Jessica Jones is coming back for a second season with even more girl power. Showrunner Melissa Rosenberg has announced that every single episode of the new season will be directed by a woman…

Before you question the necessity of this decision, just ask yourself these questions: why is it normal to have shows where every single episode is directed by men? Are men really more qualified to direct episodes of a show whose main character is a woman? I am not saying that men can’t accurately portray the experiences of women, but there is quite the disparity between the number of episodes in popular television series directed by men and by women. It’s actually shocking how few episodes of popular tv shows are directed by women considering how many episodes are released every year. In the 2015-2016 television season, there were over 4,000 episodes produced and women directed only 16% of them. Minority women only directed 3% of all episodes. While this percentage has been increasing over the past few years, it’s not growing fast enough. This is not due to the lack of women directors either. There are plenty of talented and qualified woman directors that are being overlooked.

This is an especially important step in creating room for more female directors considering that a large, well-known studio like Marvel is backing Rosenberg’s decision. The lack of female directors in television and film has always been on the periphery of the discussion of equal opportunity for women. Just by announcing this news, the studio is putting the issue front and centre. It’s important to have these discussions, especially when it comes to media, considering nearly all of us spend an inordinate amount of time watching tv shows. In a time where media is being produced and consumed at unheard of rates, it’s hard to believe that women are not being given the chance to play an equal role in influencing and producing what is released to the public.The television industry is dominated by the white male perspective, and with much of the audience not being white nor male, it’s difficult to see why they are being hired at a much faster rate than any woman or non-white director. Shouldn’t the people producing shows reflect the demographic of the viewers?

While 13 episodes won’t even raise the stats by 1%, it is a step in the right direction for highlighting and, hopefully, fixing this issue. Jessica Jones has the chance to change the current trend. The show already broke barriers by being the first Marvel project with a female superhero lead and its first season was a resounding success. If the second season turns out just as successful as the first, I would not be surprised if other shows followed in its footsteps by hiring more women.

I, personally, have extremely high hopes for the new season of Jessica Jones and am counting down the days until it graces my computer screen once again.

 

 

Jade Verbick

Image: theactionpixle.com