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Whip It’s lack of success needs to remind women of their buying power
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"Whip It" movie poster.
Recently, my colleague, friend, and roller derby diva, Crab Apple, sent me a post from her derby board. “A Hip Mom and Aunt” posted a letter encouraging women to go see the film Whip It, directed by Drew Barrymore; a movie about a teen (Ellen Page) empowering herself through roller derby. She argued that because the film is not making enough millions (currently at about $12.7 million earned); it is considered a financial flop by Hollywood standards. She called women to arms, saying that if we want more movies made where the girl is her own hero rather than a swooning beauty queen, then we need to exercise our buying power, get out there, and support it.
I know that Whip It is hard to find in a local theater at this point, but this article sparked more in me than wanting to go see The Hurl Scouts bring it for a second time (which I will probably go do at the $2.50 theater as soon as it gets there in a month or two). There are a couple of issues I want to expound upon here.
First, women need to realize what our buying power means. It is well-known that even in two-income families, women are the ones who overwhelming take care of the day-to-day shopping and finances. This means that we are the ones making decisions on where we put our money, and a lot of times we don’t really consider where it went after we spent it. Educate yourself on some of the issues that really matter to you. For example, if you do not approve of products tested on animals, don’t buy them! With the internet, it took me five seconds to find a website, Massachusetts Animal Rights Coalition, which told me L’Oreal animal tests, The Body Shop doesn’t. This relates to entertainment too. The way you spend your extra dollars tells entertainment industries what you want more of. If you buy your kids a violent video game, then the company will make more, and you can’t really complain when you feel that the next game they make is too violent because you supported its production.
Second, there are very few films made where the majority of the cast is women. Are there any even opening right now? I can’t name any. I can, however, name several films in the theaters, or opening soon, in which the cast is mostly men and the plot is highly masculine. The Men Who Stare at Goats, Law Abiding Citizen, and Pirate Radio, are a few films in which the main cast is made up only of male Hollywood A-listers. Hollywood directors and writers are mostly male and like to write what they know about: men. This means that there are far fewer opportunities for female actress to succeed in this business. This is why it is so important for women to throw their support behind movies made by women and starring women. When these movies don’t do well, the big boss men go “Well I guess this isn’t what the public wants to see. I wonder if Seth Rogen’s busy?” The wage gap and opportunity gap in Hollywood is phenomenonal, and it only gets more difficult for women as they age.
Hell, I saw a Frontier Airlines commercial the other day where all of the little characters on the tail wing sing “Still the One.” Every plane has a different animal on it and only the fox (sigh) is gendered female! What this means is that Frontier may have hired somewhere around five to ten male voice-over actors and only one female to do this commercial. Even if all of the male voices were done by one person, it still gives that man the lead in the commercial and many more work opportunities for males in future commercials.
So, basically, this is just a friendly reminder that if you are a women in the marketplace and you want people to support you, you need to support other women. The wage gap, sexual harassment, and glass ceilings are still very real. So the next time you see a preview for a movie directed by a woman and starring women, realize how rarely this happens, and if you want it to happen more, you need to get out there and support it.
