Talented women steal the show
There’s a lot to say about movies in 2020, most of it obvious. It was a disappointment and yet, at the same time, the distraction offered by movies became more important than ever. Streaming went from being a strong presence to being all pervasive. That will have a lasting effect on the movie business, even when the pandemic is over.
As I’ve mentioned before, streaming will not destroy movie theaters, but streaming will be a permanent presence. Disney’s decision to release “Mulan” onto Disney+ was a big deal, as was Warner Bros.’ decision to release each of its 2021 films onto streaming and into theaters simultaneously.
Yet when it’s all said and done, the most important development of 2020, the biggest deal of all, is something that’s going on right now, but that most people aren’t even noticing, except, perhaps, subliminally: Women are getting us through this pandemic.
In this case, I’m not talking about doctors or nurses, but something less important: movies. When we stand back and look at the better films of 2020, one fact jumps out: The vast majority of these films starred women.
This is the first time this has happened in at least two generations, and it’s the result of two causes — the first a fluke, the second a trend.
The fluke, of course, is the pandemic itself. For the most part, the grand-scale guy movies, such as “Furious 9,” were moved deep into 2021. That left a lot of medium-size movies, and in 2020, guess who starred in medium-size movies? Women.
In fact, women directed some of them: “I’m Your Woman” ( Julia Hart), “Happiest Season” (Clea DuVall), “Promising Young Woman” (Emerald Fennell), “On the Rocks” (Sofia Coppola), “The Glorias” ( Julie Taymor), “Shirley” ( Josephine Decker) and “The Old Guard” (Gina Prince-Bythewood). Women even directed some blockbusters: “Mulan” (Niki Caro) and “Wonder Woman 1984” (Patty Jenkins).
But the pandemic, as with streaming, only emphasized and perhaps accelerated what was already a trend.
In 2001, 15% of movies starred a woman. By 2017, 21% starred a woman. A year later, this figure jumped to 33%, and last year’s number — 34% — suggested that that jump was no anomaly.
For 2020, it’s impossible to make a calculation, because it’s hard to determine what was a release and what wasn’t. But just looking over the movies that were scheduled for release this year, it’s clear that for women 2020 was going to be a big year one way or the other.
It’s fascinating to witness this. It’s as if a switch has gone off in the collective mind. It went off silently, for no particular reason (unless you want to pin it to Hillary Clinton or the election of 2016), but something fundamental has changed.
Twenty-five years ago, Demi Moore and Julia Roberts were the only big female movie stars. Today, there are more than twodozen actresses who regularly headline mainstream Hollywood movies, and many of them have achieved their stardom in the past 10 years.
I’m talking about Elisabeth Moss, Kristen Stewart, Jessica Chastain, Felicity Jones, Viola Davis, Aubrey Plaza, Brittany Snow, Anna Kendrick, Octavia Spencer, Margot Robbie, Regina Hall, Andrea Riseborough, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Emma Stone, Emily Blunt, Rachel McAdams, Tessa Thompson, Tiffany Haddish, Jennifer Lawrence, Melissa McCarthy, Lily James, Alicia Vikander, Gal Gadot, Dakota Johnson, Carey Mulligan, Rose Byrne and Issa Rae — not to mention longtime presences such as Charlize Theron, Rachel Weisz, Amy Adams, Sandra Bullock, Michelle Williams, Hilary Swank, Julianne Moore, Jennifer Aniston, Cate Blanchett and Meryl Streep.
And by next year, we’ll be able to include among them Vanessa Kirby, Anya Taylor-Joy and Rebecca Ferguson.
You could not have made this list 20 years ago. It wouldn’t have been as long, and — more to the point — it wouldn’t have been as good. Every one of these women is interesting. Not one is ornamental. We have the talent here for a golden age, which may not come. But if it does, 2020 will have represented a major step in that direction.