“Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down” is a glossy magazine-style look at an incredible woman but it also includes small scenes where we get to see the essence of her indomitable character. Continue reading SXSW 2022 Review: Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down
The theme for this International Women’s Day is ‘Break the Bias’, according to the official International Women’s Day website “Whether deliberate or unconscious, bias makes it difficult for women to move ahead. Knowing that bias exists isn’t enough, action is needed to level the playing field.” We are all being urged to actively call out any form of bias and/or discrimination that we may encounter. Continue reading #BreaktheBias: Five Female Stereotypes In Film That Need To Go
For this Women’s History Month, I have decided to focus on creating some top ten lists which discuss films, biopics and documentaries about women in history that will hopefully inspire and inform readers about the accomplishments of women throughout history. For this piece I am focusing on ten women who deserve their own biopics and will be discussing who I think should star in the film, who could possibly direct the film and why their stories deserve to be seen on the big screen. Continue reading Women’s History Month- 10 Inspiring Women Who Deserve Their Own Biopic
First off, it’s damn near impossible to pick just ten women who have inspired me over the years. I have heard and read so many stories of hell blazing women who have stood up against discrimination in the film industry throughout the years, whether it’s the brave women who spoke up against Harvey Weinstein and shared their #MeToo stories, or women like Frances McDormand, who have actively campaigned for the Inclusion Rider in filmmakers’ and actors’ contracts in order provide a certain level of diversity in the casting and production process. Continue reading Women’s History Month: 10 Women Who Have Inspired Me
Runtime: 54 minutes Director: Lois Weber Writer: Lois Weber Actors: Courtenay Foote, Myrtle Stedman, Herbert Standing, Adele Farrington By Joan Amenn In honor of Women’s History Month, Kino streaming service has made available the perceptive and groundbreaking film “Hypocrites”(1915) by Lois Weber. In just under an hour, Weber manages to skewer the pretensions and prejudices of her early 20th Century society that seem very similar … Continue reading Women’s History Month Retrospective: Hypocrites (1915)
The first Mexican actress to work in Hollywood during the silent era was Dolores Del Rio. Born on August 3, 1904, in Durango, Durango, Mexico, Dolores was born into an elite family raised surrounded by expensive gifts, grand haciendas, where she was treated like a princess. At a very young age, she would be nicknamed “Lolita” by close family and friends. Continue reading Women’s History Month: Dolores Del Rio
Many women have been called “The It Girl” throughout the past century, but it’s Clara Bow that the term was created for. The actress who helped define what it meant to be a flapper in the 1920s played a shop-girl who wins the heart of her employer in the 1927 box office hit “It” and soon was being called “The It Girl.” Bow had “It” in spades: that sex appeal and vivacious charm that defined the modern woman. And yet, for all her success, Bow had a challenging life and struggled with mental health problems. She once said: “All the time the flapper is laughing and dancing, there’s a feeling of tragedy underneath. She’s unhappy and disillusioned and that’s what people sense.” Continue reading Women’s History Month: Clara Bow
Earlier this year, “Miss Americana” (2020) was released on Netflix. The documentary delves into Taylor Swift’s status as “America’s sweetheart” and the pressures it puts on her. What it also shows is how this perception of her sometimes masks what a brilliant businesswoman she is and how she’s built her own empire from the ground up. But Swift isn’t the first curly-haired blonde to be called “America’s sweetheart” and whose impressive business acumen is often overlooked.
Mary Pickford might be best known as the original ingénue and the “girl with the curls,” but she was also a founder of the United Artists film studio and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She was one of the most powerful figures in the early days of Hollywood and achieved so much in her eighty-seven years. Not only beautiful and talented, she learned to negotiate pay raises for herself to reflect her wild popularity and became a producer of both her own and other films. Continue reading Women’s History Month: Mary Pickford
Gloria Swanson literally created the concept of a “movie star.” She lived as large and dramatically as the heroines she portrayed. In her career, she saw the birth of film, the introduction of sound and the invention of television. She fearlessly embraced them all, and inspired women around the world with her style and ambition.
Gloria grew up as an Army brat traveling the country with her parents but fell into acting as a teenager when she tried out for work as an extra. She moved to California after her parents divorced and found herself working for Mack Sennett along with the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand. Gloria didn’t care for comedy and moved on to work for Cecil B. DeMille at Paramount Pictures. This was the beginning of her transformation into a fashionable trendsetter that captured the imagination of silent film audiences. Continue reading Women’s History Month: Gloria Swanson
What is the first image that comes to your mind upon hearing the term “sex symbol”? Could it perhaps be the famous image of Marilyn Monroe and her billowing white skirt? Could it perhaps be a provocative album cover of Madonna–or even a sensual smirk and devilish eyes on the face of Elizabeth Taylor? What if I told you that sex symbols existed even before some of your grandparents were born; would you have any trouble buying that?
Well, get this, in 1885 an infant, with the name Theodosia Burr Goodman was born. An infant who would grow to be so hauntingly beautiful that a simple glance at a vintage photograph of her could stare at and bury itself into the deepest recesses of your very soul. This woman is none other than Theda Bara: one of America’s most prolific silent film actresses–one of cinema’s first sex symbols. Continue reading Women’s History Month: Theda Bara
In Their Own League 