Why Women Aren't Great Film Directors

A friend posted that over a century of films and only one woman has won an Oscar for directing. An Asian woman no less. This is what we call...a token award. I doubt "Nomadland" was worthy of the acclaim. But, we've diminished the award so much, you may as well give it out to the queerest, blackest he-she who never even made a movie and call it a day. Making a movie is tough. And it requires toughness to make it. These days, a little less tough. The reason why you don't see many female directors isn't because it's a male dominated profession. Consider that filmmaking BEGAN with women. Men only made it better. Misogyny! You claim? Possibly. But in the century of movies being made in Hollywood, we tend not to count the closeted gays. Which are women. But that's not good enough. A few things happened that sort of sidetracked the womans' claim on cinema. It Became A Business Not to say women are bad at business. You look at the successful ones in the industry, you will see they are ruthless when it comes to money. Men are willing to go down this road because they can separate emotion from money. I, personally, cannot. That's not to say I'm a pussy about money. I just can't stand seeing artistic endeavors boiled down to financial concerns. That's my flaw. But, women universally are emotionally attached to their craft. They should be. They see films as an extension of themselves. Men tend to see it as an occupation. This is slowly changing, and therefore will get more female directors forcing themselves into the director's chair. Women Lose Their Inner Child Quickly You ever notice how unfunny women are? Look, there are a TON of unfunny men who think they're funny. Mostly Dads. But women lose this REALLY fast. I think they equate being silly with being immature (truth). The difference is men don't care if they're seen as such, whilst women tend to believe they're taken more seriously because of it. The saying goes "be serious about your art, not of the process" In other words, your inner child can be playful and silly. When it comes to the project at hand, take it with seriousness it deserves. It's hard to differentiate. But think about this...is there a Steven Spielberg equivalent in a female form? Nope. Spielberg's inner child is at the surface. And therefore taps into that. For women, they think it's too beneath them. Or that they can't act this way to be taken seriously. So then you hear how there aren't any female Spielbergs. It's tricky, but you really do need some woman who has this. Women Aren't Visual I know, this myth has been de-bunked. They find beauty in anything. Kinda true. They find beauty in beauty. If it's pur-dy, they like it. Men find beauty in ugliness. Ugliness is life. For a woman, they tend to want to make life as it should be. Men hold a mirror to ugliness. In general. Obviously some of you may be screaming that this is wrong. Nope. It is life. The difference between our worldview is idealized well with a woman. This is not a BAD thing. It's actually good. But sometimes the harsh reality of life isn't portrayed properly through the eyes of an idealist (I tend not to like to focus on that either). By "idealist" I mean, you can't make a woman fat, old and ugly in a movie because you care about their feelings. Paradoxically, it also then becomes creating an idealized film person that is criticized for not being fat, old or ugly. Jane Campion's "The Power Of The Dog" has beautiful people in harsh frontier world. How dumb is that? Women Cry Easily Women hate to be hated. When you have that much suppressed disappoint and anger. And, if it's not "lady like" to throw tantrums, their behavior comes out in weird ways. So, they rarely make films that antagonize. They don't want to upset people who then upset them. Women who cry are in a sheltered bubble. I know plenty who cry when confronted. It's a bad look. Most male directors tend to stiffen up and get angry. Women cry. Men get defensive. Women cry. Women Can't Make Decisions Where do you want to eat? If this is the basis of 90% of arguments started in your relationship with a woman, you know. Directing is making decisions. The simplest ones tend to make women fold. Or they are so scatterbrained, they forget the decisions they made. Or second guess it from day to day. I'm not sure how this is trained out of people, but for men...look I know a guy who makes feature films that makes the dumbest stupidest decisions ever. He stands by them. Because his head is made of granite. Women tend to be their worst enemies when it comes to decision making. They sabotage their own sensibility distracted by a possible better idea. Men tend to be more caveman about it. Ug made a choice, he's going to do it no matter what. A crewmember can EASILY undermine a female director and then it goes off the rails. It's not a bad thing, it actually means women listen more. That said, there are a ton of women directors I respect. A lot! In fact, I wish they would make more movies that didn't have to deal with women problems. Kathryn Bigelow is a fucking badass. You want to know directing, she should've won the Oscar for "The Hurt Locker" She made a movie that told a solid story. End of rant. She made a killer vampire movie. And a techno-punk film. Her voice is heard where most are ignored. In the end, making a movie is pretty grueling event. And it seems a lot of women aren't willing to suffer what needs to be suffered. The industry is tough simply because a woman also needs to be attractive. Patty Jenkins knows this. She's hot. This is a hot person's business. Sucks to acknowledge that as you get older. And women hate getting older.