Handmaidens of the Glamour Culture

Elizabeth Nielsen's essay fits nicely within a body of historical work that has set the course straight in accordance to today's prescriptive feminism. Indeed, "Handmaidens of the Glamour Culture: Costumers in the Hollywood Studio System" depicts yet another profession where women are/were given little agency in determining their own careers and the organization of the profession at large.

Even now, in this supposed age of post-feminism, female costumers are still underpaid and overworked. And while women have always held a majority, men are still appointed union leaders as they continue to be seen as more effective in business arrangements with male studio heads. Further, the women in the industry today "must not only be knowledgeable but she must be young and attractive" (174). There definitely exists, then, a double standard in which physical beauty assumes a greater role in determining women's success in the field than men's.

Nielsen doesn't consider in her research the participation of gay men in the trade, a project that if undertaken would better paint a picture of the typical male Hollywood costumer in relation to the female costumer she describes. If the costuming world is anything like the fashion world, a venerable assumption, then gay men play a giant role in the field and deserve recognition.

Neilsen talks about how "'creativity' is synonymous with rescoursefulness" (170). Clearly, the amount of acumen needed to confront production issues is crucial. It must've been disconcerting for women with such creativity, both now and then, to see their abilities not put to use simply due to discriminatory practices. This point is particularly sobering for me because not only do women suffer - women's suffrage being a cornerstone in the feminist argument - but film quality suffers also.

Now, to end on a more personal note:

There are only four girls in my production class this semester, and none of them seem heavily invested in the class. They offer few critiques, will show up late, and turn in unfinished projects. I think they would benefit enormously from a critical studies course where she would be exposed to feminist thought as I have. Women in critical studies, I feel, not only well represented but empowered. But this sense of empowerment needs to trickle into other SCA departments also. My second film actually offers a curious critique of feminism, one I hoped would force some response from the women in the class, but I had to prompt them to respond. Why am I having to do this? Nielsen would probably want to know too.