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Hollywood: my introduction to revisionist history

People have been buzzing about Ryan Murphy’s new project Hollywood. The Netflix miniseries seems to be very polarizing: some people are hating it and some are obsessed. Either way, I received several “You’ve got to watch this!!!!” texts, so I figured that I might as well. I had avoided Hollywood for a long time. I grew up in a house with a father who adored westerns and MGM, so I have had a longstanding vendetta against any portrayal of “The Golden Age.” In my experience, they’re always either whitewashed and erasing entire subsets of society, or they’re focused on the trauma on one of those aforementioned subsets…not really my cup of tea. Finally, I got over my preconceived notions and decided to give it a try, and I was honestly surprised. 

Hollywood follows young upstarts in Tinseltown who are trying to make a name for themselves after World War II. There’s Jack Costello–a white WWII veteran who moves to Hollywood with his pregnant wife in order to make it big as an actor (David Corenswet), Raymond Ainsley–a white-passing, half filipino director who’s determined to use film to tell the stories of minorities (Darren Criss), Camille Washington–a young, black actress who is tired of playing maids and wants her chance to have a lead role (Laura Harrier), Roy Fitzgerald “Rock Hudson”– a closeted, young, white actor who seeks stardom (Jake Picking), and Archie Coleman– a young, black, gay screenwriter who is determined to cross over and have his talents transcend his skin color (Jeremy Pope.) A single movie project ties them all together as they struggle to overcome prejudices and discrimination in order to put their stamp on Hollywood history. 

Ryan Murphy centers this historically fictional story around three real American celebrities: Hattie McDaniel, Anna May Wong, and Rock Hudson. The true stories of these celebrities are grossly ignored in movie history.  Personally, I’ve been hearing the story of how McDaniel wasn’t allowed to go to the Academy Awards the year that she won since I was a kid, and it’s been breaking my heart for as long as I can remember. Hollywood poses a simple question: “What if things were different?”  Philosopher and writer George Satanya wrote “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” But what do you do when your history is full of sadness and hardship? I am very well acquainted with my past and the history of my ancestors, and I take great pride in where I come from. I hope to honor the millions of people who have suffered to give me the rights and privileges that I have today, but being shown the past can be very triggering and upsetting for minorities today. Shining a light on traumatic stories of the past seems to be a trend that’s gaining traction with documentaries like When They See Us and 13th. I know when I watched When They See Us with a group of friends, they were not able to watch it for the most part because watching that part of history was just so triggering. I know the trauma experienced by these starlets is vastly different from the Exonerated 5, but I think both stories trigger feelings of sadness and hopelessness in the black population. So how can we shed a light on history without triggering those that already know it? I think that Murphy poses an acceptable solution in Hollywood. He revises history. He creates an alternate timeline where bigotry doesn’t win against the resilience of these icons. In Hollywood, viewers watch Anna May Wong finally win her Oscar, Hattie McDaniel live happily mentoring a young black woman to heights that she could only dream about, and Rock Hudson work as an out and proud gay man, but not before we watch them struggle with the historically accurate roadblocks in their careers. Viewers get to learn about these unsung heroes of American movie history, but they don’t have to get wrapped up in the fact that they never reach the heights of success that they deserved. 

It’s almost heartbreaking that in 2020, artists are still suffering roadblocks similar to the characters in Hollywood, though definitely not to that scale. Theatre companies are often stifled and unable to produce the work that they really want to because they’re forced to appeal to their subscribers in order to stay open; these subscribers are almost always old and white, so their opinions often stifle projects that are new. The true hardships of producing art that “matters” can almost make a newcomer throw in the towel and go into accounting or something. I firmly believe that Murphy made this series for us. Meg, the project at the center of Hollywood, is a film about Peg Entwistle, the young actress who notoriously suffered suicide by jumping off of the Hollywood sign. The script was written by Coleman, directed by Ainsley, starred Washington, and featured Hudson which would make it the first film from a major studio  in history to star a black woman, be directed by an half-Asian man, written by a black, gay man, and featuring a gay actor. It was going to be commentary on the plight of actors of color in Hollywood being overlooked and pushed aside for years. It had every reason to fail: there were protests, death threats, lawsuits, and hate crimes that were going to prevent these young artists from working on this project, but they do it. They overcome the harsh adversity and are able to get their work produced! On top of that, Meg sweeps at the Academy Awards, and the young stars are seated in the front row. Personally, I found myself getting teary-eyed with each acceptance speech because I found myself expecting the worst each time. “There’s no way that this black screenwriter can actually wi–OMG!” “Okay maybe Archie can win but there’s no way that Camille ca–OMG!” I definitely found myself starting to lose it when I watched Anna May Wong go up to accept her award. I was a blubbering mess when they panned to show that Hattie McDaniel had gotten into the theater to watch Camille win the Oscar. I know that it was a moment in history that didn’t exist and couldn’t exist at the time, but it gave me hope for the kinds of award shows that I can see in the future.  Hollywood has its issues. It’s a Ryan Murphy project, how could it not? The writing leaves something to be desired. It irresponsibly handles sex work and sexual assualt. Ironically, the care given to the writing of the POC characters is a lot less than the white characters. But as a young artist getting ready to start trying to make my mark on the world, I never thought I’d be able to see a period piece where people that look like me can be successful. It lit a fire under my ass to get to work and reminded me that my dreams are possible, so for that, I am grateful.

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