Spotlighting change

With the development in attitudes towards women, and their integral place within screen culture and filmmaking, come opportunities for those women to speak out. As such there are countless televised moments featuring significant instances of actors accepting awards, being interviewed on the red carpet, in panels and by various talk show hosts. These moments centre women’s voices, contemporary and historical, speaking to their experience in the industry, demonstrating moments of recognition and empowering women’s visions of the future. We can look at these moments to trace the development of women’s experiences professionally, including fighting against stereotypes, the experience of aging in Hollywood, increased representation of diversity on screen, such moments as the #Metoo movement and those that spotlight change.

Award ceremonies, and all that surrounds them, become a barometer of social histories. They become a metric and indicator of fashion, trends and attitudes toward diversity and politics. They have also become a platform to deliver messages about social change, rights for women and girls, environmental concerns, and issues with sexism or wrongdoings within the industry, be that upon the stage accepting an award or sewn into a garment on the red carpet. Take Emma Thompson at the 1993 Oscars dedicating her award to “the heroism and courage of women”, or Michaela Coel winning her BAFTA for the 2016 series Chewing Gum, encouraging women with diasporic lived experiences trying to make it, in a country like England, to recognise and embrace their beauty, their power and their intelligence.

Firsts and their legacies

In focussing on moments in history where women, who have been recognised as coming first, for being trailblazers and paving the way for women in the industry forever more, we also understand that these moments propel new generations of women who have had room to advance in their careers through their forebear’s legacies, often posthumously.

In an actor’s roundtable for Hollywood Reporter in 2023, Lena Waithe spoke about the impact and legacy of Hattie McDaniel, positioning her as a first and paving the way for actors such as Waithe to create and play characters who are complex and nuanced. In 1940, upon accepting the Academy Award for her role in Gone with the Wind and as the first Black woman to ever win an Oscar, she said “I sincerely hope, to always be a credit to my race.” 83 years later McDaniel’s legacy lives on through the words and work of Waithe; “You know I'll never forget what Hattie McDaniel said when she won her Oscar, she said I hope to be a credit to my race. That's the thing you know it's like a little more layered.” Further adding that she now has scope to play characters who are closer to those who we know in real life, “I'm unafraid to be complicated, to not be perfect.” Cate Blanchett, a homegrown hero and staunch advocate for women working in the film, theatre and TV industry, at the Time Women of the Year event 2023, used her platform and invitation to speak to those women who have come before her, who have made waves of change, to shed light on what it means to work now and what impact a career like her own could have for women in the future: "We forget that we stand on the shoulders of the women before us and we have a responsibility to work on our shoulders, not just our individual shoulders but our collective shoulders, so that more women can stand on our shoulders in generations to come."

On age, experience and advice to future/former selves

Reflected in the plethora of moments captured, stored and shared on the internet, are women speaking about their age, their relationship to ageing, to being cast in younger or older roles or how their age intersects with their potential career trajectories and longevity. Where there are instances that women decide age is entirely one’s own business, such as Josephine Baker in 1971 appearing in conversation with Erik Bye who stated “...my age belongs to me”, some women use moments in the limelight to present advice from a place of being an actor in later stages of their careers advising a younger self. Some actors who have worked through and against barriers to recognition such as Deborah Mailman or Leah Purcell whose hard-hitting message was broader systemic issues with stories told on Australian screens noting that her feature film The Drover’s Wife was the type of “truth-telling that this country needs to hear.” She also noted that from this point we, as a nation, can move together into the future of honest story making.

Other women offer stories of their experience in finding relevant roles to play. Still in popular circulation is a video of Audrey Hepburn in 1988, interviewed on Sunday, Sunday, explaining what it was like as someone of such notability, for her particularly glamourous roles as a young woman, then being sent and asked to read scripts for age-inappropriate roles. “I do receive film scripts; I must say in the last few years I haven't really… They either want me to play somebody too young, which would be ridiculous or somebody too old which would be equally ridiculous because you've got to masquerade as something you are not.” Hepburn goes on to highlight how limited the roles that reflected at the time “I just want to be me, you know, be my age and there aren't many parts around." Evidently, the experience of ageing and retaining opportunities and positions, not for those only in and around the glow of Hollywood, is one that resonates with many.

Some actors have made a name for themselves with their forays in public speaking and award ceremony appearances; as such, we often set hopes on what they might say next. For instance, women with the opportunity to say things we wish we could, or women such as Jennifer Coolidge and Frances McDormand who often deliver eccentric, honest, and humorous acceptance speeches. These women are among many who ham up the procedural elements of ceremonies and highlight the absurd parts of such events and the industry they are working within. Speaking on a panel at Cannes Film Festival in 2015, Frances McDormand discussed the culture created around those ageing publicly and the preposterous notion that women shouldn’t age past 40 to remain compelling and continue to receive meaningful work in the industry. “I want to be a symbol for men and women, to move through this very dangerous thing that we've created with the culture of celebrity, and the need to be something other than ourselves. It kind of seems to me at least in America that no one should age past 40."

Representation

Often shared and viewed by millions are videos of women who speak to representation, progress, seeing themselves and their communities represented in contemporary film and TV, or the historic lack thereof. Take Michelle Yeoh at the 2023 SAG Awards who spoke about what it has meant to her to represent and act as encouragement to younger women who “look like her”; that is to say, a deviation from the norm of white/Eurocentric casting. “Thank you for giving me a seat at the table, because so many of us need this. We want to be seen; we want to be heard."

Actors such as MJ Rodriguez and Deborah Mailman are eloquent and irrefutable when speaking to the complexity of representing Black/Blak experiences and the progress they have witnessed in their respective countries and communities. In a post-award ceremony Instagram live video in 2022, MJ Rodriguez, after being the first openly Trans woman to win a Golden Globe for her role in the TV series POSE, wanted to ensure she took longer than the allotted ceremony-length acceptance time to recognise who she thought her award truly belonged to. “This is for the LGBTQAI, Black, Latina, Asian [communities], the many multi beautiful colors [sic] of the rainbow… This is not just for me, this is for y'all. This is the door that opens for y'all.” Mailman, who has been working in the industry since she was 22 years old, first in theatre and then moving to film and TV, has acknowledged the progress that she has witnessed in the representation of First Nations storytelling in Australia, particularly when told from a First Nations perspective. “I think there's now recognition of not only how rich our stories are but how well we can tell them."

In 2015, Lea DeLaria spoke about her career and experience as an openly gay woman in film and TV, which is not always a position that is safe, but one that DeLaria asserts she is grateful to for never having to conceal her sexuality and one that has allowed for representative roles: "Getting to the level that I've gotten to in this industry without ever having once been in the closet. I felt deeply each insult that would happen to me every time somebody called me a dyke on the street when I was younger.” Actors such as DeLaria and Lena Waithe have made significant contributions to the creation of mainstream queer TV characters who are dualistic and captivating.

Ideals and standards

Another genre of popular internet clip, derived from award ceremonies and media journalism, are those where women are seen asserting what it has felt like working with and against the impossibility of beauty standards. It is from deep within this industry that they come up against an entrenched, normalised, and an almost inescapable obsession with beauty. Here meaning, thin, White, perfect teeth and flawless skin. This being upheld as the foremost perception of a woman’s worth. Videos that circulate are often those where women rally against these standards and liberate those of us desperately trying to attain a form of beauty that behind the scenes takes an entire team.

There are women who do not fit inside these limited parameters of feminine beauty. Some identify as Butch, androgynous, and queer and we look to their stories to understand what it is like working toward representing themselves on screen, or to women speaking on their experiences of fatphobia, body-shaming and the deeply human experience of a body that continues to grow and change. In a 2023 media tour for Avatar: The Way of Water, Kate Winslet was asked to reflect on her career to date and how the media reported on her appearance. With the power of hindsight she wished she had been able to retort with a staunch response such as “…don't you dare treat me like this. I'm a young woman, my body is changing, I'm figuring it out, I'm deeply insecure, I'm terrified, don't make this any harder than it already is. That's bullying."

For actors as multiplicitous as Olivia Colman what is integral in order to fully embrace a character is the opportunity to feel free to be, and revel in the joy of, playing characters who are not archetypically beautiful. For instance, the prospect of playing those who may be deemed ‘ugly’. In 2019 after her formidable role as Queen Anne in The Favourite, Coleman articulated “…But that's the joy for me, because I'm an actor, not a model. And I think you should be able to look horrendous.” This freedom to emulate real-looking people is integral to the craft of acting and is something women have fought hard to achieve. Indya Moore was interviewed on the red carpet at the 2019 Emmy Awards and it was exactly there, a moment that was specifically focused on her outfit, where she chose to deliver a simple but profound message about the realities of living and working as a trans woman: “It’s easier to walk in this dress than it is to exist.”

Spotlighting change features excerpts from the following sources

Joan Rivers, 90's Throwback: The Whoopi Goldberg Show, 2014

Jane Fonda, Jane Fonda on feminism, capitalism & values, 1970: CBC Archives, CBC, 2013

Issa Rae, Issa Rae's Favorite Advice: 'Don't Be Afraid To Be A Bitch', The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, 2018

Lea DeLaria, What’s Not to Love? OITNB’s Lea DeLaria, StyleLikeU, 2015

Jenny Shimizu, Why This 50-Year-Old Supermodel Loves Being Called “Handsome", Allure, 2017

Ariana DeBose, Wins Best Supporting Actress for 'West Side Story', Oscars, 2022

Michelle Yeoh, Accepts Best Actress, Motion Picture - Musical Or Comedy, Golden Globes, 2023

Audrey Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn Interview - 1988 - Sunday, Sunday, You'reGonnaLoveTomorrow, 2019

Frances McDormand, Cannes: Frances McDormand Full Women In Motion Panel, The Hollywood Reporter, 2015

Josephine Baker, Josephine Baker in conversation with Erik Bye, 1971 pt. 1, Gazely Gaze, 2017

Kate Winslet, Kate Winslet talks AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER, TITANIC, & more!, Josh Horowitz, 2023

Helen Mirren, Helen Mirren - The sexist Parkinson's interview pt. 1, beretsheri0001, 2008

Olivia Coleman, Olivia Colman on her roles in 'The Favourite' and 'The Crown', Popcorn with Peter Travers, 2019

Indya Moore, Indya Moore: "It's More Tricky to Exist Than to Walk in This Dress" | E! Red Carpet & Award Shows, E! Insider, 2019

Meryl Streep, Meryl Streep: I Feel More Like an "I Can't" Than an "Icon" | Palm Springs Film Festival, POPSUGAR Entertainment, 2014

Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn on the Differences Between Men and Women, The Dick Cavett Show, 2022

Bette Davis, Bette Davis Talks the Perils of Hollywood, The Dick Cavett Show, 2022

Lena Waithe, FULL Comedy Actress Roundtable: Cristin Milioti, Kaley Cuoco, Lena Waithe & More, The Hollywood Reporter, 2022

Hattie McDaniel, Hattie McDaniel winning Best Supporting Actress: 12th Oscars (1940), Oscars, 2011

Shareena Clanton, More allegations of racism from former Neighbours actors, 7:30 Report, ABC News (Australia), 2021

Miranda Tapsell, Miranda Tapsell on her new movie Top End Wedding, ABC TV & iview, 2019

Viola Davis, 'I Just EGOT!': Viola Davis Accepts Her Grammy Award, Graeme Oneil, 2023

Nayuka Gorrie, WATCH: HerStory, Panel Show - Indigenous Women in Film, TV and Theatre, ABC Indigenous, 2018

Leah Purcell, Rove McManus Chats to Leah Purcell at the 2022 AACTA Awards, AACTA, 2022

Michaela Coel, Michaela Coel's Inspiring Acceptance Speech, BAFTA TV Awards, BAFTA, 2016

Sandra Oh, Andy Samberg & Sandra Oh monologue + funny bits, The Golden Globes, Movie Topic, 2019

Michelle Yeoh, Michelle Yeoh Gets Emotional After History-Making Win At 2023 SAGs, Access Hollywood, 2023

Emma Thompson, Emma Thompson Wins Best Actress: 1993 Oscars, Oscars, 2013

MJ Rodriguez, MJ Rodriguez reacts to her #GoldenGlobes win & gives an acceptance speech on IG Live, Pop Crave, 2022

Trace Lysette, Trace Lysette Calls Upon Hollywood to Hire Transgender Actors, 28th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, GLAAD, 2017

Deborah Mailman, Deborah Mailman Full Interview, Foxtel Arts, 2015

Cate Blanchett, Cate Blanchett's Toast at the 2023 TIME Women of the Year Gala, TIME, 2023