RIT's Women's Film Project

Stumbled across RIT's Women's Film Project today while web surfing. I know a lot of other sites list important contributions to cinema made by women, but this list also allows you to rate the titles and add comments. I was delighted to learn that two of my earliest influences (National Velvet, 1944, and The Black Stallion, 1979) both had scripts written by women.

If you have a few moments, check out the list and rate some films. (In the interests of both disclosure and scholastic pride, I'm happy to note that the site is run by one of my former professors, Naomi Orwin.)

And while searching for a good pic for this post, I found this fascinating essay about Elizabeth Taylor and her character in National Velvet. Watching the movie as young as I was, I probably missed all of the mother/daughter themes mentioned. I definitely noticed and celebrated the challenges it presented to various gender roles-- only my height (and lack of actual horse) killed my burgeoning dream to be a jockey.

Media Circus' "best" sexist ads.

Media Circus' recent post rounds up some of the most sexist ads ever... in their words, " Anyone can make sexist ads but it takes a certain amount of focus, greed and sheer insensitivity to make ads like [these]." Well put.

You'll probably recognize the Dolce & Gabbana ad from a previous post of mine. For those of you who are lazy link clickers, I've posted one of the worst offenders (I'm not surprised by the amount of sexist beer and liquor ads, but a tech company that sells servers?). It's definitely worth a look over on their site. It's one thing to see one sexist ad here or there, but as a body of work, it makes you realize how prevalent this stuff is. More interesting were some of the reader comments on the post- all guys- some of them celebrating the imagery, and others debating whether some of the ads were sexy or sexist. There's a definite difference, and yeah, you can have a sexy ad.

What I've also noticed is that the majority of the ads that I blog about are over the top in their sexism or use of gender roles. Sure, there are ads where you can debate is it sexy, but much of what's out there clearly crosses the line.

3iying is back!

The girls of 3iying are back and better/stronger/faster than ever. With almost 200 "flips" on Youtube, they're certainly making a huge splash. AdAge has an article featuring the nascent agency, and they're making waves in the blogosphere as well.

I had the opportunity to meet Heidi Dangelmaier in August as well as some of the awesome women behind 3iying. They've got strong ideas and incredible drive-- there's no doubt that Heidi's assembled a great team of young minds. The question is, will the ad world listen to them? After all, we're talking about an industry that talks all the time about change and challenging the status quo, but we rarely see much of either (instead it's more of the same).

As Alisha (below) notes, we're soooo not into that!




One potential issue with the "flips?" You have one woman acting as the voice of an entire gender. Whether or not that's the chosen intent, it certainly comes across that way. While Alisha's opinion is hard to argue with (who would want to be leered at?), it's a little trickier to make a :30 universal judgment on other ads, especially PSA's. Maria's thoughts on this anti-rape ad represent just one voice. I can see where she's coming from, but it still conveys valuable information for teens/young women. It'll be important to avoid coming off as shrill... Not to mention, are there any positive ads out there? According to all of the "flips," not a one works.

Time will tell if all of the media attention and YouTube "flips" land any clients for the 3iying team. They're adept at pointing out the problems when marketing to women and girls, but until they show they've got the solutions as well, it may be a difficult sell.

Tonka Toys: Boys Built Different?

If the Rose Petal Cottage I blogged about had a counterpart, I'll argue that it's the Tonka toys that Hasbro makes. Specifically "built for boys," I'd hate to tell little Ann or Kate that they can't take a turn too.

Trucks, cottages, and other toys that re-imagine an adult's world on a childhood scale are great. Giving kids the message that they're "built" for one thing or another... not so great. Again, Broadsheet said it best, if you want to check out their post.

I remember seeing this commercial on TV and wondering WTF... with a tagline like "Built for Boyhood," it felt vaguely reminiscent of earlier times- say... the 1960's. Before that pesky Women's Lib movement. With the holiday season rapidly approaching, I wonder what other toy commercials and websites will catch my eye this season!

Hmm.

I just stumbled upon an older post/article on MarketingProfs by Eric Kintz explaining that post frequency no longer matters as much when trying to maintain a "serious" blog with a community or following. Reading it over, it makes me wonder how NaBloPoMo will affect reader loyalty, visit length or other stats for Toxic Shock. I'll have to compare at the end of the month.

Human Sex Trafficking: "I am Elena"

Emma Thompson plays two very different roles with one shared secret in this PSA for the Helen Bamber Foundation. It's incredibly powerful stuff (I don't recommend watching before breakfast.) but what else would you expect from an Oscar winning performer? It was physically uncomfortable to watch, and really brings the point home: "Woman enslaved by sex-trafficking lose more than just their names."

Besides being shown on the Foundation's website, I hope that it's getting screen time on television somewhere as well. A lot of great PSAs are on the web, but how many people really see them (besides ad geeks passing links back and forth)?


via Adrants

Stepford Training starting young?

Salon's Broadsheet recently called attention to a new playhouse put out by Hasbro, the Rose Petal Cottage. It's cute, it's easy to assemble, and like many first homes, it comes with a stove (what, no fridge?).

However, when you go to their site, you only see girls playing with the house set. Additionally, their zeal for doing laundry and baking muffins is a little disconcerting. To echo Broadsheet's comments, why couldn't there be some less domestic activities?

One way the site *does* bring play into this modern world is the electronic wish list. Children (presumably w/ parental help?) can make and email a wish list of appliances to relatives or friends, checking off which items they already have. It'll be a few decades before these kids have a bridal registry, but I guess you can't start learning the virtues of consumerism too soon.