Close your eyes and picture a typical biker. What does that image look like to you?
Filmmaker Michela Hall sought to challenge that stereotypical perception with her hourlong documentary “The Pillion,” which will show at the Lindsay Theater in Sewickley on May 1.
Hall currently works in production and social media management for Pittsburgh media company YaJagoff! and serves as adjunct faculty in media studies at Duquesne University. “The Pillion” was made as her MFA thesis.
Originally from New Jersey, Hall moved to Pittsburgh eight years ago to attend Duquesne.
“I love it here,” she said of her adopted home.
She chose this medium for her capstone project with an eye on the future.
“That’s what I would eventually like to do forever, full-time — documentary production. Travel, learn about people, learn about the world and tell those stories.”
Her own interest in motorcycles inspired the film.
“Getting my motorcycle license was always something on my bucket list and I had been fortunate enough … I had a colleague who was an enthusiast and helped me out getting started. I got my license, took the test, felt great, bought my first bike.”
But then, she needed a little bit of help.
“I was having a bit of trouble putting both of my feet flat on the ground, and that’s a safety concern.”
Her colleague advised her to buy a special part for her bike and take it to a dealership for installation.
“I tell them what to do with it, this is the problem I’m having. As they’re doing the work, we’re looking around the showroom and one of the sales associates — who was a man — kept talking to my male colleague about the bike in the shop and I had to remind him three times it was mine.”
This is not a unique issue for women in perceived male-dominated spaces, but it frustrated Hall nonetheless.
“Assuming once? I can understand that, but I had to remind you how many times? It’s really annoying with anything, if someone is asking someone next to you about your things.”
Having no context growing up for the motorcycle community, she didn’t know how common sexism and more rigid gender roles would be throughout the culture, so gears started to turn in her head.
“Are other people experiencing this, or how severely are other people experiencing this? I was truly an outsider, just deciding on a whim to join this community. That’s how it all started, because I was curious if other women were experiencing that.”
Historically, the cultural aspects of the biker lifestyle have been dominated by men, said Hall. “I thought leaving men out would honestly be a disservice because these gender roles affect everyone, not just women.”
She used the Instagram account that she created specifically for her motorcycling hobby to reach out and ask for others’ experiences, and used those anecdotes to guide her two-to-three-hour-long interviews with figures in local biking circles. She got more than 300 responses.
In her surveys, she found that the perception of the stereotypical biker — thanks to media like AMC television series “Sons of Anarchy” — is very much alive and well.
“A lot of women experience, you know, ‘Oh, how does your boyfriend feel about that? How do your parents feel about that? You would never ask a man that, so I don’t know why you’re asking me.”
She said that a lot of lifers within the community have tried to turn the stereotypes into a joke, as well.
“More women are riding, it’s still male-dominated, but the percentage of women riding goes up about one percent a year,” she said.
For the project, she interviewed local bike builders and dealership owners, as well as a philanthropic riding group called the Garden State Girls in her home state of New Jersey.
“When you show a motorcycle riding group, people think of a gang, and it’s like, no, they ride for all of these great causes.”
After two to three years of work, Hall is looking forward to bringing this project to a screening at The Lindsay Theater, but the future for this film is still a question mark in her head.
“To say I have a concrete plan, that would be a lie. I don’t. I’m just excited it’s getting somewhere off-campus.”