The battle for recognition is tough to gauge. At what point does one feel that it has been established and has become a part of any official narrative? Take the case of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, for instance. The iconic creature was the only Universal Monster designed by a woman, the brilliant artist Milicent Patrick. She was tasked with designing the monster’s makeup by the head of the studio’s makeup department, Bud Westmore, after he saw sketches she made of actors on set. Universal loved her work and decided to send her on a publicity tour for it. Westmore resented losing the spotlight and went on to remove her from the tour and take credit for the design. More than 50 years passed before authors like Mallory O’Meara (with her book The Lady From the Black Lagoon) started rescuing the real story to give Patrick the recognition she deserved. Many more women effects artists are waiting for their turn.
Stories like these is why a San Diego Comic Con ’24 panel titled “Forgotten Creators: The Ladies Behind the Monster” was so important. Hosted by costume designers R.E. Nelson and Nikki Blackwell, it focused on three female VFX artists that have contributed to some of the most impressive creature designs in film during the 1980’s and 90’s but still fight the good fight for recognition on all fronts. It was easily one of the best panels at the convention and one that deserves to continue to grow and be replicated.
Nelson and Blackwell hosted three creators for the panel: Terri Fluker (Drag Me to Hell, The Blob, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), Tonya Ridenour Nelson (It miniseries, Army of Darkness, Gremlins 2), and Wendy Polutanovich (Mortal Kombat ’95, Star Trek: Picard, Earth Girls are Easy).
The breadth of talent on display was awe-inspiring, which made people sit up when they started sharing their stories, experiences, and teachings. Ridenour Nelson (who is also the mom of R.E. Nelson) was quick to note how filmmakers often disregard or minimize input from artists on set. She told a story about how an arachnid Gremlin from part two of the franchise was meant to die off on screen and how the director behind it overrode that for an impossible sequence that didn’t even make the final cut.
The director wanted the arachnid to go up in flames while also writhing in pain. Ridenour Nelson said it was a bad idea because the materials in the creature puppet were extremely flammable. They went ahead with it anyway and the result was a massive ball of fire that overexposed the film and made it unusable. Many stories of this kind were shared, and they all spoke to a very simple but firm point: listen to the experts on set.
Of course, what they experienced was the exact opposite more often than not. Fluker, for instance, focused on the challenges of making practical costumes that moved and flowed organically, doing what they were supposed to do based on their design and build. As to be expected, many observations from others who worked outside her field would result in battles regarding how things would look on film and how to actually get them to work in the first place (another example of a female expert’s opinion not being given the seriousness it merits, something that male artists experience to a lesser degree).
Fluker would go on to say that one way to help combat this is by reminding women creators to stick together and to have each other’s backs. She said this wasn’t always the case and that it was crucial for them to have that sense of community supporting their work given the resistance they still meet in the industry, which continues to navigate sexism and a lack of appreciation despite some of the steps taken to ameliorate that.
Polutanovich emphasized safety and health. FX artists are constantly handling toxic chemicals and their uncomfortable application. She pointed to her own experiences as cautionary tales regarding the physical challenges of the job and how self-care is perhaps the most important aspect of staying in working condition for the long run.
The demands of filmmakers and other interests can work against this, though, Polutanovich said. Sometimes a project is severely underbudgeted and so artists are asked to pull off miracles with what they have, grinding for long hours trying to be resourceful while putting themselves at risk with materials you probably shouldn’t be handling had the project been better funded.
Ridenour Nelson circled back on this with some harrowing stories about how sexism makes this job infinitely harder for women. At one point, she remembered an incident where she was struggling to carry big heavy bags of materials for work from one place to another. A fellow male artist who saw her having a difficult time at it told her that she should get kneepads to help the task go more smoothly (implying she should perform a sexual act on the men to keep them motivated).
Another story incident took place on the set of a commercial she was working on. A family emergency came up regarding her daughter that required her to leave the immediately and go straight to the hospital. The head of the FX creators team was visibly angry and told her “why the hell did you decide to have children in this industry?” The man who said this had children of his own.
Clearly, the battle for recognition is multifaceted and requires attention on multiple levels. What was special about hearing these women voice their experiences was witnessing their resolve, their refusal to allow the bad to cast them out from the work they so love doing. By persevering, audiences all over have gotten to see some of the most terrifying and senses-shattering monsters to ever have graced the big screen. Their legacy is undeniable, and they need to be given the exposure they deserve to avoid becoming a footnote in the history of practical effects (something we’re in dire need of given it’s still very hard to find comprehensive sources of movie credits and info on individual women in the effects industry). Thankfully, R.E. Nelson and Nikki Blackwell’s panel succeeded in doing precisely that, which an infectious hunger for more.
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