Saturday, October 10, 2015

Women & Hollywood

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/bdfb8bb8-6da3-11e5-8171-ba1968cf791a.html

Left to right, top to bottom: Sharon Stone, ‘Basic Instinct’ (1992); Katharine Hepburn, ‘Bringing Up Baby’ (1938); Cate Blanchett, ‘Carol’ (2015). Amy Schumer and Bill Hader, ‘Trainwreck’ (2015)’ Asta Nielsen, ‘The Abyss’ (1910). Dohee-Ya, ‘A Girl at My Door’ (2014); Kristen Stewart and Juliette Binoche, ‘Clouds of Sils Maria’ (2014); Vivien Leigh, ‘Gone With the Wind’ (1939); Michael Douglas and Glenn Close, ‘Fatal Attraction’ (1987). Charlize Theron, ‘Mad Max — Fury Road’ (2015); Michelle Pfeiffer, ‘Scarface’ (1983); Meryl Streep, ‘Manhattan’ (1979). Chrissie White and Alma Taylor, ‘Tilly the Tomboy’ (1910); Emily Blunt, ‘Sicario’ (2015); Agnès Varda, ‘Cléo de 5 à 7’ (1962); Carey Mulligan, ‘Suffragette’ (2015)©Getty/Alamy/Allstar/Mirrorpix
Impressive female-led narratives do exist, of course — at the London Film Festival this week, Carol, Brooklyn, Room and the German feature Victoriawere among them, as well as Suffragette. The real problem, as ever, remains in the multiplex, where genre (which is what sells, along with superheroes and sequels) tends to keep women in their allotted place as someone to tidy up and kiss it better.

Posted by at