The public intellectual has often been stereotyped in a singular fashion. A Public intellectual is defined as a well known, intelligent individual whose work has provided significant social and cultural contributions to society. In a typical academic lens, a public intellectual is visualized as an older white man, most likely wearing glasses or a tie, who can confidently debate and express matters of public concern. While a public intellectual is generally well educated and intelligent, this stereotype is a dangerous generalization that limits and invalidates intelligent expression within other landscapes than academia. This problem often causes people to believe public intellectuals are fleeting. Stephen Mack, Associate Professor of Writing at The University of Southern California, describes this in his article The Decline of The Public Intellectual. He writes that “our notions of the public intellectual need to focus less on who or what a public intellectual is—and by extension, the qualifications for getting and keeping the title. Instead, we need to be more concerned with the work public intellectuals must do, irrespective of who happens to be doing it.” (Mack 2014). Limiting the face of the public intellectual hinders the type of discourse deemed important and worthy of acknowledgement. One must focus on the work of the public intellectual and the impact it has on society. 

 

Oftentimes, art is an underrepresented landscape for a public intellectual's work. In this context, art is defined as an intentional creation or expression by an individual taking a stance on public issues. Whether this is a painting or a live recreation in response to an event, the artists are looking to spread a message. Today, society consumes most of their art in a visual or audio format. Focusing on the visual format, this tends to be television, film, or anything on the internet. There is heavy debate on if these forms of media are art and if their presence is considered an overexposure to art. However, this overexposure to multimedia outlets has granted individuals easy access to noteworthy dialogue worldwide. In their article, Public Knowledge of Current Affairs Little Changed by News and Information Revolutions, The Pew Research center found that in regards to public discourse and knowledgeable American citizens the “Well-informed audiences come from cable (Daily Show/Colbert Report, O’Reilly Factor), the internet (especially major newspaper websites), broadcast TV (NewsHour with Jim Lehrer) and radio (NPR, Rush Limbaugh’s program)” (Pew Research Center 2007).

 

Art as a medium is inherently educational. Across cinema, there are many artists working to bring a vision to life and share a message intending to impact their viewers. In this manner, directors and their teams come together to create some of the more provocative and striking pieces of art that often become a worldwide hit. Greta Gerwig is one of the latest examples of a director and screenwriter making this type of cinema. As a public intellectual, Greta Gerwig uses her combined sense of intelligence and creativity to relay social and cultural discourse through her films, affecting audiences at their core and inspiring long lasting conversations. One can look at her work in Barbie and Lady Bird to understand this. Specifically, Gerwig’s contributions as a public intellectual transpire from her ability to reinvigorate spectacle cinema and redefine the coming-of-age genre.  These contributions act as a landmark for the cinematic medium, showing how art is one of the most impactful landscapes for a public intellectual to live within. 

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With a few credits under her belt as a filmmaker, Greta Gerwig has utilized her lived experiences as a woman to create meaningful and successful art that challenges problems within society. One look at her most recent film, Barbie, showcases how her unique style and passion for social change transformed a spectacle franchise into a film filled with heart, attracting audiences worldwide. Olivia Rutigliano, film critic and editor for The Literary Hub, describes Barbie as “...an inventive, highly wildly conceptual thought experiment—not merely about the doll Barbie or even her complicated legacy and what she represents, but also about what it means to be a woman” (Rutigliano 2023). Working with an appealing and known topic such as Mattel’s Barbie, Gerwig was able to portray a deeper insight into her views on society; specifically, life as women in a patriarchal world. In this, one can understand how Greta Gerwig is notably a public intellectual, using her profound knowledge and perspective to take action and inspire change through her own style of artistry. While her art may not be the traditional form of showcasing what it means to be a public intellectual from the academic lens, Gerwigs recognition for the power within her work has proven her place. A study conducted by Julia Shapero, reporter for The Hill, polled male and female viewers after watching Barbie. Out of the male viewers, Shapero states that, “82 percent said the “Barbie” movie increased their awareness of the patriarchy in the work environment” (Shapero 2023). As a medium many people use for mere entertainment, Gerwig’s contribution has added significant meaning to cinema pieces sought out for their spectacle nature. Her work has showcased the profound impact of art and storytelling on public discourse and cultural transformation. 

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To better understand the notion of reinvigorating spectacle cinema, it is necessary to delve into the perception of cinema itself. The world of cinema was once a thought provoking industry that successfully engaged audiences while relaying powerful messages. In looking into today's blockbuster movies, it's apparent that production companies have been placing more focus upon profitable spectacle driven franchises instead of those that depict a keen sense of artistic depth. In his New York Times article, The Rapid Decline of the Movie Quotation, Teddy Wayne, American novelist and researcher, explains that streaming services and other forms of media have given audiences too wide of a range of entertainment. This issue often leads viewers to focus on pieces that are eye-catching rather than films that possess significant meaning. In addressing the industry as a whole, he asserts that “they’re still making good movies, [we’re] just no longer watching them as much — not even the most critically acclaimed mainstream titles, let alone the bushels of stellar independent films that barely gain theatrical release” (Wayne 2014). 

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Tying this back to Gerwig’s film Barbie, one can understand how she has added meaning back to popularized films, spreading important societal messages worldwide through the art landscape. While Barbie may still have been a spectacle (with huge names attached to it and a production budget over the moon) it held great purpose towards calling out and bettering society. There are several themes throughout the film, but the most prominent are societal expectations and human relationships. (Gerwig 2023). With the film being the most successful of the year, it proves how the art of film can be the most powerful medium for a public intellectual. 

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Focusing on genres of film itself, Gerwig has also utilized the art landform to spread realistic messages around gender identity by redefining the coming-of-age genre. Specifically, the history of film’s problematic portrayal of the female narrative. For too long the coming-of-age genre has thrived off of stereotypical clichés that portray a women’s transition into adulthood in one light, their relationships to men. For evidence to this, one can examine Mean Girls, one of the most iconic and well known female coming-of-age films in the United States. The story follows protagonist Cady Heron, as she moves from her home in South Africa to attend a public highschool in an American town. While the film depicts critical satire of American society at moments, the narrative focuses upon Cady's development as she fights the school's popular “mean girl” cliche for being the male protagonist's love interest (Waters 2004). Themes like this are established in many female coming-of-age movies, limiting a female narrative to one that must center around a man. Greta Gerwig realized this toxic nature within cinema, and worked to change it. 

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The difference between these works and Gerwig’s lies in the aforementioned themes. Mean Girls focuses on high school cliques and stereotypical female interests. When those same topics are introduced in Lady Bird and Barbie, Greta wrote the female protagonists as independent thinkers that make decisions based on their personal interests, ones that don’t always involve a man. Specifically, the theme of Lady Bird is focused around dysfunctional family dynamics, highlighting a coming-of-age story from Christine’s perspective as she searches for a way to develop a healthy relationship with her mother, Marion. The following is an excerpt from the screenplay:

 

Christine 'Lady Bird' McPherson: I still want you to think I look good.
Marion McPherson: Okay, I'm sorry. I was telling you the truth, do you want me to lie?
Christine 'Lady Bird' McPherson : No, I mean, I just, I wish that you liked me.
Marion McPherson : Of course I love you.
Christine 'Lady Bird' McPherson : But do you like me?

Marion McPherson : I want you to be the very best version of yourself that you can be.
Christine 'Lady Bird' McPherson : What if this is the best version? (Gerwig 2017). 

 

The dialogue here provides the central theme of the movie and overarching conflict seen within Christine and many young women alike: a daughter's desperate need of approval from their mother. While Lady Bird may feature similar moments of boy drama seen in Mean Girls, specifically from the character Kyle who lies about being a virgin, Gerwig uses it merely for a plot point. Her work goes beyond the nature of superficial issues that ignore individuality and perpetuate stereotypes around females. In other words, Gerwig has pushed past aligning with societal expectations, and paints female protagonists with real standards that audiences can find comfortability in relating to. 

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While admiring the strides Gerwig has made, it’s important to acknowledge that film is a subjective landscape. Some may believe that the creativity, intelligence, and discourse shown throughout her work expose her identity as a public intellectual; however, others may disagree with Gerwig’s film choices or storytelling and discredit her here. Nonetheless, it can not be denied that Gerwig has left audiences talking. With over 41 million tickets being sold to Barbie alone (Box Office Mojo 2023), Gerwig has used artistry to spread her knowledge and discourse in an extremely accessible way. Mack writes, “The measure of public intellectual work is not whether the people are listening, but whether they’re hearing things worth talking about” (Mack 2014). With a whole world of people receiving her messages, it's clear that she has proven art to be one of the most impactful mediums for a public intellectual.

 

Overall, the film industry has been transformed by Greta Gerwig. Her work as a public intellectual has reinvigorated and redefined various components of cinema, while simultaneously spreading valuable messages of public discourse. Her contributions here highlight the importance of public discourse within art, showing how viable it is to recognize and reward public intellectuals who utilize the cinematic platform. 

 

Published: 09/16/23