KILLING ME SOFTLY: IMAGES OF WOMEN IN ADVERTISING

In this new, highly anticipated update of her pioneering Killing Us Softly series, the first in more than a decade, Jean Kilbourne takes a fresh look at how advertising traffics in distorted and destructive ideals of femininity. The film marshals a range of new print and television advertisements to lay bare a stunning pattern of damaging gender stereotypes -- images and messages that too often reinforce unrealistic, and unhealthy, perceptions of beauty, perfection, and sexuality. By bringing Kilbourne's groundbreaking analysis up to date, Killing Us Softly 4 stands to challenge a new generation of students to take advertising seriously, and to think critically about popular culture and its relationship to sexism, eating disorders, and gender violence. Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D. is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking work on the image of women in advertising. [Read More]

published May 11, 2011 at 3:12pm CDT

NEW RESEARCH: WOMEN FARE BETTER IN THE INDIE MOVIE WORLD

File this under no shit sherlock, but new research from the Center for Study for Women in Television and Film at San Diego State shows that women are more represented on independent films that appear in film festivals than in the top grossing big budget films.  Now keep in mind some of those films might overlap because 250 is a big number, but lots of the top grossing films don’t go the festival circuit.  They don’t need to.  They will have big marketing and ad budgets and will get released in enough theatres to make them successful.  One example of a film that might overlap would be Juno which started out on the fest circuit and became a big box office hit. Indie films need the festival circuit to build buzz so they have half a chance at being successful when they are released.  This year some examples of the indie films directed by women that are building buzz include Lone Scherfig’s An Education and Jane Campion’s Bright Star.  These films would be considered in the r [Read More]

published October 29, 2009 at 4:08pm CDT