July
27
Twilight: Will Male Critics Ever Understand Its Femme Appeal?
According to a San Diego State University study released on July 22, if things are bad for male film critics, they are worse for women.
Here's a sample of the findings in Thumbs Down: The Representation of Women Film Critics in the Top 100 U.S. Daily Newspapers:
*Men write the overwhelming majority of film reviews in the nation's top newspapers. In Fall 2007, men penned 70% and women 30% of all reviews.
*Of the newspapers featuring film reviews, 47% had no reviews written by women critics, writers or freelancers. In contrast, only 12% had no reviews written by men critics, writers or freelancers.
*Films with women filmmakers (directors and writers) and films with female protagonists and ensemble casts comprise a larger proportion of films reviewed by women than men. Thus, the under-representation of women film critics, writers and freelancers may cause films featuring females or with women filmmakers to receive less coverage.
The bottom line is that film criticism in this country's newspapers remains a largely male enterprise, echoing the heavy male dominance behind the scenes and on screen in the film industry.
And the coverage that movies with femme appeal do get from male critics is not the necessarily as positive or understanding as that from female critics. Mamma Mia! and Sex in the City would be recent examples. Why would a guy particularly engage with a romantic comedy like 27 Dresses? Professional film critics will argue that it is their job to know how to review such a movie. Let's put it this way. Some men are better able to adopt the female POV, and tap into their femme side, than others. Many men are not trained to do see things from the perspective of the opposite sex. All women are.
That's one reason why today's movies are so geared toward men, while women starve for material aimed at them. Women are accustomed to going along and accepting slim pickings in pictures by and about men. Even at Comic-Con, there's a sense that female fans are yearning for romance. The screaming response to Twilight's Brit heartthrob Robert Pattinson was enormous. He could be the next Leo di Caprio after Titanic, if Twilight hits as big as I suspect it will.
Men here were scratching their heads over Twilight. No clue.
Here's the LAT's video interview with Pattinson at Comic-Con. I feel sorry for the guy:
[Variety photo of Twilight's Robert Pattinson by Martha Hernandez]
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Answer to your question: DEFINITELY NO.
I can be hard to realize you are a sexually-desired pop culture star. I'm sure Mr. Pattinson will recover. Perhaps he should hang out more often with Dan Radcliffe, and compare notes. :)
Posted by: ProgGrrl | July 27, 2008 at 08:46 AM
I was at the movies yesterday and a young girl (15 or 16 maybe?) with a group of friends ran up to the lightbox display of Twilight and kissed it.
Until a month ago I didn't even know what it was. I'm guessing I'll be getting a crash course between now and the film's release.
Posted by: cjKennedy | July 27, 2008 at 11:53 AM
May we hear more from the ladies, of course. But will we ever? As a practical thing, it seems to me that men tend to put their opinions out there much more aggressively than women do.
1) In the blogosphere, where anyone can say anything, how many people who loudmouth it about movies are women? A few, sure. But meanwhile scads of guys carry on.
2) In the mag and newspaper worlds (in my small experience) editors actively look for lively, sparky women arts-and-culture opinionators. They'd rather not hire a man. But they wind up hiring guys, usually, because the guys are so much more numerous, and so much more bullish (which can mean that they're more fun to read, because they love going out on a limb).
So maybe, generally speaking, opinionating for a living is a dick thing?
And I say all this as someone who came to movies (to the arts generally, really) via Pauline Kael ...
Posted by: Michael Blowhard | July 27, 2008 at 01:28 PM
Hey Michael- there are more and more of us women out there on the web, you just need to find us. I strongly believe that women critics and bloggers needs to figure out a way to support women filmmakers. They need us desperately. Let's stand up and be counted. Here's my post on this: http://www.womenandhollywood.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Melissa Silverstein | July 28, 2008 at 05:47 AM
As a fan of Rob Pattinson I can say I am more excited about seeing him play Salvador Dali in the film Little Ashes due for release in the US in November. Its a far more testing and thought prevoking role but still sexy and erotic. I'm looking forward to it like a starving women. There are so few films for women to enjoy. As a Brit a lot of the US bubble gum teen films are a huge turn off. Also the comedies like Knocked up are so crass.
I want interesting and thought provoking dramas but preferably with as gorgeous and talented an actor as Rob Patterson in the lead.
Posted by: helen | July 28, 2008 at 12:24 PM
Films have been getting more and more geared to men's tastes as they churn out comic book stories. Dont get me wrong I love a 300 or Sin City like any other but I do crave a more thoughtful film once in a while.
The above poster mentions Rob Pattinson's Salvador Dali film which I'd dearly love to see but which is unlikely to get a wide release due to the competition from the vast number of comic book stories filling the cinemas. Geeks love to see these spectacles over and over so small budget arthouse films like Little Ashes dont get a look in. But its the kind of film I want to see. Noone is really catering for what I want to watch these days. Where's today's Talented Mr Ripley?
Anyway I do hope Rob Pattinson is as successful as you suggest. He's a talented guy who is trying to take on a variety of testing roles when he could have tried to cash in on his looks. He's bided his time and hopefully films like 'Little Ashes' ' and 'How to Be' will showcase his talents to casting directors.
Posted by: Tania | July 28, 2008 at 12:37 PM
Rob the next Leo? Well, the similar attention is a good thing, as Rob's acting skills far surpass most any in his age bracket. And I have to say, honestly, Leonardo DiCaprio is an excellent actor. He grew out of that 'pretty boy' image and can go toe-to-toe with big names like Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro....etc.
The Departed & The Aviator were both amazing movies, with difficult character roles, which Leo pulled off seamlessly. And that's the same way Robert is.
Little Ashes and How to Be are going to be great examples of the kind of talent Rob has, that will only continue to grow.
Posted by: blearyeyedmesgirl | July 28, 2008 at 01:26 PM
I agree SO much with this article.
Because women have been oppressed for so long, they have adapted to seeing everything. If they see a superhero movie, that's fine, everyone does. If they see a romantic comedy, that's to be expected.
But if a straight GUY watches 'Sex in the City', then they are accused of being gay, thus limiting them to only guy-geared movies.
HALF the population is Female! Maybe even more than that! Men need to learn to adapt to a women's POV like females have to a male's POV and stop dissing romance stuff because it 'isn't their type'. Puh-lease.
And I do think RPattz is the next Leo. He is truly talented. I see him winning more than a few Oscars in the future.
Posted by: Natasha | July 28, 2008 at 02:47 PM
guys will totally "get it"... i even saw a site that makes shirts for guys.. pretty cool too if you ask me, im probably going to get one.
http://twilightshirts.com/shirt/attention-ladies
Posted by: james | July 28, 2008 at 02:55 PM
Rob has definately tried to take on a variety of roles. He could so easily have cashed in on awful second rate roles after Harry Potter but has been very discerning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxPR_rHUDrQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuCLUhx-vsw
The latest teaser for Twilight was focused on action scenes to draw men in to see the film. Chick flicks tend to have sufficient scenes in them to get men through the door. Male focused films never tend to compromise.
Posted by: Erin | July 28, 2008 at 03:34 PM
A fun discussion of Anne's posting is taking place over at my blog. Join in! And thanks to Anne again for getting a fun and provocative yakfest going.
http://www.2blowhards.com/archives/2008/07/women_crix.html#005405
Posted by: Michael Blowhard | July 28, 2008 at 05:52 PM
I'm a grown man who happens to love Stephenie Meyer's Twilight. I'm also a big believer in greater diversity among film critics, but I don't subscribe to the philosophy that one must belong to the target demo in order to give the film a fair shake (if anything, it's all this fanboy criticism on the web that's giving the occupation a bad rap).
Critics like Roger Ebert are always apologizing when they sit down to review a movie like Sex and the City or starring the likes of Amanda Bynes or Hilary Duff. But that's the job. Critics are asked to appreciate everything from animated musicals to torture porn to neo-realist Romanian art films to raggedy gay love stories -- that's the thrill and challenge of our work.
And reviews, in my book, are more than just a thumbs-up/thumbs-down recommendation of whether Joe Moviegoer will like the film (we have Ben Lyons for that). With any luck, they give insight into a film's artistic merits as well, whereas those blinded by their enthusiasm for specific franchises tend to get defensive when confronted with a less-than-perfect product (e.g. the Star Wars prequels).
Personally, I've never had much trouble wrapping my head around movies aimed at teen girls, provided the stories themselves are told well. Matilda, She's the Man, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and even High School Musical sit fine with me, and I'm looking forward to seeing Swing Vote tonight.
Granted, moviegoers want a recommendation they can trust, but I can't imagine that Twilight's audience will be the least bit deterred if the film gets negative reviews. And should the movie prove to be a dog (say it ain't so!), I doubt those fans will have the objectivity to recognize as much.
Posted by: Peter Debruge | July 28, 2008 at 05:56 PM
Awesome article. I think it's interesting to notice how many of our movie critics are male. I had never thought of it before.
Twilight is definitely going to appeal to women more than men, though they are trying to add in some special effects for the fighting scenes to get the men interested... but it's a love story more than anything. And the fact that most men probably wouldn't have read the book, is probably why a lot of them are scratching their heads...
I mean here is a movie made by a little studio with young actors based of a young adult novel they probably have never heard of...
I hope they are SHOCKED when we take over the box office this December
Posted by: Melissa | July 29, 2008 at 01:02 PM
I thought of Ms Thompson's article as soon as I read The Ropes of Silicon's website article on Twilight at Comic Con. The male journalist is so wrong. Here is what he said:-
It was a few minutes before the cast and filmmakers of Twilight were to go downstairs for the big panel when we interviewed them–yes, the panel that mentally stunted teeny-boppers had literally camped outside for overnight. I have no idea how big the Twilight movie will be. My guess is not nearly as big as some people think since the film looks likes ass and there’s a general feeling we’re nearing the peak of its buzz, only half a year before its release.
---
He is so wrong. The buzz is going to build and build.
Posted by: Sandy | July 29, 2008 at 03:03 PM