Amen, sister

Via Hollywood Elsewhere I am directed to this Empire article about everyone's least favorite genre, the chick flick, and good sense finally rears its head 10 graphs in:

The reason for all this sinister discord is ultimately, of course, men. “Fewer than 10 per cent of Hollywood films are written by women, and fewer than 6 per cent directed by women,” explains Melissa Silverstein, a movie marketing consultant and founder of the company Women & Hollywood. “So really what you are seeing is a white male version of women. And that is just unacceptable.”

Not that I'm volunteering, but it might be nice to have one of these things written by a straight guy for a change, or -- stay with me -- a good female writer who's not Nora Ephron or Nancy Meyers. Gay-guy snark is fun and all, but it's all too often mitigated by an edge of misogynistic cruelty. (Alan Ball. Enough said.)

Then again, I'm a huge Mary Gaitskill fan, and she's not exactly anyone's idea of a fun time on a Friday night. And when was the last time we saw a Joyce Carol Oates adaptation on the big screen, anyway? There's tons of great lit du femme out there, and what do we get instead? Sex and the City: The Return.