Women in Directing and Icelanders’ Clothes Consumption: Projects Sponsored by the Student Innovation fund

Translation: Hólmfríður María Bjarnardóttir

The Icelandic Student Innovation Fund awarded a number of grants to university students this summer, with a special emphasis on creating more jobs for students. Students worked on a variety of interesting projects and research studies. Here we will share with you two exciting projects. One sheds light on the position of women in the film industry and the other on clothing consumption and recycling.

Gender-based discourse analysis of Icelandic films - Jóna Gréta Hilmarsdóttir

Jóna Gréta Hilmarsdóttir is a 21-year-old student at the University of Iceland who is currently finishing a BA degree in film studies with a minor in gender studies. Her research supervisor was Björn Þór Vilhjálmsson, teacher and head of the film studies program. Jóna’s research sheds light on how a director’s gender can affect the media’s coverage of their film. “There is a great lack of research regarding Icelandic filmmaking, and the media response toward certain films or directors has never been researched. We need data related to Icelandic film culture and the role of women. This study is a big step in the field of film studies here in Iceland.” Jóna analyzed the coverage of eight films from four decades. She picked movies by both female and male directors with comparable attendance numbers from the years 1989, 1992, 2001, and 2017 and compared the films for each year. 

“Everything points to the fact that women are at a disadvantage in Iceland, despite the MeToo movement, despite everything.” 

A male-oriented industry

The film industry has long been dominated by males, and Jóna Gréta says it has always been difficult for women to advance in the film industry: “Everything points to the fact that women are at a disadvantage in Iceland, despite the MeToo movement, despite everything.” According to a report published in 2018 by Statistics Iceland, men have directed 90% of all Icelandic narrative films, which is a decisive proportion. Clearly, women in the film industry face challenges, especially when it comes to securing funding for their work. Jóna Gréta then examined whether the media discourse makes it even harder for female directors compared to their male counterparts.

Conclusion: “Iceland is just one big family”

The research did not show a significant difference in the number of reviews by gender, as 57% of the coverage was about male directors and 43% about female directors, which indicates that men get a little more space. Movie reviews are more often written by men, and male writers wrote more about men and women wrote more about women. The study of these eight Icelandic films showed that women are far more likely to have their work attributed to someone else. There was more coverage of female directors’ private lives, with questions about childbearing, marital status, and other things unrelated to the film itself. Jóna Gréta says that it cannot be that only women have children or remarkable spouses.
She criticizes how overwhelmingly positive the coverage of Icelandic films is and says that Iceland is one big family, where negative criticism is frowned upon. Many have argued that this is not true, but Jóna Gréta’s research suggests otherwise. Of the 124 reviews that took a decisive stance on the films, 94% were positive, 3% were vague, and 3% - just four reviews - were negative. The few who snuck in and received negative reviews were articles written by men about women. Finally, Jóna Gréta says that it would be interesting to do a larger study of all Icelandic films in the near future.

Flokk till you drop - Berglind, Melkorka og Rebekka

"We were aware that we weren’t scolding anyone, there’s nothing right or wrong"

Berglind Ósk Hlynsdóttir, Rebekka Ashley Egilsdóttir, and Melkorka Magnúsdóttir were behind the project Flokk till you drop this summer, which was organized by the Red Cross, the Textile Center, the Iceland University of the Arts, and the University of Iceland.

Berglind Ósk is 25 years old and in her third year studying fashion design at the Iceland University of the Arts, Rebekka is a recent graduate in product design from the same school, and Melkorka is an anthropology student at the University of Iceland. They took a broad, interdisciplinary approach to the project. I spoke with Berglind and Rebekka about their project.

The project involved sorting a whole ton of clothes and textiles from the Red Cross that were collected across the country. The results of the sorting shed light on Icelanders' clothing consumption. To make the project more accessible, the women maintained an Instagram page where they shared information with people. They showed the process and informed followers about many aspects of the clothing industry. The project was not only interesting and informative, but it was also fun to observe what garments were made from textiles and materials that would otherwise have been thrown away.

Practicality of H&M

Their goal with the project was primarily to educate people so that they could make informed decisions in connection with clothing purchases. They specifically mentioned the importance of not scolding people, because nothing is right or wrong, and tried to create a good, safe platform for sharing knowledge. In their opinion, few people are willing to take a hard look in the mirror when shame is involved, as they quickly get defensive. The results of the study showed that most of the clothes they sorted were marketed to women, most of them were black, and most would be classified as fast-fashion and often came from developing countries in the Third World. The results did not surprise them; rather, they were a confirmation of what they already suspected.

Asked about the typical Icelander's consumption and clothing purchases, they say that it varies, but they notice that people are gradually becoming more aware. However, they say that many conscious individuals are tempted by the convenience and haste of buying one or two garments at H&M. The motive behind the project is to inform people about the process behind each product, because in this fast-paced and high-consumption society, we usually only see the final product. We do not think about all the work that goes into each product.

Down jacket turned into a handbag

After sorting and analyzing the data, the design process began. An unusual approach was taken in designing the garments, and materials and clothes that would normally be considered unusable were given a second chance. Asked about their favorite products that came out of this design process, Berglind says that she enjoyed using a bedspread from IKEA. From the bedspread, she made pants, two tops, and a bag: “... there you have a large piece of fabric that you put on your bed but then you can also wear it.” Rebekka mentions a belt pouch she made from the hood of a rain jacket and a Nike jacket zipper. It was also fun to see a handbag made from the sleeves of a down jacket and how the interesting texture of the down came out in the bag. The project’s products were featured in a pop-up market at Garðatorg, where people could come and keep a suitable distance while looking at both beautiful clothes from the Red Cross and the clothes to which Berglind, Rebekka, and Melkorka gave new life.