SCA must take action to pursue continued change
For the first time in the School of Cinematic Art’s history, an undergraduate senior thesis is being produced by an all-woman and gender non-conforming crew. “Spit it Out, Margot!,” an original comedy musical film, follows the story of a young girl with a stutter, who falls in love with her non-binary speech therapist.
In an article published earlier this month in The Hollywood Reporter, the director explained that the selection for the crew happened organically: She met with every single person who reached out and they ultimately built a team around those who shared similar ideas of where people wanted to go with the film.
Following the 2018 production of “Spoiled Milk” featuring an all-female crew on the USC graduate student film, “Spit it Out, Margot!” comes as an important step for SCA, as it moves toward becoming a more inclusive and representative institution in the realms of entertainment and film.
An achievement of this degree renders itself particularly critical now, as more conversations are continually focusing on long-standing gender inequalities in the entertainment industry. With SCA’s unique positioning as the premier pipeline into the cinematic and media arts fields, it is all the more significant that attention is drawn toward “Spit it Out, Margot!”
Just this week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been met with a series of backlash over the lack of representation in their nominees, giving all five Best Director nominees to men. Snubbing female directors like Greta Gerwig (“Little Women”), Lulu Wang (“The Farewell”) and Marielle Heller (“It’s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”), it is unclear as to when women will be lauded for taking on such roles in filmmaking. If anything, though, this year’s nominees only fit into the largely discriminatory narrative of the Best Director category at the Oscars, with there being only five women to have ever been nominated and only one woman to actually win in the 92-year history of the Academy.
With the perpetuation of an industry that seems to only applaud its leading males, it is essential that SCA take continued steps to provide greater representation for women — like celebrating “Spit it Out, Margot!” — while continuing to move even further away from other inequalities.
With women comprising 50% of the undergraduate population in the school as of 2016, there ought to be no shortage of women-led crews in all future productions.
Additionally, change may also take form in the number of women elected to faculty leadership roles in the school. Among the 32 endowed faculty positions, only eight are held by women. The quality of female faculty should not be called into question, but perhaps the institutional barriers that may have prevented more women from joining the list of endowed positions should be.
SCA, both the institution and its students, have done much work to dismantle inequalities and attempt to level the playing field. Classes like The Film Industry: Career Challenges and Choices for Women, or groups like Women of Cinematic Arts demonstrate some of the work that has been done.
It is necessary that an understanding, awareness and efforts to reduce the gender disparities in film are all kept at the forefront of concerns, for both SCA and the University as a whole. With USC’s existence as one of the largest and best feeder institutions in the entertainment world, a particular emphasis ought to be placed here for the continued work of the empowerment and equality of students across all genders.