Title: Dynamic Dames: Fifty Leading Ladies Who Made History
Author: Sloan De Forest
Publisher: Running Press
ISBN: 978-0-7624-6550-7
Genre: Nonfiction
Pages: 232
Reviewed by: Allison Walker
Pacific Book Review
From silent films to talkies, women have always graced the big screen. They just haven’t always had the most thrilling roles. Dynamic Dames: Fifty Leading Ladies Who Made History celebrates actresses who challenged the status quo, even if they had to write their own roles, by representing women in the old dilemma of women’s struggle between society’s perceived notion of how they should act, and an effort to claim ourselves as individuals instead.
Some of the films you’ve seen, many you probably haven’t. From cult classics like “Mad Max,” to pre-code era black and white films like “Baby Face,” author Sloan De Forest spans decades in her search for the most dynamic dames in film. The movies represented span from the Roaring 20’s through series still in production today. She categorizes according to the type of character; for example, was the role a Big Bad Mama or a Fatal Femme? But maybe most importantly, De Forest explores who was the actress under the makeup and costume. Each role had an influencing effect on the leading lady, and sometimes on the entire movie industry. For example, after Thelma & Louise made a hit in the box office, many critics predicted a feminist shift in women’s film roles. But when the movie industry failed to respond, it was actress Geena Davis, who had starred as Thelma, who founded a research organization to promote gender equality in entertainment.
While the movies did not always win Oscars, De Forest finds some of the most dramatic game-changers to play upon the big screen. “The Color Purple” received mixed reviews from white and black viewers alike. In response to the criticism her inspiring novel received as a result, author Alice Walker said of the movie, “It is more than many hoped, or had seen on a movie screen before.” In the film, Whoopi Goldberg plays downtrodden-then-liberated main character Celia, a young black woman who is physically and emotionally abused by her father and her husband. Some viewers railed against the film’s negative portrayal of men as Celia’s captors and abusers. Later, in defense of the movie, Goldberg argued, “The movie was not for or against men… ‘The Color Purple’ is a novel about women.”
As an author, actress, film historian and feminist, De Forest is at least as sassy as the dynamic dames in her book. She doesn’t hold back her praise, and she doesn’t hold her punches either. Like the women in her book, De Forest knows how to make a statement. Her chapters are the perfect mix of movie synopsis and cultural significance, representing each film as a tantalizing combination of solid screenwriting and feminist force. I can say now I have fifty more movies on my Must Watch List. Without a doubt, Dynamic Dames represents some of the most role-bending parts played by women in movies in our history. In her introduction, De Forest writes there are enough dynamic dames to fill several volumes. If that’s true, I say bring them on!
