Browse: Home / Blaming Women

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login

The-SoluteLogo

A Film Site By Lovers of Film

Menu

Skip to content
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • Long Reviews
  • News
  • Articles and Opinions
  • Other Media
  • The Friday Article Roundup: The Truth is In Here
  • Lunch Links: Schwarzfahrer
  • Websites on the Internet: THE SOLUTE
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray
  • Movie Gifts Holidays 2024
One person in this image is at least trying

Blaming Women

Posted By Gillianren on March 29, 2023 in Short Articles | Leave a response

The second Jamie Lee Curtis won Best Supporting Actress, people were mad. And that would be fine if they were mad at the Academy for undervaluing the incredible performance of Stephanie Hsu or the equally impressive film history of Angela Bassett or any other reason they’d be within their rights to be mad at the Academy. Heck, people are even allowed to think that Jamie Lee Curtis didn’t do a very good acting job and that it’s silly to give her an Oscar for what they think is an inferior performance. (I disagree, but it’s all a matter of taste.) What I saw from some people, however, was anger at Jamie Lee Curtis. Because she, personally, had I guess gone into every Academy member’s house and filled in their ballots for them?

It’s not the first Academy incident I can think of where the blame falls disproportionately on a woman over any and all responsible men. Take poor Anne Hathaway. Why were she and James Franco chosen to host the Oscars? Oh, there’s a lot to unpack there. Still, they were, and Anne Hathaway was by-Gods going to do the best, or at least biggest, job she could. People were upset at her determined energy, but it seemed clear to me, at least, that she was trying to fill the charisma vacuum she was sharing a stage with. He didn’t want to be there and made it obvious at every turn, but their failure as hosts was obviously her fault somehow.

Let’s be real; Janet Jackson is waiting in the wings for her turn to talk, and rightfully so. Justin Timberlake got less blame for ripping open her clothing than she did for . . . having a breast? And no matter the sequence of events there, no matter the plans and intentions involved, it’s undeniable that Jackson got more blame for what happened than Timberlake did and that blaming her more than him makes no sense. At absolute minimum, he was an equal partner in what happened. If he hadn’t been, he wouldn’t have touched her. That’s just basic logic. Yet her career was damaged far worse than his, and he admits it.

As a mentally ill person, I find the comparison between, say, Britney Spears and Charlie Sheen hard to avoid. No one has proposed giving him any kind of conservator, at least that I know of. Maybe Amanda Bynes needs one and maybe she doesn’t, but male celebrities who have had similar obvious mental health issues seem to be left in control of their own choices. We could be using the whole thing to have a conversation about our society’s treatment of people whose mental illness is so out of control that they are not responsible for their own actions, but no, let’s make it a joke instead.

Plenty of other female celebrities have similar stories. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark at least had many people blaming it and didn’t all fall on the shoulders of Julie Taymor, which I’m sure she feels grateful for. (Apparently we can also blame George Santos, at least according to George Santos.) But a lot of other flops were blamed on female directors or leads and not, for example, studio interference or bad marketing. Our culture still finds it easy and convenient to blame a woman, and maybe we should consider that for a while.

I wouldn’t blame you if you chose to support my Patreon or Ko-fi!

Posted in Short Articles | Tagged blame, Intersectional Femivision, Women

About the Author

gillianmadeira@hotmail.com'

Gillianren

Gillianren is a forty-something bipolar woman living in the Pacific Northwest after growing up in Los Angeles County. She and her boyfriend have one son and one daughter, and she gave a daughter up for adoption. She fills her days by watching her local library system’s DVD collection in alphabetical order, watching everything that looks interesting. She particularly enjoys pre-Code films, blaxploitation, and live-action Disney movies of the ’60s and ’70s. She has a Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/gillianren

Related Posts

What's not to love about that face?Horse Girl Mystery: TRIXIE BELDEN→

The face of a writerMOTHERING SUNDAY: An Intersectional Femivision Article by Cori Domschot→

I read the hell out of this book!And She Doesn’t Even Usually Fight Smugglers: NANCY DREW→

The first Sweet ValleyDouble the Fun: SWEET VALLEY→

  • Comments
  • Popular
  • Most Recent
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleWonderful piece, Sam. It's made…
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleFellow heretic here. I've never…
  • n***********@gmail.com'
    Ruck Cohlchez on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEI wouldn't have called it…
  • j***********@gmail.com'
    Son of Griff on LIFE ITSELFGlad to hear back from…
  • n*********@gmail.com'
    Jake Gittes on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEThis is the single most…
  • “The End” of SAVAGES

    38395 views / Posted November 10, 2014
  • The Untalented Mr. Ripley: The Craft of Standup Comedy and the Non-Comedy of TOM MYERS

    30744 views / Posted June 26, 2018
  • What the fuck did I just watch? SPHERE

    30350 views / Posted March 19, 2015
  • Gordon with Mr. Looper

    Attention Must Be Paid: Will Lee

    27652 views / Posted January 7, 2023
  • Scenic Routes: SHOWGIRLS (1995)

    23356 views / Posted November 20, 2014
  • The truth is FAR out there.

    The Friday Article Roundup: The Truth is In Here

    December 6, 2024 / The Ploughman
  • This is a way lower res image than I will be allowed to get away with at the new site.

    Lunch Links: Schwarzfahrer

    December 5, 2024 / The Ploughman
  • Websites on the Internet: THE SOLUTE

    December 4, 2024 / ZoeZ
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray

    December 3, 2024 / Greta Taylor
  • Movie Gifts Holidays 2024

    December 2, 2024 / The Ploughman

Last Tweets

    ©2014 - 2016 The-Solute | Hosted, Developed and Maintained by Bellingham WP LogoBellinghamWP.com.

    Menu

    • Home
    • Who We Are
    • About
    • Privacy
    • Contact Us
    • Login
    Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!