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Backwards and in Heels: The Past, Present and Future of Women Working in Film by Alicia Malone
caseykoester39's review
3.0
It's very clear that this book was Alicia's passion project. Her extensive research into women in all aspects of Hollywood production is extraordinary. Her coverage spans the birth of Hollywood all the way through the present day. It's hard to find information about who supports women in Hollywood right now, especially any men who see it as a priority. Alicia describes a few and gives glimmers of hope.
She also describes the way the hiring system has worked since studios took over in the 1930s. How men were placed in charge because moviemaking became a profitable business and women were seen by investors as untrustworthy with large sums of money. Alicia particularly details the inequality in how men move through the ranks as directors of small indie films and are suddenly catapulted to directing a big budget blockbuster - after only one directorial credit. Men help each other out and she details a story of how Brad Bird (recently selected to co-host The Essentials on TCM...) did just this for Colin Trevorrow and Jurassic World. Colin had only directed one feature film at the time, but on Brad's say-so, he was given this huge chance.
She brilliantly illustrates with loads of examples how women directors are not afforded this same courtesy - at least not by male power players. Women have consistently needed to prove their box-office worthiness with success after success before studios will trust them with a large budget feature.
The only sticking point for me was the lack of a good editor and proofreader. There are glaring typos and errors on every other page (not an exaggeration). A little plea on the last page of the book to send errata to the publisher only serves to grate at me. The reader is not the person who should be proofreading a published work.
She also describes the way the hiring system has worked since studios took over in the 1930s. How men were placed in charge because moviemaking became a profitable business and women were seen by investors as untrustworthy with large sums of money. Alicia particularly details the inequality in how men move through the ranks as directors of small indie films and are suddenly catapulted to directing a big budget blockbuster - after only one directorial credit. Men help each other out and she details a story of how Brad Bird (recently selected to co-host The Essentials on TCM...) did just this for Colin Trevorrow and Jurassic World. Colin had only directed one feature film at the time, but on Brad's say-so, he was given this huge chance.
She brilliantly illustrates with loads of examples how women directors are not afforded this same courtesy - at least not by male power players. Women have consistently needed to prove their box-office worthiness with success after success before studios will trust them with a large budget feature.
The only sticking point for me was the lack of a good editor and proofreader. There are glaring typos and errors on every other page (not an exaggeration). A little plea on the last page of the book to send errata to the publisher only serves to grate at me. The reader is not the person who should be proofreading a published work.
abuffy90's review
4.0
Thank you Alicia Malone for writing this book. I see a lot of reviews below complaining about how each section was too short or that they had heard of these women so they were bored. I appreciate that most in the latter did not rate. As a woman who has worked in the film and television industry for 14 years after dreaming of getting into it for almost the equivalent period of time, this was the first book I had ever picked up devoted solely to women in the film industry. For the period prior to 1960, not a single one of those actresses or filmmakers were so much as referenced in any of my classes in one of the best film schools in the nation despite having learned about some of the powerful men that Ms. Malone pointed out claimed the credit. In my entrance into this career path, my inspiration was powerful men who I aspired to not realizing their were women who had paved that path years before.
While I craved more detail as I read this book, especially the first half of it, the only thing that remained consistent is that this should be mandatory reading at film schools across the nation. These short tidbits could easily inspire young women to do their own research on these women and find alternate career paths that they did not know were available.
So again I cannot thank the author enough for this book. I’ll be reading her others in due time. If you are a filmmaker or aspiring to be one (whether male, female, or other) I highly recommend this book.
While I craved more detail as I read this book, especially the first half of it, the only thing that remained consistent is that this should be mandatory reading at film schools across the nation. These short tidbits could easily inspire young women to do their own research on these women and find alternate career paths that they did not know were available.
So again I cannot thank the author enough for this book. I’ll be reading her others in due time. If you are a filmmaker or aspiring to be one (whether male, female, or other) I highly recommend this book.
glkrose's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I knew I would love this book, but I didn't realize how much. And I'm also mad at myself for taking this long to do so. Alicia Malone is extremely knowledgeable about films and film history and the way this book was written was well-researched and easily digestible. I could hear her voice the entire time which is a plus because she has such a fun accent! But really, going through the history of Hollywood and how it was actually better for women (ahem, white women) back then was eye-opening and maddening! As this book is a few years old, some examples haven't aged as well (a few Joss Whedon mentions, yikes) and it's not as inclusive as it could be if it was written today (more in terms of nonbinary/genderqueer identifying people), but I think she managed to cover a lot of different issues and did so with care. If you are a film fan, I would definitely read this book as soon as you can.