On screen: Maria Giese, (L), Nina Menkes (R). Seated L to R: Michele Weldon, Rebecca Fons, Michelle Yates, Ines Sommer at “Brainwashed” panel at Facets Chicago. (Photo by Emma Greenleaf).

What you see is what you get. And what you don’t see is what you don’t get.

Nina Menkes, award-winning filmmaker, director and creator of the new documentary, “Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power” anchored a recent panel following a screening in Chicago at Facets on the historic visualization of characters identifying as women and how that mandates how systems treat half the world.

“@Menkesfilm, award-winning #filmmaker, director and creator of the new documentary, “Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power” anchored a recent panel following a screening at @Facetschicago on the historic visualization of characters identifying as #women and its effect on our society. ”

Along with four other panelists, Menkes, who teaches at the California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clara, Calif., discussed the broad-ranging effects of representation in film and how power in filmmaking has influenced a legacy of cinematic practices that leads to bias, diminishment, economic and employment discrimination and violence.

“This is about the larger context of who decides what gets seen,” Menkes says.

And it affects every aspect of life and culture because it establishes the norm and expectation of power from who gets what job, to who gets paid better or worse, and even who is listened to and who is ignored far beyond who is on set and on screen.

“Representation in #film affects every aspect of life and culture because it establishes the norm and expectation of power from who gets what job, to who gets paid better or worse, and even who is listened to and who is ignored. #genderbias”

“We are drowning in a powerful vortex of visual language that is very difficult to escape,” Menkes says in the new documentary. “There is a connection between the visual language of women to employment discrimination and sexual harassment and abuse.”

Beginning with who is the object in shot design and who is the subject, the power hierarchy is established, and further exacerbated in lighting choices, as well as dialogue, and the framing of women in fragments, rather than as a whole person.

“There is a sexist element to the script, dialogue and character, but shot design perpetuates the perception of power,” Menkes says. “And 96% of films do that, “ she says. “It is an attack on our selfhood.”

““There is a #sexist element to the script, dialogue and character, but shot design perpetuates the perception of power,” @Menkesfilm says. “And 96% of #films do that. It is an attack on our selfhood.” #genderbias ”

Examining systems of filmmaking over 120 years and citing examples from scores of movies from the silent era to the present day, Menkes asserts that this “cinematic language law” of sexualizing characters who identify as women in film is the predominant way women are presented and seen. And that is the problem. Because such inequity and misrepresentation leaks into all other aspects of society—from the workplace to relationships and society.

Speaking out on the urgency to raise awareness and take action on the gender imbalance in not only films, but filmmaking and production, Maria Giese, producer of “Brainwashed,” feature film director and member of Directors Guild of American, in 2015 instigated the ACLU and EEOC investigations in to the systemic and illegal discrimination against director identifying as woman. Her work informed the foundation for the #MeToo movement.

The discrimination in Hollywood studios and production companies was illegal as it violated Title VII, which led to some systemic changes in hiring and attempts at aiming towards gender balance.

It was “literally criminal,” Giese says.

“The #discrimination in #Hollywood studios and production companies was illegal as it violated Title VII, which led to some systemic changes in hiring and attempts at aiming towards gender balance. It was “literally criminal,” Giese says. ”

Filmmakers can call out the bias and act to correct it in hiring practices as well as content choices. “The content determines the direction,” Giese says. “Change is explosive.”

The wish with this documentary, Menkes says, is to raise awareness and instigate change. “Consciousness is transformational. Consciousness is illuminating.”

“One of the hardest things to do is to see what is right in front of you,” says Charles Coleman, film program director at Facets. “You have to de-colonize the eye.”

““One of the hardest things to do is to see what is right in front of you,” says Charles Coleman, #film program director at @Facetschicago. “You have to de-colonize the eye.” #bias”

Many others agree. Rebecca Fons, director of programming at the Gene Siskel Film Center, affiliated with the School of The Art Institute of Chicago, has been working to make audiences aware of the skewing of images and the imbalance that arises when inclusion and equity are not in the equation.

One of a very few documentarians in Chicago identifying as female, Ines Sommer, filmmaker, cinematographer and association professor in the MFA documentary media program at Northwestern University, added that documentaries differ from fictional films in how people are depicted.

“Many documentaries focus on strong women-identifying participants who have agency and their bodies are not shows in the fragmented, powerless, sexualized manner that is so commonly found in fiction film,” Sommer says. “It is possible to construct stories that don’t fall back on the tired visual language of Hollywood.” This is where radical cinema can provide an alternative to legacy Hollywood language and storytelling, she says.

““[In documentaries] it is possible to construct stories that don’t fall back on the tired visual language of Hollywood.” This is where #radical #cinema can provide an alternative to legacy Hollywood language and storytelling, Sommer says. ”

Being aware of the traditions includes being able to articulate the scope and impact. “It is important to have the language for this,” says Michelle Yates, associate professor at Columbia College-Chicago in Humanities, History and Social Sciences.

“Hollywood and mainstream film constitute a gender binary that is restrictive and problematic, and many are looking for find solutions to subvert and resist.”

Since at least 2020, Hollywood from script writers to Chief Diversity Officers have been immersed in trying to makes changes in diversity, equity and inclusion. The Hollywood Reporter reports, “In Hollywood, the major studios and most of the big guilds and streamers already had CDOs for at least a few years before that, thanks in part to earlier industry-specific inflection points, like #OscarsSoWhite in 2016. ‘While [inclusion] is everyone’s job, we need a professional just like we would with finance, legal or content,’ says Netflix vp inclusion strategy and former outside consultant Vernā Myers of the streamer’s decision to bring her in-house in 2018. The past two years have seen agencies and awards bodies adopt the role as well. CAA and WME hired heads of inclusion in November 2020.”

At the Hollywood Reporter’s recent annual Women in Entertainment event, Charlize Theron received the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award and addressed the audience identifying as women. “I want us to keep each other accountable, use each other as resources and push each other to keep using our voices and platforms for something greater than ourselves.”

Theron continues, “Leadership is not a one-person game, especially for women. We need community, not just to build one another up, but to help pass the baton to the next generation of brave women who will undoubtedly be up here one day, telling us how they solved the climate crisis or how they became the first American president.”

As she suggested, solutions may lie in the next generation of filmmakers and also in filmmakers aware of the offensive systems in place including those beyond the predominant identity in filmmaking of cis white male.

And while the predominant practice in the industry is a diminishment and fragmentation of those identifying as women in visual imagery, there has been improvement in the prevalence of female-identifying characters in film.

“And while the predominant practice in the #industry is a diminishment and fragmentation of those identifying as women in visual imagery, there has been improvement in the prevalence of female-identifying characters in film. #womeninfilm”

According to a 2022 report from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media, “From 2006 to 2021, representations of women and people of colour in Cannes creative work increased markedly. In 2021, Cannes Lions creative work nearly reached gender parity. Visually prominent female characters increased 13.7 percentage points across that timespan, from 33.9% in 2006 to 47.6% last year, which is the greatest share of female characters in Cannes Lions creative work between 2006 and 2021. And in their share of screen time and speaking time, we again see positive change: Female characters occupy 43.2% of screen time — an increase of about 3 percentage points from 2020 — and 44.3% of speaking time — an increase of about 2 percentage points from 2020.”

The report continues, “Also, in Cannes Lions creative work from last year, the share of visually prominent people of color increased 28.7 points, from 25.9% in 2006 to 54.6%, which is the largest share of characters of color in all Cannes Lions creative work between 2006 and 2021.”

Variety recently released its list of new Hollywood leaders which includes 43 men and 44 women. The statistical equity in leadership may inform a culture change.

“@Variety recently released its list of new Hollywood leaders which includes 43 men and 44 women. The statistical equity in leadership may inform a culture change. #genderequity #womeninfilm”

“What I hope with ‘Brainwashed’ is not that it is prescriptive. I’m not trying to tell anyone what to do. I’m not the sex police. “ She adds, “If you want to pick up a camera and zoom in on a woman’s derriere, that is your right. But please do it with the awareness of the context that you’re doing it in. And that context is 120 years of filmmaking.”

Take The Lead Leadership Tip of The Week: “Consciousness is transformational. Consciousness is illuminating.” Nina Menkes, filmmaker, “Brainwashed: Sex, Camera, Power.”

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About the Author

Michele Weldon is editorial director of Take The Lead, an award-winning author, journalist, emerita faculty in journalism at Northwestern University and a senior leader with The OpEd Project. @micheleweldon www.micheleweldon.com