RepresentationMatters Archives

Zoie Palmer, Anna Silk and Ksenia Solo from Lost Girl

33 Experts and Me Share Notable Female Characters

2 Comments / Movies, News, Streaming, TV series / By Virginia DeBolt / February 9, 2015 / Anna Silk, BAnd2Write, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Grey's Anatomy, Happy Valley, Homeland, Ksenia Solo, Last Tango in Halifax, Lost Girl, Notable Female Characters, Orphan Black, RepresentationMatters, Sara Ramirez, Scott & Bailey, The Fall, The Good Wife, The Walking Dead, Zoie Palmer

I read a wonderful article called 33 Experts Share Their Notable Female Characters Of Recent Years at Bang2Write. Bang2Write asked screenwriters, directors, literary agents and other industry pros to talk about the female characters they thought were most important in recent years. The names they mentioned were absolute favorites of mine: Carrie from Homeland, Kalinda from The Good Wife, Lizbeth …

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In the Good News Department: UPDATED with Less Good News

Leave a Comment / News, TV series / By Virginia DeBolt / February 4, 2015 / Ana DuVernay, Carrie-Anne Moss, Eddie Huang, Fresh Off the Boat, Grace Hwang Lynch, Jill Soloway, Marvel's A.K.A. Jessica Jones, Oprah Winfrey, Queen Sugar, RepresentationMatters

There are some good things happening on our TV sets. I want to point out a few of them I’ve seen talked about in the past week. One is coming up tonight, the others are still in development and require a wait. UPDATED: See the new information added to the Fresh Off the Boat section below. Oprah Winfrey and Ava …

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Brain Dump: State of Affairs, Ghostbusters, After the Wedding, Five Days

3 Comments / Movies, TV series / By Virginia DeBolt / February 3, 2015 / After the Wedding, Alfre Woodard, Anne Reid, brain dump, Courtney B. Vance, David Oyelowo, Five Days, Ghostbusters, Hugh Bonneville, Janet McTeer, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Mads Mikkelsen, Melissa McCarthy, Nina Sosanya, Penelope Wilton, RepresentationMatters, Sidse Babett Knudsen, State of Affairs, Suranne Jones

It’s a brain dump day. Random stuff falls from my head in bits and pieces. State of Affairs Why do men married to powerful women always get portrayed in the media as whiney, needy irritations? A powerful man probably didn’t get where he is without a good spouse behind him. Why should a powerful woman get where she is without …

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Another Dead Lesbian and the Question of Representation

25 Comments / Movies, TV series, Web Series / By Virginia DeBolt / January 21, 2015 / Anne Reid, foreign tv series, Happy Valley, kill the lesbian trope, Last Tango in Halifax, Nina Sosanya, RepresentationMatters, Sally Wainwright, Sarah Lancashire, Scott & Bailey, Shonda Rhimes, Tony Gardner

Warning: Last Tango in Halifax spoilers. My mission on this blog is to mention, support, and promote things I like. I usually don’t mention things I don’t like. Today is an exception. I want to talk about something I don’t like: the kill-the-lesbian trope. This subject is fresh on my mind because Kate McKenzie was killed off on Last Tango in …

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Join the Demand for Better Media

Leave a Comment / Movies, News, TV series / By Virginia DeBolt / January 7, 2015 / Demand Better Media in 2015, RepresentationMatters, The Representation Project

You can join this movement and take the pledge here. I did. It’s easy. There is so much good information on The Representation Project website. I hope you’ll take a look around. After I signed the pledge, I received an email listing ways individuals can take action to change the media representation of men and women. One of them was …

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Melanie Harris, Alice Walker, Gloria Steinem, Chung Hyun Kyung

Wisdom Sharing: A Week with the Goddess Spirit

Leave a Comment / Movies, News / By Virginia DeBolt / October 20, 2014 / Alice Walker, Beauty in Truth, Dr. Chung Hyun Kyung, Dr. Melanie Harris, Ghost Ranch, Gloria Steinem, Jesus and Buddha, Miss Representation, Pratibha Parmar, RepresentationMatters, Women Directors

I spent last week at a conference in Ghost Ranch, NM. The conference, called Wisdom Sharing, featured Alice Walker, Gloria Steinem and Dr. Chung Hyun Kyung. The marvelous moderator, shown on the left above, was Dr. Melanie Harris. The location is stunning in its beauty and spirit. The women who were the star attractions were brilliant – powerful speakers, activists …

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Anita Sarkeesian Speaks at the XOXO Festival

Leave a Comment / News / By Virginia DeBolt / October 9, 2014 / Anita Sarkeesian, Feminist Frequency, RepresentationMatters, XOXO 2014

Anita Sarkeesian from Feminist Frequency spoke at the XOXO Festival recently. This is her entire speech. It’s a bit over 15 minutes long, but worth listening to until the end for the simple conclusion that could change the culture very quickly.

International Study on Gender Images in Global Films

Leave a Comment / News / By Virginia DeBolt / September 24, 2014 / Geena Davis, Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, gender bias, Katherine Pieper, Marc Choueiti, RepresentationMatters, Stacy L. Smith, The Rockefeller Foundation, UN Women

In a press release on September 22, the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, UN Women and The Rockefeller Foundation presented an international study on gender images in global films. There was a press conference to share the information from the study. Geena Davis spoke at the press conference. She said, The fact is – women are seriously under-represented …

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Hollywood, Why Don’t You Understand the Facts?

1 Comment / News / By Virginia DeBolt / July 10, 2014 / Anne Reid, Annette Benning, Derek Jacobi, RepresentationMatters, Ryan Gosling

When it comes to making money, it sometimes feels as if Hollywood is completely ignores the facts. In terms of hard numbers and dollars and cents, reality is all around, but Hollywood doesn’t see it. Hollywood is like those climate change deniers: their minds are made up so don’t bore them with facts. Movies with hunky guys make money. Everyone …

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Indigo Tongues: Short Films Interview Women in Media

Leave a Comment / Web Series / By Virginia DeBolt / June 26, 2014 / Adepero Oduye, Funmi Iyanda, Indigo Tongues, Leonie Forbes, Mariette Monpierre, RepresentationMatters, Wanuri Kahiu

Indigo Tongues is a video interview series that showcases the voices of dynamic women from Africa and the diaspora. In the original releases, the films feature women in media. I hope you’ll take the time to watch all the films available so far in the series. The films are produced by Iyàlódè Productions. It is a company that is committed …

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