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How much has Hollywood changed since the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment started to empower women who work behind and in front of the camera?
Here we are, two years after the New York Times and the New Yorker published social media accounts by multiple women accusing film producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct.
Weinstein is due to stand trial in January on charges of rape and predatory assault of two women. He denies any non-consensual sex.
Today women are more active in the movie industry, participating not only as part of the story but as the story itself by creating it, producing it, and playing on it.
Years ago, a female producer couldn't even think she could work on an overproduction movie, while today women are thriving by showing that skills and talents belong to humans, not to genders, females or males!
Let's go a bit further by reading what Hollywood says about the big change that started in October 2017 as a fusillade of accusations against actors and producers hitting right from the social media statutes.
In an exclusive research of Reuter staff, many actors, directors, and producers answered the critic question of How much Hollywood has changed since then.
"We have very far to go,” says Angelina Jolie while her ex-husband Brad Pitt believes, “we seem to work as a pendulum.”
“I think even in Hollywood there should have been an independent inquiry... There’s a lot of focus on what they say women want and I would say it’s not what we want. It’s what we’d like not to be done to us,” said Angelina Jolie and added, “do not limit us to have an education, do not harm us whether it is at war or in our own homes, do not oppress us or try to control us, do not limit our possibilities as human beings. Just let us be.”
BRAD PITT though continue saying, “We swing too far one way, then we find that sweet spot, and then we go too far back and we keep on this swing. But what is going on, which is positive, is that we’re recalibrating our relationships, behaviors, and workplace. It’s long overdue and needed, and it’s a good thing.”
“I think the #MeToo movement has changed a lot,” says Cara Delevingne, “but like a lot of hashtag movements, the problem is that when you do a hashtag or something, people think it’s fixed. But it’s not. It hasn’t really changed anything, because it’s still happening.”
JULIANNE MOORE excited states the changes made in the much less progressive city of New York, “because of Time’s Up, (New York) Governor (Andrew) Cuomo has adopted the Time’s Up safety agenda, which is really, really significant for every woman in New York state. New York is a much less progressive state than California, so when Time’s Up New York got together we thought, ‘What do we address here in our home state?’ And we’ve really been able to make changes (including) extend the statute of limitations on assault.”
Hollywood still has lots of celebrities who believe that we’re at the beginning of a movement. MELISSA MCCARTHY thinks, “We have to keep pushing. You can talk a good game, but you have to wait until it changes, so we’re not there yet. We will be. You’ve got to root for it. I’m a hopeful person. I have two daughters; I have to be. I’ll fight. I’ll fight until I can’t fight anymore.”
For the 21 young actress and model ELLE FANNING being a young woman in the movie industry and able to hear women voices and know that it’s OK to speak your truth on things and stand up for what’s right and say no - it’s a great community that has really formed because of this.
JULIETTE BINOCHE was quite free, always, in her choices in life. “I didn’t need #MeToo to do that, but I think the movement was very important for some women to speak out.”
