User:NSandmann/sandbox

ARTICLE EVALUATION: Greta Gerwig

 * Mention of her depression in the "Early Career" section is kind of strange - though it is interesting and certainly relevant to her as a person it's not necessarily a piece of her career and is distracting from the other information
 * Very little detail given on the type of acclaim she received for 20th Century Women and Jackie compared to detail given on her collaborations with Noah Baumbach. Is it because of the added interest that she and Baumbach are dating? Whatever the reason more detail should perhaps be added to the other works' discussions to balance it out
 * The Honors section lists only two honors despite the mention of several others throughout the Wikipedia page and therefore should be expanded; the fact that the political controversy section (which contains only one controversy) is longer than the section on her numerous honors seems a bit disproportionate
 * Though there is a lot of breadth of discussion of her work there isn't a lot of depth - no analysis of style and very often her pieces are strung together in what's just a list of projects
 * Lots of citations, most of them from news articles
 * One of the articles cited (https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/blogs/the-reel-breakdown/rome-love-star-greta-gerwig-wild-woody-allen-214237354.html) has several typos and doesn't clearly support any claims from Gerwig's Wikipedia article
 * Is of interest for three Wikiprojects and has been rated C-Class by all three
 * In the talk section the conversation is slim and centers around what I mainly find fault with in Gerwig's page as well: the issue of how much due weight is given to various topics; the talk is just a criticism of the proportionate time spent talking about things other than her work with the Political Controversy segment as an example and then somebody responding to argue against having that segment cut down

FILMMAKERS OF INTEREST BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Greta Gerwig -

Radner, Hillary. The New Woman's Film : Femme-Centric Movies for Smart Chicks. New York, NY : Routledge, 2017.

- The physical source of this is unavailable as it is currently on loan out of Emory's library. However, based on a review of this book that I found I believe that this source could have valuable information. There is a chapter devoted to Greta Gerwig that purportedly discusses her not only as an actress but in terms of her collaboration with Noah Baumbach and her impact on the Indie movie scene as a whole. Radner, the author of this text, is a professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of Otago and has published eight books, making her a reliable source of information. It is also fairly up to date as it was written in 2017. Overall I wish that I had access to this book in order to make this a more in-depth annotation of its relevancy and because it's definitely the most solid source I have found.

Jacobowitz, Florence, and Richard Lippe. “The City & Film.” CineAction, CineAction, 22 Mar. 2014, www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-371844325/the-city-film.

- This journal article includes a segment that discusses the movie Frances Ha and, though the article focuses more on the physical landscape of the city the film is set in, Gerwig's role in it. The way that it discusses her performative style could be used for further information on what makes Gerwig so influential as an Indie actress. It is also relevant in that, since she and Baumbach collaborated in the creation of this film, the directoral techniques that it highlights could be partially due to her vision. Overall, however, this source is not necessarily one that I would use without any other sources to help provide support and fill in gaps in its information.

Lyons, James. Low-Flying Stars: Cult Stardom in Mumblecore. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2013

- In order to access this source as a whole I would have had to spend thirty dollars just for a PDF download, so once again I am not going off of the text as a whole but rather off of an online preview of its material. It seems as if this would be a useful resource to discuss Gerwig's earlier acting career and what her duality as both a hit on the cult scene and a rising star in mainstream media. It seemed set to discuss the film Greenberg in detail, a film which Gerwig acted in that I saw little discussion of on her Wikipedia page. This piece has potential in that including some of Gerwig's less mainstream movie jobs could help to expand her sparse Wikipedia page. James Lyons was a film editor of respect on the Indie scene, making this piece a fairly reliable source.

Joyce Chopra -

Jackson, Lynne, and Karen Jaehne. “Eavesdropping On Female Voices: A WHO'S WHO OF CONTEMPORARY WOMEN FILMMAKERS.” Cineaste, vol. 16, 1987.

- This article, which discusses many women filmmakers, groups together Joyce Chopra with her partner in making Joyce at 34, Claudia Weill. The majority of the segment is devoted to Chopra's next work, Smooth Talk, and the controversy surrounding it. It talks about the nonbiased stance that the film seemed to take on female teenage sexuality before discussing the different perspectives on how the film could be read. Not a lot of material here but fairly good quality. Provides sound information on a scandal in Weill's career which could be interesting to add to her Wikipedia page.

Nash, June. “Joyce at 34 by Joyce Chopra, Claudia Weill.” American Anthropologist, vol. 76, 1974.

- This review talks specifically about the film Joyce at 34, which was worked on by both Weill and Chopra. It delves into the themes discussed in the movie and its relevancy to the world of motherhood, domesticity, and being a woman in general. This review is useful in that it views the film not only as a film but in terms of the social context of its creation. This is something that is always useful in providing information about a director's work and impact. It's interesting that this piece was published in an anthropology magazine. I don't know if this makes it a more reliable source but it does add a certain level of interest in terms of the lens that Weill's work is being viewed through.

Rapping, Elayne. “Smooth Talk by Martin Rosen, Joyce Chopra, Tom Cole.” Cineaste, vol. 15, 1986.

- This article discusses a film adaptation of a book, Smooth Talk, which she directed. It goes in depth in discussion of the controversy around this film, talking about debates over whether the content was feminist or not and the shock of the public upon watching it given the distinctly feminist tones of Chopra's previous works. It then picks apart the structurings of the film in comparison to the book and where Chopra varied things with her direction. Overall an interesting source both in terms of gaining more information about Chopra's directing style and in terms of learning about controversies surrounding her work.

Claudia Weill -

Kinder, Marsha. “Girlfriends by Claudia Weill.” Film Quarterly, vol. 32, 1978.

- This review discusses the film Girlfriends in depth, covering content form plot to the characters, and also includes biographical information on Weill. When I first found this source I had low expectations of its value but it actually is quite a good source of information. It includes quotes from Weill, giving us direct access to some of her thoughts. It talks about this film's relationship with other films produced around the same time and how they compared to each other. It discusses the ways that gender plays into the film and what sort of visual elements made the main character, Susan, so wonderful to the reviewer. Overall a valuable source.

Jackson, Lynne, and Karen Jaehne. “Eavesdropping On Female Voices: A WHO'S WHO OF CONTEMPORARY WOMEN FILMMAKERS.” Cineaste, vol. 16, 1987.

- This article, which discusses many women filmmakers, groups together Claudia Weill with her partner in making Joyce at 34, Joyce Chopra. Though the majority of the segment is devoted to Chopra's career moves, it provides some quality insight into Weill's filmic career. It discusses her impact in a way that Weill's Wikipedia page barely discusses. It talks about her movie Girl Friends and its acclaim, then her next movie It's My Turn and the intensity of the private eye on her at the time, before mentioning that she afterwards shifted into working on TV. Though low on quantity the material provided here is quality. It highlights her importance as a filmmaker, though her importance seems to be currently overlooked.

Nash, June. “Joyce at 34 by Joyce Chopra, Claudia Weill.” American Anthropologist, vol. 76, 1974.

- This review talks specifically about the film Joyce at 34, which was worked on by both Weill and Chopra. It delves into the themes discussed in the movie and its relevancy to the world of motherhood, domesticity, and being a woman in general. This review is useful in that it views the film not only as a film but in terms of the social context of its creation. This is something that is always useful in providing information about a director's work and impact. It's interesting that this piece was published in an anthropology magazine. I don't know if this makes it a more reliable source but it does add a certain level of interest in terms of the lens that Weill's work is being viewed through.

GRETA GERWIG: Article Contribution Brainstorming
Planning to expand the Honors section to cover the awards that she has been nominated for/won (currently in order to find that information you have to scroll down to a separate section and go through a link). Most of the sources that I would need are already listed through this link so it should be easy to restructure and recategorize so that Gerwig's page has more of a focus on and emphasis on her artistic talents as opposed to the current gossip-columnish nature of it currently.

OR, ALTERNATELY - an in depth discussion of her influence on the Indie movie scene. She's known as an indie darling, but what makes her that way? Instead of all of the vagueries that are currently there could do research on her acting, scriptwriting, and directing techniques that were used in her works in the mumblecore films and her movies with Noah Baumbach.

Honors[edit]
In 2011, Gerwig won an award from the Athena Film Festival for her artistry as one of Hollywood's definitive screen actresses of her generation. In 2014 she was selected as a member of the jury for the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. Her 2018 nomination for the Best Director category at the Academy Awards for Lady Bird makes her the first woman in eight years (and one of only five women in the academy's history) to have been nominated for the category. Gerwig's work on Lady Bird has been nominated for 16 awards in notable circuits. These nominations include Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, Best Picture, the Rare Pearl Award in Denver's International Film Festival, the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award at the Gotham Independent Film Awards, the MVFF Award at the Mill Valley Film Festival, and the Auteur Award at the Satellite Awards. It won 6 of these awards.

Directing Techniques
Gerwig's films tend to be based off of her own life experiences. In a behind the scenes video she said "I tend to start with things from my own life, then pretty quickly they spin out into their own orbit." Gerwig presses actors to incorporate who they are personally into their performance as well, and when it comes to her writing and directing "it's all about actors". However, there is little line improvisation and the script is stuck to fairly closely. Gerwig's works have common themes with a focus on the growth and emotional maturation of the leading woman and on relationships between characters: between families, friends, or significant others, with a special interest in female dynamics. Characters are never villainized and all are sympathetic. She tends to imbue her films with a unique and specific deadpan sense of humor. Visually they also carry a very specific atmosphere - simultaneously having the warmth of looking back on something in memory and displaying things as they are, stripped of any sort of showiness.

Early life[edit]
A native of Sacramento, California, Gerwig is the daughter of Christine (née Sauer), an OB-GYN nurse, and Gordon Gerwig, who worked for a credit union on small business loans. She is close to her parents and they make an appearance in Frances, Ha as her character's parents. She has an older brother, a landscape architect, and a sister, a Manager at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She has German, Irish, and English ancestry, and was raised a Unitarian Universalist. She attended St. Francis High School, an all-girls Catholic school in Sacramento. She has described herself as having been "an intense child." She showed an early interest in dance and fencing, and had intended to complete a degree in musical theatre in New York but ended up graduating from Barnard College with a degree in English and philosophy. Outside of class she performed in the Columbia Varsity Show alongside Kate McKinnon.

Personal life[edit]
Gerwig has been dating writer-director Noah Baumbach since late 2011. Their relationship is both romantic and collaborative, as they have worked together on a number of films.

TO ADD:

- Segment talking about Greta Gerwig's directing style

"I tend to start with things from my own life, then pretty quickly they spin out into their own orbit" - Gerwig

"It's a very specific type of humor and it's something that Greta's so good at herself" - Saoirse Ronan

"It was when I had the full first draft that I thought I wanted it to be mine. Even if I was an imperfect director it felt like my baby to take care of." - Gerwig

"She was just really wonderful at encouraging us to really incorporate who we were, personally, into the characters and I hadn't really experienced that very much with a director." - Ronan

"The more real it is, those are the things that will be really special about it." - Gerwig

"She knows what she wants and you just want to be a team player for her, to help her create her vision." - Laurie Metcalf

"I started writing because I wanted to hear actors saying my lines I'd written because they made it sound so good! And that's how I still feel. For me, it's all about actors." - Gerwig

- Work on expansion of her early career section

- Work on expansion of her personal life (since it seems to crop up a lot in her works, everything's set in Sacramento, and she says in interview that she draws from her own experiences); there are aspects to it that are more important than Noah Baumbach

Thank you to Eliza, Sophie, Christine, and Julia for your suggestions! They're going to be really helpful going forward since w/ the lack of a lot of scholarly text about Gerwig I've been having trouble deciding how to proceed! I will be sure to do some more research into her artistic style and where her stylistic influences come from as well as trying to make this page less of a gossip piece.

Peer Edit - Eliza Paprin
I really like the idea of expanding the honors section. It is important to acknowledge and spread information about the accolades that women filmmakers get to properly show the impact that they have on cinema and society in general. I also like the change from gossip to actual talent as women figures in every industry are always shaped by the media in a way that focuses on the "scandal" around them rather than their actual work. You've accumulated some good facts so far but need to keep working on gathering more. I also think that you should try to add to several more sections than just the singular one. Definitely focus on her Indie movie career as well and try to add unknown facts about her biography. Otherwise, great work!

Peer Edit - Julia Cohen
I remember reading Gerwig's page in my own research when deciding on a filmmaker and thinking that it could really use some good input, so I'm glad someone is working on it! I agree with Eliza regarding expanding the honors section--while Gerwig's Oscar's nomination was extremely significant, it has also come to be very well know, so I like that you have done research and included information on so many of the other awards that Gerwig has been nominated for, and has won. It goes a long way in showing what she has accomplished outside of the Oscars recognition. This is definitely something I am going to now think about including more of in my own article. I also think that your comment on the overall tone of the current state of Gerwig's article is important--as we've learned from all of the tutorials, one of the main goals of these articles is that they all are written in an encyclopedic tone, and that Gerwig's article sounds more "gossipy" definitely does not do anything to help the legitimacy of her online presence, especially considering that Wikipedia is probably the first place that most people look when trying to find out more about her.

In terms of suggestions, I definitely think it would be interesting to gather some more information straight from interviews with Gerwig herself, as they can give primary-source insight into her work and her intentions as a director. Within that vein, it would also be interesting to include more personal background, if available, about Gerwig. Her "personal life" section is only one sentence long, and while too much personal information can cloud the discussion of her work, it is still an article about her as an individual, and a discussion of her personal life is included in that. It would be particularly interesting to try to find out more about her background, upbringing, and other aspects of her life and how they might have contributed to her work or her voice as a director, which would make the personal section less about gossip about her personal life and more about how it has influenced and shaped her professional one. I know there is less scholarly information about Gerwig available in general just because she is a newer presence in the film world. Looking forward to reading the article when it's done!