rooms, the studio often worries that females and people of color are going to veto certain jokes, ultimately making the atmosphere “unfunny.” The interviews of female or minority candidates are often not equal because the bar is raised much higher for them, requiring them to do much more to show credentials than their white and/or male counterparts. There are simply numerous ways for the nondominant to be bumped down the Hollywood pyramid, or prevented from ever breaking into the industry at all.
Actresses in Hollywood have been slowly changing the playing field for men and women, and particularly for women of color. In recent years, Viola Davis became the first African American actress to win a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, and the only black women to be nominated for three Oscars (and winning one). She made a powerful political statement in her Emmy acceptance speech, stating “the only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity”. American Ferrera is the first Latina to win a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy (for Ugly Betty), with Gina Rodriguez in Jane the Virgin as the second Latina to win the category back in 2015. What makes them unique is the fact that they were not portraying tired Latina stereotypes seen all too often onscreen in the past, but rather powerful, complex lead heroines in their respective TV series.
This year’s Golden Globes was a special one, with actresses with the likes of Emma Watson, Michelle Williams and Meryl Streep giving some powerful female activists a platform as their guests to the event. Tarana Burke, an African American senior director at Girls for Gender Equity and the founder of the #MeToo movement, was re-acknowledged after actress Alyssa Milano tweeted the hashtag on the Internet, which caused a wave of stories to flood out, but not without some controversy about Tarana not being credited for the source. People started lamenting on the fact that black women are being left out of the conversation time and again. However, Alyssa later went on Good Morning America publicly credit Tarana for the #MeToo campaign. Tarana replied graciously, “I think it is selfish for me to try to frame Me Too as something that I own. It is bigger than me and bigger than Alyssa Milano. Neither one of us should be centered in this work. This is about survivors.”
When media icon Oprah Winfrey received her Cecil B. DeMille award at the 2018 Golden Globes Award ceremony this year, her powerful speech (with unabashed political undertones) captured America’s attention. “For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dare speak the truth to the power of those men,” she said, gazing out at the audience. “But their time is up. Their time is up.” It is very important to note that, there are also a lot of strong, kind, patient men that are willing to listen and to support women. We should not deliberately create binaries and draw lines so distinctively. That is why Oprah was mindful to acknowledge the “phenomenal men” who are willing to open their eyes and ears to the causes.
The rise of media activism—more specifically, hashtag activism—has contributed to breaking down the invisible barrier that women in the past have always been hindered by. We are moving from the #MeToo movement, which was about raising awareness and speaking out against the persecutors, to #TimesUp, an effort to make the #MeToo movement more inclusive and politically effective by providing legal representation to those who experience sexual harassment not only in Hollywood industry but also the general workplace. It is definitely heartening to see that we are finally taking action: punishments and penalties are carried out, and legal assistance are being offered. TimesUp seeks to provide protection to both women and men that suffers from sexual harassment by establishing GoFundMe—a legal defense fund—that aims to raise money to those in need. Hopefully we will continue to use media activism as a tool for mobilization and change in the unfairness of our society.