The first movie character Greta Gerwig fell in love with: “She’s so compelling and funny”
Greta Gerwig has a pretty impressive streak of one-liners in movies that absolutely floor you.
Often, these tackle themes of sexism and misogyny, with words or speeches that tap into the very core of existing as a woman in modern society. In Lady Bird, it was written into the fabric of Christine’s character, and the pressures she faced to navigate her own personal struggles when the world around her misinterpreted said struggles as arrogance.
In Little Women, Gerwig made a point to criticise how women are often seen as clever or emotional, but never both, and as another of Saoirse Ronan’s characters, Jo March, proclaimed to her mother during a heartfelt moment, “Women have minds and souls as well as just hearts, and they’ve got ambition and talent as well as just beauty, and I’m sick of people saying that love is all a woman is fit for.”
Gerwig also crafted her dialogue in the movie to highlight the messiness of womanhood, overlaying certain words to make the scenarios more real and believable. And in Barbie, America Ferrera’s Gloria launches into all the ways women are scrutinised, humiliated, and generally disregarded in modern society.
“You have to answer for men’s bad behaviour, which is insane, but if you point that out, you’re accused of complaining,” she says. “You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line.”
The general pattern in many of Gerwig’s movies is clear – women are held to a higher standard than their male counterparts, yet treated completely differently when it comes to compassion, understanding, and institutional disparities. They’re praised for hard work and yet often torn down in the same breath, and almost always scrutinised far harsher than their male peers.
As someone in film, Gerwig understands the significance of these statements, knowing first-hand that female actors often have to work twice as hard for a myriad of different roles and opportunities, as well as equal pay, widespread respect, and immunity against the more trivial, albeit unavoidable aspects, like remarks about their appearance or general attitude.
She has also closely observed traits of strength and resilience in other actors and characters, and often bases her own worlds around them, or at the very least, how they made her feel as a consumer or audience member at the time. For instance, she once said she fell in love with Melanie Griffith in Working Girl because she is “compelling and funny”.
“I would have to say [my cinematic crush is] Melanie Griffith in Working Girl,” she told W Magazine. “The first time she meets Harrison Ford at the bar. She’s all done up, and she tells him, ‘I’ve got a head for business and a bod for sin.’ And young Harrison Ford…what a dreamboat! But it’s her I truly love. She’s so compelling and funny. She’s sexy without being plastic. I think a lot of people miss seeing women that way.”
Highlighting another one-liner you’d likely see in one of Gerwig’s own movies, Griffith outlines everything the filmmaker loves to ramp up – characters who have both intellect and feeling, and yet are still all strength and power in their womanhood without compromising on one or the other. These are the types of characters that inspire Gerwig to keep giving voices to those who need them the most.
