After going to see Wonder Woman (Dir. Patty Jenkins) during the opening weekend, I was hit with the idea of writing a piece about women in sound. I was so hyped when I read that Jenkin's film broke box office record, which basically saved DC from another disastrous film released post-Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (2008). And while I would love to talk about how much Patty Jenkins was underestimated and how Gal Gadot's performance is on another level, I feel like Wonder Woman and everything it has accomplished and represents deserves an entry of its own. It's no secret that the film industry is male dominated. The so-called "Hollywood Gender Gap" has been a popular topic amongst cast and crew--it has been analyzed and studied over the years and of course, achieving equality in such industry is still an ongoing battle. In an article by The Guardian it's mentioned how:
This got me thinking about how I can count the women engineers that I know with one hand, while I can go on and on about the men that work in the multiple positions that comprise the sound department for a motion picture. The sound department, whether it's production sound or postproduction is very technical and it requires an understanding of the science behind the equipment or what you're trying to accomplish. Imagine how rare it was for me, that I didn't learn about female sound editors until after I'd graduated college with a degree in Recording Arts. We still live in an era where we have to address a "female sound editor" or "female director" instead of just, you know, saying sound editor or director. When I was a senior in high school and people would ask me what I was going to study, I'd constantly hear: "You know... there aren't many females in that field of study.", "Recording Engineering? That's a first for a girl!" "Full Sail is mostly comprised of men". These were actual factors of motivation for me. I must admit that I didn't put sound department + women together until after I'd graduated and read an article about Oscar-nominated sound editor Becky Sullivan who was nominated for her work in Unbroken (2014). I was amazed and inspired--I was mostly in shock to have learned that she was the fifth woman to have been nominated for a sound editing Academy Award in the 30 years that this award has been given. This is the reality that we live and I can't understand why we still have this imbalance. This is something that I'm fighting to change-- these women have gotten there, and that's worth admiring.
There's also Mildred Iatrou Morgan and Ai-Ling Lee, the sound team responsible for editing the sounds of La La Land (2017), which earned them an Oscar nomination. I first heard about them on Soundworks Collection's podcast about La La Land's sound. Ai-Ling Lee was also nominated for Best Sound Mixing for her work in the aforementioned film.
Karen Baker Landers who is part of the famous audio postproduction company Formosa Group currently holds two Academy Awards for her work in The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) and Skyfall (2012). This was very interesting for me because the very first sound studies and analysis that I did were all about the first three Jason Bourne films.
There are many women who work in every aspect of the sound department, they just pass as invisible, especially with a department that is already invisible to audiences. We must keep fighting for representation; we must break this gender bias. It's important to encourage and teach young women that there are far more ways in which they can get into working with film apart from the artsy stereotyped positions that we tend to see in the Oscars. It's all about working as hard or even harder to achieve your goal. As a sound editor, I don't want to be hired because of my gender, I want my clients to want to work with me because of my skills, my keen eye for detail, passion, and experience. While it sucks to have to address this situation, sadly, we must. Representation is important, especially when it's earned. Just as I've found people to look up to, I wish that I could do the same for generations to come.
Women made up a majority only in costume and wardrobe departments and casting, all of which, traditionally, have been perceived as feminine workplaces. Visual effects, usually the largest department for big feature films, had an average of only 17.5% of women, while music had just 16%, and camera and electricals were, on average, 95% male.
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| Becky Sullivan |
There's also Mildred Iatrou Morgan and Ai-Ling Lee, the sound team responsible for editing the sounds of La La Land (2017), which earned them an Oscar nomination. I first heard about them on Soundworks Collection's podcast about La La Land's sound. Ai-Ling Lee was also nominated for Best Sound Mixing for her work in the aforementioned film.
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Mildred Iatrou Morgan and Ai-Ling Lee
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| Karen Baker Landers |
There are many women who work in every aspect of the sound department, they just pass as invisible, especially with a department that is already invisible to audiences. We must keep fighting for representation; we must break this gender bias. It's important to encourage and teach young women that there are far more ways in which they can get into working with film apart from the artsy stereotyped positions that we tend to see in the Oscars. It's all about working as hard or even harder to achieve your goal. As a sound editor, I don't want to be hired because of my gender, I want my clients to want to work with me because of my skills, my keen eye for detail, passion, and experience. While it sucks to have to address this situation, sadly, we must. Representation is important, especially when it's earned. Just as I've found people to look up to, I wish that I could do the same for generations to come.