The weekly buzz

This week we have: The Princess is Dead; cowards behind the 'Brave' project; The Art Directors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Patricia Norric and Buffy reboot.


The Princess is Dead
Disney announced it will not be producing fairy tale stories anymore. That means the death of the princess crappola! It's things like that that make me think that maybe, just maybe, something is changing in the rusty Hollywood. Disney has an awful record of making girls look like retards. Because, lets face it, thats what a princess is. She has no opinions of her own, dreams only about getting married (which, in this context means, changing the owner from her father to another man) and worries only about what to wear. Not to mention, that any other women in these stories are either demanted and/or evil. Burn Down The Tiaras, I say!

Obviously, whether we are going to see any difference in their bizzare production politics, is another issue. There is an absolutely phenomenal study, released by the Stacy L. Smith and Marc Choueiti from University of Southern California, on gender disparity on screen in the kid movies. According to the study in the films released between 2006 and 2009 in the US:

- 29% of the speaking characters were females and 70% were male
- a higher percentage of females than males (24% vs. 4%) are shown in sexy, tight, or alluring attire
- females are more likely than their male counterparts to be physically attractive (14% vs. 3.6%) and portrayed with some exposed skin between the mid chest and upper thigh regions (18.5% vs. 5.6%)
- though not depicted, waist size is also related to gender with a higher percentage of females than males shown with a small waist (22.9% vs. 4.5%). The percentage of characters with a large chest (males=15.3%, females= 12.6%) or an unrealistic body ideal (males=2.9%, females=7.5%) varies significantly -- but not meaningfully (less than 5%) -- with gender

I can't really put into words how much this pisses me off. The study also provides us with this sad stat:

the biological sex of 1,565 directors, writers, and producers was ascertained.11 Only 7% (n=10) of directors, 13% (n=56) of writers, and 20% (n=200) of producers are female. Stated in another way, 93% (n=134) of directors, 87% (n=376) of writers, and 80% of producers (n=789) are male. Taken together, these numbers calculate into a ratio of 4.88 males to every one female in key production occupations. If the film is the unit of analysis (rather than the individual), a total of 8.2% of the movies feature a female director, 32% feature at least one female writer, and 80.3% feature at least one female producer (source)





Unfortunately, this news connects with the Cowards Behind 'Brave' Project story or The Bigelow Effect (great article by Melissa Silverstein: link)

Meet Branda Chapman. The first female director hired by Pixar. And, to everyone's surprise, the director fired from working on studio's first girl-centered movie, 'Brave', just after few weeks time.

Chapman is no stranger to the industry, she has worked on many acclaimed animations thus far. 'Brave'  seemed like a perfect fit for her. The movie tells a story of a princess who instead of being all princess-like, prefers to become the best archer in the kingdom. The release has been pushed to Christmas 2012.

Branda Chapman has apparently been fired from the project due to 'creative differences' (which basically translates to: studio is being a dick). Miss Brenda Chapman remains on staff at Pixar. The studio is being secretive about the future of the film.





Now, onto some good news.

Patricia Norris is going to be awarded with Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Arts Directors Guild event in February. She has worked as both a production designer and a costume designer on many film sets, including 'Lost Highway'; 'The Singing Detective'; '2010 The Year We Made Contact', to name a few.

She is only a second woman to be awarded by the guild. In the words of the Guild's President: 'by celebrating Patricia's life and career, the guild reaffirms the hopes of every young designer regardless of their background or gender, encouraging them to pursue their dreams and overcome the status quo in the pursuit of their creative aspirations'





Buffy Reboot

 Now, there's the scoop that got the fansites traffic steaming. Buffy reboot is going off under Warner Bros. There's an entirely new writer, Whit Anderson who is going to take over Joss Whedon's spot. The pressure on this woman's shoulders is enormous. Because, for Buffy fans, Whedon is god. No discussion.


The idea of another Buffy movie, after a terrible flop of a first one, seems shaky. But, after Warner got Charles Roven (producer of Batman reboot franchise) on board, the internet seems to be more hopeful.

Fingers crossed. After all, there's a whole generation of people who are brought up on the Twilight, instead of Buffy goodness.