OKAY. So a while back my course got a visiting lecture from an animation director who came to talk about directing (mainly to help the third years with their final films). He was a very funny guy, giving us advice on how good directors work and showing us most of his sketchbooks, explaining how certain things he draws can turn into ideas. I really liked this lecture! But there was one element that caught me off guard during part of it, and that was when he explained why there aren't as many female directors as there are male directors.
We were shown pictures of many great male directors from multiple studios, including Aardman, but the thing we spotted the most was the lack of female directors. Out of the many directors Aardman has had, only one woman has managed to direct a feature film; Sarah Smith of Arthur Christmas. We also noticed that there were a lack of male producers in the animation industry as well, most of them being female. Our visiting director then told us right there and then that there aren't many female directors because women don't make good directors. At first I laughed at this because I thought he was just joking, but as he then continued to show scientific evidence that women are better at producing because they were more organised than men, I started to feel uncomfortable.
I have always believed that it doesn't matter whether your a man or woman, if you're good at something, then you're good at it, regardless of who you are! But I'm also not one to turn down scientific evidence…because it's science. You can't really argue with it. I found myself so conflicted about this! Is this the true realisation that women are genetically better at producing? Or can a person defy science by just being so good at what they do? We have had good female directors in the past (again, Sarah Smith who made the brilliant but underrated Arthur Christmas), so why is it so hard to believe that women can be good at directing?
I have seen people use these facts against women doing certain jobs before. Back in 2016, a Studio Ghibli producer claimed that women can't direct Studio Ghibli films as women would be 'too realistic' in their direction, botching up a good fantasy film. I almost feel unsure about this one, because in a way I agree with him. I would love to write for an animated film one day and even try my hand at directing, but the ideas I come up with for animated features are set in very realistic situations and environments. I want the audience to relate to my films and feel for the characters that are going through real problems that real people go through. Animation can empathises these sort of things with extravagant images sticking in someone's head. But then again…this is just me. What about women who love fantasy stories? Most directors in Japan are male anyway, not allowing women to make films at all, let alone realistic films! So where is this producer getting these ideas from?!
Now I know that there are many women out there who are producers because they like doing it! They're aren't forced into the job. But I can't help feeling that, as well as women wanting to be directors, there are men out there that want to be producers, but they can't because 'it's a woman's job'. The scientific evidence may be true (I admit that I'm quite good at organising like a producer), but we should encourage ANYONE to be what they want to be regardless of that! You can't stop learning a certain skill because of your gender, but you can stop learning by giving up or being lazy (trust me I know). I can't wait to work with great producers and directors no matter who they are, and I myself can't wait to write and direct like I've always wanted to. Can women be directors and men be producers? Duh, of course they can, because they can!
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