Wednesday, January 26, 2011

CNN Diversity Police Journal

So, Lisa Respers France of CNN has a "cover story" wailing about the lack of women and minorities among this year's Oscar nominees.  BTW, nice use of a hackneyed cliche in the lead sentence, Lisa.  According to the myriad experts Ms. France quotes, there's a real problem with under-representation of diversity-regime beneficiaries in award nods.  Takes me back to a story I read years ago, in Sports Illustrated, I think, about Packer victim Fred "The Hammer" Williamson, producer of many blaxploitation (sp.?) films.  Distribution (and respect) for Fred's work was in such short supply that he handled theater deliveries out of the back of his car, if I recall the piece correctly.  Now there's many an outfit devoted to promoting black, female, black female and even Asian film makers.  Fred would be on easy street.  Course, some of his stuff was entertaining even to us white folks.  Guess self-distributing and making movies people enjoy is what you have to resort to when you rely on the marketplace for revenue instead of government/NGO/foundation troughs.  Speaking of parasitic enterprises, one of the organizations cited in the article is the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, headed by one Dr. Martha M. Lauzen, PhD from Maryland in Advanced Play-Doh Modeling (lawyers for Martha and UM, please do read Hustler against Falwell before writing).  Apparently one of the chief jobs of this Center is to conduct a yearly (or bi-yearly, didn't read it that closely due to uninterest) audit of who's hiring women for movie jobs.  The publication of this audit, no doubt, operates as a Jesse Jackson-like shakedown on the movie studios.

All unremarkable, save the following.  I'm reliably informed that the State of California, propietor of SDSU, is flat busted (a condition found only metaphorically in the Golden State, based on my observation of women there).  Yet, there's apparently money to fund the vital work of the Center.  I hope someone mentions that in the next round of California's budget hearings, or in the Congress if, God forbid, a bailout is floated there.

1 comment:

  1. Cranky, have you thought about all of the conservative women directors, writers and grips the Center is surely helping get hired?

    :} As if they were interested in actual diversity.

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