What do you think?
Rate this book
Women Who Make Movies
Women who make movies (Cinema studies series)
- GenresFilm
307 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1975
32 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 25, 2019
Women Who Make Movies was a good start. It was published in 1975, having been completed in the spring of 1973--long before the Internet would make research a heck of a lot easier.
I'm the author. WWMM began as my response to my Cinema Department classmates and professors at USC explaining to me that women had never made films. So I decided to write a classroom paper, hoping to prove they were wrong.
I organized a mailing list, asking hundreds of people associated with film schools or women's studies for the names and addresses of female filmmakers. Then I sent out many hundreds of questionnaires to these women, asking a wide array of questions about their personal and professional filmmaking experiences and also for more names. Out went a second round of questionaires, far more detailed. I organized small-scale film screenings in Los Angeles and New York and interviewed many women in person. I delved into current and back issues of books and magazines, eager for whatever history they might contain.
Film critic Arthur Knight, one of my professors, read an early draft and quoted Samuel Johnson in an oblique reference to females making films: "Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all."
I gritted my teeth. Broadened and deepened my research.
As the paper shaped up, I realized it was not a classroom exercise. It would become my thesis. I sent a summary to book publishers and wound up writing my thesis with one hand, so to speak, and this book with my other. Finished both, got my Cinema MA, and...
Switched gears. The road toward a filmmaking career would be impossibly difficult for me, with little money, no "connections," and no interest in writing male-centric movies.
My husband and I moved to Maine as back-to-the-landers and bought a decrepit farmhouse. I had babies, earned an M.Ed. and became an educator (high school English and public health)... impossibly boring.
I switched gears again, earning a doctorate and becoming a neuropsychologist. Filmmaking had combined both artistry and a sturdy command of the craft. So did assessing disorders of the brain and body. And by then, prejudices against female professionals had calmed a bit. "Dr. Smith" has a lovely ring to it.
In the early 1970s, as one of the first historians of female filmmakers, I did the best job I could with the limited resources I could locate. And so I've awarded my book a "4." Far more skillful researchers have since emerged--and also a plethora of women far more skilled in the various aspects of filmmaking and research than I ever was. The obstacles they continue to face do anger me, but their achievements thrill my heart.
I'm the author. WWMM began as my response to my Cinema Department classmates and professors at USC explaining to me that women had never made films. So I decided to write a classroom paper, hoping to prove they were wrong.
I organized a mailing list, asking hundreds of people associated with film schools or women's studies for the names and addresses of female filmmakers. Then I sent out many hundreds of questionnaires to these women, asking a wide array of questions about their personal and professional filmmaking experiences and also for more names. Out went a second round of questionaires, far more detailed. I organized small-scale film screenings in Los Angeles and New York and interviewed many women in person. I delved into current and back issues of books and magazines, eager for whatever history they might contain.
Film critic Arthur Knight, one of my professors, read an early draft and quoted Samuel Johnson in an oblique reference to females making films: "Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all."
I gritted my teeth. Broadened and deepened my research.
As the paper shaped up, I realized it was not a classroom exercise. It would become my thesis. I sent a summary to book publishers and wound up writing my thesis with one hand, so to speak, and this book with my other. Finished both, got my Cinema MA, and...
Switched gears. The road toward a filmmaking career would be impossibly difficult for me, with little money, no "connections," and no interest in writing male-centric movies.
My husband and I moved to Maine as back-to-the-landers and bought a decrepit farmhouse. I had babies, earned an M.Ed. and became an educator (high school English and public health)... impossibly boring.
I switched gears again, earning a doctorate and becoming a neuropsychologist. Filmmaking had combined both artistry and a sturdy command of the craft. So did assessing disorders of the brain and body. And by then, prejudices against female professionals had calmed a bit. "Dr. Smith" has a lovely ring to it.
In the early 1970s, as one of the first historians of female filmmakers, I did the best job I could with the limited resources I could locate. And so I've awarded my book a "4." Far more skillful researchers have since emerged--and also a plethora of women far more skilled in the various aspects of filmmaking and research than I ever was. The obstacles they continue to face do anger me, but their achievements thrill my heart.
Displaying 1 of 1 review