Gender specific film screenings: Yay or nay?

Wonder Woman, the  pop culture icon, has been making quite some news of late. A few months ago, after being  appointed as the UN ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls, a huge public uproar calling the fictional character to be ‘unfit’ to be an ambassador, caused her role to come to an end. Now, Wonder Woman, the movie, is making headlines across the world after certain movie theatres in the West decided to host women-only screenings of the film. This segregation of the comic book female superhero movie screening on the basis of gender did not go down too well among tweeple as they’ve been calling it a ‘sexist’ act. “Apologies, gentlemen, but we’re embracing girl power and saying ‘No guys allowed,” a particular theatre said. Film and social personalities closer home talk about whether they would consider gender-specific film screenings.

Actress Akshara Haasan calls it ‘meaningless’ to host such screenings. She says — “I don’t see the reason to separate film watching experience by gender. Films are made for everyone, keeping every gender in mind. I understand that the concern here is women empowerment, but we must remember that only when all the parties, irrespective of gender, come together, can we work towards empowerment. And I don’t see any reason for Indian cinema to follow suit, because that would be meaningless and going back in time.” As a Wonder Woman lover and cosplayer, model Ratikha Venugopal thinks that this particular case of Wonder Woman’s women-only screenings are only a part of the theatre’s way of creating buzz about the film. “While the intention is not to block men, the special screenings for women are probably for making some noise about the film.”

One should see it in the perspective that it is merely a marketing strategy to have all women celebrate a superheroine’s film over a few special screenings and it does not mean men can’t watch the film. I don’t see any need for Twitter users to be outraged about this,” Ratikha believes. A similar line of women-only shows could possibly be coming to our city, says Bhavesh Shah, the head of experience at SPI Cinemas. He elaborates — “We’ve been thinking about starting gender specific shows where women can come and have fun watching a movie, but we were planning this purely from an experiential and fun perspective but not as a way of treating any one particular gender in a special way or as a sexist statement. Maybe we could have an all-men show for a superhero movie, where men can come with their friends and have a great experience. I don’t see the reason behind the outcry as it’s only a few screenings for fun.”

Director Ashwin Saravanan says he doesn’t make gender-specific cinema, and hence he doesn’t look at screenings as a gender-based affair. “When I make a film, I look at it through a character, and not through the gender. It’s all about telling great stories that a storyteller eyes at, and to reach out to as wide an audience as possible. It’s silly to screen out men, even if it’s for a few screenings. I don’t make gender-specific cinema, and even if it were a film about women alone, I would want the film to have a big reach, irrespective of the gender.”