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“Nomadland”, Chloé Zhao’s portrait of the traveling life, explores themes generally ignored by traditional narrative films. How often does Hollywood examine the scars of the Great Recession, the fragility of the odd-job economy, or the gaps in the social safety net?
But it’s almost as unusual to see an American film centered on an ordinary older woman, according to film historians and gender equality advocates – in this case, a fiercely independent wanderer named Fern, played by the actress. Oscar winner Frances McDormand, 63. The film debuted on Hulu and in select theaters Friday.)
“It’s extremely rare to see a woman in her sixties in the lead role, especially one who is allowed to watch her age onscreen,” said Alicia Malone, host of Turner Classic Movies who has written two books on women in the cinema.
“Hollywood has always been a very old place, certainly since it became a commercial enterprise where men were at the helm and women were sidelined once they reached a certain age,” said Malone, who recently co-hosted a TCM series featuring 100 films. made by women.
The film industry routinely throws out “middle-aged men” as romantic characters or action heroes. But women over 50 tend to be relegated to supportive or one-dimensional roles, and big stars such as Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman could be exceptions that prove the rule, Malone said.
“When we see older women they play secondary roles with a lot of stereotypes around them and a lot of jokes are made against them,” said Malone. “They are seldom shown to be at the center of stories as viable and complex characters.”
In recent years, TV shows and limited series have become havens for women over 50 looking for interesting roles, such as Viola Davis (“How to Get Away With Murder”); Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin (“Grace and Frankie”); and Catherine O’Hara (“Schitt’s Creek”).
In a report released in September, the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found that only three of the top 100 films of 2019 featured a lead or co-lead role filled by a woman over 45, and that only one of these roles was assigned to a woman of Color.
The year before, USC researchers found that 11 of the top 100 films starred a woman over 45 – while nearly a quarter (24 films) featured a man over 45. years in a leading or supporting role.
“We don’t have enough films about women to begin with, let alone women over 45,” said Melissa Silverstein, founder of Women and Hollywood, an organization that advocates for greater inclusion in the world. ‘Film Industry. “It’s a really hard thing to find and it’s a problem.”
“Nomadland” breaks dramatically with norms with her frank and deeply empathetic look at the character of McDormand, who hits the road in a pickup truck after her husband’s death and the collapse of the Nevada factory town where she worked. and lived decades.
The film tells the character of McDormand with an invigorating documentary-style intimacy. We see her working in an Amazon warehouse; clean the washrooms at an RV campground; ties to other vagrants (some of them non-professional actors playing versions of themselves); savoring the beauty of the natural world as you travel through the American West.
“I don’t think I’ve * ever * seen a movie about an older woman who talks about herself in relation to herself rather than as a mother, grandmother, wise aunt, etc.”, cultural writer Jenna Scherer recently tweeted. “It’s such a joy to see Frances McDormand taking the time and space to walk around, think and, frankly, play.
McDormand, who co-produced “Nomadland,” happens to be among a group of leading actors who have advocated for greater inclusion and fairness, on and off screen. (The film is an independent production that was acquired by Disney-owned distributor Searchlight Pictures.)
In March 2018, when McDormand accepted the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” she mobilized for “inclusion riders,” a contractual provision artists could use to demand. more diversity in productions.
The relative lack of fulfilling career opportunities for women and people of color has been under particular scrutiny since at least the end of 2017, when the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements began to reshape work cultures in the world. entertainment and media.
Gender imbalances also persist behind the camera. “Nomadland” director Zhao, who was hailed for the neo-Western drama “The Rider” in 2017 and will be making her Marvel Universe debut with the upcoming “Eternals”, is one of the few top filmmakers. level in contemporary Hollywood.
Zhao, who is Chinese-American, is also one of the few female directors of color with a growing presence on the studio circuit. In an analysis released in January 2020, USC’s Inclusion Initiative found that only 13 of the 1,300 highest-grossing films released between 2007 and 2019 were directed by women from under-represented racial or ethnic groups.
McDormand, for her part, said she felt lucky to have collaborated with Zhao, who was also committed to building a project around an authentic American woman rarely seen in the media.
“What if I looked at myself in the mirror, unable to recognize myself as the women portrayed in fashion magazines and movies? What if that had stopped me? It’s a lot of “what ifs,” but part of the American dream that I realized was working with people like Chloe Zhao, ”McDormand said at a press conference in September.
Nell Minow, film critic and expert on corporate governance, said she believed there was more cultural oxygen available for small-scale, female-led projects during the coronavirus pandemic, as major studios have been forced to postpone the release of many male blockbusters. .
“This has been a boon for more intimate films like ‘Nomadland’ in many ways,” said Minow, citing Channing Godfrey Peoples’ “Miss Juneteenth” and Radha Blank’s “The 40-Year-Old Version” as examples of women’s projects which received welcome attention last year.
“I realized that a lot of the media I consume forces me to translate from a male perspective into something that speaks to me more directly,” Minow said. “When I see these movies, I can relax. I have nothing to translate. “
“It’s a cliché at this point to say ‘performance matters’, but it makes me feel connected and listened to because I have something in common with these characters,” she added.
Malone, the TCM host, said viewers should reflect on how they have been deprived of valuable human stories due to gender imbalances in the film industry.
“When you think about how many older women have been erased from Hollywood, it also brings you to consider how much we have all lost by not living their stories on the big screen, with all their life experience, wisdom, humor. and vitality, ”she says.
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