Before Barbie: The Greta Gerwig Influence on Women and Film

 

Courtesy of Ben Rayner | Greta Gerwig

Hollywood as we know has historically been, and still is, a man’s world. It’s predominantly been led and controlled by the powerful male studio executives and producers who dictated who and what appears on our screens, who “makes it” and who doesn’t. Today, the gender imbalance and bigoted hierarchy have changed rather dramatically and one of the many striving women who have left their mark on the cutthroat industry is the one and only, Greta Gerwig. In light of her newest box-office-breaking film, Barbie, let’s dive into how Gerwig has left her influential feminine touch on the film industry over the years.

Courtesy of Wilson Webb/Columbia Pictures | Greta Gerwig directing on set

The American actress, playwright, screenwriter, and director has graced the cinema screens with ‘Nights and Weekends’ (2008), the critically acclaimed Lady Bird (2017), Little Women (2019), and the newly released ‘Barbie’ (2023). Gerwig collaborated with Noah Baumbach on the upcoming film and the two have previously collaborated on several other films, including Greenberg (2010), Frances Ha (2012), and Mistress America (2015). She’s had starring roles in the films Damsels in Distress (2011), Frances Ha, Jackie (2016), and 20^th Century Women (2016). Gerwig was the fifth female director to ever receive a Best Director nomination, with Little Women receiving six Oscar nominations. This is rather significant considering women behind the camera rarely receive major recognition for their work.

Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Saoirse Ronan and Eliza Scanlen in Little Women (2019)

Through Gerwig’s career, she has established a voice for the modern independent female, telling Margaret Gardiner in an interview:

"I’ve always felt that whether you’re writing a novel or making a film, what you choose to put 30 feet tall on a screen tells the audience it’s important and for me, making lives of girls and women important and 30 feet tall and shot on celluloid – it’s worth it and you’re saying their lives have mattered."

Gerwig has proven that stories about women deserve a place in mainstream media and strongly emphasises dialogue over plot. Viewers will notice the powerful words of her female characters as well as their depth and emotion that grab a hold of us as we watch what feels like real women, experiencing real life. Through her characterization, she presents us with the innocence and beauty of a woman, whilst also seemingly proving their intelligence and fierceness. A perfect example is found in Lady Bird, which showed us the interior life of a teenage girl, a story that typically wouldn’t be taken so seriously or of mature value by viewers. Yet, Gerwig ascertained the importance of her story and her teenage challenges with quotes such as “It’s not important to be right. It’s only important to be true” and “Money is not life’s report card.” Christine is the kind of character that mature adults too can connect with, and that is simply the work of Gerwig.

Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf in the bathroom scene of Lady Bird (2017)

In Little Women, we saw the different faces of women and their femininity, when Meg March said “Just because my dreams are different than yours, it doesn’t mean they’re unimportant” referring to her desire to marry for love and raise children, while her sister felt indifferent, prioritising career. We learn from her films that any dream is feminist and can embrace the power of being a woman if it is what the woman wants. A woman raising a family is just as powerful as one who is a hard-working professional without a partner. Through Lady Bird, Little Women and more of her films, Gerwig teaches us how multi-faceted feminism is and that female softness, maturity, and depth can and do co-exist together.

"Women, they have minds, they have souls, as well as just hearts. And they’ve got ambition, and they’ve got talent, as well as just beauty. I’m so sick of people saying that love is just all a woman is fit for."

– Jo March in Little Women

Personally, I’ve always resonated with Gerwig’s characters, I view them as women I’d be friends with, in the real world, and if I wasn’t their friend, then I would be them. There’s something quite special about witnessing what can be described as “mundane” characters who experience things that are not far-fetched, stories that are possible for every one of us. This is achieved so seamlessly thanks to Gerwig’s film style and methods.

Courtesy of Merie Wallace/A24 | Gerwig directing on the set of Lady Bird (2017)

Gerwig’s grace of script writing is known for enticing emotions in viewers through her unique writing and directorial style. Her signature pacing and “real world” dialogue, make for some hard-hitting scripts that depict the characters as ordinary people that viewers can relate to but without losing poetic touch. In Frances Ha, we hear Frances tell her friend “I’m so embarrassed. I’m not a real person yet.” Referring to the lack of organisation and stability at a point in her life when she felt she should have achieved these things. Those two sentences are rather simple, yet they hold a lot of weight. To say you are not a “real person” yet can be interpreted in many ways but the simplicity and dryness of not elaborating further allows the words to sit with the viewers to be interpreted in a number of ways.

This upfront, dry, yet poetic dialogue is a reoccurring pattern in Gerwig’s films, even the simplest of sentences can be incredibly deep and emotional. In an interview, she explained “I wanted the script to stand alone as a piece of writing… Instead of over-explaining what it was, if I wanted a person to be in it, I would just give them the script and they would read it and hopefully have an experience that is as close to watching the movie as possible. I want the writing to be the thing that sells the script.” Greta’s scriptwriting has always been raw and real, one could even describe the dialogue in her films as slightly confronting, with the realistic and authentic nature of the scenes, and characters casually expressing “The world is hard on ambitious girls” and “Some people aren’t built happy, you know.”

Mickey Sumner and Gerwig in Frances Ha (2012)

Her films generally feature a female leading role, a largely female cast and/or a female coming-of-age theme. Gerwig focuses on young ambitious women, intellectual fulfilment, emotional maturity and the limitation of financial struggles of women. She has taken inspiration from her own life and incorporated her struggles and challenges into the stories of her characters, this yet another reason why her films are known for being relatable and authentic.

Due to many of her films being linked to the “mumblecore” genre, they often have a DIY, indie feel that champions realism in terms of acting. Realism can touch audiences in a way that isn’t felt through other genres and themes of the film, which is how Gerwig has branded herself as a unique filmmaker and stood out from other industry leaders, securing her place in Hollywood history. Despite the DIY, low-budget feel of her films, Gerwig has consistently maintained the richness of these films, which is why they are so admired, nonetheless. In an interview, she explained “The goal is that everything in a movie has meaning. Nothing is just there because it’s there. We wanted every image to have integrity so that it didn’t feel adorned, but that it felt placed.” 

Combining all her methods into her filmmaking, Gerwig has touched us all and brought a new light to feminism in film. She has engraved her name in Hollywood, making herself an influential example for all women. Gerwig has completely re-defined the role of a director in the best way possible by having something many directors in the past didn’t – the ability to be completely and utterly vulnerable in all that she creates, one could even call it a “woman’s touch”. It is now more evident than ever that women belong in the film industry and the one mistake Hollywood has made regarding this was not granting them directorial positions sooner.

By Joanna Todorova