While it seems predictable that the heads of departments were generally men, when I read that Vera West made a lot of important decisions but was still not the head of the department, I found it to be a saddening fact. Luckily Ellsworth marked a moment of transition with the rebound of the industry during the war and his position as a business agent in 1942, but he notes that the age discrimination issue was quite rampantly at play. I wonder what the cause of the demand for younger women was, considering that it seemed to be much less of an issue in the 30s? Why did it go in the less-progressive direction? Did it have to do with the notion that younger women had a better fashion sense, and somehow being attractive and well-taken care of herself, indicated that she would be a better costumer? These notions obviously abound still today--now the existence of the metro male shows that these ideas are projected on both men and women (if you take good care of yourself, it is a reflection of how well you take care of other aspects of your life). I suppose that in the 30s the women in the industry were mainly doing the "workerly" aspects of the job (the more manual aspects of costuming) and therefore it mattered less how she "visually" represented the studio.
The fact that women in the finished department were pretty much required to be young and attractive (in addition to being knowledgeable) still irks me. Clearly it is the reality of the biz, and in other industries as well, but the reliance on judgments drawn based upon the "personal image-resume" can't be avoided, unfortunately, especially in the film industry where a look or appearance is the first and foremost factor of determining promotability or the success of a product. How the production crew "look" translates into how promising the final film will "look." Funny and sad, simultaneously.
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I couldn't help thinking about all of this in relation to my own film experiences. Besides Changeling I also worked on a Lucy Liu vampire movie called Rise: Bloodhunter (almost unwatchable and it ended up going straight to video), the summer before I started USC. Both were great experiences, the crews were nice and welcoming, and I was treated very well.
But in both cases I felt very self-conscious about my youth and my sex. The crews were 95% male and the only females on set besides the occasional PAs and prop girls, were the actresses and the costume department. Pretty much across the board, the female costumers I worked with, though many were aging, were talented, smart, and very attractive. The actual designers tended to be older, more seasoned professionals, and the set costumers tended to be young and pretty. There was a definite divide between "us" (the women) and "them" (the men), and although we were always treated nicely, I observed a lot of questionable flirtation.
One day on the set of Rise I had to bring something to one of the grip trucks. When I walked in all the men were gathered around looking at porn, and when they saw me they all started laughing and asked if I wanted to join them. I was 17 at the time, and my nickname around set became "jailbait."
I would use the term "professional misogyny" to describe the atmosphere on Clint Eastwood's set. Eastwood is very dedicated to using the same crewmembers in film after film, and therefore, a lot of them are his friends and have been working with him for a very long time. The assistant costume designer, new like me to Eastwoood’s world, was an amazingly talented straight man who did not embody the “hyper-masculinity” of the Clint Eastwood defined persona, and he talked a lot to me about feeling very ostracized as a result of this. And although the set was the upmost in professionalism, Eastwood is very entrenched in the “old ways” of Hollywood, and the women on set definitely had their “place.”
Because sexual harassment is such an issue these days, it was interesting for me to observe (with shock and disgust) the ways in which male-dominated sets treat the females on set. There is a very strange atmosphere of restraint, although the misogynistic attitudes are still very present.
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