Gender Inequality In Beasts Of The Southern Wild

Real change takes time. It is not for the impatient or hurried. Hollywood is no exception. Gender inequality is rampant in film careers in Hollywood. For screenwriters, we appear to be in the midst of change. As Sherry Lansing broke through the celluloid ceiling in 1980 when she became the first woman studio head, “female screenwriters appear to have made a breakthrough over the last three years, with an unusually high representation in the top 20 UK independent films (37%) and profitable UK independent films (30%)” (Source ??) and it’s not just in the UK. Ten women highlighted the Sundance Film Festival. One of those women paving the way for the under represented female group to be recognized and accepted is Lucy Alibar, screenwriter of Beasts of the Southern Wild. In fact, the reality depicted in Beasts, according to Alibar, is derived from the feminist reality of coping with the catcalls at the Greenpoint Avenue subway stop and daily hassles of life in the New York groove. (source A) Though Lucy Alibar's first screenplay was recommended by Commander in Chief, President Obama himself (reference P), the gender inequality of screenwriters is still a reality. Of the 160 screenwriters credited for the 100 films nominated between 2005 and 2014, only 18 were women. Those …show more content…
Esteemed screenwriter Moira Buffini believes it is because female screenwriters design their characters from experiences not just from the physical appearance, i.e. how pretty she may be. Evidence of this can be found at the Oscars. 11 of the 16 Oscar winning, women-written films from 2005 to 2014, passed the Bechtel test, the basic test for gender equality. Additionally, according to Smith, Pieper, and Choueti, "When compared to films directed by males, those directed by females feature more women filmmakers behind the camera (writers, producers, cinematographers,