Me VS. Summer Movies: The Intro Post

I'm going to interrupt my usual book-ish talk to do something random this summer. It's not really a secret that I LOVE going to the movies. I'm pretty sure I've written about it a couple of times on this blog, and one of the reasons I love summer so much is that there's something new I want to see every week.

But recently, the movies have been disappointing me. You see, I've been holding them up to the Bechdel Test standards and...not one movie passed so far. Well, until today. I saw "The Heat" and was worried about it NOT passing as I sat in the theater. Since it's the only mainstream female-centric film out right now, I not only wanted it to be good, I wanted it to pass the test.

And it did. I'm both sad and relieved that it passed. 

For those of you who are a bit unfamiliar with the test, it's quite simple (which is why I'm always so mad when something I watch/read doesn't pass it). There are three (or two and a half, depending on how you look at it) rules.

1. There have to be AT LEAST TWO NAMED FEMALE CHARACTERS.
2. These female characters have to have a conversation.
3. About something that IS NOT A GUY.

Not super difficult, right?

...wrong.

Let me break this down. So far this summer, I've seen:

"Star Trek: Into Darkness" Most definitely male-centric.
I don't think the female characters (of which there were...three?) said a damn thing to each other. Throughout the whole movie. I had other problems with this movie, too, but I'm leaving it at the Bechdel Test fail right now.

"The Purge" This one's sort of evenly male/female-centric.
I actually really liked this movie, and there were more than two named female characters. But when the female characters did manage to have a conversation, it usually revolved around the daughter's boyfriend or the patriarch of the family. So womp womp there.

"Now You See Me" Definitely male-centric.
Aside from the whole one-female-character-is-a-constant-weight-joke thing, this hardcore fails the test. There are three female characters in this (though one just hangs off of Morgan Freeman the whole time and doesn't really say anything). So the two female characters who are actually integral to the plot don't talk to each other. There's an interrogation scene at the beginning, but they're talking about a man, and there's also a man in the room with them, and that's literally the only time those characters interact. Awesome.

"Man of Steel" Do I even have to say it was male-centric?
So then we get to Superman, and though there are...five (hey! the most so far!) female characters who are important players, all their time is spent discussing...Superman.

"World War Z" Male and zombie-centric.
Brad Pitt travels around the world, saving it and stuff. There are indeed more than two named female characters here, but they don't get much to do. We've got Brad Pitt's wife and daughters, who spend the whole movie wondering if he'll be all right, and there are a couple more ladies who are important, but their roles are spoilery so I'm not gonna go into it. Just know that, if they do talk, they're talking about Brad Pitt (because he's doing stuff with zombies).

"The Heat" Female-centric.
The buddy cop movie we didn't know we wanted. Though Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy do spend most of their time trying to find a mysterious bad guy, there are parts of the movie that qualify it for passing the test. It might've been a bit predictable, but I laughed, and as the only mainstream female-centric movie out right now, I'm very glad it passed the test.

So let's recap:

Summer movies I've seen: 6

Summer movies that were male-centric: 4

Summer movies that were evenly-centric: 1

Summer movies that were female-centric: 1

Summer movies that passed the Bechdel Test: 1

Summer movies that failed the Bechdel Test: 5

This week, I'm going to go see "Monsters University," so we'll see how that does. I'd like to state that I really do love movies, which is why I'm doing this. I'm certainly not the first person to point that out, and I've no idea if I'll ever have the kind of power to change any of this. But when only ONE movie so far has named female characters talking about something other than a guy, there's a problem.

And I'm both very excited and very saddened that, because of what's getting released, I'm going to keep talking about this problem all summer.

What's Up Wednesday/Ready. Set. Write! Post #3

I'm going to be super punctual this week! WOO!

What I'm reading:

I have one more book to finish beta reading, and then I'm done for now!!!

Then I get to read research books!!! I'm quite excited about a couple of them :)

What I'm writing:

DRAGON FAIL got to 35K, and I still have a few days to reach my 40K June goal, so I think it's going quite well so far!

I've got most of the back half of the book semi-plotted, so hopefully it all turns out better than I'm anticipating!

Here's another excerpt, still from Darien's POV (if it seems like I'm hiding my other narrators, I kind of am haha). Darien's lying about Reggie's identity for certain undisclosed reasons right now.

And King Dave isn't really a King. He's Questland's manager, and just makes everyone call him that.

**************

“King Dave,” Darien hit the king’s back. “I have a favor to ask.”

“Oh?” Dave asked, eyes drifting over Darien’s shoulders to the others. “And what’s that?”

Darien turned, gesturing to Reggie. “This is my cousin Tom.” Dave raised an eyebrow, but Darien shrugged. “My aunt’s British. Anyway,” he continued, before Reggie could say something dumb. “Tom’s mom ---my aunt--- decided to leave him here for a couple of weeks. You see, dear old Tom here has suffered from a really lame fear of the ocean for his whole life. I think it started when we were kids and I decided to pinch his feet under the water. I had him convinced that crabs the size of Labradors lived in the water, and-”

“You said you had a favor to ask?” Dave interrupted Darien’s spontaneous monologue.

**************

I've plotted out the other stories I'm working on, and am slowly writing those whilst writing this one.

There's just SO MUCH WRITING going on right now, and I love it!

What else I've been up to:
I just started to learn how to play the guitar! Mostly because I can't spend ALL of my free time staring at a computer screen, and also because I've always wanted to learn how to play an instrument.

I previously learned how to play the cups, but I figured that a guitar might be a bit more useful in the long run. Also, I look really tired in that video. Is that how I looked all through grad school?

I digress.

Anyway, we just so happened to have a guitar hanging out at home with no one to play it, so pretty soon I'll post way too many song covers on my YouTube page hahaha

Oh, and still job searching (YAY?)

What inspires me right now:

Ummm, really sad things? Which is kind of terrible, probably, but that's how it goes. My awesome writer friend KK and I are pretty much spiraling into super sad manuscript territory, so we started recommending songs to each other to speed the process up.

So I currently have "Leave" from a musical called "Once" on repeat, 'cause I recommended it to her and realized that I really, really love this song :)

And I'm going to figure out how to play it on guitar...eventually haha

Happy Writing!

:P

What's Up Wednesday/Ready. Set. Write! Post #2

Welp, I'm a bit late to the What's Up Wednesday/Ready. Set. Write! party today! I totally blame the internet, which distracted me last night while I should have been writing this post.

So, without further ado, here we gooooooooooo!

Anyway, here's my What's Up Wednesday post, complete with Ready. Set. Write! goal setting!

What I'm reading:

I'm STILL catching up on beta reading, but I just finished my friend Becky's awesome book, THE HUNGRY GROUND, and this book, y'all. I can't even find enough excellent things to say about this wonderful book, other than when it gets published, I will force people to buy it because I love it.

Including you. So get ready to love this book too, okay? :D

What I'm writing:

Still writing DRAGON FAIL, but I, uh, also started working on two other books?

Yeah, no. I know, it was probably a bad idea, but...these things happen. ANYWAY, here's an excerpt (uh, technically the first page?) of one of the newer stories I'm working on (though DRAGON FAIL is still my main summer goal!).

This is a YA Fantasy too, by the way :)

**************

The dungeon smelled bad. It was an understatement, sure, but it was better to dwell on what the dungeon didn’t smell like as opposed to what it did. So the dungeon didn’t smell like a field full of flowers, the forest after it rains, the sea, a great feast, or anything else overly pleasant. The dungeon was, however, pretty dark. No matter how many times I held my hands in front of my face, I couldn’t see them. After being locked in the foul-smelling, horribly lit dungeon for a few days, I’d tried to see my hands a lot.

It’s not like I had anything better to do.

The small hole at the bottom of the door opened, and my sad little plate of kitchen mush slid into my cell. It had taken me approximately two days to get used to kitchen mush, which is probably why my cell smelled so bad. I pulled the bowl of kitchen mush closer, ignoring the retching my stomach had already started to do. Since the miraculous event in between day two and three of my captivity that somehow enabled my stomach to handle the stuff, any retching now was just a weird little reflex that happened whenever I got close enough to smell it. I still hadn’t figured out exactly what was in it.

My hands plunged into the cold, slimy glop, which probably wasn’t the most sanitary thing to do, but it’s not like the Royals were much into giving their prisoners spoons.

We might’ve been able to dig our way out if they’d done that. Gods forbid.

**************

In DRAGON FAIL news, I passed 34K a few days ago, then went on a break to write around 6K for the above story. But, with that said, I still think I can meet my monthly goal of 40K, so make sure I'm still writing DRAGON FAIL in like a week, okay?

:D

What else I've been up to:
Still job searching! And drinking lots of smoothies. YAY!

What inspires me right now:
Oh, goodness, lots of things. I kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind of don't want to go into detail, though, because some of these things are surprises. So for now, in no particular order:

Ghost hunting shows
Random things on Tumblr
Giant coffee table books
One-page long fairy-tales
Movie marathons

See you next week, when my post is hopefully way more punctual :P Happy writing!!!

What Happened to Girl Power?

I usually use this blog for writing updates and posting silly things. And I'm normally perfectly fine with this. As I've said before, I don't consider myself an uber-serious person, and keeping things light on the blog seemed like the natural thing to do.

But.

I've come across a slew of things lately that have made me think. And not only have I thought. A lot. But I've also worried. A lot. And gotten mad. A lot. And then worried some more.

Most recently, a few things have caught my eye and sort of...augmented my thought process, I guess. So the first was N.K. Jemisin's speech that was a retort to comments from SF authors that women were ruining the genre and, essentially, had no place in it. Despite the obvious WTF-ery of the people who made these statements, the fact that there are still authors out there who think that way totally floored me.

Really, though, I shouldn't have been floored. I know that sexism still exists, and that it's something I'll have to deal with. And, to a really sad extent, I've accepted that it's an inevitability in different facets of my life. I know, I KNOW I shouldn't have been surprised by the statements that a few old white dudes made.

But I was.

As N K Jemisin and Justine Larbalestier point out, women and people of color have been working with Science Fiction from the beginning. Often hiding behind gender or race neutral pseudonyms, but they were still there. These ladies articulate my thoughts on the matter better than I ever could, so I'll defer to their awesome articles on the subject matter. I do, however, have one last thing to say about the SF sexism and racism debacle, though, and that's this: as an aspiring SF writer who identifies as both a woman and a person of color, I feel ashamed. I feel ashamed that people still have trouble embracing stories and characters that are different and expose people to new experiences.

I feel ashamed that authors are still getting discounted because they're female or aren't white.

And it's not just a SF thing. Let's take a look at other types of media, shall we?

I read this awesome article by NPR contributor Linda Holmes about the lack of female movies out there. Holmes looked at the movie theaters within 10 minutes of where she lived, and the results (after doing a bit of math) were staggering.



According to Fandango and some back-of-the-envelope math, excluding documentaries and animation, there are 617 movie showings today — that's just today, Friday — within 10 miles of my house.


Of those 617 showings, 561 of them — 90 percent — are stories about men or groups of men, where women play supporting roles or fill out ensembles primarily focused on men. The movies making up those 561 showings: Man Of Steel (143), This Is The End (77), The Internship (52),The Purge (49), After Earth (29), Now You See Me (56), Fast & Furious 6 (44), The Hangover Part III (16), Star Trek Into Darkness (34), The Great Gatsby (16), Iron Man 3 (18), Mud (9),The Company You Keep (4), Kings Of Summer (9), and 42 (5).


Thirty-one are showings of movies about balanced pairings or ensembles of men and women:Before Midnight (26), Shadow Dancer (4), and Wish You Were Here (1).


Twenty-five are showings of movies about women or girls: The East (8), Fill The Void (4),Frances Ha (9), and What Maisie Knew (4).


Of the seven movies about women or balanced groups, only one — the Israeli film Fill The Void— is directed by a woman, Rama Burshtein. That's also the only one that isn't about a well-off white American.


There are nearly six times as many showings of Man Of Steel alone as there are of all the films about women put together.


I read that and...REALLY? That's the best we can do, Hollywood? Holmes breaks it down a bit more:


I want to stress this again: In many, many parts of the country right now, if you want to go to see a movie in the theater and see a current movie about a woman — any story about any woman that isn't a documentary or a cartoon — you can't. You cannot. There are not any. You cannot take yourself to one, take your friend to one, take your daughter to one.


There are not any.

There are not any. I've asked it a few times on this blog before, but what kind of message are we sending to young girls when THE BEST roles women (and right now, sadly, I'm really only talking about white women) can get are supporting player/love interest roles?


Yesterday, I went to see "Now You See Me," which is on Holmes's list of small female roles, because I was intrigued by the concept. While the movie was fairly predictable, it was still fun enough that I enjoyed it. Save for a few things.


1. The movie did not pass the Bechdel Test. While it had more than one named female character (uhhh TWO counts, right?) These female characters never conversed. And, had they conversed, I'm sure they would have talked about guys.


2. There were weight jokes about one of the female characters. WEIGHT JOKES. These jokes were used to illuminate why one female character and one male character never got into a relationship (with the oh-so-obvious punchline that people who weren't a certain body type couldn't be attractive! Ha ha. So funny). Once the weight jokes happened, I was out. Unfortunately, they happened within the first 20 minutes or so.


3. When the (TWO!!!) named female characters did get stuff to do, most of it revolved around assisting a dude/being dude's love interest. While I'm not trying to rail against romance in any way, shape, or form, I'd just like to point out that there can be more to a female character than loving a dude. I'm going to restate that.


There can be more to a female character than loving a dude.


Radical notion, right? That suuuuuuuuuuure isn't supported by the onslaught of recent (and not-so-recent) movies. I'm tired, so tired, of female getting used as plot points. It's fine if female characters are in a relationship/love someone. Totally fine. But the second that's ALL they become ---the second that female character stops developing and changing (for better or worse) and becomes the means to an end for a male character to develop? THAT is where I start to take issue.


Let's look at Star Trek: Into Darkness for a couple of examples. I had a lot of issues with that movie, but the two that stuck out for me were A) The horrendous lack of diversity and B) The treatment of women characters.


So first we have Carol Marcus who is really just there to strip down in front of Kirk and...uhhh scream at her Dad. Yeah. That's it, really. That's all she gets. So here, she's not really helping develop anyone and is pretty much one step above a redshirt. There's a hint of a possible future romance between her and Kirk, but really that's it. She's just a character who strips down into her underwear for no apparent plot-serving reason.


And then we have Uhura, who I had such high hopes for, since she was pretty much the lone female in the first movie. She was a character who had a romance going, but who was also smart, and assertive, and knew her languages/dialects. But then Star Trek: Into Darkness happens and...we lose most of what made Uhura the awesome lone female to hold down the fort. She gets reduced to being solely Spock's love interest, and really doesn't get to do much of anything in the movie. Oh well. at least she's not stripping down just because ---oh, wait. She did that in the first movie.


It's not just Star Trek: Into Darkness, either. I could list off TV shows, more movies, books that do the exact same thing to women characters (and I've not even started to scratch the surface on the lack of people of color in mainstream media, but that's a fight for another day).


But I think I've ranted enough today (hopefully). My point is that all of this has to stop. The women-bashing, relegating them solely to the role of "love interest" or "supporting player" or "eye candy" (UGH I hate that term). Women need their own stories, too. Girls need their own stories, too.


How can we expect any girl to grow up thinking she can be whatever she wants to be ---whether that's President of the U.S., or an astronaut, or a famous chef, or whatever else she wants to be ---if we don't let them see that they actually have the authority and agency to be in charge of their own lives. Are we always going to reinforce the notion that women only exist to be in love with a guy (which, heteronormativity, anyone?) or show said guy the error of his ways?


To bring this full circle, yes, I am still ashamed that this is the way things are right now (and have been for quite some time). I'm ashamed that because of the way I look and who I am, some authors in the SF community may never take me seriously. I'm ashamed that, to this day in 2013, I still cannot look at any mainstream actress and identify someone who looks like me. I'm ashamed that, as of this moment, if I wanted to go see a movie that revolved around female characters, I couldn't.


I am one-hundred percent ashamed. But I'm also one-hundred percent determined to change things, and to point out ridiculous bull-shit like this when I see it. I'm committed to writing stories about female characters and trying to find a way to get those stories out into the world. And, most of all, I'm one-hundred percent hopeful that things will get better. Because I'm not the only one who has noticed these things. And because it has to get better.


It just has to.

My first ever What's Up Wednesday (and Ready. Set. Write!) Post!

Hey all!

I decided to join in on this awesome thing called Ready. Set. Write! (if you click on the link, you'll get all the info!)

Anyway, here's my What's Up Wednesday post, complete with Ready. Set. Write! goal setting!

What I'm reading:

I've got A LOT of beta reading to catch up on (sorry for being the slowest beta ever, friends!) so most of my reading is awesome books that were written by equally awesome people!

I have quite a few pubbed books in my TBR pile, too, but I'm not allowed to touch them until my beta reading is done :)

What I'm writing:

Fondly known as my Summer Dragon Story on ze Twitter, my Ready. Set. Write! MS is a fun little YA Fantasy that I've decided to call DRAGON FAIL. It's a story about a girl, a dragon, some magic, a dash of royal intrigue, and cheesy speeches at even cheesier tourist attractions.

If you want to, you can read an excerpt here!

Also, I guess I'll throw in another excerpt from a little later on in the book (no one's seen this part yet! AH!). This is still from Darien's POV, though the story is told through four (!!!!) POVs. WOOOOO! ;D

************

“Did your dragon get free?” Reggie asked as they ran through the front door.

“Uh, yeah,” Darien fumbled for the keys, relieved that he left them in his pocket. He was still dressed like Peter Pan, but whatever, they were chasing a dragon. Any cool points he might have lost with the outfit were more than made up for by the fact that chasing a dragon around Virginia Beach was pretty badass.

Reggie shook his head, sighing as if a dragon getting set free was just as bad as someone spilling a glass of milk.

“We’re so fired,” Priya put her head in her hands as Darien backed out of the parking space.

“Don’t focus on that,” he said, shifting into drive. “Focus on where we’re going.”

“Right.  Where we’re going.” She looked up, getting a fiercely determined spark in her light brown eyes. They were pretty eyes.

Priya’s very pretty eyes widened as Darien almost swerved into a tree. Okay, looking at her eyes would have to wait.

**************

I just passed 30K yesterday (YAY!). Ideally, I'd like to get to 40K by the end of June (Goal for the month!), and be finished with the first draft around the end of Ready. Set. Write! (Goal for the end of summer!) So hold me to it, okay?

:D

What else I've been up to:
Ummm, I fell down the stairs while moving out of my apartment, so I have a fractured foot! But it's legitimately just a small bone off the top of my foot that got chipped, so it's no big! I get to walk around with a fancy boot on!

I'm also job searching, which is suuuuuuuuper exciting, if not a tad stressful.

I havent been to the movie theater in a while, so I'm contemplating a trip tomorrow. I also want to do a "location scouting" adventure soon, since my WiP takes place on my hometown's boardwalk! Pictures will definitely happen during said location scout :P

What inspires me right now:
All of you! No, seriously. I love the writing community and how we're so supportive of each other! I have no idea where I'd be without all of my amazing writing peeps, so I'm forever grateful to have them in my life! And I'm also forever grateful that said friends are willing to roll with whatever ridiculous ideas I have :)

And Ready. Set. Write! will hopefully inspire me to finish this draft! So excited to get things started :)

Oh, Elodie, what have you done???

My lovely CP, Elodie, tagged me in a fun post last week! Since I was travelling and whatnot,  I wasn't able to get to it until now, but the game sounded like fun, so here we are.

ZE RULES:

Search the words “moment,” “forever,” “time,” or the like in your writing, pick your favorite chunk, post on your blog, and tag others!

Well, okay. Let's see what happens when I search "time" in my stress-free WiP, DRAGON FAIL :)

One of the settings in this MS is a tourist attraction called "Questland," which is pretty much an indoor medieval theme park on the oceanfront. This might be one of my favorite random passages from it :P

And, um, I'm gonna tag Zoe, Jen, and Jeannette! And anyone else who wants to keep the meme going!

Enjoy!

Darien totally felt like a loser in these tights. For the past few days, Darien had been a loser ---which was weird, ‘cause usually he was the opposite of that. He was a winner. His whole family was made up of winners.

But then that text from Meg came. That’s all it took to make him a loser: one text. Mark was always a better kisser, anyway. The words were burned into his mind, and he fought to throw his phone for the fiftieth time. Or maybe it was the seventy-seventh. It’s not like he was counting. His fists clenched as he avoided the full-length mirror in front of him.

It had all started with this stupid summer job. If his dad hadn’t forced him to be responsible, he’d still be dating the hottest girl in school. Now all he had was his straight-A average and the quarterback position that would get him a full-ride to the college of his choice next fall. Not terrible, but it’s not like he could make-out with a football. Jim tried that once, and it didn’t end well.

Though mastering the art of making out with a football might’ve been a better way to spend the next few months. He wasn’t even going to do anything cool for the summer. He’d just be some tool in tights welcoming tourists to Questland’s maze.

He gave the full-length mirror an exaggerated bow. Might as well practice his stupid speech. “Take no pictures, use no phones, for here monsters and dragons do roam. Though if you find you need assistance, find the path of least resistance. There a member of our Court is sure to help, but if you raise a false alarm, you’ll be kicked out.” He paused. That didn’t rhyme. He shook his head, continuing. “Now, I beseech you to enter this maze with caution, and hope that your time at Questland is unbelievably awesome.”

Final ONE Comic Panel!

Hey all!

Soooooo today is a very special day! Not only does Leigh Ann Kopans's ONE come out tomorrow, but I've also got the last comic teaser panel for her awesome book! Check it out below :)

Find a full list with links to the other installments of this series on the author’s blog:  www.leighannkopans.blogspot.com

Or follow the author on Twitter @LeighAnnKopans for daily updates!

About ONE (a novel by Leigh Ann Kopans:)

Release date: June 11, 2013

When having two powers makes you a Super and having none makes you a Normal, having only one makes you a sad half-superpowered freak.

It makes you a One.

Sixteen-year-old Merrin Grey would love to be able to fly – too bad all she can do is hover.

If she could just land an internship at the Biotech Hub, she might finally figure out how to fix herself. She busts her butt in AP Chem and salivates over the Hub’s research on the manifestation of superpowers, all in hopes of boosting her chances.

Then she meets Elias VanDyne, another One, and all her carefully crafted plans fly out the window. Literally. When the two of them touch, their Ones combine to make them fly, and when they’re not soaring over the Nebraska cornfields, they’re busy falling for each other.

Merrin's mad chemistry skills land her a spot on the Hub's internship short list, but as she gets closer to the life she always wanted, she discovers that the Hub’s purpose is more sinister than it has always seemed. Now it’s up to her to decide if it's more important to fly solo, or to save everything - and everyone - she loves

Add ONE to your Goodreads and learn more about the author here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17251203-one

ONE Comic Teasers!!! Installment 8!

HELLO ALL!

Today I have a very special blog post! To celebrate Leigh Ann Kopan's debut, ONE, I have installment 8 of a set of comic teasers!!! More information follows below the teasers, so check it out (and get ONE when it comes out!)

Intrigued?

Find a full list with links to the other installments of this series on the author’s blog:  www.leighannkopans.blogspot.com

Or follow the author on Twitter @LeighAnnKopans for daily updates!

About ONE (a novel by Leigh Ann Kopans:)

Release date: June 11, 2013

When having two powers makes you a Super and having none makes you a Normal, having only one makes you a sad half-superpowered freak.

It makes you a One.

Sixteen-year-old Merrin Grey would love to be able to fly – too bad all she can do is hover.

If she could just land an internship at the Biotech Hub, she might finally figure out how to fix herself. She busts her butt in AP Chem and salivates over the Hub’s research on the manifestation of superpowers, all in hopes of boosting her chances.

Then she meets Elias VanDyne, another One, and all her carefully crafted plans fly out the window. Literally. When the two of them touch, their Ones combine to make them fly, and when they’re not soaring over the Nebraska cornfields, they’re busy falling for each other.

Merrin's mad chemistry skills land her a spot on the Hub's internship short list, but as she gets closer to the life she always wanted, she discovers that the Hub’s purpose is more sinister than it has always seemed. Now it’s up to her to decide if it's more important to fly solo, or to save everything - and everyone - she loves

Add ONE to your Goodreads and learn more about the author here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17251203-one