Emma Watson and Geena Davis have teamed up for Interview magazine to have an empowering and candid feminist conversation.
Watson, best known for playing brainy badass Hermione Granger and for being a U.N. Women Goodwill Ambassador, interviewed Davis, whose roles in "A League of Their Own" and "Thelma and Louise," not to mention her Institute on Gender in Media, have solidified her as one of Hollywood's most outspoken voices for feminism and gender equality.
In the interview, published this morning in anticipation for the Bentonville Film Festival, Davis and Watson spoke about the importance of female role models, learning to navigate their careers in a male-dominated industry, and how Hollywood may just be the one place gender equality can happen overnight.
When Watson asked about her feminist role models, Davis said that she was grateful for her aunt, who transported Davis out of her small-town Vermont upbringing and took her to her first play. "She broadened my understanding of what women could be like and do and that there's a big world out there," Davis said.
She also gave a shout out to her "Thelma and Louise" co-star Susan Sarandon. Davis recounted the direct way Sarandon spoke to "Thelma and Louise"director Ridley Scott, crediting that interaction with helping her become more vocal about her own opinions:
I swear, I think it was page one -- she says, "So my first line, I don't think we need that line. Or we could put it on page two. Cut this..." And I was just like... My jaw was to the ground. Because she was just saying what she thought! She was saying her opinion. Even though I was 34 or 35 or something. I was like, "People can do that? Women can actually just say what they think?"
Both Watson and Davis reflected on how the lack of women represented in the media spurred them to do the work they do. Davis said she had the idea to start her Institute when her daughter was just a toddler.
"I had no idea there was anything wrong with kids' media," she said. "I started watching little pre-school shows with her... I couldn't believe what I was seeing, that there seemed to be far more male characters than female characters in what we make for little kids. It was just a shock."
Watson echoed the same sentiment: "I didn't realize that I wasn't moving in a gender-equal world...until I hit puberty. Media even before that age is already creating all these biases," she said.
Davis has since used her Institute to educate members of the film and media industries in hopes of making movies and TV more representative. She believes that while gender inequality exists in just about every industry, "the one place that can be fixed overnight is onscreen."
"You think about getting half of Congress, or the presidency... It's going to take a while no matter how hard we work on it," she said. "But half of the board members and half of the CEOs can be women in the next movie somebody makes; it can be absolutely half."
Both women agree that representation is invaluable to girls and young women. "Our slogan [at the Institute] is, 'If they see it, they can be it,' Davis told Watson.
We see you, Geena. Can we be you?
Head over to Interview to read the whole thing.
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