Remember when that thing happened called the pandemic?
HAHA! Jk...of course we do. We're still living in a mad, disjointed post-pandemic world, four years later. The pandemic pummeled humanity and just about everything else - Hollywood included.
Covid re-wrote the Hollywood playbook. Theater attendance stopped cold. At-home streaming became standard entertainment practice. The last movie I went to see at the theater before the virus invaded was a little-known 2019 horror flick called The Lodge. I don't remember much about the movie, but, looking back, I feel bittersweet about the experience. How was I to know that would be my last, innocent foray before society unraveled in a such way that going to the movies would never be the same?
So what's the connection between the pandemic and female filmmakers, you might ask? Well, just when the Hollywood studios were on their covid-masked knees begging for something to save the theater experience (and their financial lives), along came:
BARBENHEIMER!
Some say it was Top Gun Maverick/Tom Cruse that saved Hollywood after the virus, but I'm sticking to my pink atomic guns that it was the daring duo of Barbie/Oppenheimer.
WHAT A SUMMER! Those two films energized the movie-going experience like no other and Hollywood was as pumped as tween on Twizzlers and RedBulls.
Nolan's Oppenheimer is epic. It is historical. It is emotional. It is long. It is a history lesson about the annihilating evil that man created and that the world can (literally) be relegated to stardust with the push of a button. Applause, applause! Kudos, Christopher Nolan! Your Academy Awards and other trophies were well deserved!
But Barbie? Greta Gerwig's Barbie is communal. It brought people together for a joyous theatrical excursion. Groups gathered at theaters all over the world, dressed in pink, creating bubble-gum colored watch parties, drunk on the female power the film reminded us we have, and sobered at the admonition that the patriarchy is very real. It was also the highest grossing film of 2023, gracing Hollywood with a 1.4 billion box office gift. Applause, applause! Kudos, Greta Gerwig! Your Academy Awar...
Oh. Wait.
The Academy Awards didn't happen for Barbie, other than best song, which is nice, but...
And them's the brakes (and I do mean brakes as well as breaks) for women in Hollywood. The good old boy network rules in LALA land just like it does everywhere else (click here to see the factual, if not depressing, data).
In this post Cinemagooey raises it's fist in solidarity to women filmmakers everywhere, those heroes of feminine empowerment who buck patriarchal odds to bring their creative vision to life and share it with the world, come hell or highwater.
Highlighted below are just some of the women filmmakers who serve as shining stars and beacons of hope for other film warriors who are following in their path:
ELAINE MAY
Elaine May and Walter Matthau in A New Leaf (1971)
Elaine May is a gift to humanity. A true genius, she's been a Broadway star, film star, playwright, screenwriter and director in her long, illustrious career. If you want to introduce yourself to her prodigious talent, I recommend starting with A New Leaf, in which she performed the Hollywood trifecta: writing, directing and starring in this hilarious black comedy. Other writing/directing credits include: The Heartbreak Kid, Mike and Nickey, Heaven Can Wait, Reds, Tootsie, The Birdcage and, famously Ishtar, the film that effectively ended her movie career (here's a little link to that fascinating story). May boasts even more directorial and writing credits, but there's too many to list here. Look her up and prepare to be amazed.
I could go on and on about Elaine May, but I'll save it for a post dedicated exclusively to her and her shining accomplishments. She was one of the early greats who painstakingly forged a path for others in the field.
Today's women filmmakers stand on May's shoulders and owe her a debt of gratitude. Cinemagooey salutes this original, one of a kind bad ass.
With Charles Grodin, directing The Heartbreak Kid
Directing A New Leaf
Schmoozing with the big boys, circa 1980s
NANCY MEYERS
Nancy Meyers is the queen of the cozy romcom. When it comes to LOL-witty love stories that make us swoon, she slays. Meyers is renowned for directing comfy, side-splitting hits such as The Parent Trap (1998), Something's Gotta Give (2003), The Holiday (2006) and It's Complicated (2009), to name a few. She also wrote or co-wrote a number of smash hit screenplays, starting with my favorite, Private Benjamin (1980) but also crafting Irreconcilable Differences (1984), Baby Boom (1987) and the Father of the Bride franchise (1991, 1995 and 2020), just to name a few.
Directing Something's Gotta Give
Meyers is not only famous for her filmmaking acumen, her loyal Instagram fans are obsessed with the houses in her movies, homes that imbue a rich, intimate, put-your-feet-up-by-the-fire-and-let's-have-some-wine kind of coastal vibe. Follow her on Insta. You won't regret it. And watch her movies. You're welcome.
Above: Father of the Bride, starring this house
And the stunning beach home in Something's Gotta Give
PENNY MARSHALL
Penny Marshall Directing Big (1989)
Penny Marshall was a staple in my household in 1976 when she starred as Laverne DeFazio on the television sitcom Laverne and Shirley, about two working class gals sharing an apartment and comedic hijinks in Milwaukee. I loved that show. My sixth grade BFF and I conspired to live just such a life after high school (but with better jobs in a warmer climate). Life can upend the best of plans, howeve - that BFF and I never became Laverne and Shirley and when the show ended, Penny Marshall moved from comedic acting to cinematic directing - lucky for us.
Marshall directed a slew of hits in the 80's and 90s: Jumpin' Jack Flash, Big, Awakenings and The Preacher's Wife. But my all-time favorite is A League of Their Own, starring Geena Davis, Rosie O'Donnell, Madonna and Tom Hanks.
A League of Their Own (1992) (turn up the volume and watch this buddy moment between Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell)
The film is a Rosie-the-Riveter-meets-the-MLB story of the The All American Girls Professional Baseball League, an organization started during WWII when it was feared that men's baseball would die off as a casualty of war. The movie recounts an age when men marched off to the trenches and women were suddenly valued for more than their domestic talents, challenging patriarchal traditions and set-in-stone cultural beliefs. It's all heart and Madonna's moving "This Used To Be My Playground" theme song, as well as the reunion of the real life women who were in the league at the end of the film, poignantly encapsulate a brief, shining moment for women in sports.
Penny Marshall died in 2018. But her cinematic legacy and comedic versatility lives on in her extraordinary films, as well as the dozens of comedic roles she inhabited on t.v. (The Odd Couple, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Frasier, Portlandia and Hocus Pocus, to name but a few). It's well worth your time to dig into her films to appreciate this one of a kind female director.
Directing Tom Hanks in Big (1988)
Awakenings, starring Robin Williams (1990). Pass the kleenex
GRETA GERWIG
With Ben Stiller in Greenburg (2010)
Before Barbie and Lady Bird - two films that placed Greta Gerwig squarely on the Hollywood writing and directing map, she was the darling of a lesser known indie-film movement called Mumblecore. This cinematic genre peaked in the mid-aughts and is best described as movies with impromptu dialogue, realistic settings and low-budget markings. This is where Gerwig got her start in movies as an actress/sometimes screenwriter.
After mumbling her way through a myriad of films, Gerwig teamed up with her (now) real-life partner, Noah Baumbaugh and co-wrote and starred in a sweet little movie called Francis Ha!.
Gerwig, dancing through the streets of Manhattan in Francis Ha!
I fell, and am still, in love with Francis Ha!, a comedy about a dreamer living in NYC whose life is derailed when she loses her roommate and best friend, as well as her position in a dance company, rendering her an unemployed, aimless nomad. Francis Ha! became an indie smash, nominated for several awards (Golden Globe, Independent Spirit, London Film Critics Circle Film Awards, to name a few), and cementing Gerwig as a force in film.
Bouyed by this success, Gerwig wrote and directed Lady Bird (2017), Little Women (2019, an adaptation from the Louise May Alcott novel) and of course Barbie (2023). I can't wait to see what Hollywood's new femme-fab director brings to the table next. If it's an original movie that resonates with millions and draws in big crowds and big bucks, like Barbie did, maybe the Academy will finally give this remarkable talent the recognition she more than deserves.
Gerwig, directing Ryan Gosling in Barbie
And there are more, but not enough...
Despite the fierce odds against them, women have been fighting to share their celluloid visions with audiences since the advent of film (the first: Alice Guy-Blanché made her first movie in 1896). Hats off to the past pioneers and present day warriors who continue to fight the good fight and inspire future femme filmmakers everywhere. I wish I could write a tribute to them all, but here are a few of the greats and one film that I recommend from each, in no particular order:
Jane Campion The Piano (1993), Sophia Coppola, Lost In Translation (2003), Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker (2008), Ava DuVernay, Selma (2014), Nora Ephron, Julie and Julia (2009), Kelly Reichardt, Certain Women (2016), Debra Granik, Winter's Bone (2010), Lana Wachowski and Lilli Wachowski, The Matrix (1999), Jennifer Kent, The Babadook (2014), Charlotte Wells, Aftersun (2022).
Kathryn Bigelow, making history as the first woman to receive the Oscar for Best Director for The Hurt Locker.
the death of chatteron by henry wallis (1856)
ophelia by john everett millais (1851-52)
the execution of marshal ney by jean-leon gerome (1868)
requiescat by briton riviere (1888)
yellow fever in buenos aires by juan manuel blanes
elaine by edward rosenthal (1874)
the doctor by luke fildes (1891)
ivan the terrible and his son by Ilya repin (1885)
the bride of death by thomas barker (1839)
lord byron on his death-bed by joseph denis odevaere (1826)
recognition: north and south by constant mayer (1865)
the lament for icarus by herbert james draper (1898)
death of seneca by dominguez sanchez manuel (1871)
Building a political machine in the United States is a daunting and frankly terrifying concept.
I just finished reading Elaine Brown's A Taste Of Power (which I highly recommend), and I'm moving on the autobiography of Black Panther Field Marshal DC Cox, which I'd rather not name at the moment.
Revolutionary Suicide and A Taste of Power together present a very clear picture of what the party looked like and how it operated in the public sphere, I hope that DC Cox will help me understand the more militant Underground.
I've been looking to these books for instruction. How they succeeded, how they failed, how the peculiarities of their time affected the decisions they made.
I study these books to find the answer that every US leftist struggles with: what is to be done?
In conjunction with the history of the Panthers, I've been reading Lenin. I've been distributing food. I've been attending rallies and protests. I've been talking to leftists who've been on the scene since the 60s, and I've been talking to leftists who were baptized in tear gas in the Seattle riots of 2021.
I'm learning. I'm watching what we do. I'm reading what we've done. And I'm trying to make sense of it all. My conclusion, so far, is that the American Left is a shambles. It's a disappointment.
We lack the will for decisive action because we're scared. No one says it, but we're terrified. The Red Scare and the NSA loom large in my mind. The FBI terrifies me. We whisper the word revolution because we know that we're surrounded by endless wiretaps. All listening. All recording. All looking for buzzwords and collating lists of names and locations. All in the name of Freedom. We whisper the word revolution, we hush each other, we stand and leave words unspoken. Because we're afraid.
Facing down the juggernaut that is the United States. Understanding its myriad cruelties and its endless violence has kept me awake at night for months.
I don't want to die. I don't want to see my life destroyed. I've fought so hard and for so long just to enjoy being alive, and I'm really not ready to give it up in a suicidal quest. An impossible war.
But I don't know what else to do. People freeze and starve in the streets. The police rape and murder in every community. Our leaders are abetting a transgender genocide while simultaneously reinstituting child labor.
The US rattles its saber and millions of lives shudder.
This beast cannot be allowed to persist. This nation cannot be allowed to destroy the world in the endless imperial quest for growth.
The only struggle is class struggle. The only war is class war.
Today is the 50th birthday of the toe-tapper “Then Came You”, which was recorded on April 2nd, 1974 by Dionne Warwick and the Spinners.
This was in that five year period where Dionne added the e to the end of her name.
She had left her old label and was now at Warner Brothers, and her career had kinda slumped.
The track, written by Sherman Marshall and Phillip T. Pugh, and produced by Thom Bell, was sung as a duet with Dionne and Spinners frontman Bobby Smith, the other Spinners spinning in the background., and was released on Atlantic, the sister label of Warners.
The Spinners were just ascending as one of the biggest groups of the 70s.
This track shot to the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 after its Sumer release… and, believe it or not, this was the Spinners’ very first #1 song, and Dionne’s ONLY #1.
It was a gold record and was nominated for a Grammy.
But mostly it was a hit for both Dionne and the Spinners, and sparked a rebirth for Dionne.
Below the cut, you can find a growing list of ships for my muses. It will not always be a conclusive list but it is a start and some of my favorites. Feel free to look through at your leisure:
A COURT OF THORNES AND ROSES
FEYRE ARCHERON- Rhysand, Tamlin, Lucien, Cassian, Azriel (crossovers could be explored)
ELAIN ARCHERON- Lucien, Tamlin, Azriel (crossovers could be explored)
NESTA ARCHERON- Cassian, Azriel (crossovers could be explored)
GWYNETH BERDARA- Azriel, Cassian (crossovers could be explored)
NOVA NIGHT- Azriel, Cassian, Tamlin, Kage (a bestie exclusive) (crossovers could be explored)
AURORA- Cassian, Tamlin, Lucien (Crossovers could be explored)
DAWN VANSERRA- open to exploration
GREYSON VANSERRA- open to exploration
JESMINDA- Lucien, Eris, Tamlin ( crossovers could be explored )
NOELLE WINTER- Kage, Nyx (crossovers could be explored)
VIOLET SPRING- Kage, Nyx (crossovers could be explored)
SERAPHINA VANSERRA- open to exploration
CRESCENT CITY
BRYCE QUINLAN- Hunt Athalar, Connor Holstrom (crossovers could be explored)
DANIKA FENDYR- Ruhn Danaan, Baxian (crossovers could be explored)
LIDIA CERVOS- Ruhn Danaan, Pollux (crossovers could be explored)
FOURTH WING
VIOLET SORRENGAIL- Xaden Riorson, Dan Aetos (sue me) (crossovers can be explored)
TEEN WOLF
ALLISON ARGENT- Isaac Lahey, Stiles Stilinski, Scott McCall, Jackson Whittemore , Jack McGarrett (crossovers can be explored)
MALIA HALE- Isaac Lahey, Stiles Stilinski, Scott McCall, Jackson Whittemore, Lydia Martin, Jack McGarrett (crossovers can be explored)
SCARLETT DUKE- Derek Hale, Camden Lahey, Isaac Lahey (crossovers can be explored)
LYDIA MARTIN- Isaac Lahey, Stiles Stilinski, Scott McCall, Jackson Whittemore, Malia Hale, Jordan Parrish, Jack McGarrett (crossovers can be explored)
LUNA LAHEY-open to exploration
MCU
NATASHA ROMANOFF- Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, Matt Murdock, Tony Stark, Thor, Clint Barton, Sam Wilson (crossovers can be explored)
WANDA MAXIMOFF- Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, Vision, Sam Wilson (crossovers can be explored)
JANE FOSTER- Thor (crossovers can be explored)
PEGGY CARTER- Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes (crossovers can be explored)
KATE BISHOP- Eli Bradley, Cassie Lang (crossovers can be explored)
YELENA BELOVA- Bucky Barnes (crossovers can be explored)
DARCY LEWIS- open to exploration
MICHELLE JONES- Peter Parker (crossovers can be explored)
GAMORA-Peter Quill (crossovers can be explored)
GWEN STACY- Peter Parker (crossovers can be explored)
JEAN GRAY (request only)- Scott Summers
MAYA LOPEZ (request only)- open to exploration
SERSI (request only)- Ikaris, Dane Whitman (crossovers can be explored)
MAKKARI (request only)- Druig (crossovers can be explored)
CASSIE LANG- Kate Bishop, open to exploration
TVD/ORIGINALS
CAROLINE FORBES- Klaus Mikaelson, Alaric Saltzman, Stefan Salvatore, Damon Salvatore, Tyler Lockwood
BONNIE BENNETT- Enzo St. John, Damon Salvatore, Kai Parker, Jeremy Gilbert
DAVINA CLAIRE- Kol Mikaelson
HAYLEY MARSHALL- Klaus Mikaelson, Elijah Mikaelson, Jackson Kenner
REBEKAH MIKAELSON- Marcel Gerard, Stefan Salvatore
SHADOWHUNTERS
CLARY FRAY- Jace Herondale, Simon Lewis
ISABELLE LIGHTWOOD- Raphael, Simon Lewis
MAGNUS BANE- Alec Lightwood
SUPERNATURAL
JO HARVELLE- Dean Winchester
SAMI WINCHESTER- open to exploration
RUBY- Sam Winchester
GAME OF THRONES
DAENERYS TARGARYEN- Jon Snow, Khal Drogo
SANSA STARK- open to exploration
ARYA STARK- Gendry Baratheon
CURSED
NIMUE- Lancelot, Arthur
AVALON DU LAC- open to exploration
GUINEVERE- Lancelot, Arthur
GREEK MYTH
PERSEPHONE- Hades
DISNEY
MAL BERTHA- Jay, Ben
SHADOW AND BONE
ALINA STARKOV- Aleksander Kirigan, Mal, Nikolai
INEJ GHAFA- Kaz Brekker
GENYA SAFIN- David
NINA ZENIK- Matthias
PERIOD DRAMAS/HISTORICAL MUSES
CLARICE DE’MEDICI- Lorenzo De’Medici, Lancelot
MARY STUART- Francis de Valois, Sebastian de Poitiers
LOLA FLEMING- open
KENNA DE POITIERS- Sebastian de Poitiers
GREER NORWOOD- Leith Beyard
AYLEE- open
ANASTASIA ROMANOV- Dimitri
BRIDGERTON
DAPHNE BRIDGERTON- Simon Basset
ELOISE BRIDGERTON- Philip Crane
PENELOPE FEATHERINGTON- Colin Bridgerton, Anthony Bridgerton, Benedict Bridgerton
KATE SHARMA- Anthony Bridgerton
EDWINA SHARMA (request only)- Prince Friedrich
SOPHIA BECKETT- Benedict Bridgerton
FRANCESCA BRIDGERTON- Michael Sterling
STRANGER THINGS
NANCY WHEELER- Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Johnathan Byers
ELEVEN- Dustin Henderson, Mike Wheeler
MAX MAYFIELD- Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair
ROBIN BUCKLEY-open
CHRISSY CUNNINGHAM- Eddie Munson
IMOGEN CUNNINGHAM- open
RIVERDALE
TONI TOPAZ- Cheryl Blossom, Fangs Fogarty, Jughead Jones
CHERYL BLOSSOM- Toni Topaz, Isaac Lahey, Jughead Jones
The Great American Dream Machine was a satirical television series broadcast on PBS from 1971 to 1972. The show began and ended with patriotic marching music and an animated "machine" of sorts, with complex moving parts that had no evident function.
During the first season, humorist Marshall Efron (above, in pith helmet) toured a car junkyard, "a poor sad place of broken bodies and twisted metal flowers." Jane Fonda sang and danced her way through the roles of six different modern women. Odetta sang "Freight Train" to honor the composer, Elizabeth Cotton. In a skit, actor Eli Wallach was hypnotized to forget the Vietnam War. Elaine Stritch sang "The Ladies Who Lunch" from the musical Company in the song's television premiere.
Phil married Kay began dating in 1964 (ages 18ish and 14ish) and married on January 11, 1966. They share 4 sons, 4 daughters-in-law, 16 grandchildren, 9 grandchildren-in-law, and 17 great-grandchildren. Phil has one daughter from an affair which gave him an additional 2 grandsons, 2 granddaughters-in-law, and 1 great-grandson.
independent multi muse rp account featuring a variety of muses from acotar, bridgerton, the witcher, marvel, and more. written by kel, 21+, she/her, uk based.
open starter tag
currently reading: fourth wing
rules & mules are under read more
MUSES.
bridgerton.
hyacinth bridgerton: florence hunt, danielle rose russell
hope mikaelson - danielle rose russell ( legacies )
rebecca mikaelson - claire holt ( originals )
freya mikaelson - riley voelkel ( originals )
amy pond - karen gillan ( doctor who )
yasmin khan - mandip gill ( doctor who )
morgan stark - katherine langford (marvel)
bucky barnes - sebastian stan (marvel).
peggy carter - hayley atwell (marvel)
rebecca barnes - tbd (marvel)
RULES
RULE ONE/OOC INFORMATION Hi, my name is Kel, I'm over 21+ and use the pronouns she/her. Time zone is GMT.For now, my blog will run on a queue as I'm busy with some real life stuff. But sometimes, I may come online for an hour or two, depending on my mood. Blog is selective, private and mutual only. Also OC, multi fandom and multi-muse friendly too.
RULE TWO/THREADS AND REPLIES Replies can take a while to reply to, but I am not ignoring anyone. Please message if I haven't replied within a month.The best way to begin threads are through sending ask memes. I will also post open starters and maybe the occasional starter call. Not really a plotting person either; prefer to go with the flow.
RULE THREE/TRIGGERS I don't really have any triggers. That being said I will tag other people's triggers the best I can, and if I don't feel free to send a message and let me know. Don't send anon hate either. We all make mistakes and can't remember everything. Regarding shipping, I'm open to anything really. That being said, don't force any ships on any of my characters. I'll just unfollow/block if it continues to happen.
RULE FOUR/ETIQUETTE I do not tolerate any forms of hate. Racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia and any other forms of hate are not tolerated on this blog and I don't want to see any of it on the dash. It's an immediate hard block if I see anything. Respect each other, it's not that hard.
RULE FIVE/SHIPPING. Regarding shipping, I'm open to anything really. That being said, don't force any ships on any of my characters. I'll just unfollow/block if it continues to happen. I mostly ship for chemistry, but don't mind discussing ships beforehand if anyone wants to try anything out.
RULE SIX/SMUT AND MATURE THEMES Smut will not be featured on this blog. All other mature themes will be tagged accordingly and I'm pretty much open to anything except rape, incest etc.
CREDIT All gifs, icons etc on this blog do not belong to me. Credit goes to their rightful owners.