Screen Queens is LadyClever’s new roundup featuring fantastic, groundbreaking females on stage and screen making headlines each week: innovative portrayals and story arcs, sketches and comedy, appearances, awards, and more.
Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road.
Mad Max Made MRA’s Rage: The heinous He-Man Woman Haters blog Return Of Kings [shared via DoNotLink.com, to connect to content without boosting problematic site’s search engine position] cried all the male tears this week about the sneaky, unfair feminism afoot in the flim Mad Max: Fury Road, which premired on Thursday. “Misogynists might be the first people to dismiss complaints about representation with time-honored comments like “she’s ‘just’ a character” or “it’s ‘just’ a movie/book/video game,” The Mary Sue pointed out, “but by admitting they’re threatened by Charlize Theron and Emilia Clarke’s bad-assery, Clarey and his commenters are also agreeing that the media we consume and the stories we tell are hugely important.”
“People keep saying ‘strong women’ but we are actually just women. We had a filmmaker that understood the truth of women is powerful enough and we don’t want to be put on pedestals or made to be unnaturally strong.” Mad Max: Fury Road star Charlize Theron
Amy Schumer Disses Ditz-Chic on Late Night Talk Shows:
” On par with her brilliant 12 Angry Men parody the week prior, Amy Schumer returned to her usual format this week with a sketch that pointed out the absurd way some young actresses conduct themselves on late night talk shows. Bill Hader plays a leering hybrid Letterman-Conan-Leno wolf-whistling TV host to perfection. Stretching her glossy legs from under a sparkling mini-dress, Schumer’s delightful “Lake Blively” character insists she’s a real tomboy, loves nerdy stuff like Star Wars and comic books, and has no clue how to even function in a dress and heels, giggling “I don’t even know how to sit. I don’t even know how to sit in it! I don’t know!” while climbing all over the seating. Her dig at a panel of accomplished and professional women tripping all over themselves apologizing for nothing is scarily eye-opening as well. If you’re not watching Inside Amy Schumer, you’re missing out.
Female Showrunners Spotlight: On Monday May 18, the Feminist Majority Foundation (publisher of Ms.) will honor showrunners Jenji Kohan (Weeds, Orange Is The New Black) and Shonda Rhimes (Scandal, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, and the goddess/creator of the Shondaland universe) at its 10th annual Global Women’s Rights Awards. “Women like Rhimes and Kohan are changing the way women are represented in popular culture — for the better,” complimented Mavis Leno, co-chair of the event with her husband and former Late Nite host Jay Leno. (No word on his opinion on the Schumer sketch.) The award is the highest honor given by the organization, according to Ms. magazine, which will recognize Rhimes and Kohan for “innovative programming that breaks sex and racial stereotypes, and gives voice to a variety of characters not often seen or heard on television — a critical component in winning full equality for women.”
Ryan Murphy’s Law: Ryan Murphy, the creator of Glee and American Horror Story, has another project up his sleeve, and the trailer for that show, Scream Queens, dropped this week.” The good news is that the first couple seasons of Murphy’s shows tend to be pretty entertaining. The bad news,” Jezebel snarked, “is that it’s highly doubtful that the entire cast—which includes Emma Roberts, Lea Michele, and Ariana Grande—will get murdered in the first episode, so it looks like we’ll have to take them along for the ride.” In addition to teacher’s pets Roberts (AHS) and Michele (Glee), Murphy also carves out a place in his teenybopper cast for original sceam queen and Halloween alum Jamie Leigh Curtis.
Dis-Grace and Frankie: On a Today Show appearance Tuesday, the co-stars of Netflix’s new baby boomer comedy Grace and Frankie, Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston, discussed learning that their female peers whose characters are the namesake of the show are being paid the same as the supporting role men. The pair agreed that the women “should get a raise.” “I think they’re being (cheated),” Waterston said about the actors and actresses earning the same amount as the men, according to NY Daily News. “They carry the show,” Sheen added. No word on whether or not Netflix plans to address the disparity. — Casandra Armour
