This book is a survey of the American film industry and particularly Hollywood. Basically, it's not pretty, really, really not pretty at all... especially for women, whether they are
storytellers, directors or actresses.
To bring the audience to understand this study, Naomi begins by revealing, without omitting anything, her own experience as a young actress who graduated from the famous American Academy of
Dramatic Arts the AADA.
If you think that getting out - and already getting in - of the AADA is the royal road to Hollywood, well, you're wrong and Naomi will correct you! That's when the book begins, when the young
actress tries, like hundreds of her classmates, to get a part, not even a role! only a casting.
There, everything becomes, creepy, dark, even, unfortunately, often sordid! Well, you're going to tell me, we already knew about this, young actors who wash dishes in a restaurant and live in
small shared apartments to survive while they wait to get THE part. But nothing you've seen, heard or read prepares you for this ethnographic dive into Purgatory, as Naomi McDougall Jones calls
it.
Girls, especially, are treated like cattle. Worse the cattle keep their leather, while the girls often have to get rid off not only their clothes, but also their dignity.
Okay, now you're thinking Well, let them do another job! That's also what I said to myself.
But that's where the book becomes even more interesting... because the author is far from being stupid and asks himself questions, the first of which is this
'What if I stop wanting to be an actress at all costs
Should I erase the first wrinkles that threaten my physical youth
Should I lose four pounds
Am I too redheaded Too tall Too smart
Am I too much this, not enough that
Why does my black actress friend only get a part when she does a so-called black accent
Why don't any producers and distributors trust my director friend
Why do actresses get fewer lead roles than actors
Why do female roles have so little script compared to male roles
Do I have to fit the mold'
Response from male casting directors and male realisators
'Don't ask questions, don't make waves, don't open your mouth and hope your career takes off in this world as it is a Hollywood world in the hands of white men.'
Well, all right, said Naomi MacDougall Jones...
No! I'm kidding!
Naomi opened her mouth, denounced a vicious system, wrote a book that I highly recommend you read.
First of all because, as Naomi explains, the impact of cinema, of the stories told in cinema has a huge impact on the representation of women in the collective unconscious, a huge impact that the
vision that each woman has of herself, around the world.
Second, because the only thing that will help women to be considered equal to men is solidarity. This does not mean fitting into the same mould, having the same political, artistic or other
ideas. On the contrary, women must show solidarity while keeping their differences. We are more than a blonde and silly secretary, a brunette femme fatale, a fat black woman and security guard,
an Indian woman entangled in tradition, a Mexican woman without a green card.
You think I've revealed the whole book to you Far from it! Some revelations about what it’s really like behind the screen have knocked me over!
Naomi McDougall Jones wants to help us, women, show our diversity, our existence, our intelligence, our variety of body and mind. Alone against Hollywood she dared to be a voice for women, let's
read her book to spread this voice, our voice.
Link towards GOODREADS