AWFJ Women On Film – The Week in Women, April 3, 2009 – MaryAnn Johanson
Girls say: Spiders, yay! Domestic violence, nay!
NOT ALL GALS THINK SPIDERS ARE ICKY. Spider-Man is swinging onto
Broadway soon — with music by Bono and the Edge of U2 — and at the helm? Visionary director Julie Taymor. Let’s count the ways in which this is unusual: A woman handling a comic book property? Check. A woman with a huge budget? Check. A woman taking risks (or being
allowed to take risks)? Check:
Julie Taymor appears to be considering going the unknown route in casting the leads for her return to Broadway with “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.” A nationwide casting call has been announced running April 9 through May 27 in Orlando, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago and Austin.
Nice. Go, Julie.
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY HATES DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. Well, who doesn’t? But now
she’s teamed up with her Atonement director, Joe Wright, to produce a shockingly powerful PSA to raise awareness of the issue:
Powerful, and necessary. As Knightley tells FilmMaker magazine:
I wanted to take part in this advert for Women’s Aid because while domestic violence exists in every section of society we rarely hear about it. Domestic violence affects one in four women at some point in their lifetime and kills two women every week.
Remember those stats when you see–worse yet, supporrt and applaud–films that brutalize women!
OPENING THIS WEEK. Adventureland is a charming coming-of-age
story, and you barely need to say more that than to know that it is, of course, a male coming-of-age story: that’s the default in Hollywood, and Hollywood is sticking to it. (And we could write a dissertation on how The Movies treat male viriginity as a problem to be solved, while female viriginity must be protected at all costs.) Kristin Stewart at least brings a feisty spirit to the stereotypical helpmeet-girlfriend role, insisting that we recognize her character
as a person in her own right, and not merely the goddess-savior of the guy.
You can hardly call Fast & Furious feminist — not with all the anonymous, faceless, mostly naked gyrating female bodies director Justin Lin uses to decorate his movie. But screenwriter Chris Morgan does give Vin Diesel a nicely feminist moment when the street racer
explains what kind of woman he likes: one who’s as complex and complicated and contradictory as he is. Now, if only the rest of the movie appeared to agree with him…
