I stumbled upon the Hollywood episode one night and found myself literally pausing the program to take note of topics discussed and quotes from interviews with female producers, directors and creators in both television and film. I was almost surprised at how captivated I was. I’d like to think it’s because I analyze and appreciate the work itself, rather than focus instead on whether a female or male is responsible. I realize now how naïve that is. But isn’t that exactly what the case should be?
I've definitely forgotten how recently females transcended the gender divide. Positions behind the camera were few and far between for females until the women’s movement during the 1960’s and 1970’s. As a result, “most female characters fell into classic archetypes: the good girl, the girl next door, the fallen woman, the virgin, and the whore” (PBS). The iconic Jane Fonda recounts being told that “good girls weren’t ambitious”, so her acting followed suit. This pattern was broken in 1968 when actress Marlo Thomas starred in ‘That Girl’, the first show that centered around an all American working woman living on her own. Females only truly became eligible for all types of characters in the past 30 years.
I was shocked to hear the resistance females in the producing world have still faced in the past decade. The creator of Grey’s Anatomy, Shonda Rhimes, speaks about her meeting with ABC discussing the pilot episode. She and her producing partner were told by a room full of men “that nobody was going to want to watch a show about a woman who had sex with a guy she just met the night before her first day of work…That kind of woman was not somebody that any woman in America was going to know, that was not a nice person, that was disgusting, and that we had made a mistake” (Rhimes). Unfortunately, we still live in a world where some men feel the need to control women’s defining qualities. I say that more so in response to specific evidence, certainly not as a blanket statement.
We've definitely seen a significant shift in female power in Hollywood, exemplified by the bold openness of producer and actress Lena Dunham. She has certainly faced scrutiny for her frequent nudity and disregard for censorship. I think most of us applaud her and find her daring work on the edge of revolutionary. She views her work "on some level to be a reaction to the way sexuality has been fed to [her] at [her] age...but [she's] not coming at it from a perspective of wanting to elicit any shock reactions, [she's] just wanting to express honestly what [she's] seen and felt" (Dunham), and for that I celebrate her.
I want to leave this topic on an odd reference. Most everyone knows of the rather brash comedian Sarah Silverman. I personally am not a huge fan of her humor, but there was, for me, a silencing moment in the middle of her standup in which she said, “we need to stop telling little girls they can be anything they want to be because it never occurred to them that they can’t” (Silverman). My sister first told me about this quote and we both thought it was pretty powerful. Upon telling my boyfriend, he argued that we simply say that to all kids as positive reinforcement – that it is not used to single out one gender. I suppose it depends on the context. Either way, I do hope the next generation grows up to measure success and quality of work without any consideration of gender.
Makers: Women Who Make America is available to watch for free here.
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