We write a lot about Canadian film and television. We've written about the Bechdel test and Canadian film. And we like Canadian film and television that tells women's stories from Take This Waltz to Better Than Chocolate to Workin' Moms to Orphan Black.
In light of the sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein and the #MeToo stories on social media, we should say something. Well, maybe more like listening instead of saying.
"It's the perverse culture of Hollywood that got us talking. But it's a perverse culture, full stop. So I have to do my part. I have to not let it go anymore. And I encourage you to do the same. I know it's hard. And so to the men using the brain between their legs instead of the one in their head, you must stop. And if you don't stop, we will stop you."
The above quote is from Susan Kent from This Hour Has 22 Minutes on CBC. Kent threw in a bit of humour into what were awkward moments that seemed like a drop in the bucket of what happens to women. But there were serious messages on a comedy show.
She spoke about how "women have been letting it go since the dawn of time" but also to "not let it go anymore."
"It's an epidemic of certain men feeling like they have the right to put their hands on us, to expose themselves to us, to help themselves to us, and it has happened to every woman I know."
Here are a bunch of Canadian films that pass the Bechdel test
Workin' Moms provides CBC with Canadian humour for adults
The women of Alias Grace (clockwise from left): Margaret Atwood (author); Sarah Gadon (lead actor); Mary Harron (director); Noreen Halpern (executive producer); and Sarah Polley (writer/producer).
Sarah Polley wrote a poignant column in The New York Times on October 14. Polley spoke of working with Julie Christie in her directorial debut in Away From Her.
"I vowed to go back to acting with my newfound understanding of collaboration. I would be more pliable. I was excited to give my whole, unfettered self to a director, the way Julie Christie had done for me.
"But I had forgotten a key ingredient of the acting process. Most directors are insensitive men. And while I’ve met quite a few humane, kind, sensitive male directors and producers in my life, sadly they are the exception and not the rule. This industry doesn’t tend to attract the most gentle and principled among us. I had two experiences in the same year in which I went into a film as an actor with an open heart and was humiliated, violated, dismissed and then, in one instance, called overly sensitive when I complained. One producer, when I mentioned I didn’t feel a rape scene was being handled sensitively, barked that Dakota Fanning had done a rape scene when she was 12 — “And she’s fine!” A debatable conjecture, surely. …"
"I haven’t acted for almost 10 years now. Lately I’ve thought of trying to rediscover what once made it seem worthwhile. It’s a beautiful job, after all, built on empathy and human connection, and it seems strange to turn your back on something you did for so long. But for a long time, I felt that it wasn’t worth it to me to open my heart and make myself so vulnerable in an industry that makes its disdain for women evident everywhere I turn."
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You got the impression from Polley and Sarah Gadon and others in the Alias Grace press interviews that the number of women in powerful roles on that production led to a much healthier vibe on the set. And this came before the Harvey Weinstein allegations.
Mentioning only Kent and Polley isn't meant to diminish any other Canadian actress who has come forward, such as Erika Rosenbaum, Larissa Gomes, Mia Kirshner, and many others, as well as those who have chosen not to tell their story. Or for that matter, any woman who has been sexually harassed or assaulted, regardless of country of origin.
Women should feel safe in any workplace from sexual harassment. Every time.
One additional bonus to the film and TV industries when those workplaces are safe for women is that more women will be there in all kinds of roles to lend their talents, voices, and perspectives to the storytelling that is film and television.
The reason the Bechdel test was invented was because so many films fail that test. We saw in Orphan Black the beauty of complex female characters. Tatiana Maslany has said those characters individually were amazing to play with the implication that most creators don't draw up complex female characters.
The idea that Sarah Polley or any other actress or film student or anyone involved in the industries would think not to continue in these industries because of harassment is a shame to these creative outlets. We all benefit as lovers of these media when full opportunity exists for these artists to be the most creative. Having justifiable anxieties over what might happen next is not conducive to art or a civilized society.
video credit: This Hour Has 22 Minutes
photo credit: Samuel Engelking
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