Gabriel Aden

This Changes Everything is a 2015 documentary directed by Tom Donahue in which various actresses discuss gender discrimination within the entirety of the entertainment industry. The film goes from one actress to the next as they discuss their personal experiences dealing with sexism and gender discrimination and share their opinions on important industry defining moments related to women. The film did a great job of providing women from different periods of television and movies as the film can more easily appeal to a wider audience by providing the “oh i know her” factor and establishing a preexisting relationship between actress and viewer to strengthen the arguments made. The film has a lot of moments where the same ideas are presented from different actresses, and this could be a great way to convey the importance and frequentness of the situation at hand, however I feel as though through more varied examples of discrimination in the industry. Having different actresses discuss their own experiences and having them line up similarly to other actresses (without prior consultation amongst each other) is an effective method to reinforce the ideas given throughout and add authenticity and credibility to those who were interviewed. One part in particular helped strengthen the film’s argument in my opinion, and that was when they started discussing the television show Grey’s Anatomy. A statement during this portion of the documentary that stuck with me was “It was fascinating watching them trying to shape Meredith Grey i to one of their fantasy girls who’s perfect and wholesome. We just didn’t do it.”. This line comes from people who worked on Grey’s Anatomy and it shows what men were trying to do after the show’s pilot episode in which the main character, Meredith Grey, behaves in a very “unwomanlike” manner according to the men who were watching the show. This view is countered by one of the women who worked on the show stating that she actually had behaved that same way before and had done things very similar to the character. The term intersectionality, which defines the interconnected nature of race, gender and class in a social categorization in regards to an individual or a group, is important to understand because this film could have benefitted greatly from the use of it. I believe the film could have used trans actors and actresses to help get more viewpoints on sexism and discrimination. Although he didn’t come out as trans until after the movie, Elliot Page is a good example of a trans actor who’s appearance would have had a positive impact on the movie and introduced new ideas and concepts. This changes everything is an exercise in discussion that evolves into an eye opening realization of just how the film and media industry operates. Although the format is a bit basic, the overall structure is strong enough to compel the viewer to notice the points made and apply them to their own understanding of how women are viewed in media.