The Diablo Cody Fempire story has legs. What I have been loving is seeing my fellow feminists weigh in. Most of us have been pretty positive about the piece. The film and gossip people, not so much. Even the NY Times film blog weighed in on the story’s legs giving your truly a plug. Feminists are really digging these Fempire chicks. We just want to see women talk about women in a positive way and get shit done.
So, does the story have legs because so few pieces are written about successful women in Hollywood in such an accessible way or because it’s got the whole sexiness factor going or probably it’s a combination of both. Those women were pretty big before Sunday and now they are rock stars. The haters will be out in full force (as if they weren’t already.) Guess they will really have to embrace the quote on each of their necklaces - Fuck My Face (h/t The Vulture).
Here are the feminists talking about the Fempire:
Courtney at Feministing:
At a time when it seems like testosterone poisoned action flicks and sticky sweet, unoriginal romcoms are the movies that get the money, it’s critical that screenwriters like these get interesting, complex female characters onto the big screen.
But what’s even more thrilling is that they’re unapologetically supportive of one another and being recognized for it. Young women in their position are often pitted against one another, deluged with a psychology of deprivation by agents, producers, and mentors who urge them to look out for themselves, first and foremost, in the competitive LA landscape where there are very few spots for women writers.
Annalee Schafranek at Bitch:
Possibly the most uplifting aspect of this coverage is the emphasis on the supportive nature of this small, self-constructed community. Schoeneman talks about the writers accompanying each other on the red carpet (in place of publicists). Men within the industry comment on the desirability of “The Fempire” support system. Cody herself talks about the necessity of knowing other women going through the same process of unfair image-scrutiny and industry misogyny. In a culture where successful women are frequently pitted against each other, the gal-pal tone of Schoeneman’s article is a refreshing change.
Megan at Jezebel:
Who needs publicists when you have actual friends?
Bust:
They call themselves The Fempire, and it’s about 4 female writers that support each other and are actually doing something for us girls by writing smart and funny scripts for women. Debbie and I had the delightful opportunity to meet and interview Diablo awhile back and she is everything we hoped; smart, amusing, cool and adorable!
Jen at After Ellen
In recent years, Hollywood entourages seem to be a boys-only club, with Judd Apatow’s crew taking over the box office and Doug Ellin’s semi-fictional posse on the HBO series Entourage. When female friendships make the tabloids, they tend to end with a catty, public brawl likely created by the tabloid itself, which makes reading in the Times about the tight knit friendship between Cody, Scafaria, Fox and Meriwether a breath of fresh air.
Here’s some of the film posse weigh in:
Props to Eric D. Snider at Cinematical for his take:
I don’t know if this is pre-feminism, post-feminism, or something else. I’m not a woman, so I think I’m not allowed to talk about that kind of thing anyway. But it’s an interesting article about how women in Hollywood are perceived differently from men (and the article itself is an example of it), and a fun glimpse into the lives of four females who have managed to break into the boys’ club. Having a screenplay produced by a major studio — any screenplay, even What Happens in Vegas — is a significant achievement that comparatively few women get to experience.
From Spout Blog:
Cody and Co. wouldn’t be written about if they were men. But more importantly, they probably wouldn’t have been written about if they weren’t such good-looking women.
But let’s keep in mind that this is only one good news story in a sea of bad news. Women made up 12% of the screewnwriters in 2008 and as my colleague Kay Steiger saids at Campus Progress, “Women like those that make up the “Fempire,” in other words, are a very small minority.”
View Original Post at womenandhollywood.com
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