Being Geek Chic is a blog about one woman navigating the male-dominated industries of production and tech. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi, Founder, CEO and Director of Mighteor - one of the world's first internet video production companies. Learn more about Mighteor here.
This whole thing started with a mission: support female led films on opening weekend whenever possible.* If you want to read more about why, you can read that post here.
It’s a good thing that May is beautiful outside and the perfect time to get out and have a picnic, because this year it’s sure not a time to go to the movies. There are a few bright spots, namely Jodie Foster’s new movie, which is bound to be a dramatic thriller.
MAY 6th:
Mothers and Daughters (Written by Paige Cameron and Starring Susan Sarandon and Chrstina Ricci)
Mothers and Daughters features interwoven stories about what it means to be a mom, which are tied together via single gal Rigby Gray, a rock photographer who’s riding a career high when an unlikely and unexpected pregnancy forces her to turn her lens inward. As Rigby slowly comes to terms with what it might mean to change her life forever, she discovers with fresh eyes her own relationship with her estranged mother.
Memoria (Directed by Nina Ljeti)
A California teen (Sam Dillon) copes with his dysfunctional family, slacker friends and a girl who doesn’t know that he exists.
MAY 13th:
Money Monster (Directed by Jodie Foster)
After losing money on a stock tip, a disgruntled investor holds a Wall Street guru and a producer hostage on live television.
Love and Friendship (Starring Kate Beckinsale)
In the 18th century, the seductive and manipulative Lady Susan uses devious tactics to win the heart of the eligible Reginald De Courcy.
MAY 20th:
Maggie’s Plan (Written and directed by Rebecca Miller)
Maggie’s plan to have a baby on her own is derailed when she falls in love with John, a married man, destroying his volatile marriage to the brilliant Georgette.
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One additional note before I go: I am not able to tell you if these movies are objectively good or feminist friendly, as I have not seen all of them. The point of this list is to give you a place to start. The truth is that we don’t have a lot to choose from, but part of the battle is giving you the information. Information is power. However, shared knowledge is also key. So if you see one of these films or have seen an early screening, please let us know if you recommend it or not in the comments.
Since I was a little girl, I’ve been told I was bossy. By teachers. By family members. By fellow kids. And you know what: I knew it was a negative thing. It wasn’t a mystery. People don’t say: “you’re bossy” with a smile on their face. They say it with disdain. They say it as a criticism. They say it because you aren’t behaving the way they expect or want you to behave.
For a long time, I shirked from the word. In fact, all those words above… those are all words that have been said about me in performance reviews at various jobs. And you know, I used to feel really badly about that. The thing is: perception is not reality. We all come to our work and our lives with a point of view and approach that is all our own. Some is nature. Some is nurture. But no matter how much you nurture me, I’m never going to be a quiet person. I’m never going to be a sensitive person. And that’s not a bad thing! On the flip, being quiet and sensitive isn’t either. It’s just part of what gives us the skills to do what we are best doing in the world. It is what equips us to contribute to society.
Which is why I recently started to embrace the word, bossy. Ask Webster’s what a boss is and the meaning is clear:
boss – bôs,bäs
Noun: person in charge of a worker or organization. a person in control of a group or an organization.
Adjective: excellent; outstanding.
Bossy has a bad wrap. And you know what? I am those things. When Sheryl Sandberg broke the world with the introduction of Lean In and the idea of #BanBossy - suddenly - we shed light and opened a whole new conversation in our culture on the negative nature of the word. On a basic factual level, Sandberg is right in her observation: “We call our little girls bossy. Go to a playground; little girls get called bossy all the time - a word that’s almost never used for boys - and that leads directly to the problems women face in the workforce.”
Her notion is that if we ban the word, we will start to recognize the leadership qualities in little girls earlier on. And I hope she’s right. However, I’m always in favor of a little rethinking and redefinition. I think instead of banning the word, perhaps we should own it. Maybe we need to #EmbraceBossy
Just look at all these amazing women who have been told they were bossy:
“Am I bossy? Absolutely. I don’t like to lose, and if I’m told ‘no,’ then I find another way to get my 'yes.’“ - Naomi Campbell
“I’m not bossy. I’m the boss.” - Beyonce
“Don’t waste your energy trying to educate or change opinions; go over, under, through, and opinions will change organically when you’re the boss. Or they won’t. Who cares? Do your thing, and don’t care if they like it.” - Tina Fey
“I’ll be bossy and damn proud! Banning words, please. Try banning the system that produces polices that promote inequity.” - Rosa Clemente
“I was an optimistic person; really bossy, gregarious and outspoken. ” - Mamie Gummer
“I just love bossy women. I could be around them all day. To me, bossy is not a pejorative term at all. It means somebody’s passionate and engaged and ambitious and doesn’t mind leading.” - Amy Poehler
And that’s a short list of those that were brave enough to talk about it. There are many, many more, I’m sure who have risen to power in politics and business and entertainment who have been called bossy behind their backs and to their faces. It’s just that simple.
I’m ready to #EmbraceBossy. How about you?
“U.S. CTO Megan Smith and the co-authors of “The Elephant in the Valley” survey on women in tech talk about their goals for a better work environment for women in technology at SXSW’s Girls Lounge.”
This headline is hilarious to me. Inclusion is for women, you guys.
From CES to SXSW, the small, local events to the international conferences - there is an obsession with making women feel included in tech right now. Walk into SXSW this week and you’ll discover that there’s a “Girls’ Lounge” for the ladies. At CES in January, there was a Chic Getaway for “women only” where we could get our hands on free lipsticks and jewelry. As well-meaning as these pop-up homages to being a female may be, it’s hard for me to see them as anything other than a passive aggressive attempt at placating the real problem. “You belong here!” is what they’re trying to say, but what they don’t realize is that by cordoning women off to a corner in a fancy hotel conference center they are essentially saying: “You belong here! In the room with the makeup!”
Inherently, you could argue that this is a positive step in the right direction because for far too long, women have been excluded altogether. Until recently, it wasn’t uncommon to go hours at these conferences and events without seeing a woman at all. The problem is that the approach taken by all these major events and hallmark brands in response to the outcry is just silly. They’ve designed a solution that allows them to check off the “women” box in their list of concerns and move on. It’s a pragmatic and strategic solution, but it fails to make any improvements with regards to the most important measure: inclusion.
Let’s define inclusion.
Inclusion means women and people of color are invited to be keynote speakers.
Inclusion means women and people of color are invited to be part of panels.
Inclusion means women and people of color are invited to host demos.
Inclusion means women and people of color are invited to be featured in the exhibitor space.
Inclusion means women and people of color are just seen. Everywhere.
For a long time, I’ve avoided talking about my problem with this phenomena, because it could easily be interpreted as whining. “But we’ve given you a lounge!” However, the very fact that I feel I don’t have the right to criticize the industry without it being perceived as an emotional reaction is the exact result of this kind of treatment. Our experiences are expected to be controlled and reserved. And believe me, the irony of that is not lost on me. With a closer examination of why I loathe it so much, these lounges and makeup gift bags are virtually a mirror for how I feel about my treatment as a woman in leadership in technology and film.
So often, I’m reminded that I’m a woman first and a CEO second. I am consistently told: “Oh wow, you’re a FEMALE director.” To some extent, I wear these identities with pride, because starting my own company and successfully growing it over the last three years has been a huge challenge, but doing it in an industry where women are largely not present has been remarkably more challenging because of the isolation I often experience. As a result, my success often feels like it has two very fractured paths: my success as the outlier AND my success as a business person and creative. I would so much rather be praised for my success in my work and my art than for my success for doing it despite having a set of boobs. But this is my reality.
I acknowledge that I bear some responsibility for my own internal narrative, but if we look at the cultural narrative about women’s success, it’s not much different. And while women are clearly involved in all the programming, organization and development of these Lounges, you have to wonder why this is the job they’re being given.
There’s not a day that goes by on the campaign trail where Hillary Clinton isn’t reminded that she’s a woman. And this is the problem with tokenism. When we constantly remind women and people of color that they are the “other” in the situation, it can be overwhelmingly challenging to see yourself in the role that you are trying desperately to earn. It begins to feel like a challenge you must overcome. Let me be clear: being a woman should NEVER be a challenge we need to overcome. And yet it is. I’m sure if we could ask Hillary Clinton what she wants, she would say that she wants to be the President of the United States, not the Female President of the United States of America.
And ask any woman what her first thought is in the morning and I guarantee you, it’s not: “Oh, I’m a woman again today.” But you can bet your ass she wakes up thinking about the 50 tasks she has to tackle on her to do list. And that’s important because when she achieves those things, I am certain she doesn’t think: “Wow, I can’t believe my lady brain got all that done!”
It would be easy to minimize this entire thing to a question of semantics. But to be frank: being a woman shouldn’t be a qualifier to your field, your work, your accomplishments and your title. And it shouldn’t be the reason you are given access to an event or given a seat at the table. Your hard work, success and accomplishments should be. We all have the right to define our selves. We have a right to be who we are first - and be our gender or our race or our sexual orientation - second.
I am tired of being reminded that I am a “female” director. I am tired of having my work qualified as something that is specific to my status as an XY chromosome set. I am tired of seeing the look in people’s eyes when they find out what I do. I am tired of being cordoned off to random rooms in 3 star hotels. And I’m tired of brands attempting to buy me with cosmetics. This job is hard enough without having to point out what seems so blatantly obvious to me all the damn time: women are just people. People like to be invited to things. Invite the people to be part of the things.
Is it really that much easier to find a rental company with a giant pink tent?
It’s a pretty well-known fact that superhero cinema has largely neglected women. And though the films can be enjoyed by most everyone, this has been unfair to girls and women who want to be inspired by a superhero of their own gender. Sure, Marvel has done fairly well expanding the role of Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow character (and may even finally give the heroine her own movie). And DC will soon be introducing a new Wonder Woman (played by Gal Gadot) in Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice. But really, there’s still a pretty big problem in the biggest superhero films.
The good news, however, is that there are still plenty of female superheroes out there to admire! Some of them are relatively little known, and some simply haven’t made their impact on the Marvel or DC film universes just yet. But they’re out there, and some may even be going more mainstream in the near future. These are some such heroes.
She-Hulk was mentioned in one article as one of 10 little known superheroes that could “make Marvel millions” if added to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That article did a pretty good job of characterizing why she’d be a good fit in the Marvel films. Namely, she’s the cousin of Bruce Banner, and such a close connection to an existing Avenger would make for an easy entry into the MCU. However, it’s also mentioned that She-Hulk would be a good role model for girls, and I couldn’t agree more. This character - named Jennifer Walters before her transformation - is a strong, successful lawyer who chooses to become She-Hulk and learns to control the monster, ultimately adopting the persona full-time despite potential judgments from society. It’s a nice contrast to the idea that every female superhero needs to be a Hollywood beauty in form-fitting spandex.
This one might be cheating a little bit, because technically we actually have seen the Wasp in the MCU. Evangeline Lily’s character in Ant-Man is meant to step into the role, and she kind of did in the end credits scene, for those of you who may not have stuck around in the theater. Regardless, it would be nice to see this character really built up into a superhero on the same level as Marvel’s male leads. The Wasp makes for an interesting role model because, like Ant-Man or even Iron Man, she’s an ordinary (if particularly intelligent) human with a super suit - rather than a superhuman. Given that the 2018 Ant-Man sequel is expected to be titled Ant-Man and the Wasp, this could be a hero who’s on her way to bigger things.
Elektra isn’t exactly little known, and in fact she’s been more mainstream than most female characters related to Marvel. Jennifer Garner played the part in the 2003 Daredevil film and even in a solo movie spinoff. And in the time since the character has lingered in the public eye, most notably through a popular online casino game that often appears alongside Iron Man- and Avengers-themed games. Described as a Marvel gaming option for those looking for something a little more feminine, it’s almost an overt statement about the lack of female superheroes, given that it stands alone. Now, however, we’re seeing Elektra brought into the fold in a cinematic sense once more, and it’ll probably be much more significant than the Garner film. Elodie Yung is set to take up the role in the new season of the Netflix series Daredevil, just months after a solo series for Jessica Jones gave us the strongest f emale Marvel character yet.
You probably haven’t heard of Rescue unless you’re a pretty serious comic fan. But you’ve heard of the lady behind the moniker. This is Tony Stark’s personal assistant/love interest Pepper Potts (played by Gwyneth Paltrow in the films) in her very own Iron Man-style suit. Pepper is already one of the more compelling female characters in the MCU, as she’s undergone an interesting transition from a vaguely defined love interest to a powerful CEO with the rare ability to put Tony Stark in his place. Turning her into a superhero might set a nice example. Additionally, one implication of the name is that she might have the ability to rescue her superhero boyfriend, which would be a nice way for Marvel to flip the damsel-in-distress motif on its head.
Aside from Wasp and Elektra, Kamala Khan may ultimately be the likeliest female superhero to be injected into the MCU. In part this seems to be the case because she was recently introduced in a popular app game through which Marvel has made a few character introductions alongside film or TV debuts. But it’s also because the character by nature is easy to toss into an existing series. That’s because Kamala Khan is essentially a fan of the Avengers (and specifically Captain Marvel, or Carol Danvers). Khan sets a wonderful example for young girls in particular, because she’s one of the few Marvel superheroes who becomes one because she aspires to be one. It’s a tale of hard work and passion paying off, as Khan ultimately takes up the role of Ms. Marvel herself. Captain Marvel is already going to be brought into the MCU, so perhaps Khan will also.
Marvel is slowly but surely beginning to include more female superheroes in starring roles. But adding these five to the mix would give young women even more characters to look up to.
This whole thing started with a mission: support female led films on opening weekend whenever possible.* If you want to read more about why, you can read that post here.
When it comes to women in Hollywood, we get three identities: mom, daughter and romantic lead. Maybe it’s because it’s February. Maybe it’s the stereotype. But whatever it is, this is the month of women falling in love. I would love to see this kind of movie from a man’s perspective, but alas. This month, we’ll settle for Gilly’s attitude and a film on being single as our reprieve.
FEBRUARY 5TH:
All Roads Lead to Rome (Directed by Ella Lemhagen; Screenplay by Cindy Myers; Starring Sarah Jessica Parker)
Logline: Maggie is an uptight, single mother and college writing teacher from New York City. In an effort to reconnect with her troubled teen daughter Summer, she decides to embark on a journey to a Tuscan village where she frequented in her younger days. Upon arrival, Maggie runs into Luca, a handsome former lover who is still a bachelor and lives with his eighty-year-old mother, Carmen. Summer (missing her “bad boy” boyfriend in NYC) and Carmen (secretly planning a wedding against Luca’s wishes to Marcelino, her one true love in Rome) impulsively steal Luca’s car and race off to Rome. Maggie and Luca quickly pursue allowing the two mismatched couples to spend some time together and develop a new understanding of each other.
FEBRUARY 12TH:
How to be Single (Screenplay by Dana Fox and Abby Kohn; Starring Rebel Wilson and Allison Brie)
Logline: New York City is full of lonely hearts seeking the right match, and what Alice, Robin, Lucy, Meg, Tom and David all have in common is the need to learn how to be single in a world filled with ever-evolving definitions of love.
Tumbledown (Screenplay by Desiree Van Til; Starring Rebecca Hall)
Logline: A young woman struggles to move on with her life after the death of her husband, an acclaimed folk singer, when a brash New York writer forces her to confront her loss and the ambiguous circumstances of his death.
Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong (Directed and Written by Emily Ting)
Logline: An attraction forms when a Chinese American girl visiting Hong Kong for the first time meets an American expat who shows her the way, but timing may not quite be on their side. A walk and talk romance set in the beautiful city of Hong Kong, the film asks the question - what happens when you meet the right person at the wrong time?
FEBRUARY 19TH:
The Great Gilly Hopkins (Starring Sophie Nelisse and Kathy Bates)
Logline: 12-year-old wisecracking Gilly Hopkins finds herself shuffled from foster home to foster home until she meets Maime Trotter.
FEBRUARY 26TH:
Marguerite and Julien (Directed and Written by Valérie Donzelli)
Logline: An aristocratic brother and sister embrace passion and hope as they flee from society. A story of desire, love and death beyond all morality.
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One additional note before I go: I am not able to tell you if these movies are objectively good or feminist friendly, as I have not seen all of them. The point of this list is to give you a place to start. The truth is that we don’t have a lot to choose from, but part of the battle is giving you the information. Information is power. However, shared knowledge is also key. So if you see one of these films or have seen an early screening, please let us know if you recommend it or not in the comments.
