Cate Blanchett covers the December issue of Harper’s Bazaar UK because she’s their “women of the year.” Kind of an odd choice because Cate hasn’t had many projects out this year, and the magazine kind of skips over the box office debacle of Where’d You Go Bernadette?. But! The cover story does talk a lot about Cate’s miniseries Mrs. America, where she plays Phyllis Schlafly, the anti-feminist, anti-Equal Rights Amendment campaigner in the 1970s. That miniseries will be out next year. You can read Cate’s full cover story here. Some highlights:
Why she doesn’t retire: “There are so many books I haven’t read, so many films I haven’t watched, so many conversations I haven’t had, so many plants I haven’t planted. I’m always saying I’m going to give it up. I think I’m done – but then someone presents me with a challenge.”
Life after her dad died when she was 10: She grew up in “a very strong household full of women – my sister, an architect and urban planner, who I’m very close to, my grandmother and my mother. I had a working single mother, that’s my model.”
She developed an interest in the history of feminism. “I was fascinated as to why the women’s movement burst through onto the streets. You felt the world was expanding and growing and changing, and voices that had previously been dismissed were being heard in the corridors of power. But why did that bubble burst in the 1980s and this amazing backlash happen? I’ve always been interested in that area of history. I think it’s really important to fold in the lessons learnt from second-wave feminism.”
Little has changed since Schlafly’s day. “We’re still talking about same-sex restrooms, we’re still talking about women in the military, we’re still talking about reproductive freedom. And how many years ago was that? It really has been Groundhog Day.”
I’m also interested in the first-wave backlash to the ‘70s feminism, but I always felt like – in America, at least – it was all about the rise of Ronald Reagan and the so-called “Moral Majority.” The ‘80s saw Republican politics consolidate under conservative Christianity/Bible belt politics. That backlash was to feminist advances, but it was also a backlash to civil rights advancements across the board. And yes, it’s depressing that we’re still talking about this sh-t fifty years later.
Also: Cate’s hair is too white-blonde in this editorial and it’s freaking me out.
Cover & Instagram courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar UK.
Was she really asked why she doesn’t retire? I don’t get it, why would she?
I think she looks stunning and regal in both pictures. Even with the white hair.
I think it’s a filter since her skin looks extremely cool toned
Intersectionality means nothing to her, which is why she’s asking the wrong questions about feminism. I also don’t get what’s she hinting at with those lessons.
@Wilma
I’ll never forget her telling on late night live TV she named her son after Roman Polanski
I think her hair looks amazing – I want!
I’ve often thought about what went wrong. Look at the movies, magazine articles, TV shows of the late 1960s/early 1970s. Those female characters were fulfilled, independent, fun, funny, smart….and then the 1980s came. And I agree with the author that a lot of it was a Reagan-era backlash. And to the extent there’s been a revival of feminism, the strain that gets the most attention in the media is this bossgirl/corporate “feminism” that isn’t real feminism, but a strain of female-friendly capitalism.
I will refrain from profanity and am sorry to “yell,” but THERE IS NO WAY I’m watching a mini-series about Schlafly. Even if it’s an (accurate) negative portrait. Why not do TV and movies about feminist heroes in history?? This is yet another choice made by producers to confuse and divide us. Schlafly is thankfully dead and buried and needs to stay that way. As for the attacks on late 20th century feminism, it’s all explained in Susan Faludi’s 1991 book “Backlash: The Undeclared War Against Women.”
If it is honest about Schlafly, it could be great. She was a Bircher in the 50s-60s and ran a wacko anti-communist conspiracy theory newsletter. I read a a biography of her in a feminist biography class in college (there was one conservative woman biography for comparison). I was older and going back to school, so I actually remembered her. It was amazing what the biography left out, like the content of her newsletters, which were batshit insane. She (and the conservative movement) had lost the consensus on race, so they switched over to misogyny, which was and is still publicly acceptable, and the Reagan revolution swept in. If they include how much of a Republican operative she was (she led the floor fight at the Republican convention to get Goldwater the nomination) it will be very interesting indeed.
I agree that helping educate viewers about the John Birch Society and its metamorphosis across time and influence on creation of Trumpism would be very helpful. But, geez, I still think I can’t stomach watching it myself!
Isn’t she one of the ones who defended Polanski and Woody Allen?
She repeatedly defended Woody Allen. That earns her a permanent NO in my books
I had no idea that she supported those pedos! This is disturbing as I find her to be an outstanding actor. He husband seems to be her rock and she truly admired and appreciates him. But her supporting the pedo party truly sickens me.
Any time I hear W.A.’s name, I want to vomit 🤢
I also refuse to watch or support his movies, along with Polanski and Cruise who I think is a horrendous “human”, if you can all him that, but he is also a terrible actor. I am against Cruise for his lack of protecting his children/wives from his cult and his treatment after they leave him. Such a POS!
What did Woody Allen do? He’s a creep for sure (skeeving on Mariel Hemingway in her late teens; taking up with his ex’s late teen daughter). But, has he done anything illegal?
I had no idea that her father died when she was 10
Some other actress wore that dress at some event. Can’t remember who it was. The white hair reminds me of her in Lord of the Rings
I don’t like the profile pic for some reason, but really dig the second picture.
Good old Kate, faithfully pimping the product. Remember the PR campaign where her character was gay so she tried to say she was a lesbian
My brother-in-law is in this with her! I can’t wait to see it.
On my screen at least, these photos almost look black-and-white. They really did bleach out almost all the colour. She looks alabaster and perfect, but it is extreme.