Greta Gerwig’s philosophy towards creative easter eggs
Greta Gerwig has truly had one of the most surprising and adaptable careers of any filmmaker, making her start in the mumblecore movement and as a darling of independent cinema, starring in films like Walking and Talking, Baghead and Hannah Takes the Stairs. However, Gerwig always had a talent for articulating her ideas on the page, something that became starkly obvious after her glittering collaboration with Noah Baumbach on the 2012 film Frances Ha, reprising the lead role of Frances in the endearingly awkward and whimsical story of a twenty-something dancer who struggles to get her life together, drifting between apartments and friends on her journey of self-discovery.
After this point, the actor began to turn her interests towards directing, finally taking the plunge in 2017 with Lady Bird, a semi-autobiographical story about a teenage girl who has a conflicting relationship with her mother, desperate to move to New York city and start a life away from her small town. It was immediately hailed as one of those once-in-a-generation masterpieces, quickly sparking an illustrious career for the director with her subsequent projects, Little Women and Barbie.
Her later films contain the same distinct magic that was distilled in Lady Bird, with a glorious and larger-than-life essence that is captured on screen, with the director paying homage to many of her own cinematic influences, showcasing her deep love for the medium. However, this is perhaps most obvious in her adaptation of Barbie, with the script being littered with references to niche novels, bands and artists that will generally be missed by the majority of mainstream audiences.
Gerwig manages to work in references to the likes of Proust and an obscure band called Pavement, scattering her creative interests throughout her work and adding in inside jokes that only she will properly understand or appreciate. However, Gerwig revealed her true intentions behind this decision, comparing her inclusion of these private jokes and references to the work of the artist Al Hirschfeld.
Al Hirschfeld was a caricaturist who drew for the New Yorker, most known for his signature black and white style as he drew depictions of celebrities and public figures. However, Gerwig was influenced by one specific aspect of his work, saying, “I enjoy having things that feel specific and strange. It’s like those Hirschfeld paintings, he did drawings for the New Yorker… but he used to hide his daughter’s name in every one, her name was Nina, so you can look in the hair or somewhere and see her name. And I feel like doing jokes that are extremely specific feels like hiding Nina in a painting”.
This approach to creativity is what makes Gerwig’s work so unique and unequivocally authentic, allowing the work that has inspired her to touch the projects she makes, leading to one full circle of creativity as each film draws on the ideas of pre-existing stories, allowing for an inter-connected web of art.
It is a touching approach, and one that continues to add a new layer of meaning to her work that is entirely personal to her and the art that has shaped her own creative voice.
