Feature image via Vanity Fair.

If 2012 really is the end of civilization as we know it, and our questions about world peace or global warming are never answered, we can at least be sure of one thing — Vanity Fair really doesn’t care what you think of its annual Hollywood cover.

Last year, readers noted the spread featured only two people of colour (Rashida Jones and Anthony Mackie), both tucked away in the folds of the extended cover.

The front page was reserved for four of the 11 white actors in the 13-person shoot.

In 2010, readers complained that the “Young Hollywood” cover depicted exclusively thin, white actresses. Where, they asked, was Gabourey Sidibie, who earned an Oscar nomination for her first lead role in Precious? Kristen Stewart made the list, as did Amanda Seyfried, both of who were on the “New Wave” cover in 2008. That was the year Slumdog Millionaire cleaned up during awards season and Frieda Pinto was everywhere but Vanity Fair.

The magazine unveiled its 2012 cover this week and still, nothing has changed. There are eight actresses photographed, two are black, neither one made the newsstand cover.

The dissent, however, is less passionate than years past, maybe even a little submissive. Like the awkward relative who shows up to every family function, Vanity Fair’s blatant indifference to non-white, non-thin, non-young Hollywood is a given. After nearly a decade, the defences are as worn out as the critiques.

“But wait,” a VF devotee will say. “These actresses were huge successes too!”

No one is denying cover girl Rooney Mara’s Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was an enormous critical and commercial hit. But so was Bridesmaids and Melissa McCarthy is nowhere in sight.

“Okay, but Melissa McCarthy is over 40, and these women are in their 20s and 30s.”

Mindy Kaling, star, co-producer and writer for The Office for eight seasons is only 32.

She’s been active on both the big and small screens for seven years and never once has been part of the coveted shoot.

And Hollywood certainly loves its starlets, “precocious beauties” as the magazine calls. Roles for men over 40 are plenty. Roles for women are not.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, best actor nominee George Clooney decried the treatment of older women in Hollywood.

“When a man hits 40 is when roles just begin to happen. And for women it doesn’t happen. I find that to be a very concerning issue.”

“But what has Gabourey Sidibe done lately?”

Admittedly, not much, probably because Hollywood doesn’t know what to do with actresses they consider “plus-sized” other than hand them stereotypical roles.

Jennifer Hudson — whose weight loss has now far eclipsed her musical and acting achievements — recently wrote that she turned down the lead in Precious because she didn’t want to be typecast, having just won an Oscar for playing Effie in Dreamgirls.

“Well, those actors are on the cover because they’re interviewed inside.”

So, not only does the magazine sideline the few actors of colour featured, they silence them as well.

“There are just more white actors in Hollywood.”

This year’s roster of Oscar nominees is being called “the whitest” in the last decade, despite the buzz around Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis’ performances as disgruntled maids in The Help (co-star Jessica Chastin made this year’s newsstand cover.)

Davis is taking advantage of her time on the award circuit this year to talk about the scarce roles for black actresses. She appears in the same issue of Entertainment Weekly as Clooney.

“Only one black actress in history has been back [at the Oscars] more than once, and that’s Whoopi Goldberg. But that’s only because there aren’t a lot of roles out there that are going to bring you back.”

Writer Allison Samuels addressed this pretty thoroughly last December in the Daily Beast.

Movies featuring exclusively or predominately white casts are often big budget films, sent into wide release while movies featuring all-black casts (Pariah, For Colored Girls, Red Tails) are marketing mysteries. Anything beyond the black-white American dichotomy is “foreign.” Roles for South Asian, Asian and Latina actors and actresses are so slim they are virtually non-existent.

With every excuse exhausted, it’s hard to believe Vanity Fair has no clue what it’s doing. Or maybe it does, and is just touting out this tired cover controversy every year to remind the industry and its consumers that Hollywood is not nearly as diverse as its audience.

No? I didn’t think so either.

What’s the ‘Female Weezy’ doing for women? Absolutely nothing, says McClung's blogger Lisa Coxon. Image courtesy of PyroMag.com.

By: Lisa Coxon

When she first hit the rap scene, it was easy to believe she might be on women’s side, but female hip-hop artist Nicki Minaj has injected far too much pro-male lexicon and attitude into her songs to make that possible anymore.

Minaj began as an underground rapper and in 2009, she signed with Lil Wayne’s record label Young Money,notorious for producing songs that focus on drugs, money, and women. Three years later, we’re seeing the effects of a capitalist patriarchy as she lyrically assaults women.

Her latest single Stupid Hoe, which broke a viewing record on Vevo with 4.8 million views within 24 hours of its premiere, expresses explicit female hatred with lyrics like “I piss on bitches,” and “stupid hoes is my enemy.” (The video for the first track off her sophomore album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, apparently got the axe from BET for being too explicit.)

Conveyed here is the same message women have been getting from most male hip-hop artists for years: you are less valuable of a human being because you are a woman.

The danger in assuming that when Minaj uses “bitches” and “hoes,” she’s referring to “those other women,” not us and the women we know, is that we too become perpetrators of this misogyny.

It doesn’t make it any less anti-female because a woman is saying it. This pits women against other women, also evident in her ongoing feud with Lil’ Kim, where sisterhood is completely absent.

Her latest slogan, “I am the female Weezy,” referring to Lil Wayne, first appeared in the song Y.U. Mad with Birdman and Lil Wayne, and shows up again at the end of Stupid Hoe.

Talk about apologizing for being (a talented) female. She won’t even call herself a female rapper; she refers to herself as the female version of a (sexist) male rapper. Her use of “king” to describe herself and “sons” to describe women doesn’t exactly scream proud female either.

Her main gimmick, the Barbie persona, clings to a very narrow concept of female beauty and femininity. The Barbie diamond necklace, her Pink Friday album, and the media’s obsession with the size of her rear, are all symptoms of a threatening woman who has been neutralized.

The Barbie persona, the little-girl voice, the obsession with pink, and the “Nicki blink” where she bats her eyelashes rapidly, all part of Minaj’s gimmick, promote a stereotypical image of female childhood. Minaj presents herself as being in a state of perpetual girlhood, but dresses up this damaging concept in colourful wigs and makeup, and sells it back to us as adult female empowerment.

If you look closely though, Minaj is merely a product of the backlash against feminism. She could have changed the landscape for aspiring female hip-hop artists and fans, and instead she is a stark reminder of how powerful the patriarchy is when motivated by capitalism.

Feature image via thejanedough.com.

Boys have their brains, their strength, and their sense of humour and girls have — their face. At least, that’s the message Disney’s new line of T-shirts is sending.

The iconic animation corporation released a line of T-shits in January, depicting classic Disney characters in silhouette, filled in with their relevant traits. Donald Duck is “funny and feisty,” Goofy, “silly and smart,” Mickey is “The Boss and brave.”

And Minnie? She’s “cute, gorgeous, adorable, beautiful, pretty and hot.” While her male cohorts are described in terms of their intelligence and personality, Minnie’s most notable qualities have more to do with looks.

Though “adventurous, sweet, fun, loveable and genuine” are also on the shirt, hers is the only shirt that emphasizes physical appearance. The closest Donald comes to is “tall.”

This isn’t surprising so much as frustratingly predictable. This is, after all, the same company that’s churned out more than a dozen princesses, most of whom do nothing more than get courted by their Prince Charming.

And sure, Minnie Mouse was “born” 84 years ago. But after Rapunzel got a feminist revamp last year in Tangled, there was hope for the phasing out of the passive Disney princess.

The word choices are raising eyebrows and discussion in the feminist blogosphere over the superficial marketing aimed at young girls everyday.

Consider the onesies baby retailer Gymboree were forced to pull from their website: girls were “Pretty like Mommy” and boys “Smart like Daddy.” JC Penny also drew heat for their T-shirts, marketed for preteen girls that read: “I’m Too Pretty To Do Homework So My Brother Has To Do It For Me.”

And these are just the clothes that made news. It’s so common to find “princess” and “pretty” themed clothing for preteens (“hot” for the older set) that one hardly bats an eye.

The problem isn’t that girls may think they’re pretty. There is never any harm in fostering positive self-image, respect and esteem in young girls. But there is a problem with telling a six-year-old that her most valuable traits are completely subjective to a culture with very narrow standards of beauty. Standards that only get narrower as you get older, until, as Stephen Colbert pointed out, companies start selling us things for “insecurities” we didn’t know we had.

Lisa Bloom, author of Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World, examined our preoccupation with girls’ beauty and the undervaluing of things like intelligence and resourcefulness. She discusses it further in an article for the Huffington Post “How to Talk to Girls About Beauty,” focusing this time on what she calls our “standard talking-to-little-girls icebreaker.”

“Teaching girls that their appearance is the first thing you notice tells them that looks are more important than anything,” she writes. “It sets them up for dieting at age 5 and foundation at age 11 and boob jobs at 17 and Botox at 23.”

Bloom, who was unavailable for comment, challenges readers to have conversations with girls that don’t include compliments on their appearance. Surprisingly difficult, she writes, when tried on a friend’s five-year-old daughter.

“As I always bite my tongue when I meet little girls, restraining myself from my first impulse, which is to tell them how darn cute/ pretty/ beautiful/ well-dressed/ well-manicured/ well-coiffed they are.”

So, since advertisers and clothing companies will continue to teach young girls that being pretty is far more important than being “adventurous,” even “genuine,” it’s up to their family and friends to teach them that they’re also, smart, strong and generally awesome.

McClung’s Magazine blogger Nancy Barnett was invited to attend the Crystal Awards on Dec. 5 held at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The 24th annual gala luncheon hosted by the not-for-profit Women in Film and Television Toronto Division (WIFT-T) recognizes and celebrates the achievements of women and men in film, television and digital media. Here, she sits down with Noreen Halpern, recipient of WIFT-T’s Outstanding Achievement Award, the last of six interviews with winners and the women behind WIFT-T to come at McClungs.ca.

By: Nancy Barnett

Feature image via Nancy Barnett.

As eOne Television’s president of dramatic programming, Noreen Halpern oversees all scripted series. She left Alliance Atlantis to co-found Blueprint Entertainment, which would merge to become what is now Entertainment One.

What is your secret to successfully pitching a show to the networks?

It really is about passion. Years ago, I used to do a pitching workshop at the Banff Television Festival and the best advice that anyone ever gave (and I used to use over and over again as my own) was know your material incredibly well and love it so you can sell it passionately. If you can’t get across how much you care about something, no one else is going to believe it’s going to be worthwhile watching.

You seem to tackle riskier subject matter like Hung and Call Me Fitz. Is it harder to sell these properties?

It really depends because those are both shows that have a really unique hook to them. The one unifying factor of eOne and Blueprint before it, I would say is having some kind of a hook, and so that often ends up being edgy or not traditional. I think that’s really the key. There are a lot of shows out there but we need well made shows that have some kind of a hook, some kind of a twist, something that is unique. Something that you can sell in a line, on a poster, or on the side of a bus does help.

From your perspective, are you more interested in getting the big huge hit or something that’s more unique and has critical appeal?

It just depends. I’ve never set out looking at a show and thinking I want this to be the homerun. You strive for a success, you want a show that’s going to go on and on and on. Some shows, to borrow a sports analogy which I never do, you know will be a single or maybe a double. The homerun is so elusive and you never ever know. 

McClung’s Magazine blogger Nancy Barnett was invited to attend the Crystal Awards on Dec. 5 held at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The 24th annual gala luncheon hosted by the not-for-profit Women in Film and Television Toronto Division (WIFT-T) recognizes and celebrates the achievements of women and men in film, television and digital media. Here, she sits down with Heather Webb, WIFT-T’s executive director, the fifth of six interviews with winners and the women behind WIFT-T to come at McClungs.ca.

By: Nancy Barnett

Feature image via Nancy Barnett.

Heather Webb has held executive management positions in non-profit visual arts and education-based organizations for over ten years. She was appointed executive director of WIFT-T last February.

After working in non-profit visual art for so long, what is it like working in the non-profit media industry now?

The broadcast sector’s a new beast for me but I’m learning quickly about it and loving it. Again WIFT is very much dear to the things I love. I love working for non-profit because everyone there is committed to helping people and to the cause. WIFT is a really exemplary organization for that. It’s all about supporting people and making their career development happen. That’s something I’ve always loved doing. I did it in the visual arts sector and now I’m doing it in this sector.

Do you foresee WIFT offering more mentorship programs to students or beginners without professional credits?

We’re always looking to expand our reach. We’ve been really fortunate in that we have a lot of partnerships with corporations. We try to gear them to different media but also different levels of experience. Some of them are geared towards people who have a couple production credits and some are geared more towards people who are just starting out. We try to hit a wide range so we’re hitting people with emerging experience, and mid-career as well because there’s a need at every level. It’s always a balancing act.

Comedy often doesn’t get the recognition it deserves so I’m happy to see a comedian being honoured. Why did you choose Samantha Bee for this year’s international achievement award?

To be honest, we just all love her and we love the work she does. The international award is something that is decided internally and Sam Bee was at the top of our list. We were really excited that she said yes and could fit us into her schedule. I think sometimes people forget about the comedic actress side of things and always have a focus on the drama. It was really great for us and she’s such a great role model for any young comedian in Canada.

By: Victoria Kuglin

Lego recently stirred up controversy when the company announced a launch of Lego Friends, toy sets geared specifically for young girls.

The series of sets exist in the imaginary city of Heartlake, where girls, according to the official website, can “chill with best friends Mia, Emma, Andrea, Stephanie and Olivia.”

Heartlake City is a pastel-coloured, dreamy place, where the buildings you can create are shops, splash pools, and dog show arenas.

When I was ten years old, all I wanted for Christmas was the Lego Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle set. I spent all of Christmas Day putting it together. My dad wanted me to follow the design plan included with the set, but I had other ideas.

I wanted to be creative. I wanted to go crazy. I built secret passageways and trapdoors, I dressed all the Lego figurines, including Snape in his impressive black wig, and spent hours making up adventures for Harry and his magical cohorts.

The last thing on my mind was what colour the Hogwarts blocks were. Really, who cares? They were a nondescript grey colour, the colour you would normally associate with stone. The roofing tiles were black. The “wooden” doors were brown. Those aren’t “boy” colours and they’re not “girl” colours. They’re just real colours.

Kattie Laur, a radio and television arts student at Ryerson University recalls her first Lego set fondly.

“I got a car set when I was about nine or 10,” she said. “You could make helicopters with it too. I made the car and I thought it was sick.”

Laur admits to not only still having the set, but also recently playing with it with her friends. She received a beach resort set a few years later, but said she was fonder of making helicopters than designing ideal vacation residences for her Lego citizens. This raises an overlooked, but important, question. What if the girl simply doesn’t want pink Lego?

The company prefaced this argument by saying they did over four years of research to find out exactly what girls “want.” Nevertheless, the main issue being raised with Lego Friends is that it propagates gender stereotypes.

But the toy industry is no stranger to gender-specific toys. In fact, the new Lego Friends sets bear a striking resemblance to Polly Pocket by Mattel. Hot Wheels showcase boys playing with their cool race cars in commercials. And who could forget the “Friends” episode where Ross tries to convince his son Ben to play with G.I Joe, instead of Barbie?

For years, Lego has been touted as a learning tool for kids, and a chance for them to be imaginative.

“You could do so many different things and you were so proud of it,” said Jessica Walker, an architecture student at Ryerson.

“You just wanted to show your parents every little thing you built.”

She inherited her first Lego set from her older brother. Following the design plan wasn’t high on the list of priorities: her favourite part was how interactive Lego was, and seeing just what cool things you could build on your own.

For target demographics of Lego (ranging from five to eight), block colour probably isn’t all that important either.

“People at our age can see the difference,” said Walker. “But as a kid, I didn’t see the difference between pink and brown blocks. They were all just Lego to me.”

After I had spent about two weeks with my Hogwarts castle, I dismantled it and rearranged it again. I recall missing mealtimes because I was so engrossed in creating my own world, one that could be endlessly altered and forever entertaining. I gave Harry Snape’s wig, which caused much hilarity to my parents. I traded Hermione’s face for Harry’s body.

At this point, the colour of the blocks didn’t matter; it didn’t even matter what the original intent of design was for the set. My only concern was what kind of world I could create next with it.

Carol Whiteman is the winner of WIFT-T's Mentorship Award. Image courtesy of wift.com

McClung’s Magazine blogger Nancy Barnett was invited to attend the Crystal Awards on Dec. 5 held at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The 24th annual gala luncheon hosted by the not-for-profit Women in Film and Television Toronto Division (WIFT-T) recognizes and celebrates the achievements of women and men in film, television and digital media. Below is her interview with Carol Whiteman, winner of WIFT’s Mentorship Award, the fourth of six interviews with winners and the women behind WIFT-T to come at McClungs.ca.

By: Nancy Barnett

Based in Vancouver, Carol is the co-creator of the Women in the Director’s Chair program (WIDC), presented by the Creative Women Workshops Association (CWWA). Through the organization’s support and Whiteman’s mentorship, the careers of hundreds of female directors have been advanced.

Why is mentorship so important to you?

My path of advocacy and mentorship is about being aware, of letting voices be heard that aren’t being recognized or haven’t been recognized traditionally.

Who are your favourite directors in Canada?

There are lots of wonderful directors. Certainly, there are 160 of them that I love and admire because they’ve gone through our program and we’ve been right behind them in their careers. Then there are the women directors who have mentored like Anne Wheeler, Norma Bailey, Stacey Curtis and Léa Pool. We have a wonderfully rich pool of female directors in Canada that I think are highly undervalued. There are only a handful of women directors in Canada that are consistently working but I think they’re an eclectic bunch and I love that about them.

What advice would you give to wannabe TV writers and producers trying to find their first job?

This industry is really based on sincere relationships. We’re all inundated with requests for support and help. It’s from the sincere individual who is really ready to work hard on their career path that inspires people to take notice and to offer assistance. To make a long story short, take responsibility for the work that you have to do to develop the contacts and relationships that you need in this industry.

Do you think Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar win for best director made an impact on the industry? Do you think there is more opportunity for females in a directorial role now?

I have a definite opinion on that. I think it made an impact for sure but I don’t think it made an impact in the way that we expect it might have. When a woman achieves something like this, a milestone, the Oscar for feature films, there is a tendency for a “resting on the laurels” type of attitude to take hold. In the subsequent years, there were no women nominated for that directorial accolade. There’s a tendency to have a backlash or a pendulum swing in the opposite direction and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a couple of years before another woman gets nominated for an Oscar. It would be delightful if the pendulum went into the middle and it would be a mixed bag from year to year but historically, I haven’t seen things play themselves out that way. It’s great that she won but I predict that the pendulum will be on the other side for some time now. People will say a woman has won already so we don’t have to worry about that now.

McClung’s Magazine blogger Nancy Barnett was invited to attend the Crystal Awards on Dec. 5 held at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The 24th annual gala luncheon hosted by the not-for-profit Women in Film and Television Toronto Division (WIFT-T) recognizes and celebrates the achievements of women and men in film, television and digital media. Here, she sits down with Heidi Tao Yang, winner of the 2011 CBC Business of Broadcasting Mentorship, the third of six interviews with winners and the women behind WIFT-T to come at McClungs.ca.

By: Nancy Barnett

Feature image via Nancy Barnett.

An emerging producer, Heidi Tao Yang, has already received critical success for the short film she co-produced, One Night, winner of the Silver Award for best short film at WorldFest Houston in 2010. She has also produced several short films and was the associate producer for the TV documentary series Rescue Mediums that aired on the W Network.

Tell us about your path to get where you are today?

I am a Ryerson alumnus. I studied business first. I knew almost immediately that I didn’t want to do business as a career but I stuck it through and I graduated, knowing accounting really does come in handy though. From Ryerson, I went to Humber College for their film and television production program, which I found really practical because they taught how to do things instead of why to do things. After that, I went to the Canadian Film Centre for their Producer’s Lab. It was amazing.

Are you interested in branching into feature films?

I have a couple that I’m working on. For the last few years, I’ve been working in television documentary and now I’m trying to step out of it and do my own projects.

Which aspects of production are you involved in when working on a project?

I would like to think of myself as a creative producer or a filmmaker. While I don’t write, I really enjoy the development side of things. I don’t think I’m a particularly strong writer but I have a good sense of what works in a story and what could make a story better.

Are you working on any television series right now?

A couple, yes. One is a children’s animation and the other is a reality competition show.