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Women vs Hollywood: The Fall and Rise of Women in Film
'A fascinating polemic' Sunday Times
'A powerful , sobering and vital work' The Mail on Sunday
'A page-turning read, peppered with humour' Sight & Sound
'A must read ' Edgar Wright
A call to arms from Empire magazine's 'geek queen', Helen O'Hara, that explores women's roles - both in front of and behind the camera - since the birth of Hollywood, how those roles are reflected within wider society and what we can do to level the playing field.
Hollywood was born just over a century ago, at a time of huge forward motion for women's rights. With no rules in place to stop them, there were women who forged ahead in many areas of filmmaking. Yet, despite the work of early pioneers like Dorothy Arzner, Mabel Normand, Mary Pickford and Alice Guy-Blaché, it soon came to embody the same old sexist standards. Women found themselves fighting a system that fed on their talent, creativity and beauty but refused to pay them the same respect as their male contemporaries - until now . . .
The tide has finally begun to turn. A new generation of women, both in front of and behind the camera, are making waves in the industry and are now shaping some of the biggest films to hit our screens.
In Women vs The Fall and Rise of Women in Film , film critic Helen O'Hara takes a closer look at the pioneering and talented women of Hollywood and their work in film since Hollywood began. And in understanding how women were largely written out of Hollywood's own origin story, and how the films we watch are put together, we can finally see how to put an end to a picture that is so deeply unequal - and discover a multitude of stories out there just waiting to be told.
'A powerful , sobering and vital work' The Mail on Sunday
'A page-turning read, peppered with humour' Sight & Sound
'A must read ' Edgar Wright
A call to arms from Empire magazine's 'geek queen', Helen O'Hara, that explores women's roles - both in front of and behind the camera - since the birth of Hollywood, how those roles are reflected within wider society and what we can do to level the playing field.
Hollywood was born just over a century ago, at a time of huge forward motion for women's rights. With no rules in place to stop them, there were women who forged ahead in many areas of filmmaking. Yet, despite the work of early pioneers like Dorothy Arzner, Mabel Normand, Mary Pickford and Alice Guy-Blaché, it soon came to embody the same old sexist standards. Women found themselves fighting a system that fed on their talent, creativity and beauty but refused to pay them the same respect as their male contemporaries - until now . . .
The tide has finally begun to turn. A new generation of women, both in front of and behind the camera, are making waves in the industry and are now shaping some of the biggest films to hit our screens.
In Women vs The Fall and Rise of Women in Film , film critic Helen O'Hara takes a closer look at the pioneering and talented women of Hollywood and their work in film since Hollywood began. And in understanding how women were largely written out of Hollywood's own origin story, and how the films we watch are put together, we can finally see how to put an end to a picture that is so deeply unequal - and discover a multitude of stories out there just waiting to be told.
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews
February 24, 2021
Brilliantly written, pitilessly forensic, accurately researched to an atomic level. This is a great account of Hollywood history with a more than patient analysis of its inherent power imbalances. I loved every sentence of it.
March 4, 2021
Absolutely loved this book, it is so well written, extremely thoroughly researched and very readable with interviews adding context and texture to the research. A thorough look at women in Hollywood from their success in silent movies and how the transfer to talking pictures and the studio system created the male dominated industry we struggle with today.
I really liked that when the author was considering the position of women in film, she also considered women of colour, LGBT people and people with disabilities. It's very much an intersectional feminist text and much richer for that. The author also clearly has an extensive knowledge of film which shines through in her writing but also in the research she has done. Also in the humour that lightens appropriately and the seriousness with which she writes about sexual, racial and gender harassment that was endemic within the film industry and is slowly beginning to change.
I enjoyed the breadth of the book, the author considers all aspects of the film making business from the studio heads, to directors, actors, producers, crew and also critics and their role in supporting and reinforcing the white male cis normative status quo. The last chapter is a wonderful hopeful chapter on how if we love film and want to see films that reflect diverse lives, what we can do to make that happen.
Reading this book helped me articulate why I am struggling with films that come out of Hollywood especially when they refuse to embrace diversity and I would say this book is a must read for anyone interested in film and also it's relationship with cultural 'norms'.
I really liked that when the author was considering the position of women in film, she also considered women of colour, LGBT people and people with disabilities. It's very much an intersectional feminist text and much richer for that. The author also clearly has an extensive knowledge of film which shines through in her writing but also in the research she has done. Also in the humour that lightens appropriately and the seriousness with which she writes about sexual, racial and gender harassment that was endemic within the film industry and is slowly beginning to change.
I enjoyed the breadth of the book, the author considers all aspects of the film making business from the studio heads, to directors, actors, producers, crew and also critics and their role in supporting and reinforcing the white male cis normative status quo. The last chapter is a wonderful hopeful chapter on how if we love film and want to see films that reflect diverse lives, what we can do to make that happen.
Reading this book helped me articulate why I am struggling with films that come out of Hollywood especially when they refuse to embrace diversity and I would say this book is a must read for anyone interested in film and also it's relationship with cultural 'norms'.
February 27, 2021
A must read for anyone interested in cinema. Helen O'Hara brings together her excellent research to tell a surprising and shocking story of how Hollywood, and the cinema industry more widely, has systematically suppressed and constrained the voices of talented women and other marginalised people. We are all the poorer for this lack of diversity. As O'Hara says:
"If you truly believe in the power of cinema, then you should want to hear a plurality of voices in your local multiplex because there is more chance that something extraordinary will occur. If you truly care about film, you should want to be transported into the lives of people quite unlike yourself – and that doesn’t just mean white-coded wizards and aliens. Roger Ebert called cinema a machine for creating empathy. It’s up to us to actually use it to build empathy for everyone, and not just, or mostly, straight white men."
"If you truly believe in the power of cinema, then you should want to hear a plurality of voices in your local multiplex because there is more chance that something extraordinary will occur. If you truly care about film, you should want to be transported into the lives of people quite unlike yourself – and that doesn’t just mean white-coded wizards and aliens. Roger Ebert called cinema a machine for creating empathy. It’s up to us to actually use it to build empathy for everyone, and not just, or mostly, straight white men."
March 8, 2021
Read this book. It will make you angry and leave you with a long list of films to watch, re-watch and recommend. Well researched, well written and full of stories you'll wish you'd known sooner. A real celebration of women in film.
October 4, 2023
an amazing history of hollywood for someone not super familiar with old hollywood. o’hara’s writing makes this plenty entertaining, not just informative
February 7, 2025
should be read by anyone whose ever watched a movie
May 6, 2021
Fascinating subject let down in the early chapters by a lot of skimming over the stories of many of the women in early Hollywood - it is a vast subject so perhaps it's understandable that the accounts of brief. The other thing that is getting on my nerves is the writer's style which is jokey, flip, and opinionated. This is precisely why others enjoy her columns but for me distracts from what she is saying.
However, this is an important subject and needs to be discussed. Perhaps it will improve in the later chapters.
However, this is an important subject and needs to be discussed. Perhaps it will improve in the later chapters.
March 26, 2022
Some eye-opening stuff about the early years of cinema, where women were more autonomous, becoming directors, writers, and producers as well as actors and stunt-performers. But of course, when the money-men got involved sexism, racism and homophobia crept in and womens' roles become much more circumscribed - same old story. I wasn't particularly interested in the final section about which female millionaires got pay-parity with which male millionaires (!) in the industry, or who was entered for the awards at what film festival, but overall it was an enjoyable and interesting book.
August 24, 2021
I definitely need to read more books on film because I loved this.
I loved the wide variety of topics that this covered and it really showed why there needs to be a greater effort towards inclusion in Hollywood, especially at the top levels.
I loved the wide variety of topics that this covered and it really showed why there needs to be a greater effort towards inclusion in Hollywood, especially at the top levels.
February 19, 2022
I love books about film, the history of it and the stories behind it, and Women Vs Hollywood is an immediately vital addition to that conversation.
Written with conversational ease by Helen O’Hara, it gives a grand overview of Hollywood filmmaking and the role of women in it, which was far greater than I knew during the medium’s early days. O’Hara details many influential female talents working just as tirelessly as the men - and notes that it was originally a drive to entice female viewers that led to the importance of movie narratives at all. This whole section of the book is enormously eye-opening.
Once the industry becomes big business, doors began to close for anyone other than white men. O’Hara examines many fields (such as the Hayes Code of the 50s/60s, the thrilling but male-centric New Hollywood of the 70s, the modern reliance on franchises) where the all-importance of male voices simply became a self-fulfilling prophecy. She examines the importance of social media (love it or hate it) in turning the tide, as well as highlighting the positive change that is happening at greater speeds for all groups other than the one that has dominated the movies for nearly a century. The whole timeline is thrillingly up to date, taking into account box office successes like Avengers: Endgame and all the Twitter fiascos that crop up around similar large scale movies that feature women.
All this, plus a sharp wit and a frank readability, renders the deeply researched Women Vs Hollywood a book to be thrust into the hands of film nuts with the same enthusiasm as Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. If anything it is more important, right now, as a set text.
Written with conversational ease by Helen O’Hara, it gives a grand overview of Hollywood filmmaking and the role of women in it, which was far greater than I knew during the medium’s early days. O’Hara details many influential female talents working just as tirelessly as the men - and notes that it was originally a drive to entice female viewers that led to the importance of movie narratives at all. This whole section of the book is enormously eye-opening.
Once the industry becomes big business, doors began to close for anyone other than white men. O’Hara examines many fields (such as the Hayes Code of the 50s/60s, the thrilling but male-centric New Hollywood of the 70s, the modern reliance on franchises) where the all-importance of male voices simply became a self-fulfilling prophecy. She examines the importance of social media (love it or hate it) in turning the tide, as well as highlighting the positive change that is happening at greater speeds for all groups other than the one that has dominated the movies for nearly a century. The whole timeline is thrillingly up to date, taking into account box office successes like Avengers: Endgame and all the Twitter fiascos that crop up around similar large scale movies that feature women.
All this, plus a sharp wit and a frank readability, renders the deeply researched Women Vs Hollywood a book to be thrust into the hands of film nuts with the same enthusiasm as Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. If anything it is more important, right now, as a set text.
July 4, 2024
“The men who ruled Hollywood for decades and those who invested vast sums in their work assumed that women had nothing extra to offer the film business, that film was not missing out on anything important. But that’s the greatest mistake: we do, and it is.”
This book was incredibly educational and incredibly frustrating at times. With my husband in the film industry, I’ve seen first hand how few women there are and how it hurts the industry.
I’ve always enjoyed movies but this book makes me extremely excited to consume media with greater care, support marginalized voices, and advocate for more representation.
It’s not a five star read in that it was incredibly written (although it is quite engaging), but more to do with the fact that I haven’t stopped thinking about it and talking about it since I started reading. Incredible work.
This book was incredibly educational and incredibly frustrating at times. With my husband in the film industry, I’ve seen first hand how few women there are and how it hurts the industry.
I’ve always enjoyed movies but this book makes me extremely excited to consume media with greater care, support marginalized voices, and advocate for more representation.
It’s not a five star read in that it was incredibly written (although it is quite engaging), but more to do with the fact that I haven’t stopped thinking about it and talking about it since I started reading. Incredible work.
August 2, 2023
I knew it was bad for women in Hollywood but holy shit. Once again, men have surpassed my expectations in the worst way possible.
This was incredibly well written and researched. I was going back and forth between the book and about 13 Wikipedia articles constantly, trying to absorb as much knowledge as possible.
There’s so much history in Hollywood (despite the fact that it’s only 100-ish years old. Pretty short in the grand scheme of things) and O’Hara is in depth, hilarious and brutal all at the same time. She covers the struggles of women from the Silent Era all the way through to present day, the #MeToo movement, the lack of female film critics and effect that the majority of male critics have on the industry … she’s incredibly thorough.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
This was incredibly well written and researched. I was going back and forth between the book and about 13 Wikipedia articles constantly, trying to absorb as much knowledge as possible.
There’s so much history in Hollywood (despite the fact that it’s only 100-ish years old. Pretty short in the grand scheme of things) and O’Hara is in depth, hilarious and brutal all at the same time. She covers the struggles of women from the Silent Era all the way through to present day, the #MeToo movement, the lack of female film critics and effect that the majority of male critics have on the industry … she’s incredibly thorough.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
May 8, 2024
A fabulous, horrifying and yet often witty account of the plight of women (and, indeed, various other, long-ignored creative talent pools) in Hollywood from the silent era to the franchise-driven 21st century realm. O'Hara's analysis covers the sexism and misogyny inherent in U.S. film censorship, auteur theory, enduring salary gaps, the seemingly liberated New Hollywood of the 1970s, and, of course, the age of #metoo. The stats speak for themselves, the research unearths many disturbing truths and, though cautiously optimistic about recent advances, O'Hara doesn't let us forget it took Hollywood over 100 years to get...not nearly far enough.
March 21, 2024
I was a teenager in the time of Feminism in 1970s. I was sure then, that in approx. 10 years men and women would be equal. That gender or race would not be a thing anymore. So many things went wrong over the last 50 years, especially for women. It's not only time to stand, it's time to take action and think more about fair and equal conditions in every aspect of live. I still believe that women, People of Colour or LGBTQIA+ community are very powerful and that everybody should be treated equally.
This book reminds me that there is still a lot of room for improvement.
This book reminds me that there is still a lot of room for improvement.
February 7, 2025
This was absolutely incredible - I've been drawn towards books about film/Hollywood recently, and this book was the perfect intersection of Hollywood and feminism.
Each chapter examines a different barrier to entry that women have to Hollywood, as actresses, directors and critics. It's such a well researched book, and takes you through ~100 years of history in a way that never feels bogged down. I would recommend to anyone who has an interest in Hollywood history!
Each chapter examines a different barrier to entry that women have to Hollywood, as actresses, directors and critics. It's such a well researched book, and takes you through ~100 years of history in a way that never feels bogged down. I would recommend to anyone who has an interest in Hollywood history!
November 9, 2022
Full of indispensable information and written with real wit. It starts out as a vital exploration of a gendered history of film, then slides effortlessly into political statement about current Hollywood.
It is a book that is aware of its limitations, of its specific lens, and uses this as part of the conversation it spurs. Brilliantly researched, excellently written and just damn good.
It is a book that is aware of its limitations, of its specific lens, and uses this as part of the conversation it spurs. Brilliantly researched, excellently written and just damn good.
July 25, 2023
super interesting and eye opening despite already know a lot about film history, the voice was very honest without making everything depressing which i appreciated cos jesus christ women’s history in general gets me every time. gonna be a very useful resource for uni too so killed two birds with one stone
April 17, 2024
It was women vs Hollywood and there's no prizes for guessing who won...
"If you're a white man, you get multiple chances to fail. If you're a Black woman, you get none. The sign that we have achieved parity in directing will not come when we see exceptional women, and especially women of colour, succeed: it will be when decent female directors get another chance after a flop, just like the white men do".
"If you're a white man, you get multiple chances to fail. If you're a Black woman, you get none. The sign that we have achieved parity in directing will not come when we see exceptional women, and especially women of colour, succeed: it will be when decent female directors get another chance after a flop, just like the white men do".
February 23, 2022
This was so interesting! My poor mum has been getting facts thrown at her whenever she’s phoned me. I highly recommend.
This just goes to show that I need to read more non fiction as I love it when I do!
This just goes to show that I need to read more non fiction as I love it when I do!
November 26, 2022
Excellent - Helen O'Hara packs in so much history, argument, interviews and opinion into a brilliantly readable book. Essential reading for anyone with any kind of power in the film industry.
December 11, 2023
Entertaining and insightful read, though I must say it makes me nervous as a non straight cis man going into this industry lol
January 29, 2024
For those cinema lovers: mandatory reading!
June 17, 2024
I didn’t entirely read this book tbh oops I was using it for my dissertation and it helped me get a B+ yup🔥 very very interesting book though 🧚🏼♂️
September 20, 2024
Let’s do something about this
January 30, 2024
What an incredible read! This book is extremely well-researched and detailed without ever getting boring. The writing is very witty and feels like a friend is telling you all of this.
O'Hara managed to showcase how institutional marginalisation works and how far-reaching its effects can be. It's a perfect example of what affects so many industries.
O'Hara managed to showcase how institutional marginalisation works and how far-reaching its effects can be. It's a perfect example of what affects so many industries.
February 26, 2024
Everyone who enjoys any type of entertainment needs to read this. Support women, LGBTQ2 & people of colour making movies people! Can't recommend enough.
O'Hara writing is immersive and addictive, drawing you in til you can't stop reading. I keep hoping she'll wrote some fiction as I'd love to hear her voice there.
O'Hara writing is immersive and addictive, drawing you in til you can't stop reading. I keep hoping she'll wrote some fiction as I'd love to hear her voice there.
May 28, 2024
Pithy, playful, and provocative, O'Hara's voice is well suited to her chosen subject. Her history of women in Hollywood--a history of occlusion, fetishisation, subjugation, and more recently retribution--is, with its frequently eye rolling exasperation at the studio system and its legacy, a definite call for change.
O'Hara cites the infamous monologue from Dance, Girl, Dance, delivered by a dancing girl to an audience of lecherous men, for its sentiment echoes O'Hara's own thesis. 'I know you want to tear my clothes off so you can look your fifty cents' worth. What's it for? So you can go home when the show's over and strut before your wives and play at being the stronger sex?'--even now Arzner's monologue feels startlingly incisive. Like Arzner's titular dancing girl, O'Hara reads Hollywood not simply as a Mulveyan play to the male gaze that objectifies its female stars. It is, rather, an industry which monetises misogyny, and enshrines the masculinist posturing of power, weaponising an uncultured feminine erotic against the women who are commanded to perform that selfsame eroticism.
Worth reading for the quippy takedowns of studio heads alone!
O'Hara cites the infamous monologue from Dance, Girl, Dance, delivered by a dancing girl to an audience of lecherous men, for its sentiment echoes O'Hara's own thesis. 'I know you want to tear my clothes off so you can look your fifty cents' worth. What's it for? So you can go home when the show's over and strut before your wives and play at being the stronger sex?'--even now Arzner's monologue feels startlingly incisive. Like Arzner's titular dancing girl, O'Hara reads Hollywood not simply as a Mulveyan play to the male gaze that objectifies its female stars. It is, rather, an industry which monetises misogyny, and enshrines the masculinist posturing of power, weaponising an uncultured feminine erotic against the women who are commanded to perform that selfsame eroticism.
Worth reading for the quippy takedowns of studio heads alone!
September 12, 2022
I sometimes think I need a new shelf on here called 'books which made me mad'... This one had me fuming. All those talented women out there who had careers affected, shortened, ruined or stopped from happening in the first place because of terrible men and horrible patriarchal society they built!
"What specific area of world history is this about, Holly" you ask, unsure due to sheer enormity of the problems terrible men have caused talented women in many many areas.
Cinema. Film-making. Creating moving pictures with or without sound to entertain. And doing so in the desert of California.
This book traces the Hollywood history of women, and considering it is already straining at the edges with examples left on the cutting-room floor, it's a good thing it's just limited to Hollywood. Helen O'Hara has jam-packed this with examples and information. Want some horrifying statistics? Some rage-inducing anecdotes? A consistent effort to include women of colour and LGBTQ+ people, which makes everything even worse cos they get it worse than white straight cis women? Oh yes, the research and receipts are here.
It's well written, although if you're not a fan of that slightly snarky millennial tone then you might find some of the darker jokes a bit distracting (I love them). I think the only thing I wanted that it lacked was a list at the end of all the films mentioned that those women made.
"What specific area of world history is this about, Holly" you ask, unsure due to sheer enormity of the problems terrible men have caused talented women in many many areas.
Cinema. Film-making. Creating moving pictures with or without sound to entertain. And doing so in the desert of California.
This book traces the Hollywood history of women, and considering it is already straining at the edges with examples left on the cutting-room floor, it's a good thing it's just limited to Hollywood. Helen O'Hara has jam-packed this with examples and information. Want some horrifying statistics? Some rage-inducing anecdotes? A consistent effort to include women of colour and LGBTQ+ people, which makes everything even worse cos they get it worse than white straight cis women? Oh yes, the research and receipts are here.
It's well written, although if you're not a fan of that slightly snarky millennial tone then you might find some of the darker jokes a bit distracting (I love them). I think the only thing I wanted that it lacked was a list at the end of all the films mentioned that those women made.
August 22, 2023
A really interesting polemic on the woes women have faced to break into the film industry, and continue to face. I knew there were barriers, but some of the examples quoted here are jaw dropping.
May 28, 2021
(An Audio version of this will appear on the Book Review Podcast – Reading in Bed (readinginbed.bandcamp.com) at the start of June 2021.
Helen O’Hara
Women vs Hollywood: The Fall and Rise of Women in Film
Blurb:
A call to arms from Empire magazine's 'geek queen', Helen O'Hara, that explores women's roles - both in front of and behind the camera - since the birth of Hollywood, how those roles are reflected within wider society and what we can do to level the playing field.
The dawn of cinema was a free-for-all, and there were women who forged ahead in many areas of filmmaking. Early pioneers like Dorothy Arzner (who invented the boom mic, among other innovations) and Alice Guy-Blache shaped the way films are made. But it wasn't long before these talented women were pushed aside and their contributions written out of film history. How and why did this happen?
In Women vs Hollywood: The Fall and Rise of Women in Film, Empire's 'geek queen' Helen O'Hara takes a closer look at the pioneering and talented women of Hollywood and their work in film since Hollywood began. Equal representation in film matters because it both reflects and influences wider societal gender norms. In understanding how women were largely written out of Hollywood's own origin story, and how the films we watch are put together, we can finally see how to put an end to a picture that is so deeply unequal - and discover a multitude of stories out there just waiting to be told.
Strengths:
Anybody who knows me knows I am a huge fan of the Podcast series ‘You must remember this’ by Karina Longworth and also her excellent book ‘Seduction’ which I reviewed a few months back, so this book kinda runs hand in hand with that as it discusses the role of Women in Film.
Ask Amanda a question:
How many films did Universal Studios release with Women credited as directors? 8
And how many did they release a hundred years later? 1. Pitch Perfect 3.
This simply is a very, very well written book. I’ve being familiar with Ms O’Hara’s work on Empire Magazine and also the Empire Magazine Podcast for years and years and it really isn’t a surprise that the amount of research she has done it really shows showing a thorough look at women from their success in silent movies and how the transfer to talking pictures in the 1930s and the creation of the studio system created the male dominated industry we struggle to this very day.
Through You must remember this and Seduction, I was familiar with the work of countless actresses who were often cast aside when they got to a certain age as well of the work of Alice Guy-Blanché and Dorothy Arzner but I wasn’t aware how few other women existed in the director and other key creative roles and how over the 30s onwards how they were pushed into the background.
One point that stuck with me was the case of Patty Jenkins who did incredibly well with Monster back in 2003 but then faced an epic 14 year battle before her next film came out Wonder Woman in 2017 with loads of projects not getting made for various reasons.
There is a lot I could quote here but I won’t and simply say go and read it and learn.
Weaknesses:
It’s not as good as Seduction or You must remember this as it is only 300 odd pages. To really expand on some of the points raised here, you really need probably another 600 or so pages to really get to grips with some of the stories here but as a starting point, it’s a great start even though I struggled with the points in the last chapter or two from now-days as I wanted to learn more about some of the characters from the earlier days more as some of them who I won’t name and who I wasn’t familiar sounded doozeys of stories. Perhaps a follow up, Ms O’Hara?
Conclusion:
I really enjoyed this book. It’s very well told indeed, even though I didn’t enjoy the last few chapters as much but it didn’t put me off too much.
Excellent stuff. 8.5/10
Helen O’Hara
Women vs Hollywood: The Fall and Rise of Women in Film
Blurb:
A call to arms from Empire magazine's 'geek queen', Helen O'Hara, that explores women's roles - both in front of and behind the camera - since the birth of Hollywood, how those roles are reflected within wider society and what we can do to level the playing field.
The dawn of cinema was a free-for-all, and there were women who forged ahead in many areas of filmmaking. Early pioneers like Dorothy Arzner (who invented the boom mic, among other innovations) and Alice Guy-Blache shaped the way films are made. But it wasn't long before these talented women were pushed aside and their contributions written out of film history. How and why did this happen?
In Women vs Hollywood: The Fall and Rise of Women in Film, Empire's 'geek queen' Helen O'Hara takes a closer look at the pioneering and talented women of Hollywood and their work in film since Hollywood began. Equal representation in film matters because it both reflects and influences wider societal gender norms. In understanding how women were largely written out of Hollywood's own origin story, and how the films we watch are put together, we can finally see how to put an end to a picture that is so deeply unequal - and discover a multitude of stories out there just waiting to be told.
Strengths:
Anybody who knows me knows I am a huge fan of the Podcast series ‘You must remember this’ by Karina Longworth and also her excellent book ‘Seduction’ which I reviewed a few months back, so this book kinda runs hand in hand with that as it discusses the role of Women in Film.
Ask Amanda a question:
How many films did Universal Studios release with Women credited as directors? 8
And how many did they release a hundred years later? 1. Pitch Perfect 3.
This simply is a very, very well written book. I’ve being familiar with Ms O’Hara’s work on Empire Magazine and also the Empire Magazine Podcast for years and years and it really isn’t a surprise that the amount of research she has done it really shows showing a thorough look at women from their success in silent movies and how the transfer to talking pictures in the 1930s and the creation of the studio system created the male dominated industry we struggle to this very day.
Through You must remember this and Seduction, I was familiar with the work of countless actresses who were often cast aside when they got to a certain age as well of the work of Alice Guy-Blanché and Dorothy Arzner but I wasn’t aware how few other women existed in the director and other key creative roles and how over the 30s onwards how they were pushed into the background.
One point that stuck with me was the case of Patty Jenkins who did incredibly well with Monster back in 2003 but then faced an epic 14 year battle before her next film came out Wonder Woman in 2017 with loads of projects not getting made for various reasons.
There is a lot I could quote here but I won’t and simply say go and read it and learn.
Weaknesses:
It’s not as good as Seduction or You must remember this as it is only 300 odd pages. To really expand on some of the points raised here, you really need probably another 600 or so pages to really get to grips with some of the stories here but as a starting point, it’s a great start even though I struggled with the points in the last chapter or two from now-days as I wanted to learn more about some of the characters from the earlier days more as some of them who I won’t name and who I wasn’t familiar sounded doozeys of stories. Perhaps a follow up, Ms O’Hara?
Conclusion:
I really enjoyed this book. It’s very well told indeed, even though I didn’t enjoy the last few chapters as much but it didn’t put me off too much.
Excellent stuff. 8.5/10
Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews