The Limits of #MeToo in Hollywood: Gender and Power in the Entertainment Industry

When, in October 2017, actress Alyssa Milano sparked the #MeToo movement, the ensuing protests quickly grew to encompass far more than Harvey Weinstein and the entertainment industry. They expressed women's outrage at decades of male workplace behavior in every sector and social class and even helped elect a new generation of women leaders in the next midterm elections. But what has been the effect of #MeToo in the entertainment industry itself? This book traces #MeToo's influence on the stories being told, on changing representations of women's lives and bodies, and on the slow institutional changes among the producers who shape the stories we consume. Analysing a wide set of TV and film genres--including crime, legal and medical dramas, comedies, horror, and reality programming--it covers the complex ways that media responds to social movements, sometimes giving voice to brand-new or previously silenced stories, but just as often making facile references that can blunt the potential for change, or even fuel cultural backlash. See more