It’s Complicated: The Movie the Social Network and Gender

An article a colleague and I wrote has been published in an online academic journal. http://flowtv.org/2010/10/black-guy-corner/ If you like, you can make your comments there instead of here.

It’s the first part of a three part series–we have about 20 pages left that we’ve written, but have to decide how to make that into 2 other 1300 word sections, while considering this season’s photos as well.

I saw the movie The Social Network about the founding of Facebook two weekends ago and really enjoyed it. Many reviewers are saying it’s likely to be nominated for Oscars, as is star Jesse Eisenberg. It’s definitely a fascinating look at how ideas are turned into actual business, and gives a lot to think about in terms of how trends are set, what is “cool” and what can make something formerly cool uncool, and the reinvention of identity by the characters that echoes this possibility on social networks like Facebook.

However, as much as I enjoyed it, it’s probably the most sexist movie I’ve seen in a long time. I have a policy of not really wanting to spend money to see any movie without an important woman in it (I’m not a big fan of Western or Action movies for this reason), but I’d heard so much about how Rooney Mara was in it and she’s going to be playing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and had read that one the people who claimed to be involved with Facebook is named Divvya, which as far as I know is a female name, so it didn’t occur to me to be worried about this movie.

Well, turns out Divvya is male, and Kate Mara’s part is really tiny (she barely gets to stand up in her two scenes), and even the lawyers, one of whom is played by Rashida Jones, don’t really do much except bolster the main male character’s ego. Other women in the movie provide oral sex, do drugs, go insane, and rip off their clothes. To see it, you’d think no plain, heavy, or ugly women attend Harvard, much less any except maybe Mara’s character, with any self-esteem or brains at all.

Evidently, unlike in the last few years, there are going to be a large number of movies with really juicy women’s roles coming out in the last two months of this year, so the Oscar field should be very competitive. I keep reading that Natalie Portman is a shoo-in for her performance in The Black Swan, about a ballerina, and it all sounds much more interesting than all the war movies that came out the last few years.

I’m hoping to see a lot of great movies between December and the Oscar show in February or March. I try to see all the Best Picture nominations, and the ones with best actor or actress nods, (but usually draw the line at anything really scary or disturbing, especially involving the Holocaust or other genocide. ) Living in Saratoga Springs makes this somewhat harder than it was when I lived in bigger cities too, since it’s 45 minutes to the theater in Albany that’s most likely to have a lot of these, and in the winter I don’t like to drive it.

However, The Social Network will probably not provide any nominations for women in the Best Actress, or even the Best Supporting Actress. Here’s an article on Slate that addresses sexism in the movie http://www.slate.com/id/2270304/ and another that includes interviews with screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, defending his choices http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/aaron-sorkin-defends-sexism-in-facebook-movie-20101013-16jkp.html.

Did any of you see it? What do you think?

Hambly, Natalie. “Aaron Sorkin defends sexism in Facebook movie” Sydney Morning Herald. October 14, 2010.

Stevens, Dana. Is the Facebook Movie Sexist?: It definitely has a problem with women. Slate. October 8, 2010.

Photos from imdb.com

Adventures in Academia

First, a little business. I was right, and sadly, Huge was canceled. Was it because it was about fat girls? I can’t say. There are a lot of reasons why shows get canceled. Lone Star was reportedly a very good-looking and well written show, full of pretty people (I never saw it but used to watch Adrianne Palicki on Friday Night Lights and she’s thin and pretty), and it was the first cancellation of the season simply because no one watched it. That may be the case with Huge, but one has to wonder why.

I read this http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-frenemy/womens-magazines_b_746996.html?ref=fb&src=sp and thought it was funny, because it is so true. Warning, it’s satirical and has some naughty words. I used to read women’s magazines, like Seventeen, when I was a teenager, then Glamour or Cosmopolitan or occasionally Vogue as a young woman, but realized that once I was done I felt terrible about myself, and wanted to spend money on makeup, clothing or other things so I could look and have a lifestyle like those in the magazines. I’ve come to like myself a lot better since I stopped and came up with my own style, even if I do have cat fur on my clothes much of the time.

Photo from Glamour Magazine

Next I’d like to talk about the conference I was at last week. Academics have a varied job. We teach and mentor students, and those of us at CDL are often Area Coordinators–I’m in charge of all the media studies and communications courses, which means I create new courses, update old ones, supervise adjunct instructors and work on schedules.  We also serve on various college committees (I am on the Governance Oversight and Review Committee and the Center Personnel Committee, and have previously served on the Academic Quality Committee and on the committee planning the CDL Conference, plus there are meetings of the entire center, just the Area Coordinators, and of faculty in the humanities as well as various ad hoc committees such as those to hire new faculty or staff).

A lot of our time, however, is spent writing papers (or book chapters or books), and then either presenting these at conferences, working on getting them published in academic journals, (or as books) or both. I will have a piece published in an academic journal later this month and will link it here, and you see that I have had a book chapter published in Geek Chic. Getting a book and journal articles published is often crucial for getting promotion and tenure.  I attend several of Empire State College’s conferences each year and present at those, but also fly to conferences such as the Popular Culture Association (last year in St. Louis, this year in San Antonio), and the Flow conference I attended last week in Austin, Texas. Both the Flow conference and journal are administered by the Radio, Television and Film at the University of Texas at Austin. This is the third time I’ve been to this conference, which is held every other year, and I’ve been to all three they have had. You can see the journal, and some info about the conference at http://www.flowtv.org.

My panel was about feminism and new media. We discussed ways that women and girls are baring their souls, and in some cases their bodies, in the new media, and what this might mean. At a lot of conferences, everyone comes in with a paper and reads it or does a presentation (where the technology invariably does not work), but at this one, everyone wrote a 2 page position paper a few weeks before we attended, read the papers of others on the panel, and then just talked. A lot of the women on my panel were a lot younger than I am, and read blogs that simply aren’t aimed at me (like jezebel), or don’t interest me (like various pornographic blogs) so it was sometimes hard to have a meeting of the minds.

Photo from Fox TV

Other panels I attended were about serialized television, “Quality” TV, race on television and the show Glee. I wish I could have attended the one about sexuality on TV, self-aware sitcoms, and a few others, but  one can’t be two places at once, unfortunately. There was also supposed to be a screening of the third episode of Lone Star, but since it was canceled, the network did not finish editing and they could not show it. They showed the pilot and the producer was there to tell his sad story about how they had good marketing, a good time slot and what I hear is a well-written and acted show, but no one watched so it was canceled. I could not attend that either, but was able to read about it on twitter (which I don’t really like, but most others are addicted to) and some attendees’ blogs.