Recently Jennifer Lawrence has been taking the ole of fem-warrior, criticizing the patriarchy for the wage gap between the genders, relating how she ended up getting paid less than her three male costars for the 2013 film
American Hustle. Like the previous hack of personal photos from her cloud account, Lawrence first blamed herself, then she blamed society for her decisions. This is what she does. She is careful not to accuse anyone or the studio itself. She squarely blames men. Unlike accusing the lonely men of the internet of being sex criminals, she makes a perfectly reasonable point: The "bitch" conceit. So many of us were raised to believe that women should apply a soft power throughout their lives. Of course, sometimes a bitch is just a bitch. Women want to be both assertive and liked. That's not doable. Men better understand that than women.
In last year's hack of Sony, it was revealed that Lawrence was paid less than any of her male costars. Understandably, at first, she things it's because she's a woman. (It's a bit strange that Lawrence never broached the subject of pay with her good friend Bradley Cooper, but whatever. Let's assume that she's being totally honest.)
When you work on a movie set, you learn your place quickly. The crew get to eat before the background actors. There might even be separate dining areas for crew and background. There's almost always special perks in being crew--like shaved ice, or a catering truck specifically marked "crew only." Just as movie stars don't have to deal with crew, the crew can alienate these temp workers. (Oh, and you movie stars have no idea who these background actors are. What's my name? Can Jennifer Lawrence name anyone who has ever worked on her movies who doesn't have an end credit?) Like plants, background actors have died because they weren't given enough water and shade. They're told to "stay here," and a lot do. It's just a matter of professionalism.
Background actors are paid nine dollars an hour to be in a movie briefly. They have no lines to memorize, and they're performing the most rudimentary of actions. Making Adam Smith proud, Hollywood liberals pay people as little as these folks will accept to do the job. Not really society's fault that you're being paid to stand there. You made your own choices.
Katherine Heigl was supposed to be a movie star--remember that? She came off
Knocked Up and an Emmy for
Gray's Anatomy and she pulled a Caruso. Eventually she was publically outed as "overpaid." I'm not accusing Lawrence of being another Heigl; Lawrence's movies clearly make money, and her work is clearly more diverse than bland romantic comedies where she plays the exact same character. My point is that no one can see the future, and when you have a slim track record, there's no crystal ball to predict one's career trajectory. Also there's no real logic behind how actors are paid, and it can take a column in a national magazine for the suits to realize that an actor is actually terrible, and has been terrible for a very long time.
Jeremy Renner, of the main cast, had the most in common with Lawrence: Relatively new to the world of blockbusters, with just a handful of cameos under his belt--but with critical acclaim for one or two roles. Failed series--just like Lawrence. He was famous for
The Hurt Locker, and that's just about it. Meanwhile, Renner had the best response to the controversy: Not my problem. It is not Renner's problem that Lawrence did not get the best possible deal that she theoretically could've. Renner doesn't hate women. It's just that if a woman can't stand on her feet, does she deserve to stand? Plus being a movie star is fuckin' cool. Renner knows how perilous stardom can be, having been such a late-comer to the fame game, and he doesn't want to rock the boat. (In the 1950s, he might've named names--we don't know.)
Christian Bale had been acting since before Lawrence was born; he was in
Newsies, when it was a terrible kids' movie and not a terrible Broadway production. Bale has the most awards for his acting. Cooper has a masters' degree in theater. Lawrence never went to college, and a few years prior to
Hustle, she played "Mascot" on an episode of
Monk. (Remember
Monk? It was on USA... It ran for like eight seasons!) If you count minute by minute, Lawrence was probably in the movie the least, so she was paid the least--she was a supporting character, not the main character. Bale is objectively better. Her complaints about gender discrimination highlight another harsh reality: In showbusiness, experience is more often secondary to youth and beauty. Bale and Copper were peaking--nowhere for them to go but the Brando route: get fat and refuse to remember your lines. Lawrence is upset that as the next big thing, she wasn't compensated accordingly; and if she hadn't grown in prominence, she probably wouldn't be complaining at all, and we certainly wouldn't care.
My problem with feminism is when the feminists lie, including using misleading statistics. This can also be seen in the pronouncement that women make 80 cents on the dollar that men makes--or that for every dollar that a woman makes, a man gets a blowjob. (Speaking as a man, where the fuck is my "male privilege"? Jennifer Lawrence is a fuckin' millionaire!) Women have children. In having children, they must take time for from work, which interrupts their career paths. To find fairness, you would have to compare the career paths of a childless woman with that of a childless man. Then--and only then--would we know if the woman was underpaid.
Despite being "underpaid" in the last movie that she did with David O. Russell, she will be appearing in his next film,
Joy. She will also be paid 50% more than Chris Pratt (who's now a hot young thing) to star in
Passengers.
So even if Lawrence were a man, he would be acting like a bitch.
