Women in Hollywood's dream factory: tales of inequality, abuse and resistance

The Hollywood film industry in the 21st century has become synonymous with accusations of structural inequality alongside revelations of sexual harassment and abuse, the impact of which has rippled out to wider society both in the US and overseas. Yet these circumstances and the narratives that accompany them are far from revelatory, hidden or limited to a contemporary context. The power imbalances and mistreatment that have defined women’s careers in Hollywood are as long-established as they are persistent, have been built into the structure of Hollywood and stretch across its entire history. This volume addresses a variety of ways in which narratives are formed that illustrate and highlight these inequities, and those that actively challenge the structured culture that has persistently worked to enact them. Topics range from early cinema to contemporary film and television, and move between press and fan magazine narratives, screen dramatizations, studies of individual figures and broader industry practices. The work captured in the volume aims to intervene in the history of women in Hollywood by disturbing the borders of how gendered inequality and abuse has been framed. Considering a variety of storied spaces reveals how mistreatment ranges across industry structures, abusive practices, and the gendered ways in which women have been discussed, defined, silenced and ignored. The pervasiveness of this herstory in the structural fabric of Hollywood and its visibility throughout film history are at the core of this book.