#MeToo
abuse
actor training
ageism
agency
Amber Heard
American film and television industries
Arthur Freed
believability
Bill Cosby
biopic
Black women filmmakers
blacklisting
casting couch
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celebrity
Clara Bow
comedy
consent
docudrama
Doris Day
Eleanor Powell
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eq_history
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eq_society-politics
ethical storytelling
ethics
exploitation
fan magazines
female experience
feminism
feminist
Fred Astaire
Freed Unit
gendered
gendered economy
Gene Kelly
Harvey Weinstein
historical narrative
history of women
Hollywood wolves
horror
humor
inequality
integrated musical
intersectionality
Jacques Ranciere
Jennifer's Body
Johnny Depp
Karina Longworth
Kenneth Anger
Lady Be Good
Lana Turner
Lillian Gish
lived experience
Louise Brooks
Mae Marsh
Malague
Marilyn Monroe
Megan Fox
memoirs
MGM
mistreatment
musical
narrative agency
online comicality
oppression
Pam & Tommy
Pamela Anderson
performativity
Photoplay
press reception
producer
redemption
representation
resistance
revisionist history
rhetorical violence
scandal
screen narrative
serial fiction
Seton
sexual harassment
sexual shaming
sexual violence
silence
silent film
social activism
speculation
stardom
stars
structural and systemic practices
structures and practices
studio system
television
treatment of women
TV
victim-blaming
victimhood
Virginia Rappe
voice
women's film history
women's precarity
working-class
Product details
- ISBN 9780252089374
- Weight: 513g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 17 Mar 2026
- Publisher: University of Illinois Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Analyzing and challenging the film industry’s infamous treatment of women
The #MeToo revelations put a twenty-first-century stamp on the age-old story of women’s mistreatment in Hollywood. Karen McNally edits a collection focused on examining and revising film history in the aftermath of the women’s stories, past and present, that have come to light.
The collection begins with essays on the interplay between reality and imagination in narratives and representations of women’s experiences of unequal treatment. In Part 2, contributors discuss how the gendered attitudes of the media’s stories enable inequality in Hollywood and look at the forces that arise whenever women resist these media assaults. The next section addresses the structures that built the inequalities and mistreatment while Part 4 revisits established narratives to challenge, renew, and expand upon our understanding of film history through women’s stories. Essays in the final section address the combination of inequality and resistance that defines women’s experiences in Hollywood.
Piercing and astute, Women in Hollywood’s Dream Factory confronts our perception of Hollywood as a mythological land of dreams.
Contributors: Alicia Byrnes, Anna M. Dempsey, Harriet Fletcher, Amanda Konkle, Tamar Jeffers McDonald, Kerry McElroy, Adrienne L. McLean, Karen McNally, Donna Peberdy, Melanie Piper, Victoria K. Pistivsek, Sarah Polley, Ina C. Seethaler, Gabrielle Stecher, and Jennifer Voss
The #MeToo revelations put a twenty-first-century stamp on the age-old story of women’s mistreatment in Hollywood. Karen McNally edits a collection focused on examining and revising film history in the aftermath of the women’s stories, past and present, that have come to light.
The collection begins with essays on the interplay between reality and imagination in narratives and representations of women’s experiences of unequal treatment. In Part 2, contributors discuss how the gendered attitudes of the media’s stories enable inequality in Hollywood and look at the forces that arise whenever women resist these media assaults. The next section addresses the structures that built the inequalities and mistreatment while Part 4 revisits established narratives to challenge, renew, and expand upon our understanding of film history through women’s stories. Essays in the final section address the combination of inequality and resistance that defines women’s experiences in Hollywood.
Piercing and astute, Women in Hollywood’s Dream Factory confronts our perception of Hollywood as a mythological land of dreams.
Contributors: Alicia Byrnes, Anna M. Dempsey, Harriet Fletcher, Amanda Konkle, Tamar Jeffers McDonald, Kerry McElroy, Adrienne L. McLean, Karen McNally, Donna Peberdy, Melanie Piper, Victoria K. Pistivsek, Sarah Polley, Ina C. Seethaler, Gabrielle Stecher, and Jennifer Voss
Karen McNally is a professor of American film, television, and cultural history at London Metropolitan University. Her books include The Stardom Film: Creating the Hollywood Fairy Tale and, as editor, American Television during a Television Presidency.
