Giovanni Juarez

This Changes Everything begins with people discussing their frustrations with trying to advance in a male-dominated industry, along with the sexualization of female roles, and women writers. The fact that This Changes Everything was directed by a guy, Tom Donahue, is an intriguing component of all of this.Despite the fact that the film director is a man, he allowed women to take over the show to demonstrate that if given the chance, women can work in the same business as men. Some may argue that, given the subject matter, this film, in particular, should be directed by a woman. Every time the topic of gender parity in Hollywood comes up, it seems like the conversation quickly devolves to discussing and debating the awful statistics we've all heard before. The film is at its best, in my opinion, when it allows the brilliant, creative, and diverse group of women to tell their experiences, relive their battles, and share their sentiments.The documentary did a great job of presenting its message about gender injustice to the world, but I believe it would have been more effective and eye opening had intersectionality been included. What I mean by this is the term created by Kimberle Crenshaw, and the ways in which gender, race, sexuality, religion, and disability interact and overlap. An intersectional approach to illustrating sexism in Hollywood would strengthen the overall argument or logos of the film and give a greater sense of emotional response aka pathos with the targeted audience. By taking a lens on gendered oppression. What is meant by that is we would talk about race inequality as not being separate from inequality based on gender, class, sexuality or immigrant status. The value these missing elements would add to the film’s rhetorical effect or pathos would also add to its logos of the film. It would do this by teaching people that social identities can overlap, creating compounding experiences of discrimination. Kimberle Crenshaw the creator of the term intersectionality is saying that by “taking an intersectional lens” on gendered oppression. We can see that many issues can or often be caused by similar events that cross one another. Just like in the film many issues are often overlapping or very similar. By talking about race inequality as not being separate from inequality based on gender, class, sexuality or immigrant status. We would get the targeted audience to understand what an intersectional approach is and how to look through it. This is missing in This Changes Everything, and its discussion of gendered oppression behind and in front of the camera. These missing elements can harm the credibility or ethos of this film. In the film it brushes off the concept of race inequality being the same as inequality based on gender, class, sexuality or immigrant status. Due to this the overall effectiveness of the film might not appear to their emotions or pathos as much as it would have if those topics were included in the film. 7/10