The Ottery
“If an otter can’t have fun doing something, it just simply won’t do it.”

AFI’s New 100 Greatest Films List: UPDATE

Via LookingCloser.org, here’s a response to the AFI list pointing out the lamentable lack of women directors (as in, none on the Top 100 list, and only 4 among the list of 400 nominated films). How many of the films have you seen on the counter-list of the Top 100 American Films Directed by Women? I got some catchin’ up to do, I admit.

I’m guessing there’s also a notable absence of films directed by African Americans, Asian Americans, or Latinos.

In looking over the two AFI lists again, I realized that one of the differences between the old one and the new one was the removal of The Birth of a Nation. Interesting. I’m not sure I’d be comfortable voting for The Birth of a Nation myself, as it was a piece of racist propaganda. But it sure was influential and culturally significant, which are two of the AFI’s criteria. There seems to be a greater shift towards taking a film’s message into account–which makes it all the more ironic that there are so few female directors or directors of color on the list.

Add comment June 21st, 2007

AFI’s New 100 Greatest Films List

Add comment June 21st, 2007