“I think all directors should at least take
acting classes and see what an actor goes through. And I think all actors
should try to direct and see what a director has to go through – like we don’t
do it on purpose to take three hours to light the scene. I’m not thrilled with
it either but that’s what it takes.”
-Penny Marshall
Director
Penny
Marshall is a renowned and respected female director, and producer of several
popular Hollywood feature films. She was born in The Bronx New York to a couple
already working in the entertainment industry. Her father was an industrial
filmmaker and her mother was a dance instructor. Her older brother, Garry
Marshall, had already established himself as a successful television writer by the
time she was a college graduate and provided her with her first film role in
his debut as a screenwriter and producer on the 1968 feature film How Sweet It Is.
When her
brother began writing and producing situation comedies he made sure to create
roles for his sister Penny. Her big break did not arrive until her brother cast
her and her friend Cindy Williams as Laverne and Shirley in an episode of his
popular series Happy Days. Their
portrayals of their characters were so successful they garnered an instant fan
pool; Garry Marshall then decided to build a sitcom surrounding their
characters.
After
Laverne and Shirley ended in 1983 Penny Marshall had divorced from her
actor-turned-director Rob Reiner and realized that her acting career was
slowing down to a halt; so she decided to take a stab at directing. Marshall
learned to direct during her first few television movies and series such as The Tracey Ullman Show. She got the opportunity to direct the 1986 feature film Jumpin’ Jack Flash which starred Whoopi Goldberg and was originally scheduled to be
directed by male director Howard Zieff. The film did terribly at the
box-office, but Marshall was eager to try again. Her second directing effort, Big (1968), established her as a major filmmaker and the film’s star, Tom Hanks,
as an A-list actor.
Her next
film, which took two years to complete, won her three Academy Award
nominations, including one for Best Picture. Her next film Marshall took a look
at the women who kept baseball alive when all the young men were off fighting
during WWII in A League of Their Own
(1992); it grew in popularity on video. Since that film she has still upheld
mainstream appeal, but the success of her directorial endeavors lacked
consistency and they were not as popular as her earlier works (Starpulse.com).
Penny wanted to do A League of Their Own in an authentic way
and from a woman’s perspective. It was a long casting process where she did not
allow any actress to read for any part unless they passed the baseball test. “The
movie begins with Geena Davis’ character, Dottie Hinson, taking a trip to
Cooperstown for ceremonies honoring the women’s league. What we learn about
Dottie is she never took women’s baseball that seriously. She was the best
player of her time, and yet, in her mind, she was simply on hold until her
husband came back from war. Dugan, the coach (Tom Hanks), tells her she lights
up when she plays baseball – that something comes over her, but she doesn’t
seem aware of it. This ambiguity about a women’s role is probably in the movie
because it was directed by a woman, Penny Marshall. A man might have assumed
that these women knew how all-important baseball was. Marshall shows her women
characters in a tug-of-war between new images and old values, and so her movie
is about transition – about how it felt as a woman to suddenly have new roles
and freedom” (Ebert).
There is a difference in storytelling because there are four
models of women’s literary differences: biological, linguistic,
psychoanalytical, and cultural. Penny Marshall does an excellent job at including
the theory of ‘gynocentrism’ in her work. She focuses on the voices of those
who are usually silenced and provides them with a megaphone. ‘Gynocentrism’ is
a way of assessing works of art specifically in relation to the interests and
desires of women; it involves a separate female way of thinking and recognition
that women’s experience has been effectively silenced by a masculine culture. Marshall
challenges and questions the domesticity of women and their limiting gender
roles compared to men by not framing these women in a voyeuristic way (Humm).
However, other viewers see the portrayal differently; “Yes, the film is
enjoyable and even inspiring at times, but it isn't the celebration of strong
women that I'd thought it was when I originally viewed it. It is grossly
mistitled, implying that the characters have control over circumstances and
infrastructure that they clearly didn't. Playing baseball invites public
scrutiny, and many critics suggest that women engaged outside of the home are
more masculine than their domestic brethren. In
the film we eventually see that the fates of these female athletic careers are
dependent on the return of men from war. When league founder Mr. Harvey decided
women’s baseball is no longer of interest he nearly dismantles the league,
something the players hardly saw coming and were never given a chance to
protest. It is not so much a league of their own” (Rigel).
Work Cited
Ebert, Roger. "A League of Their Own." rogerebert.com. Chicago Sun-Times, 01 Jul 1992. Web.
28 Apr 2012.
<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19920701/REVIEWS/207010302/1023>.
Rigel, J.. "Girls watch movies: A league of
their own." Girls Leadership Institute. Girls
Leadership
Institute, 2011. Web. 28 Apr 2012.
<http://www.girlsleadershipinstitute.org/blog/2011/03/21/girls-watch-movies-league-their-own>.
Humm, Maggie. Author/Autor: Feminist
Literary Theory and Feminist Film. 95-103. Print.
"Penny Marshall Biography." Starpulse.com. starpulse.com, 2012. Web. 28 Apr 2012.
<http://www.starpulse.com/Actresses/Marshall,_Penny/Biography/>.
Phipps, Ashley. "Penny Marshall." IMBD. IMBD.com, 2012. Web. 28 Apr 2012.
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