According to seasoned actress Reese Witherspoon, “what do we do now?” is an infamous line too often delivered by female characters within popular films. In her inspirational Glamour ‘Woman of the Year’ speech Ms. Witherspoon draws attention to the lack of female led stories within the Hollywood films produced today. This line she points out is a simple demonstration of the lack of power and agency screenwriters provide women within their scripts. After experiencing years of disappointment, waiting for scripts that contained powerful and intelligent women in lead roles, Reese decided to take matters into her own hands.
Reese Witherspoon is one of many women in Hollywood who are taking over storytelling in film and television in order to ensure women are being represented within the films that determine so much of our culture today. A pioneer within the industry, Reese started her own production company known as Pacific Standard. This production company has dedicated itself to finding stories written by women that contain interesting and complex women in starring roles. The company has found great success by producing popular films such as Gone Girl and Wild. Both films received nominations from the Academy Awards and the Hollywood Foreign Press. Nominations included best actress and best screenplay for both works. Within her speech Reese explained that the success of these films demonstrates how hungry the culture is for stories led by women.
This year especially has been exciting for women in film and television. Movies and television shows written, produced, and directed by women have already achieved great success. The Golden Globes has recognized projects like Big Little Lies, Handmaid’s Tale, I, Tonya, and Lady Bird as distinguished projects this year, with I, Tonya and Lady Bird receiving Academy Award nominations as well.
This year’s Golden Globes served as a platform for the Time’s Up movement in order to show support for women in Hollywood and women everywhere to speak out against abuse. Appropriately, several projects developed by women were recognized at this award ceremony. Most prominently, the hit mini-series Big Little Lies, produced by Pacific Standard. Big Little Lies tells the story of five different women, each fighting their own battles in a tight knit affluent community. The mini-series took home four awards, including best mini-series and best performance by an actress in a mini-series awarded to Nicole Kidman. Handmaid’s Tale, another project driven by strong female characters, won best television drama and best performance by actress in a television drama awarded to Elisabeth Moss. Each winner utilized their platform to speak out about the urgency to tell more stories from a woman’s perspective.
Image via The New York Times
With the Academy Awards quickly approaching, it will be intriguing to see if these trend-altering projects will receive the well-deserved recognition from the most prestigious award in the industry. Lady Bird has received five nominations in top categories, including best picture, best actress, best director, and best screenplay. Greta Gerwig, the writer and director of Lady Bird has achieved a huge feat for her best director nomination alone. In the history of the Academy Awards only five women have been nominated for this prestigious award, with only one winner – Katheryn Bigelow in 2010. I, Tonya, has been nominated by the Academy for best actress and best supporting actress. Margot Robbie has a lot to celebrate for this film, as her own production company LuckyChap worked to tell the story of infamous ice skater Tonya Harding.
Image via The Hollywood Reporter
It’s no secret the film and television industry is male-dominated. For years, men have controlled the stories and characters that sometimes misrepresent the vast and diverse populations of our society. Women deserve to have their stories told accurately and with authenticity. Screenplays that contain the one dimensional, sidekick female characters have become boring and jaded. Now more than ever it is so important to continue supporting filmmakers that dedicate themselves to telling our truths and our stories as women. It’s time to see women we know and women we love as the center of the story.
Although it seems as though the industry is making small steps toward equal representation, we still have a long way to go in terms of diversity. Women of color still drastically lack diversity on the big and small screen. Actresses like Gina Rodriguez are making an active effort to spotlight WOC trail blazers within the industry. Although the recognition received for the women led projects this year is an inspiring step in the right direction, stories that contain intersectionality and diversity is an immediate next step for equal representation within the industry.