Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media

Oh my stars and garters it's about time. Thank you, Geena!

It's Pagan Day! Lord Summerisle, are you riding with Jesus?

Easter is the great unifier of us all. The least disguised co-opted pagan holiday.**

Ergo, Easter Sunday seemed like the PERFECT day to bring you more information about Robin Hardy's new movie COWBOYS FOR CHRIST.

After 7 years of hardcore pre-pro and 30 years of planning between Mr. Hardy and Mr. Christopher Lee, their dream project has gone into production in Glasgow, Scotland.

COWBOYS FOR CHRIST is a brilliant reimagining of the fucking genius THE WICKER MAN, giving these two gentleman a second chance at their all-time favorite movie. Think a moment about how many movies (and which) Mr. Lee has made. That should say it all.

Why do they need a second chance? Because what happened to THE WICKER MAN is one of the great cinema holocausts. For every filmmaker who wakes up screaming because they're dreaming again of being on the set of Gilliam's LOST IN LA MANCHA, there is an even nerdier, more savvy dissident in night terrors about the post-production of one of my top ten favorite films.

THE WICKER MAN was royally FUCKED in the ass by media PowersThatBe, and only exists in any form now due to Mr. Lee's tireless campaigning and outspoken outrage at the brutal editing rape and shoddy distribution that marginalized and hid its light for 30 years. Seriously. Actors like this don't exist in our business. Listen to him here, even 30 years later. And he's FUCKING RIGHT. It is the CITIZEN KANE of horror movies with what he was able to use his clout to save...what could have been if those suits in ultimate charge hadn't been tasteless morons who threw away cans of footage?

My god. That man. Did you watch that interview? We bow to you, Mr. Lee. Did you catch which coat he is wearing? :)

Stay strong, gentleman. Be loud. And from one brilliant subversive feminist occasionally-neopagan to two others: Ride with Jesus.
Young Christians Beth and Steve, a gospel singer and her cowboy boyfriend, leave Texas to preach door-to-door in Scotland . When, after initial abuse, they are welcomed with joy and elation to Tressock, the border fiefdom of Sir Lachlan Morrison, they assume their hosts simply want to hear more about Jesus. How innocent and wrong they are.

I love how they've done this THE WICKER MAN reimagining. I think they would really love mine, too. We need more people telling the truth about the atrocities Christians have committed in Europe against pagans. For that matter, how about some movies made about the Inquisition or the burning time witch hunts that killed ten million Europeans? Ugh. But my movie has a different focus than "organized" religion versus the old ways. Mine is about the new breed of New Agers who invent their own hodgepodge of religions for Me Generation megalomaniacal ends...

Oh, how much joy it would give me to show these gentleman THE COMMUNE. There are only three people left on earth whose opinions I truly give a rat's ass about for my movie. And two of them are hard at work now in Glasgow, restoring the balance.

Stuart G. Bennett as Dr. Polieos in THE COMMUNE, 2009

Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle in THE WICKER MAN, 1973

Our COMMUNE crew t-shirt: "I sacrificed on Summerisle and all I got was this lousy t-shirt"

Some pithy neopagan humor for you. This dog wears our t-shirt around Somerset, England:


**Easter = Sumerian goddess Ishtar or Eostre the Germanic spring goddess
Eggs bunnies and chocolate = fertility
Eating Ham = honoring the death of Ishtar's son Tammuz, who was conceived by a sunray and killed by a pig. Or it might just be because slaughtering a pig was a common ritual to celebrate Spring equinox (Saturnalia).
Easter sun rise services = honoring the sun god
The rising of Christ after his sacrifice on a moveable feast holiday = SOOOO many thousands of years of pagan rites and mythology that if you don't at least recognize Babylonian Inanna "The Queen of Heaven" and Eygptian Osiris and Isis and think someone named Jesus literally died on a cross I just can't fathom how you...ohhh here, let a random freaked out Christian on the net explain.

More fun

In a lunch meeting last week with an international distributor, I was talking about how Neil LaBute can suck my cock for remaking the feminist THE WICKER MAN as an updated hate-crime against womankind. In keeping with NL's usual misogynist theme, exhibit A is to watch the Nick Cage remake. But who has the time?

Here I present a 22 second Exhibit B, which the Youtube creator has pithily named "Nick Cage HATES Women." (Not sure about that, he may well be a duped participant. Though when it comes to working with LaBute, it's a pretty good guestimate the result will be disturbingly anti-half-the-planet. Feel such disappointment about his POV, as his writing is often damn good.)

It must be spring; there's another charming rape scene to add to the collective unconsious

Ah, the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming and Hollywood's thoughts are turning towards the sexualization of rape.

WATCHMEN played for love and procreation. The unnecessary remake of THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT that inexplicably took out the urine shot that actually made people feel horror and empathy. And now OBSERVE AND REPORT played for lighthearted laughs and heroism.



Thank god 1 in 6 women haven't been assaulted or it might be upsetting to them and the REAL male heroes in their lives trying to protectthem...oh wait. Actually, 1 in 5 have. Hi-larious.

Even more fun...April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month! Sooo...maybe the MenCanStopRape.org site needs a little help getting their message of partnership and protection and power used for good OUT there...what do you say, peeps?

I mean, it's not like the media is actually INFLUENCING our actions...since "Rape is a serious problem in the United States today. The United States has the highest rape rate among countries which report such statistics. It is 4 times higher than that of Germany, 13 times higher than that of England and 20 times higher than that of Japan."

Weeeeell fuck. Maybe paying money to see OBSERVE AND REPORT is a bad call this weekend. How about downloading and passing on a little activism that could save your mom or your sister or your girlfriend or your daughter or your best friend or yourself INSTEAD? "Spring"ing for an Impact self-defense class for them or yourself to live a happy, long, healthy, empowered life of appropriate boundaries?

Here are more resources for Men Against Rape. Because seriously...this shit isn't entertaining.

Don't know what to do...

...with all this vitriol aimed against women. Read the comments to the article.


This whole subject is soooo loaded and complex.

The facts are that only 1 out of 10 films made feature a female protagonist, and that only 5% of the Writer's Guild is female.

For whatever reason, Hollywood does not want to tell women's stories, and does not want women telling any stories. Period.

No, there are not less female screenwriters. No, there are not less women consuming entertainment. That's all simplistic bullshit said by simplistic people who want things to stay the way they are. Like that UCLA professor who once dressed me down in class for an hour because it was such an unimportant topic that didn't matter to the heartland ticket buyers...

Should we blame these female screenwriters for promoting their sexuality and coming up with a PR angle that Hollywood and people want? Blame the female reporter who spun them like the vacuous Sex and the City girls? The NYT editor who chose to run the article in the style section instead of the arts? The anonymous internet commenters who call anyone with an opinion a feminazi?

Should empowered men and women circumscribe Hollywood and go build their own internet distribution empires, eliminating the barrier between artist and audience and the need to play Hollywood's reindeer games?

I don't know. I feel tired. I've tried to focus on partnering with men, empowering everyone, ignoring the negative, simply deleting the comments I get here from misogynists.

I don't know. My soul is tired.

You all take over for a day. This Watchman wants to retire.

On the 75th birthday of Gloria Steinem. How apropos.

Apropos

Weird. Just got this email from my friends Sianna and Fed. I had forgotten they were making this video for her pretty song. Check out their great work:



Pretty typical coincidence in my life. But isn't it great? Pass the link on!

Grrgh

I'm so upset about the whole Rosie thing going on. I really shouldn't even by typing about it. Lots of love and light to Rosie for having the cajones to take on an institution of lies through its own media source. Of course it couldn't last, and the punishment was brutal. So classy of her to leave and not make a statement. Watched the View today for the last time. What a pack of lies.

I can't wait until technology and the audience reach the point where she can have her own real show online, and say whatever she feels. For now, I'll watch Jahero reruns on Rosie.com.



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