I haven't been on facebook a ton lately, (can you blame me!?! Everyone is pregnant or knocked up or on kid 2,3, or 4!) but I did log in and see a friend post the trailer to Chris Weigand's American Blogger documentary.
As I scrolled down to read the over abundant comments, I couldn't help but shake my head in disgrace. TONS of women were BASHING the women that were "chosen" to be in the documentary. Basically saying all the women weren't "real" women or "barbies" and real women bloggers don't look like that.
See for youself
Exhibit A (Haters)
See for youself
Exhibit A (Haters)
Are you serious? I couldn't believe it. All I gathered from it was your typical HS drama of girls being jealous of other girls. Girls being jealous that they weren't "picked" to be interviewed. Girls being angry at other women of having overly clean and neat houses. One comment I read of someone being pissed that they chose all RICH people. Are you kidding me?! Ladies! Retract those claws! You are an embarrassment to blogging if that's the kind of attitude you have!
Here's the trailer below. I personally am quite excited to watch it in June, and think Casey and her husband are good people. When are we going to learn to not be so judgemental of each other? Oh wait, that's right, never. Merica' people. Gotta love it. (sarcasm)
Watch it. Thoughts?
I agree with most of the comments written above. I was excited to watch the trailer and then instantly disappointed when some of the bloggers couldn't put an intelligent sentence together. Also, I believe they picked 20 or so bloggers to be in the film and only a handful were shown in the trailer.
ReplyDeleteNot only are most of the bloggers shown white and blonde, but they're also "happily" married with children. I would have loved to seen the perspective from a dad blogger, a full-time college student, or a single mother!
@Danielle- While I am stunned that you agree with the comments above, I think we, as women, need to take a step back and not tear each other down with jealous comments of hating those that were "shown" as blonde or thin or whatever the case may be. It's a trailer--which means we didn't see anything in it's entirety. That would be like judging a movie on the previews before actually going to see it. While I respect all the women that have voiced how they wished he would of filmed a male blogger or a dad or whatever, the fact of the matter is, Mr. Weigand was the film maker not us fellow bloggers. If hollywood came knocking and asked me who'd I cast in a movie then I'd gladly give my 2 cents but that's not the world we live in today.
ReplyDeleteWow I didn't see any comments like this (maybe because I follow a lot of the bloggers that were interviewed?!) I know there were some bloggers who aren't married with kids (Pink Lou Lou) also I want to know who wouldn't clean/make their house look the best it could if they were having film crews coming over!? But, I think you're right the main point is we have to stop attacking each other.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen any comments like this and I'm kind of shocked I watched the trailer and was excited to watch the full documentary. I think you are exactly right with the jealousy thing. I went back and watched the trailer and there are less blondes than the brunettes...(but I guess that's just people trying to make a point?) Also it's funny to me that the blogger who wrote the first facebook post is a "tall, leggy blonde"
ReplyDeleteI want to know who wouldn't clean their house, make sure everything was in it's place and have their kids looking their best if a film crew was coming over? I know I would want to be filmed at anything less than my best so complaining about their perfect house and perfect kids seems ridiculous too...
The bottom line is you're right we need to stop attacking each other!
I have to agree....there is zero diversity in the trailer. Not impressed. And it's no that I have anything against all the beautiful women, I just wish he could have shown a more well rounded group of "people" not just women and seemingly perfect ones at that.
ReplyDeleteI don't think people's criticism has much to do with "jealousy", as we are all aware that most people would put their best face on and go the extra mile to have a clean nice house to showcase. I think when most people read blogs we all understand that its mostly highlights of their life and not all the nitty gritty yucky bad days. This film had so much potential. The title is "American" blogger. But the people showcased are only a very small demographic of the American people. Perhaps a more honest title could have been.... bloggers my wife likes reading.
ReplyDeleteHere's my thing- you've completely misunderstood what I'm trying to say. I wish you would've asked me about it instead of blogging about it, but oh well. Here's more of my opinion: I've been to many blogger conferences and meet ups. The thing is- I've met some amazing women. For instance, why is Fawn Weaver not in the video? Her blog happywivesclub.com is so inspiring and uplifting, and she's become a NY Times bestselling author. Or what about Danielle Smith, who writes at extraordinarymommy.com who started doing digital correspondence and got freaking asked to be a correspondent at the 2010 Olympics. Or Alli Worthington who started out blogging and then created the conference BlissDom for bloggers? I would LOVE to watch a film about women who have made an incredibly huge impact, are smart businesswomen, and all in all are diverse.
ReplyDeleteAnd someone mentioned above that I, too, am a "tall, leggy blonde" -that couldn't be further from the truth. At 5 feet, I'm hardly "tall".
I want to see women ask thought-provoking questions and really give an opinion on why blogging is so much MORE than "writing to say something." It's MORE than "lifestyle blogger" or "fashion posts." It's not "bashing" or being "high school" if I truly feel like I (and the 100's of bloggers I've been fortunate enough to meet) do not feel represented to the best of our ability. I don't care to be in a movie like that, because there's definitely too much pressure to be a spokesperson, so I'm not "jealous" either. I hope that watching the movie when it comes out will actually give me a different perspective, but for now, I just don't have that. It's my opinion and it's OK to have that opinion (just as your opinion is ok too!)
I hope you haven't taken this as a wrong way or negative- but I felt the need to clarify.
While I understand all you say, It wasn't just you, there were many comments on other posts when I looked up the hastag of American Blogger where women tore any of the women feature to shreds saying they had to perfect of hair or their houses were homes of millioniares... I am just so tired of women in the blog community finding something to nitpick and bring other women bloggers down. It's this very reason why I hardly blog anymore. To easy for people to attack others behind a computer screen than face to face. Just makes me sad. I get that many were upset over the title, but when Mr. Weigand started this project, people like Matt Walsh, (a male blogger) had hardly been blogging a little over a year--no on knew of him or his blog.
DeleteThe majority of what I saw in the Twittersphere and on the filmmakers movie page was genuine disbelief that out of the 52 bloggers selected to participate in the making of a film titled "American Blogger" only two were minorities. As I understand, the filmmaker selected individuals from within his wife's inner circle of 52 bloggers. Which is even more disappointing because it once again showcases a very real problem we have in a country that is supposedly the most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations in the world.
DeleteI don't believe that calling attention to the very blatant disparity of minorities in this film is catty or childish, I think it's a very valid cause for outrage. I was actually shocked at the blow-back this film has received, because very rarely do people have the courage to speak out against something that does not directly affect them. The fact that so many bloggers, of all nationalities, can see the problem is actually quite comforting. The controversy surrounding this documentary isn’t being fueled by jealousy, it’s being fueled by people seeing something that is so obviously wrong and speaking out about it.
Conversations like these need to take place. I'm sorry that hurtful words were used. I truly am. That's not fair to the women who were a part of this process. A few of whom I've followed for years. But this isn’t about them. This is about the bloggers we didn’t see. The thousands of other bloggers of different genders, races, sexual orientations and genres that were and are not being represented in something that is supposed to encompass the blogging community. The blogging community that I know and am very proudly a part of is much more than a physical reflection of the 52 women who are listed on the American Blogger website.
Also, I'm absolutely failing to see the part in which Stephanie/The Vintage Modern Wife said anything that should condemn her to the “hater” category. I can clearly see that a few of those comments were out of line, but painting her as an attacker is not only inappropriate and misleading, but extremely rude.
Thersea- I'm actually not going to be blogging much anymore trying to shut it down. I appreciate your long comment however this is about all the feedback you are going to get from me seeing how I am throwing in the towel on this. Next time I'll remember to crop out the person who started the whole post it was not her comment that tore anyone down, it was the comments in the feed on her post that I was trying to showcase. Not sure how that got so messed up in all of this but oh well. It is what it is.
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