Another Moronic Meme about Women Directors

The Hollywood Reporter asked Colin Trevorrow about women directing blockbusters and he repeated the meme that's surfaced claiming that women directors are self-selecting themselves out of the running. Behind the comment is the ages-old idea that women are too something-so-good that they actually  need the protection of men, or wouldn't want to sully themselves, or are not shallow enough, or maybe just don't have a penis and so naturally don't belong where the money, power, and scope also just happen to be.

Since I run a women's film festival, I know plenty of women who say they'd like to direct a blockbuster, but because they're not delusional, they focus on stories they are likely to be funded to make. Or that they can make with self- and crowd-funding.
 
Treverrow's comment is the same argument as colleges that say they want diverse faculty but the candidates aren't there. Yes, self selection is a factor, only because of structural inequality making the price too high for one group that isn't ever asked of another. And before you tell me, a pretty good cook, about the heat in the kitchen, let me explain with a different metaphor.

Let's say we're all playing a video game, but the controller we use is unique to each person. Now imagine that the game settings are different for different types of people. If you're a white male, yours is on the easiest setting and if you are female, the game settings are higher. The guys compete and prove themselves against one another and develop skill and expertise they feel proud of. But only so long as they believe the game is fair. They cannot accept and still feel good that a woman has to play at a much higher setting where a single hit takes her health to zero and sends her back to square one. They can take out a monster with one or two hits where she needs half a dozen, by which time she's dropped points and armor and so needs to spend time and coin to get back to full strength. He blames her weakness because seeing how the scoring is rigged would rob him of his hard-won status.

As for the women, some battle it out, determined to be twice as good and to beat the guys despite their hidden advantage. Other women leave the game, deciding to compete in an arena where their abilities are rightly valued. Neither is the better choice, neither is right, neither is wrong. Nor is choosing to attack and sabotage the game. We're here, our dreams are legitimate, and we can only play a game we believe there is a chance of succeeding at.

I do think women have to restrain themselves from internalizing the external inequity. I think we have to remember that the game is rigged and withhold respect from those who score and dominate while playing at the kiddie settings while the rest of us struggle to play at all at settings that are so high it is hard to get out of the starting realm.