American Women Screenwriters in the 1920s

Abstract

This chapter contextualizes the work of American women scriptwriters within the gendered liberalization of an emerging consumer capitalism during the 1920s. More specifically, it examines the major role played by women writers in the American film industry of the period to the development of “classical Hollywood narrative,” both as a social force and a form of storytelling. It suggests that women screenwriters contributed to the maturation of narrative construction—from its origins to the introduction of sound, when Hollywood completed the conquest of the world market. In addition to significantly contributing to film history, American women screenwriters played a crucial role in modernizing society, not only through the stories they wrote but also through their very presence in Hollywood.