‘Where Do You Go after Bridesmaids?’: The Politics of Being a Woman in Hollywood

Abstract

For some, 2013 was heralded as ‘The Year of Women at the Box Office’ (Fallon, 2013), igniting ‘A Female Revolution’ (Silverstein, 2013) that has well and truly smashed the celluloid ceiling. With The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Frozen, Gravity and The Heat featuring in the top 20 grossing films of the year, many critics have suggested that female led projects have been released from their ‘niche’ status as ‘women’s films’ and welcomed into the mainstream. Yet, those of us with slightly longer memories might recall 2012 crowned as the year that ‘Hollywood Women Unite[d]’ (Harris, 2012), or 2011, as the vanguard in the ‘new feminist revolution in Hollywood comedy’ (Bradshaw, 2011), or 2010 and Kathryn Bigelow’s academy award for best director as the historical landmark that promised greater visibility and opportunities for female practitioners. Indeed, if one were to search thoroughly enough it is likely that film journalists could find evidence of a burgeoning equality within the film industry for every passing year. Yet, as this chapter argues these relative successes remain the exception, and that the ways in which they are constructed in the press prevents the ‘female revolution’ from gaining momentum. Despite the use of feminist rhetoric, their coverage in the popular and trade press reveals longstanding cultural anxieties and ambivalence towards women, success, feminism and Hollywood cinema.

We are feminists if we believe there should be more opportunities for women in Hollywood