The Fempire, Continued.

"Did you see my girls in the Grey Lady today? I was so excited to be in the Times, wearing my Technicolor Dreamcoat."

-Diablo Cody on Twitter, 3/22/09

The Fempire continues to stir a lot of attention in the blogosphere. In my spare time the last couple of days, I've been giving some thought to why I'm so ambivalent about it, but this quote from Women & Hollywood explains everything:

What I have been loving is seeing my fellow feminists weigh in. Most of us have been pretty positive about the piece. The film and gossip people, not so much.

Two sides of me are at war with it. The feminist in me thinks it's great that these women have weaseled their way into what is largely a boys' club. Not only are they not competitive with one another, they actually help each other out and give each other advice.

The other me--the filmmaker, the film fan, the critic agrees with Karina Longworth in the comments section of The Spout's Post:

That’s the problem with this sort of blind “girl power!” –– we’re seriously supposed to cheerlead for the broad who put “What Happens in Vegas” in the world, just because she’s a broad? Is it not a greater crime against feminism to say that female filmmakers are worthy of attention just because of their anatomy, regardless of the fact that they’re propping up business as usual in Hollywood and giving us shit films?

As wonderful as it is that they support each other, I think it would be even better to have Diablo Cody's magic fairy dust rub off on them, and have them write something unique. I might write another post (or make another video) of what I have to say about Diablo Cody, but I'll save it for later, since it's entirely off topic.

The Fempire

Yesterday at the Spout Blog, Christopher Campbell blogged about a piece that ran in Friday's The New York Times about The Fempire, which consists of Diablo Cody and her writer friends Dana Fox, Lorene Scafaria, and Liz Meriwether. Campbell goes onto comment:

Similarly, Cody and Co. wouldn’t be written about if they were men. But more importantly, they probably wouldn’t have been written about if they weren’t such good-looking women. So, while there’s something empowering about this foursome of female screenwriters who each boldly wear an identical necklace with an inscription that reads “Fuck My Face,” it was quite necessary to include a lot of tantalizing quotes about them seeing each other naked and sometimes being “super porno” like. And of course that double-edged quote from Siegel above.

I agree with Campbell and David Hauslaib, who say that they probably wouldn't have been profiled if they weren't women. After all, is the media really all that interested in the women who wrote Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and What Happens In Vegas, even if I liked the former and the writer of the latter is from Rochester? Or how about Meriwether, who has had success in selling, yet none of her scripts have come to fruition. Clearly, the article's existence owes itself to Cody, her stripper past, and her Juno Oscar win.

The article, however, touched a raw nerve in yours truly. Back in the day (like, college), I wrote specs. At the time, American Pie and There's Something About Mary were the hot successes, and my first attempt at screenwriting was a rip-off of Half Baked (shut up). My plan was to infiltrate and destroy. Although later I did manage to get one of my scripts to someone involved in one of the American Pie movies, but they were of no help to me at all. If this group of ladies existed at the time I was doing that, maybe I'd still be pursuing it today. Hell, maybe I'd have a career as a screenwriter.

These days, as much as I would love Cody's paycheck (Who wouldn't right now?), I'm quite happy doing what I'm doing. I think the people I'm meeting and acquainting myself with are making movies that special in their own right. Other than money, I finally have what I always wanted.