Female Directors and Hollywood's Gender Roles
Presentation Type
Poster
Keywords
women, gender, discrimination, Hollywood, film, director, filmmaker
Department
Film Studies
Major
Film Studies
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine why female directors were able to achieve success in the silent era of Hollywood, but were all but erased from the production process after the addition of sound. This will be accomplished by examining the lives and careers of prominent female directors in both the silent and sound eras of Hollywood, mainly Lois Weber, Alice Guy-Blache, Dorothy Arzner, Ida Lupino, and Elaine May. The career trajectories of these women will be compared with statistics about the employment of women in Hollywood at the time. The paper will also feature critical analysis about the roles of women both in front of and behind the camera, and how shifting ideas about gender roles impacted the work that women were able to find. Finally, the increasingly corporate, capitalistic nature of sound era Hollywood will be examined to provide context about the industry that female directors were edged out of. The goal of this paper is to provide a comprehensive view of Hollywood’s increasingly hostile climate for female directors, and examine the various interconnected causes for this hostility.
Faculty Mentor
Joi Carr
Funding Source or Research Program
Summer Undergraduate Research Program
Location
Waves Cafeteria
Start Date
1-4-2016 2:00 PM
End Date
1-4-2016 3:00 PM
Female Directors and Hollywood's Gender Roles
Waves Cafeteria
The purpose of this paper is to examine why female directors were able to achieve success in the silent era of Hollywood, but were all but erased from the production process after the addition of sound. This will be accomplished by examining the lives and careers of prominent female directors in both the silent and sound eras of Hollywood, mainly Lois Weber, Alice Guy-Blache, Dorothy Arzner, Ida Lupino, and Elaine May. The career trajectories of these women will be compared with statistics about the employment of women in Hollywood at the time. The paper will also feature critical analysis about the roles of women both in front of and behind the camera, and how shifting ideas about gender roles impacted the work that women were able to find. Finally, the increasingly corporate, capitalistic nature of sound era Hollywood will be examined to provide context about the industry that female directors were edged out of. The goal of this paper is to provide a comprehensive view of Hollywood’s increasingly hostile climate for female directors, and examine the various interconnected causes for this hostility.