Tertiary Education
Where does tertiary education fit in this scenario? There are two types of courses, which can roughly be divided into theory (the study of film and television programs as texts - a word that sends shivers down the spine of anyone working in the film industry) and practice (hands-on courses in film and video production). Women students usually attempt to straddle both, particularly if there is a component of feminist film theory. But as staff are frequently ideologically opposed, there is often very little integration between the two. This raises complicated issues for women students, saddling them with a kind of split personality.

Doing what they like best: blowing things up

Production courses developed in the 1970s in universities, colleges of advanced education, technical colleges and art schools. The recent university amalgamations have meant that production courses have had to identify their roles in a university structure which does not recognize film and video production as academic research, nor allow for the cost of equipment or for the necessity of small classes. Within the industry, these courses are given little credibility by employers, who insist that graduates still start at the bottom.

However, such production courses provide the only route into the industry open to women not through traditional roles. They also provide opportunities to give women role models by using women in the industry as guest lecturers. For example, this past semester we invited Georgina Gledhill, a designer, to talk to students about her work. In her presentation, she used drawings that show women in the decision-making positions of production designer, art director and props buyer. She showed men doing the job they really love: blowing things up.

Theoretical courses in media studies developed in Australia at much the same time as the resurgence of the film industry and at a time when semiotics was all the rage. Some of these courses, and the emerging women's studies in the 1980s, taught feminist film theory as it was developing in the United States and the UK.

Feminist film theory has been increasingly influential in media education and has informed some aspects of women's filmmaking. It starts from the premise that, in films, women do not speak in their own voice. They are represented only in terms of a male debate, so that films tell us more about male fantasies about women than women's role in society. The problem with feminist theory is that the language used is inaccessible for anyone but theorists, and is therefore seen by most women in the industry as not having much practical relevance.

The theory needs to be translated into a language that practioners can understand in order that policies can be developed to challenge both the basis on which films are funded and the structures in which they are being made. Women film theorists have not initiated that debate and are slow to enter the policy area. This means that feminist film theory remains in an academic closet, helping to raise the consciousness of women who take the courses, many of whom want to work in the film industry, but not providing any support or tools to put that theory into practice.