Deep-Dives:
Investigating niche topics that make us love film, be they characters, scenes, or any other film minutiae.
Female Rage: A TikTok trend that reclaimed the crazy bitch trope
A current trend on TikTok has seen the rise of female rage, carried by the brilliant scene "Please! I'm a star!" scene in Pearl (2022), played by Mia Goth. These edits' rise in popularity across social media, particularly TikTok, has seen thousands of users catch a...
Queer Documentaries: How a community has their voice on screen
The queer and LGBTQ+ community has been often sidelined by cinema and television for decades. Be it casual homophobia or transphobia that permeates films to potentially more harmful examples like The Danish Girl (2015). One could argue that the intentions were in the...
The Manic Pixie Dream Girl: An Outdated American Film Ideal?
Coined in 2007 by film critic Nathan Rabin, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a term that defines girls who are ‘quirky and ethereal’ but are otherwise blank slates with no other traits. The trope has become a subject of criticism and mockery as more people have caught on...
When Britain’s feminists picked cameras
In the 70s, women were up against a deluge of challenges. To put it into perspective: jobs were advertised by gender, marriage was seen as women’s end goal, and domestic violence and marital rape weren’t even considered crimes. Overall, it was not a very progressive...
Reel Equality: Beyond the Bechdel Test
In 1985, cartoonist and writer Alison Bechdel created a comic strip for a feminist newspaper featuring two women talking about watching a film. During their discussion, one woman mentions that she will only see a film if it follows a specific set of requirements: The...
Cannes 2024 Recap
The 77th Cannes Film Festival ended over the weekend. For those who may have missed it, or just want a reminder, here DirectHer’s round-up of key moments that you may have missed from the festival. The jury This year’s jury president was American actor and...
Rewriting Relationships on Screen
From criticising society to book adaptations, films are opportunities for filmmakers to shape society, changing how people think and discuss things in day-to-day life; and relationships are no different Three contemporary female directors have epitomised this idea by...
What the Palme d’Or means for women in film
Sean Baker’s Anora has won the Palme d’Or. No matter what film won this prize, one of the most prestigious in the world for any film, it was always going to be a statement. In being selected as the jury president for this year’s Cannes, Greta Gerwig has been...
The evolution of South Asian cinematic representation
If I were to ask you to name Western films with a South Asian protagonist, what could you name? Bend it like Beckham? Slumdog Millionaire? Life of Pi? Although South Asian representation in Western cinema has evolved significantly over the decades, the same story is...
The UK’s largest documentary festival and its importance
With the Sheffield International Documentary Festival, colloquially known as Sheffield DocFest, about to begin on 12 June, DirectHer has talked to Mita Suri, the festival’s Film Programme Producer, for a deeper look behind the UK’s largest documentary festival and one...
Corsets: An accurate portrayal of female suffering?
For her first corseted film, The Favourite, Emma Stone said in a Graham Norton interview’ that ‘her organs shifted’ during her time wearing a corset. She expressed: “Honestly women existed in that for such a long time, which does give you a lot of sympathy for that...
Girls Bathrooms: A Space for Women’s Transformation
Bathrooms in movies, particularly those from high school settings, are transformative spaces that act as a setting of refuge, anguish, and development. Although traditionally a place where you would do your business, one common theme the bathroom stands for is...
The minds behind fan edit accounts
‘Have you seen THE edit?’ is a question that comes up more and more in fan and edit communities on social media. This can be boiled down to the start of this edit trend is THE Pedro Pascal edit made by dvcree on TikTok...
What is The Cannes Film Festival?
The Cannes Film Festival is one of the most renowned and beloved festivals in the world. A number of the most iconic films of all time held their premieres here, from Pulp Fiction to Boyz in the Hood and, more recently, Aftersun and Anatomy of a Fall. If you need any...
Career Girls: The World of Working Women on Film
Ambitious women. Deceitful men. Corporate lifestyles. The unmistakable trademarks of workplace comedy. If you’re having trouble placing this subgenre, picture films like The Devil Wears Prada, Working Girl, or 9 to 5. These are not simply films about women with...
Animation and Equality: The struggles of young female directors
In L.A., 21-year-old Amarise Defranco has just completed her first short film, Lakay. The challenges Defranco has faced in her journey to this point are reflected in the experiences of another young animator, Rebecca Huang. These two women's experiences in an...
