The other day, my family decided to go to a movie—the movie being Knives Out. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and all the elements to it, from cinematography to editing. However, I couldn’t help but notice the plethora of male names that came up, one after another, on the screen after the film had ended. 

I don’t consider myself to be the type of feminist that wants women to overthrow men in every line of work and live in a female only society, but I do want things to be equal. 

There are very few roles in the film industry that are historically acceptable to be done by a woman, those being costume designer, makeup artist, etc. Meanwhile, men dominate the film industry, by directing, producing, editing… This is not in any way intended to discount the amazing work that many men do on films, but instead to draw attention to the ratio of male to female directors, producers, cinematographers, etc. 

There have been so many amazing films put out by women lately, from ‘Booksmart’, to ‘Hustlers’, to ‘Queen & Slim’. These movies have made such an impact on gender norms in the film industry, and female directors are constantly crushing it. However, even with these strides there are still movies where basically the entire crew is made up of men, with maybe a female costume designer or makeup artist. Falling back on the stereotypes that built this industry into what it is will not change anything about the patriarchal industry that still exists today. 

The issue is that women are often overlooked in favor of men in the film industry, because men have always been the frontrunners of this industry. In 91 years of The Oscars, only one woman has ever won best director. Despite this lack of recognition, the amazing surge of female made films has done nothing but proven that women can do any job a man can do. 

Women are not asking for anything crazy, just for an equal chance to prove that women belong in the film industry, and that the movies that they create, can and will be just as good as any man’s.