Joan Q&A at ‘The Runaways’ screening at NYU

NYU’s Fusion Film Festival showed The Runaways this week, and Joan Jett attended and answered questions after the screening. No one knew she was going to be there.

The Runaways is the perfect fit for the Fusion Film Festival, a movie about strong women written and directed by a woman, Floria Sigismondi. It’s a great tale of girl power and rock and roll; set in 1975, it’s pretty much an Almost Famous for girls. Kristen Stewart plays Joan Jett, a shy badass who starts the first big all-girl rock band.

Read the rest HERE. I hope someone publishes a transcript or, better yet, a video!
I only care about the Q&A. The review is lackluster, to use the reviewer’s word, and this quote irritates me:

The acting is lackluster, but as a female filmmaker, it’s nice to see an empowering tale of strong women succeeding in a male dominated profession. That said, I do wish we could see a story of strong females without them having to be bisexual or lesbian. While Joan and Cherie did have a relationship in real life, it would be nice for filmmakers to show that women can be strong and independent without relying on the tired crutch of the badass lesbian character to garner attention for their films.

UM… It happened. It wasn’t something they made up to “get attention for the film”. It sounds like the reviewer thinks the movie would send a stronger message if these details had been left out. Why? I am married to a man, and I fail to see how the depiction of lesbian and bisexual characters in film threatens the perceived strength of straight women. If you need reassurance, go rent What’s Love Got to Do With It.
End of rant.
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~Robstenfan