‘Women in Hollywood’
An interview with Empire Magazine’s Hellen O’Hara
New perspectives on cinema grant us a greater appreciation for the wide scope of filmmakers and diverse subject matter that makes film what it is. Considering new perspectives on cinema enables us to further our understanding of the issues of today and the struggles of others. Cinema, and its many different perspectives, is an invaluable tool for this reason. This sentiment is explored in fascinating detail by Helen O’Hara, ‘editor-at-large’ of Empire Magazine and author of Women Vs. Hollywood: The Fall and Rise of Women in Film. We sat down with O’Hara to talk about her book, the status of cinema today, and the importance of new perspectives on film. O’Hara’s book chronicles the complex history of women in Hollywood cinema, ranging from the silent era to the #MeToo movement of today. It serves as a crucial counteragent to over a century of deliberate downplaying of female filmmakers – and their influence on cinema – by an industry that is still male dominated. Forgotten pioneers of the filmmaking world, such as Alice Guy and Anita Loos, have had their contributions to the industry airbrushed from the ‘canon’ of cinema. The effects of this systematic airbrushing of history negatively impacts practically all prospective female or minority filmmakers today. This topic epitomises the importance of new perspectives to cinema, a fact not lost on O’Hara. O’Hara affirms that it wasn’t pre-destined that cinema would end up as another patriarchal cultural institution. “Not all of it was deliberate, some of it was Hollywood trying to advertise sound, and make it clear that sound was worth investing in.” This, in turn, led to the death of silent film – where the male/ female playing field was considerably more level. “That was kind of an unfortunate side effect that women were affected by.” But it’s impossible to ignore that hostile forces pushed female filmmakers out of cinema over a prolonged period, and still continue to do so. A toxic inclination still stains the industry: O’Hara points out the “subconscious [attitude] of saying ‘what does a director look like? He looks like that guy; he doesn’t look like her’”.
Representation in cinema has long been an issue, and O’Hara concedes that everyday can be a battle. “I’ve been doing mental gymnastics for years; I think you have to as a female film fan,” O’Hara explains. “You’re always mentally adding a caveat, you just know he’s had opportunities that a female director or star wouldn’t have had... you just have to mentally acknowledge that and move on, or you’d just get really depressed, angry and frustrated.” This perspective on film is the product of cinema’s grotesque track-record with marginalising female, LGTBQ+ and non-white filmmakers and actors. To even have to hold this attitude while consuming cinema is an injustice, and it’s one that is distressingly ever-relevant even today. The consequences of this underrepresentation both in the canon of cinema and in the current landscape are far-reaching.
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