Geena Davis Talks Gender in the Media

Oscar-winning actress has devoted her life to defining and correcting a media imbalance

by Mallory Potosky | Published January 25, 2008

Whether intentionally or not, actress Geena Davis has taken on many a female character with strong ideas and values. Her most iconic roles in recent years have included the vulnerable-turned-resolute Thelma Dickinson in Thelma & Louise, the independent, motherly figure Dottie Hinson in A League of Their Own, the first American woman to become the “Commander in Chief” and the role that won her an Academy Award, the complicated dog trainer Muriel Pritchett, a woman who isn’t shy when it comes to what she wears or getting what she wants, in The Accidental Tourist.

Yet, even with these film heroines already a part of cinema’s history, there is a gaping hole in the variety of female (and male) characters presented by the media. Enter the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, a nonprofit organization aimed at bringing to life many of the real-life characters that are rarely portrayed on screen. On January 30, 2008 the Institute will participate in the University of Southern California’s four-day conference on gender in the media. Davis, along with Sony Entertainment co-chair Amy Pascal, philanthropist Wallis Annenberg and ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson, will speak of the gender imbalance so prevalent in media today, and children’s programming in particular. In the days leading up to the event, Davis took the time to answer a few of MM’s questions about her own role in the media.

Mallory Potosky (MM): From Thelma & Louise to A League of Their Own and “Commander in Chief,” you’ve taken on quite a few strong-willed, independent women over the course of your career. Is this something you look for in a role?

Geena Davis (GD): I didn’t ever try to find a pattern in my choices in the beginning, I just seemed to know what I liked. I thought it was just about wanting to be challenged or to do something unique. But as time went on, I realized that what I was looking for were female characters that take charge of their own fate, that—for good or ill—are determined to captain their own ship. (And I also played a pirate captain!) As I’ve said for a while now, I’d rather play baseball than cheer on someone else doing it.

MM: The impact of these roles remains especially important today with so many female celebrities in the media for their negative actions. Plus, we might now have an actual female contender to become the real Commander in Chief of the United States. How do you think Thelma, Dottie and President Allen add to cinema’s legacy of female characters?

GD: Well, let’s not get confused about role modeling. Those three characters of mine that you mentioned have been particularly appealing to women, but I am not trying to only play role models, by any means. I mean, Thelma & Louise really struck a chord with people, but when they take the law into their own hands, commit robbery, drive drunk and kill themselves… well, that’s not something to dream of copying. What resonated, I think, was their willingness to fight to the death for the right to choose their own destiny.

As for how any characters I’ve played add to cinema’s legacy, I’ll let people who write about that stuff decide.

MM: As part of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, the “I Want to See Jane” campaign asks females to explain which female character meant the most to them growing up. How would answer that same question?

GD: Actually, it’s which character meant the most. And, bizarrely, I would have to say “The Rifleman.” Really! At least, that is the character I wanted to pretend to be when my friend Lucyann and I played. I would be Lucas McCain, and she would be my son, Mark. I can’t exactly remember what “playing” Rifleman entailed, but I know we constantly ran around her backyard pretending it was the Old West. And it never occurred to us that it was weird that there were no female characters we wanted to play. I grew up watching a lot of “The Rifleman” and “Bonanza” (no female characters, and both good examples of the “dead mother” syndrome so common in movies and TV), “Star Trek” (one female regular, but Lt. Ohura didn’t get to do much but have that thing stuck in her ear), “I Dream of Jeannie” and “Bewitched.” Now, the last two at least had female characters with cool superpowers… but it seemed like every episode was about them having to sit on their abilities so as not to piss off their men!

“The Rifleman” is part of why I want to dramatically affect the percentage of female characters in kids’ entertainment—so girls will have lots of choices for characters they like, and ALL kids can see that girls and boys, and men and women, share the space in the world. Pretty much equally, as it turns out.

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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT

Comment by 1z0-531 on 11/11/10 at 6:22 am

I got a huge education in the power of media images when I was in “Thelma & Louise.” The reaction of people, especially women, was overwhelming. They’d stop me and talk about how this movie changed their lives. I realized that we give women too few female characters they can really cheer for who have meaning for them.
The next movie I did was “A League of Their Own” where I suddenly had 15-year-old girls coming up and saying, “That movie changed my life; I play sports because of that movie.”

Comment by tommy96 on 12/02/10 at 4:41 am

Asked by interviewer Soledad O’Brien of CNN if society needs to make more progress first, Davis said content is key, too, as young women feel they have fewer options the more TV they watch, according to research.

Importantly, the more women work behind the scenes of entertainment productions, the more females are featured on screen, Davis explained.
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1z0-050 | JN0-304

Comment by cassy on 1/05/11 at 1:16 pm

You see? We give women the right to vote, and suddenly they are no longer mothers and wives. They become skanks. And what is the feminist response? “Women are hyper-sexualized” Well, whose fault is that? Fix it by not trying to take control of men or by not competing with each other unfairly to manipulate men for a buck or for a fornicatingly hot fuck. The disaster lies with Woodrow Wilson and his sneaky ammendment ratified whilst over one million patriotic American men fought the enemy abroad. They defended freedom in a distant land whilst their leader hacked at their nation’s principles back home.

We now owe communist nations an unfathomable amount of money, and the plans only get bigger. Global warming is propaganda, and elites are no smarter than you. Great. Now women have the right to become secretary-prostitutes. But don’t forget. The odd woman hair styles out can become a greedy doctor or a CEO. Problem solved?

Regards
CAssy
tips for hair

Comment by jiterz1 on 1/16/11 at 9:24 am

It’s not just the girls that we parents need to worry about when females are cast in stereotypical roles in the media - we also need to worry about the boys. They are learning how to treat their future girlfriends, wives, and even own family (mothers, grandmothers, sisters, or aunts).

I find some of the looks and image of the female US newscasters particularly disturbing as you hardly ever see woman who is under 35 years old or other than drop dead gorgeous with perfect white teeth and a beautiful smile; the personality portrayed is often bubbly rather than authoritative. The same casual dress cannot be said of male newscasters. A double standard is definitely at play here.

Comment by sikiş videoları on 2/19/11 at 10:56 am