When talking and writing about professional and academic feminist film critics and its relevance in the future, it is important to outline a few of the central problems it tackles, rooted in its historical frame. For the purposes of this essay, only three will be dealt with: representation of women in film, the problem with naming in feminist film criticism, and issues with authority and authenticity. The representation of women in film has been accurately summarized by Molly Haskell (1974) in the introduction to From Rape To Revenge: The Treatment of Women in the Movies: “you’ve come a long way baby…and it’s all been downhill”. Indeed, frothy years later the film industry is predominantly straight white male, and perpetuates the marketing
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Frey (year) writes that authority is key for any form of film criticism, and therefore for any film critic. It is what “granted the legitimacy to describe, explain, elucidate, contextualize, and/or evaluate a certain cultural object or topic to a certain audience. It implies the quasi-contractual obligation for this audience to listen to, engage with, and ultimately respect the critic’s pronouncements – not necessarily to agree with them, but to grant the critic the right to make them” (p. 18). Authority could also signify one aspect of the role of the film critic, and for that matter, feminist film critics, as a mediator between society and culture. Therefore, it is imperative for feminist film criticism to uphold a sense of authority in its future development, for it represents a bridge between the difference in ethnic, racial, gender, national, and cultural structures embodied in film. However, this holds a problem in itself because authority is usually associated with male dominance. Feminist film critics should be concern not only with the (under)representation of women as compared to the dominance of patriarchy, but also the effects race, ethnicity, class, and sexual preference and the differences between women themselves have on the progress of film, and thus ensure that its authority as a mediator between society and culture will not
Frey (year) writes that authority is key for any form of film criticism, and therefore for any film critic. It is what “granted the legitimacy to describe, explain, elucidate, contextualize, and/or evaluate a certain cultural object or topic to a certain audience. It implies the quasi-contractual obligation for this audience to listen to, engage with, and ultimately respect the critic’s pronouncements – not necessarily to agree with them, but to grant the critic the right to make them” (p. 18). Authority could also signify one aspect of the role of the film critic, and for that matter, feminist film critics, as a mediator between society and culture. Therefore, it is imperative for feminist film criticism to uphold a sense of authority in its future development, for it represents a bridge between the difference in ethnic, racial, gender, national, and cultural structures embodied in film. However, this holds a problem in itself because authority is usually associated with male dominance. Feminist film critics should be concern not only with the (under)representation of women as compared to the dominance of patriarchy, but also the effects race, ethnicity, class, and sexual preference and the differences between women themselves have on the progress of film, and thus ensure that its authority as a mediator between society and culture will not