Hollywood owes a huge apology to women. For over a century, the industry has abused its beloved actresses, pushed unrealistic standards on its young viewers and glamourized female competition with no clear end goal.
Throughout the history of filmmaking, women usually follow one of many tropes: the dreamy lover whose job is to fix broken men, a sweet, quiet, mouse-like, little girl, a loud, aggressive woman who’s deemed as crazy and violent or a seductive “whore” whose role is to trap men and cause them to fall into temptation. The end goal is typically to please or to forward the growth of the man of the story in some way or another, find love herself, tame her “insane” ways or tap into her motherly instincts.
Especially in older movies, these tropes tend to be overused and mold the female characters into small, shallow boxes without giving them any real depth or character. With the new age of film being released in the past few decades, there has been a change for the better of femininity and women in film, and a powerhouse in this shift is a personal favorite director of mine, Greta Gerwig.
Gerwig’s debut, solo-directing film, “Ladybird”, was an absolute knockout with numerous nominations and awards. This success continued with masterpieces such as the 2019 “Little Women” and the iconic “Barbie” movie in 2023.
Despite the awards and nominations, these movies hold such a special place in so many hearts, especially mine. Gerwig not only writes her characters to be beautifully complex, confident and outstanding young women but she continues to bring female characters to life who understand the minds of young girls.
I remember the day I saw “Barbie” for the first time, and hearing America Ferrara’s monologue about being a woman felt as if Gerwig had taken the unspoken words from my mind and beautifully written them to screen. I understood clearly then what the simple beauty of being a woman is and truly how special it is to just exist. Her message of the fact that beauty does not need to be extraordinary and to be ordinary is enough truly made me see my life as a woman through a different lens.
Gerwig’s adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women” preaches about the importance of different paths in life as a woman and how while marriage is beautiful, so is a life of independence and solitude. Following a similar theme with “Barbie”, they both show the importance and beauty of femininity through the many avenues of life without forcing the characters to fall under specific two-dimensional tropes. Her characters are created not to please or further the plot of the man but to further their plots and developments as their own characters.