MALE-CENTRIC films get noms & awards. What's male-centric?

Laer Carroll

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A recent article in Hollywood Reporter discusses the Golden Globes director noms which were just announced. It notes that several female directors made award-worthy movies but none were nominated. Why?

One commentator blamed this deficiency on a "male-driven view of leadership." And on the plethora of "male-centric" films versus "fem-centric" films.

What I'd like to know is: what are male- or female-centric films? Lots of action in the first, lots of emotion in the second? Competitive storylines vs. cooperative story lines?

After Golden Globes' Snub of Female Filmmakers, Will Oscars Follow Suit?
 

Roxxsmom

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Male centric films can be many things

Some are movies focusing specifically on male perspectives or situations (perhaps for good reasons) like Das Boot, or Saving Private Ryan or whatever. These movies can certainly appeal to women (who can generally relate to well-drawn male characters in situations that are presented empathetically), but by necessity they focus on a male viewpoint because of the subject and setting of the story.

Nothing wrong with this, imo, except that historically directors have considered stories set in male-centric settings to be more interesting and important than stories set in female centric ones. Far more stories seem to be told about soldiers than about the women on the home front, and far more stories being told about priests and monks than about nuns etc (though Sister Act's popularity suggests that there's a market for nuns).

Or male centric films can be movies where there are female characters, even strong ones, but fewer of them and the women are cast in roles that cater heavily to the male gaze. Many superhero movies do this. Even when there are female superheroes too, they are usually outnumbered AND dressed and posed and filmed in ways that make it clear their primary function is to titillate heterosexual guys. Women may enjoy these movies too, for the adventure (and possibly some male eye candy, even if it's not as focused on that element of their characters) and because there are at least one or two women kicking butt too.

Male gaze is far more common than female gaze or neutral gazes in moviemaking. Even movies centering on female leads, like Alien, will spend more time panning over a female character as she undresses or something.

Or they can have a sociopolitical bias more in favor of patriarchy or male superiority, where the female characters are presented as bitches, or weak and vapid, or otherwise unsympathetic or annoying, or simply as plot devices or supportive of the male characters, and the narrative truth presented in the movie is simply that guys are in charge and the ones who have the most interesting and important arcs, and that's how it should be (and even the crowd scenes tend to be male centric with more men than women in them). This isn't always done intentionally, and historically many movies have done this because they are simply reflecting a societal perception of how things are, and many still do. In some ways, I find this kind of narrative most irritating, because it doesn't examine or deconstruct patriarchy in any way, and it's very insidious.

I think most movies are still male-centric, and many people don't even notice or question that fact in a world where, in spite of increasing numbers of women in various high-profile professions, the male default is still taken as a given.

There are movies that aren't female or male centric--they simply present interesting and complex characters of both (or all if they go even further and avoid binary and cis-normality) genders.

A female centric movie would be one that is centered primarily on female characters, relationships and/or situations. They don't necessarily have to be radically feminist or anything like this. I'd say Gone With The Wind would be an example, even though it took place against the backdrop of a very patriarchal time and place in history. It kind of deconstructed that and showed the relationships and complexity and strength of women. Unfortunately, it didn't do the same thing for the African Americans caught up in the struggle, but that also shows how insidious social assumptions can be.

It can get complex when a movie has a strong female lead but she's sort of a smurfette in an otherwise male world (when that's not the point of the story or explained in any way). Rogue One is an example here. All the important characters (even the robot, arguably) were male except for the protagonist, and it was never clear why. Was Rogue One male-centric? I thinkt it was, and maybe the director made this choice after all the pushback over making two Star Wars movies in a row with a (horrors) female lead.

There are also female centric movies, where the focus is on a woman and her story, but there is still filming from a male gaze perspective. So it's not always all or nothing.
 

lizmonster

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Roxxsmom gave a more thorough answer, but IMHO "male-centric" movies are just movies about men. Most movies are about men, even if they have women in them. The topic isn't relevant.
 

Roxxsmom

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Most movies are about men, even if they have women in them. The topic isn't relevant.

Very much this.

I'd add about and/or FOR men, primarily, meaning that even in movies where women play a prominent role, they are perceived through a male lens or presented in a way that confirms the way men have historically viewed the role women play in the world.

The thing is, we tend to think that female centric movies are less marketable, because they appeal only to women (the cliche of the "chick flick"), while male centric movies appeal to men and (oftentimes) women as well.

Maybe it's because one of the core virtues of traditional femininity is being a good sport about things that please other people, particularly men.
 

SwallowFeather

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Roxxsmom gave a more thorough answer, but IMHO "male-centric" movies are just movies about men. Most movies are about men, even if they have women in them. The topic isn't relevant.

Indeed. Hence the provision in one of the questions in the Bechdel test: "Do two women ever talk directly to each other about something other than a man?"

Another way of putting it, men are the main characters.
 

mccardey

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I think it also is simply about a male-centric view of the world or the relationship or the event - and male gaze is a definite thing in the arts.
 

RichardGarfinkle

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I think it also is simply about a male-centric view of the world or the relationship or the event - and male gaze is a definite thing in the arts.

Very true. There are plenty of male-centric films and TV shows where the MCs are women, but the male-centrism is found in the cinematography, the characterization, and what kinds of events happen in the plots.
 

Roxxsmom

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Very true. There are plenty of male-centric films and TV shows where the MCs are women, but the male-centrism is found in the cinematography, the characterization, and what kinds of events happen in the plots.

Exactly. The idea that the world and most of its stories are "for" and "about" men is so integral to our cultural DNA that most people don't see it, and kick and scream in protest if someone tries to force them to. Though once you really do see and understand it, you can't unsee it, in my experience. This is probably why some people insist that feminists (and people "woke" about other forms of bias in media) are so tedious. We're constantly pointing out those flies floating in what everyone else thinks of as fun and tasty punch.

Also, the Bechdel test isn't the end all or be all of determining whether a movie is male or female centric either. You could have two naked women in an "adult" film, massaging themselves with oil while talking about how perky their breasts are, and it would pass (I have to credit MrFlibbles with this observation, as she made a similar one in a long-ago post about the Bechdel test). It's simply an interesting metric that most "mainstream" movies, even movies with prominent female characters, fail.
 

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What the **it I just read? People gone crazy
Be cool if you could be a little more civil, maybe explain why you reacted like this. If you've got something to contribute to the conversation then contribute. Otherwise....

-Derek
 

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I think people are confusing male-centric with male-oriented.

Male centric has a central male protaganist. Female-centric has a central female protaganist

Male oriented is all the stuff about male gazes and male fantasies and such. You can have a Female-centric movie that is still male-oriented (Kill Bill, for instance), and you can have a Male-centric movie that is female oriented, though I'll confess I can't think of one off hand. Twilight? Bella's not really a character, she's a blank slate.

Picking at things, I realize.
 

mccardey

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I think people are confusing male-centric with male-oriented.

Male centric has a central male protaganist. Female-centric has a central female protaganist

Male oriented is all the stuff about male gazes and male fantasies and such. You can have a Female-centric movie that is still male-oriented (Kill Bill, for instance), and you can have a Male-centric movie that is female oriented, though I'll confess I can't think of one off hand. Twilight? Bella's not really a character, she's a blank slate.

Picking at things, I realize.

Where are you getting those definitions from?
 

neandermagnon

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What I'd like to know is: what are male- or female-centric films? Lots of action in the first, lots of emotion in the second? Competitive storylines vs. cooperative story lines?

I don't like this definition because lots of women are active and competitive, everyone has emotions even if western society trains boys and girls to express them differently, and co-operation is a human trait, not specific to any gender (well other animals besides humans can be co-operative but humans have taken it to a whole new level). It's the usual gender stereotypes of which I clearly fall on the wrong side, being into rugby and ice hockey and all that. Also, gender isn't a binary.

So to answer the question - a female centric movie might be about a women's ice hockey team trying to win the league while fighting with the ice rink management to get enough ice time to train, because the ice rink management think the men's team is so much more important. Plus dealing with various other challenges that affect women athletes including the kinds of sexism women athletes face from men and women. And then going on to win the league in spite of it all, in the process making the ice rink management start to take them seriously. Or something like that.

A male centric ice hockey movie - well there are loads of them already. Slapshot and Mighty Ducks and that.
 
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Stytch

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Sounds like an attempt to cover the usual sexist nonsense, to me.

A son's relationship with his father? "The meaty subject of endless stories of critical acclaim."

A daughter's relationship with her father? "Daddy issues."

*yawn*