"And though she be but little, she is fierce:" the Evolution of the Portrayal of Femininity in Amy Adams' Filmography

Amy Adams as Dr. Louise Banks in Arrival (Villeneuve, 2016)
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by Megan Hess

When Arrival (Villeneuve, 2016) came to theaters, it stood apart from other science-fiction films released that year because of its intellectual focus and nonviolence, but also because of Amy Adams’ world-class performance as linguistics professor Dr. Louise Banks, Arrival’s protagonist. Adams’ character is unlike many popular sci-fi heroines – bold women brandishing weapons and breaking down doors. Manohla Dargis describes her as “thoughtful, serious, at ease with her own silence and fears” (1). Banks’ reticence distinguishes her from her predecessors. Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connors have fears, but they lack her grace and quiet strength, just as she does not possess their flinty confidence and brashness.
Louise Banks is an ideal part  – nuanced, powerful, not a sexual object. Yet, it can be challenging for a young, conventionally attractive actress to get such roles. Inexperience is usually the main reason for a younger actress losing a role to someone older; rarely is an industry newcomer more talented than someone who has been honing their craft for a decade or more. Presentation is another factor. Actresses known for being “sexy” often have a hard time casting that reputation aside. (In Amy Adams’ case, that was never part of her personal brand, making the transition out of meat-market roles easier for her.) On top of that, often, the “better” parts are treated as consolation prizes for women who have passed from the ingenue stage to the status of a “mature” woman. Young actresses get roles which put their youth and physical beauty on display, while “older” women, whose aging bodies are not considered as sexually desirable by the culture at large, get the Oscar-buzz characters. Now in her 40s’, Adams qualifies by Hollywood standards.
Adams is not the first actress to experience this phenomenon. Julia Roberts’ career is a prime example. Her roles in Mystic Pizza (Petrie, 1988), Pretty Woman (Marshall, 1990), Notting Hill (Michell, 1999) and Runaway Bride (Marshall, 1999) are all very typical for a beginning actress. Erin Brockovich (Soderbergh, 2000) started to reveal Roberts’ potential beyond the cutesy romantic lead with a big smile. Now she has a varied resume. 

Julia Roberts in Mystic Pizza  (Petrie, 1988), above and Eat, Pray, Love (Murphy, 2010), below

​Drew Barrymore’s early filmography also follows this pattern – looking specifically at Ever After: A Cinderella Story (Tennant, 1998) Never Been Kissed (Gosnell, 1999), both Charlie’s Angels (McG, 2000) and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (McG, 2003), 50 First Dates (Segal, 2004), Music and Lyrics (Lawrence, 2007), and even Donnie Darko (Kelly, 2001). Barrymore is also an exception to the rule because she has pulled back from screen acting in recent years and focused more on voice acting and producing. Meg Ryan is another exception. She never got to complete the cycle, and is remembered for her rom-com child-women, even if she has surpassed the bubbly romantic lead in her acting (but some would argue she did that to herself by removing herself from the game.) Julie Miller’s Vanity Fair interview with the actress explores this, citing a previous interview Ryan gave to InStyle magazine where she said the following: “I understood it was a compliment about being lovable…. But it also felt like ideas were being projected onto me that had nothing to do with me. The girl next door to what?” (1). 

Drew Barrymore as Danielle, the protagonist of Ever After (Tennant, 1998)

Meg Ryan, When Harry Met Sally (Reiner, 1989)

​This problem still affects the current generation of starlets. Margot Robbie stands out as a prime example. A string of sex object roles make up her career –  Naomi Lapaglia, Jordan Belfont’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) mistress\wife in The Wolf of Wall Street (Scorsese, 2013), Jess Barrett, Nicky Spurgeon’s (Will Smith) lover\business partner in Focus (Fircarra and Requa, 2015), and Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad (Ayer, 2016) to list a few of the most notable. Jennifer Lawrence embodies a reverse trajectory of the trend, going from more empowered, androgynous characters to more passive, traditionally feminine ones.  Her roles in Winter’s Bone (Granik, 2010) and Silver Linings Playbook (Russell, 2012) – the source of her first Oscar -  starkly contrast her part in another David O. Russell movie: Joy (2015). In Passengers (Tyldum, 2016), she got more press for her character’s intimate moments with Chris Pratt’s character than her actual acting. These examples prove that this is not an individual problem, but an industry trend. 

Margot Robbie in The Wolf of Wall Street (Scorsese, 2013) and Suicide Squad (Ayer, 2016) [below] playing different iterations of the same character archetype

​Let’s return to Amy Adam’s filmography, starting with the beauty pageant mockumentary Drop Dead Gorgeous (Jann, 1999) where Adams plays Lesley Miller, a “dopey cheerleader who shows more skin than sense” (Pulchko 1). Adams carried the legacy of Leslie Miller with her into the 2000s’ when making Enchanted (Lima, 2007), one of Disney’s most popular live-action movies. Adams’ performance drives its success; she embodies the frothy innocence that characterizes most classic Disney princesses. Delysia Lafosse, her character in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (Nalluri, 2008) has similar characteristics, but serves as a turning point because she reveals a bit of depth – the flaws under the fluff. Intentional or not, the bulk of Adams’ roles since (excepting Leap Year (Tucker, 2010)) draw on that seriousness. Now, she picks up characters who are subdued and vulnerable, but not fragile: women who are feminine, but not girly. Sister James, her character in Doubt (Shanley, 2008) is an ideal example. For those who have not seen the film, Adams plays a young nun working in a Catholic school under the unyielding and cynical Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep). She gets drawn into a conflict between Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn, the parish priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and is forced to take sides when neither party has clear evidence against the other. Her character is warm, but guarded, obedient but not subservient, quiet and respectful, but not passive. 

Meryl Streep (left) and Adams (right) in Doubt (Shanley, 2008)

Louise Banks from Arrival is much the same. As Dargis praises Adams’ performance, she spotlights those qualities, saying: “By turns inviting and opaque, Ms. Adams turns softness and quiet into heroic qualities, keeping her voice low and modulated, and using stillness to draw you near” (1). While Hollywood depictions of motherhood are often limiting and bizarre, Adams’ Louise Banks feels genuinely maternal. How apt that she’s a linguist – that it takes a “soft science” to save the world. When Denis Villeneuve called Adams “the soul of Arrival” (Rich 1) he spoke accurately. As Louise Banks, she carries the picture with a casual elegance never seen in her early roles, but that frequently features in her later ones.
Amy Adams’ gradual shift in roles is interesting to study just from the standpoint of tracking her career, but it is also important on a systemic level. So many of the well-loved films for women – Adams’ and others – feature and reward a “typical” portrayal of femininity: bubbly, middle\upper-class, pretty, and white. This latter half of Adams’ career praises the subtleties of femininity without holding women – especially older women – to an unrealistic standard. It’s good for women to be loud and sexy and messy onscreen, in the vein of a Jennifer Lawrence or a Melissa McCarthy, but not all women are capable of all of that all the time. With her recent contributions to film, Adams affirms a more contemplative femininity, one rich with the complexities of being female in multiple times and places.
Works Cited
Dargis, Manohla. “Review: Aliens Drop Anchor in ‘Arrival,’ but What are Their Intentions?” The New York Times  https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/movies/arrival-review-amy-adams-jeremy-renner.html?referrer=google_kp Accessed 4 April 2017
Miller, Julie “Meg Ryan is Moving Past Her Movie Star Days, And You Should, Too” Vanity Fair  http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/09/meg-ryan-ithaca-interview  Accessed 4 April 2017
Pulchko, Kristy. “Amy Adams Reveals The Link Between American Hustle and Drop Dead Gorgeous” http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Amy-Adams-Reveals-Link-Between-American-Hustle-Drop-Dead-Gorgeous-40764.html  Accessed 4 April 2017
Rich, Katey. “Why Amy Adams’ Oscar Snub Was So Surprising” Vanity Fair https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/01/amy-adams-arrival-oscars Accessed 14 September 2017