Makeup or Film making?

In GMM the patriarchal system of commercial filmmaking is discussed in great detail. The author gives several explanations for the lack of female participation in filmmaking. The first reason is because the equipment needed to complete such a job is very expensive and therefore was rarely exposed to kids in their youth. However, over the years community and school programs have implemented media education programs and made the production industry more accessible. Still, the classes and workshops have much higher enrollment percentage for males than females. This is another reason why girls are less likely to be an expert in film. Andrea Richard, author of Girl Director explains the male dominated world of production with this statement “I Think it honestly doesn’t occur to girls that they can be a film director. The possibility has never even been planted in their heads, because its so off limits through cultural and gender stereotypes.” While I agree that the notion of being a female director may not be encouraged by a child’s teacher or parents, I have to confess another reason why I think girls prefer to be in front of the camera rather than behind it.

I am really excited to discuss the art of film making and television production because I happen to work for a production studio myself. I am the head makeup artist for WXEL studios in West Palm Beach Florida. Here, they film television shows, infomercials, commercials, and morning announcements for local colleges. I absolutely love doing makeup at the studio because I get to meet all sorts of people and also watch the behind the scenes production. This week’s reading brought up an interesting perspective when viewing the world of film making as patriarchal. All of the film crew and staff that I work with are men. The only females that are ever on set is me, the makeup artist, and the director’s wife who sometimes is the host of the show. While I do advocate the feminist view that says women should have equal exposure to media education, I personally would never want to take on that job and I would pick my girly job as a makeup artist over director any day. I think there may be certain cultural standards that stereotype filmmaking as a male hobby, but I also think it has to do with differences in gender preferences.

How I see it is, if a group of both girls and boys were allowed to pick one class to take and the options were filmmaking and makeup artistry, the majority of females would pick the makeup and the males would choose the latter.

Here are some pictures of me at work doing makeup and in the studio while the (guys) are filming!