Abstract
The first chapter of this collection provides an overview of Johansson’s career, setting the scene for this volume and highlighting the importance her films have had in shaping her stardom. It traces how her image emerged and evolved through key career turning points, from her early roles as a child actress in Manny & Lo (Lisa Krueger, 1996) and The Horse Whisperer (Robert Redford, 1998), to sex symbol status in adulthood, to her recent reflexive turn as a science fiction performer in Her (Spike Jonze, 2013), Lucy (Luc Besson, 2014), Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013) and Ghost in the Shell (Rupert Sanders, 2017).
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Notes
- 1.
Redford’s comment is widely repeated in accounts of Johansson’s career (for example in Vernon [2003], Bhattacharya [2004], Severgnini [2010], Schaefer [2012], and Billson [2013]). However, we were unable to locate the original source of the quote after extensive searching. Through sheer repetition, however, the quote has now become an entrenched part of Johansson’s narrative.
- 2.
King defines Indiewood as “an area in which Hollywood and the independent sector merge or overlap” (2009, 1). Such films emerged in the North American film industry in the 1990s and 2000s and are typically the products of specialty-oriented and niche studios, both independent (such as the now-defunct Miramax and Weinstein Company) and subsidiaries of major studios (such as Fox Searchlight and Focus Features). King argues that Indiewood films draw stylistic and aesthetic characteristics from both independent and mainstream cinema: examples include American Beauty (Sam Mendes, 1999), Lost in Translation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004), to name a few.
- 3.
Awards for Ghost World include Independent Spirit Awards for Daniel Clowes and Terry Zwigoff’s screenplay, as well as Steve Buscemi’s performance in the film; Girl with a Pearl Earring was nominated for multiple BAFTA Awards (including Best Actress, Best British Film and Best Adapted Screenplay); Lost in Translation was nominated for numerous awards in North America and Britain, with its most prestigious win being the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
- 4.
For a discussion of the significance of irony in American independent cinema of the 1990s, see Sconce (2002).
- 5.
Johansson has repeatedly courted press attention for her thoughts on the “unnaturalness” of monogamy after first sharing her opinions with reporters while promoting Match Point in 2006. She has further been candid about the fact she sees a therapist and gets regularly tested for sexually transmitted infections.
- 6.
The SodaStream controversy emerged from Johansson’s perceived conflict of interest in being a public supporter of SodaStream (whose factory had been located within the Israeli-occupied West-bank territory) and Oxfam, who held a policy of supporting the Palestinians against the occupation. Unable to maintain an association with both companies, Johansson’s choice to stay with SodaStream was read as a political support for the Israeli State (see Cadwalladr 2014 for an example of commentary around the issue). Likewise, Johansson as a white actress has come under fire for taking on non-white roles within films such as Ghost in a Shell and Isle of Dogs which are both set in a futuristic Japan.
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Stevens, K., Loreck, J., Monaghan, W. (2019). Why Scarlett Johansson?. In: Loreck, J., Monaghan, W., Stevens, K. (eds) Screening Scarlett Johansson. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33196-2_1
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