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This Changes Everything (2018)
The male director aye?
The film This Changes Everything, a documentary that was released on September 8th, 2018, was directed by American director and producer Tom Donahue. The film mainly focused on the gender discrimination issue that's in the entertainment industry. It took a deep look at the gender disparity in Hollywood through the eyes of well known actresses and female filmmakers.
By using the opinion of top actresses like Geena Davis, Meryl Streep, Rashida Jones, Reese Witherspoon, Sandra Oh, Jessica Chastain, Tiffany Haddish, the film successfully used the logos rhetorical appeal, to prove the legitimacy of the issue, making the film seems much more credible, thus strengthen its stance towards the gender inequality issue. This can also be looked at as pathos appeal. By using actresses' stories and experiences, the film gave "the oppressed" in this situation a voice, to speak up and speak out. Which did successfully raise the audience's attention, allowing people to connect to the problem on a deep emotional level. Female audiences, actresses, actors, would likely feel empathetic emotions towards how the actress and female filmmakers are being treated, raising awareness of the issue, in the entertainment industry.
In my opinion, the film made a great use of background music, and was very well edited. It would often use intense background music, trumpet or guitar sometimes , in an attempt to make the viewer more excited and interested towards the topic. For example in the beginning of the film, actress Jessica Chastian said :"Filmmaking has told us no. Women shouldn't be focused on or learned about their desires, their wants, their needs, their fears." Which was a strong statement, but the fact that it was followed by an intense guitar melody made the scene stand out. During the discussion I made a comparison with the background music that director Michael Bay would use in his action movie trailer, making the movie seem more interesting. Also compared to the drum and trumpet music people would play before going to war, in an attempt to raise their soldiers's spirits. These are all great use of pathos, and in the film by using such a strong statement at the beginning of the film by actress Jessica Chastain, and by using such an intense melody, the filmmaker successfully made the film seems much more interesting and exciting, it was very smart more director Tom Donahue to use the pathos appeal early on in the film.
However, there is always space for improvement. Personally I think the choice of director was a miscalculation. I think by hiring a female director, it will improve the film's credibility. She will be able to view the problem from a female perspective, where the problem actually exists. The film also included a couple African American actresses , which I thought was outstanding. However, the film only focused on the injustice that they've faced as an actress, but not as a black actress. I believe by adding focus on the racial discrimination these actresses faces everyday, it connects people on many different levels. And it brings us back to Crenshaw's idea of intersectionality, by focusing on the racial discrimination and gender discrimination in the entertainment industry, it make us realize the importance and seriousness of this issue, also allowing audiences to connect from many different levels.
I believe instead of making a documentary, filmmakers should look towards making a video that is similar to a podcast form, like actors around table, but it's actress around table, having a conversation about the discrimination and inequality issues that still exist in entertainment industry today. It could even include alcohol, some of the podcasts I have watched seem to be having success with that. It makes the conversation a lot more smoother and the audience feels like they're a part of the conversation sometime, just simply by having a drink themselves. Also filmmakers should consider making the film shorter, people these days have less and worse attention span and are more likely to click on a short 7 seconds tik tok than sit down and watch a two hours long documentary.
Overall the film was well made, with the only flaw of having a male director. It successfully used pathos and logos rhetorical appeal on several different occasions, making the film much more interesting and credible towards the audiences.