Never Done : A History of Women's Work in Media Production / Erin Hill.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hill, Erin, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sex role in the work environment--United States.

Sex role in the work environment.

Sex discrimination in employment--United States.

Sex discrimination in employment.

Motion picture industry--United States--Employees.

Motion picture industry.

Women in the motion picture industry--United States--History--20th century.

Women in the motion picture industry.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (298 pages)

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, NJ : Rutgers University Press, [2016]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Histories of women in Hollywood usually recount the contributions of female directors, screenwriters, designers, actresses, and other creative personnel whose names loom large in the credits. Yet, from its inception, the American film industry relied on the labor of thousands more women, workers whose vital contributions often went unrecognized. Never Done introduces generations of women who worked behind the scenes in the film industry-from the employees' wives who hand-colored the Edison Company's films frame-by-frame, to the female immigrants who toiled in MGM's backrooms to produce beautifully beaded and embroidered costumes. Challenging the dismissive characterization of these women as merely menial workers, media historian Erin Hill shows how their labor was essential to the industry and required considerable technical and interpersonal skills. Sketching a history of how Hollywood came to define certain occupations as lower-paid "women's work," or "feminized labor," Hill also reveals how enterprising women eventually gained a foothold in more prestigious divisions like casting and publicity. Poring through rare archives and integrating the firsthand accounts of women employed in the film industry, the book gives a voice to women whose work was indispensable yet largely invisible. As it traces this long history of women in Hollywood, Never Done reveals the persistence of sexist assumptions that, even today, leave women in the media industry underpraised and underpaid. For more information: http://erinhill.squarespace.com

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Introduction

1. Paper Trail: Efficiency, Clerical Labor, and Women in the Early Film Industry

2. Studio Tours: Feminized Labor in the Studio System

3. The Girl Friday and How She Grew: Female Clerical Workers and the System

4. "His Acolyte on the Altar of Cinema": Th e Studio Secretary's Creative Service

5. Studio Girls: Women's Professions in Media Production

Epilogue: The Legacy of Women's Work in Contemporary Hollywood

Appendix: Work Roles Divided by Gender as Represented in Studio Tours Films

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Notes:

Based on the author's dissertation (doctoral)--University of California, Los Angeles.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 22. Okt 2019)

ISBN:

9780813574899

OCLC:

960871925