Why is an ambitious woman a "sell-out"?
Ambition and commensurate compensation belong to everyone.
The modern era of Barbie as movie star is upon us, ably shepherded in by director and writer Greta Gerwig, a merry band of brave performers, and the money of Mattel.
If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s a sharp and clever commentary on women and patriarchy, and it asks a lot of bold questions about these from a, gasp, female point of view.
As you can imagine, there’s a lot of editorial commentary out there, the funniest being from the men clutching whatever the male equivalent of their pearls are; so much tone-deaf protest from the privileged seats.
But then there is this one by Caspar Salmon, writing for the Guardian, where he calls out Greta Gerwig for being a sell-out.
If you want to understand ALL the tightropes women walk, look no further than the fantastic monologue in Barbie by America Ferrera’s character, Gloria. Full text is here.
“… And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault.”
Yep.
According to Salmon, not only is Gerwig a sell-out for partnering with Mattel to make the movie, but is now the shining example of how to lead other indie directors down a path of prostituting their talents to giant corporations.
Why are artists, especially female artists, expected to be ok with not earning money?
Why is earning money sordid if a woman does it? If we’re brilliant at what we do, passionate and skilled, why should we not be well compensated? I’ve known a few passionate accountants who happily drive their high-end cars to their opulent houses and no one questions their right to earn well for their skills.
If anything here, Gerwig’s strategy should be applauded, rewarded, awarded, and case-studied. She used Mattel’s money to bring about a much needed focus on the difference between female and male leadership in a time when women’s rights are embattled, using a DOLL. A doll that’s been in the public consciousness for sixty-odd years. She did it in a way where she could reach so many kiddos, especially girls, who need to hear that there can be a different way for them to succeed, and that everything the guys say isn’t right or true. And she got the adults on board too, not just the parents who will take their kids to see the movie, but so many others who want to be part of the cultural zeitgeist of it, not to mention the conversations it’s provoking.
Gerwig masterfully made something without blood or guns, without a guy-gets-the-girl, or a post-apocalyptic view of how we’re screwed. She filled it with women talking to women about the possibilities of this world, and supporting each other to make the needed changes for the better. She made it rib-achingly funny, and utterly serious all at once. It plays to both the young and mature.
Talk about a tightrope.
Honestly, if a fella had pulled this off I think he’d already be the defacto award season sweeper.
But instead, we have a writer prophesying the end of movies as we know them because Gerwig chose to develop this movie in a way that got her paid well. No mention of the path to that end being already paved with the imbalanced corporate profits at the core of the current writers and actors strikes, profits which are also hugely at fault for the poverty model of indie film-making.
Nope. He blames the successful woman for her success, her rightful earnings, and her accolades, and lays the faults of the industry at her feet.
Barbie’s Gloria calls it:
“It is literally impossible to be a woman… Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we're always doing it wrong.”
The movie has surpassed a billion dollars in world-wide revenue, breaking all the movie money records. I think that proves that Gerwig got something extraordinarily right, no?