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Articles on Screen

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Sandra Bullock in Gravity (2013) portrayed a female protagonist well, but the industry has a long way to go. Warner Bros.

How to reduce sexism in screenplays

Only 10% of films have a gender-balanced cast, and getting more women on screens starts with the screenwriters. The solution can be as simple as giving minor characters female names.
Script writers need to think past adjectives for “sexy” when creating female characters. David Noah

Sexist screen representations of women start in the script

Bad female characters start with bad writing. We compare male and female character descriptions, which are often used as the starting point for casting calls.
‘It’s peculiar the way in which viewers of my vintage judged the first part of Seven’s miniseries on its authenticity.’ Image courtesy of Channel 7.

Molly is lacking as a TV show but millions, including me, are hooked

‘I suppose that, as I’m 50, Molly is absolutely my demographic: I was nine when Countdown began and 23 when it ended, and I was a devotee for most of that time – a devotee who was often disgusted …’
Jane Austen horror has burgeoned into a distinctive subgenre of adaptations. Kevin Harber

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: it’s the Jane Austen horror show

England’s green and pleasant land will be beset by a plague of the living dead, corpses will dig their way out of graves … Jane Austen horror is now a distinctive subgenre of Austen adaptations.
Perhaps you might enjoy this list of movies and videos that look at ways contemporary Sydney has been fictionally invaded or destroyed on the big screen. Ross Fowler

Australia Day: a survivor’s film guide

It seems to me no coincidence that in Australian popular culture our founding colony is usually the site of major onscreen attacks. Might this speak of cultural guilt and repressed truths?
An unlikely group of bounty hunters, bandits, and lawmen take shelter from a merciless blizzard. Roadshow

Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight: review and cast interview

Quentin Tarantino has secured his place in popular culture by reaching into neglected corners of cinema for genres that are ready for reinvention and rediscovery.
The ubiquitous superhero finally seems to be growing up and moving on. Eneas De Troya

What superheroes looked like in 2015

It was the year of the grown-up superhero. Dark, witty and complex, superheroes on the big and small screen have – mostly – matured past mindless violence.
The voices that can be used in a show like this are not those one would hear in Madama Butterfly. Patrick (Peter Cousens), Ellen (Melissa Madden Grey), The Divorce. ABC TV.

It’s TV! It’s opera! What to make of ABC’s The Divorce

The kinds of voices that can be used in a show like ABC’s The Divorce are certainly not typical of those one would hear in Madama Butterfly. But – and let’s be honest for a second – does it matter?
Australia’s defining narratives are apparently stories by, for and about white cis men. George A. Spiva Center for the Arts

Three ways Screen Australia can actually improve diversity in the industry

Australia’s defining narratives are apparently, with rare exception, stories by, for and about white cis men. We need more than Screen Australia’s new measures to address gender equity in the film industry.
Even with Kate Winslet and Judy Davis cast in The Dressmaker, the film was considered too high a risk for international buyers. Courtesy of Universal Pictures.

We’re right to make a scene about gender equity in the Australian screen industry

If the Australian screen industry is to grow into the future and prosper, it cannot ignore the untapped creative talent and leadership potential of women. We need strategies to address this problem.
The great detective’s purchase on popular culture was not always so assured. Benedict Cumberbactch and Martin Freeman in Sherlock, courtesy of Channel Nine

The Case of the Immortal Detective: Sherlock Holmes and His Enduring Appeal

As Benedict Cumberbatch prepares to return to 221B Baker Street for a Sherlock Christmas Special, a great, unsolved mystery remains: what is the source of the detective’s enduring appeal?
The Hunger Games heroine Katniss Everdeen represents the strength of living the Beatitudes against injustice. Murray Close/Lionsgate

Blessed are the Hunger Games? Katniss Everdeen lives the Beatitudes

The Hunger Games movie franchise has ended. What can we learn from Katniss Everdeen about living a just life? This article contains spoilers for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part II.
In the absence of content quotas, the broadcaster’s children’s offerings seem vulnerable to cuts. ABC

No dramas? What budget cuts signal for homegrown children’s shows on ABC3

We know the ABC is facing tough times, given the decision last year to cut its budget by A$254 million over five years. But how hard are those cuts falling on locally-produced children’s TV?

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