Breaking the Stereotypes
Stereotypes have always been a part of movies and they still are to this day. You have the beautiful blonde that is dumber than a pile of rocks, or the jock that can do everything and gets the girl. Films aren't the only thing that has stereotypes. We go through our daily lives creating and picking out stereotypes. Jean Seberg defied these stereotypes and created a new look at things in the 1960s/1970s.
Growing up Seberg lived in a small town in Iowa on a farm. She was a 17-year-old Iowa girl who beat out 18,000 actresses to play Saint Joan in Otto Preminger's 1957 film. She fought against the stereotype that people who don't have much money or use their parent's influence to get their roles. That people who don't have much can get the world if they try and work for their dreams. Not only that but while she was in Hollywood Seberg was a civil rights activist and a financial supporter for the Black Panther Party made her a target of the FBI. It's more common nowadays but in the 1970's supporting groups and Parties weren't that popular and caused a lot of backlashes.
Dr. Simonsen did an in-depth on-camera interview for the film focused on Seberg’s activism.
“Jean Seberg just stepped right into the middle of so many conflicts at that time — conflicts about race, about sexuality, about communism, about politics, about women’s political involvement. And, that seems to be what got her: Seemingly, the wide belief that she overstepped her bounds in some way.”
Her death in 1979 was very sad and tragic. She was missing for 9 days in Paris and then found in the back of her car wrapped up in blankets. The Paris police ruled it a suicide since a note was left behind. Romain Gary, Seberg's seconded husband blames the FBI for the cause of her unstable mental health that caused her to think and act upon suicide.
“There were things that happened to her that she didn’t deserve,” said producer/director Garry McGee. “Jean was just trying to do what was right. You see a consistent thread throughout her life of reaching out to people who had fewer opportunities than she had.”
Great job including several quotes that back up your assertions that Jean defied stereotypes, including from one of the directors (not present) and an expert witness with Augustana ties. What's missing is the name of the film and a link to the website/trailer, however you discuss her acting roles, her identity as an Iowa small town girl, and her activism in the form of financial assistance to the Black Panther Party, three key components to her status as non-stereotypical actress, activist, and icon.
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