Women Make SF Across the Media Universe

July 25, 2021 1:43 PM

#WomenMakeSF is a project by Dr. Amy C. Chambers, where she intends to watch and review every feature film, short film and TV show created or co-created by a woman. She introduced the project in the blogpost Women Make Science Fiction: Gender is not a genre. There's also a podcast, cohosted by Dr. Lyle Skains, with eight episodes so far, which are most often discussions between Drs. Chambers and Skains about a small set of movies and a related topic. They have had two guests, Katie Heffner in a conversation about women in SF fandoms, and Cheryl Morgan, discussing trans representation across different forms of science fiction.
posted by Kattullus (7 comments total)

Thanks for posting this. I've read two reviews so far of movies I hadn't heard of and they are both now on my 'to watch' list. Plus, I may have been convinced it's time to revisit Tank Girl...
posted by Sparx at 2:52 PM on July 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

I copied Dr. Chambers' list of features to Letterboxd for anyone that wants to track their progress. I didn't include the shorts since not all of them are in their database. Worth noting that the master list for the project is actually slightly different from her watchlist. I used the master list for this.
posted by forbiddencabinet at 4:03 PM on July 25, 2021 [4 favorites]

The Tank Girl and Jessica Jones reviews were really well done, I thought.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:06 PM on July 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

I think when I was a kid it was still possible for someone to read all published SF. Some years after that it would have still been possible to read all SF published in English, then all SF by women published in English, and so forth. What I'm saying is, we're possibly on another cusp; this may be the last time someone has the ability to say that they've completely reviewed a non-arbitrary portion of the genre.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:06 PM on July 25, 2021 [3 favorites]

I don't know, Joe in Australia, over the last ~3 years I've read several hundred fantasies by women, 350 or so the last time I counted back in 2020, mainly urban fantasy because I just got tired of high fantasy, and that was barely a good start on the works of the women I read at least one book by.

Reading all fantasies written in English by women feels impossible to me -- certainly impossible for me.
posted by jamjam at 5:58 PM on July 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

No, I mean it's probably still just possible to review every SF TV show and movie created by a woman. It's certainly not possible to review every SF book and story written by women nowadays; as you say, the volume is huge.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:26 PM on July 25, 2021 [3 favorites]

I am so into listening to the “women who make SF” podcast that I’ll even give another look at Tank Girl, which I remember as a frenzied mess.

I was a big fan of Real Genius because Val Kilmer, and also girl who’s not just the love interest. In rewatch, with many better examples of movie women in my mental portfolio, it falls flat. Very very flat. I rewatched Raising Arizona and had the same reaction. Instead of a movie featuring Holly Hunter (with that accent!) with a boring side plot with John Goodman, it’s clearly a John Goodman/Nicholas Cage feature with a B plot about the crazy wife. It saddens me, because I was so clearly desperate to see someone like myself on the scene that I had to reach for straws and hold them close. Goodbye 80s. I really don’t miss ya.
posted by Measured Out my Life in Coffeespoons at 5:12 PM on July 26, 2021 [2 favorites]