Scarlett Johansson told The Times that early in her career “a lot” of roles revolved around her appeal to men, but “something has shifted” so that she is no longer cast purely for “desirability or the male gaze.” The two-time Oscar nominee made similar remarks during a promotional press stop on 30 June, saying the messaging for young actresses today is “different and better.”
Johansson’s frustration is long-standing: she previously recalled being “hyper-sexualized” as a teenager and feeling groomed into bombshell parts that left little room for nuance. A viral birthday video from friend Ryan Reynolds even mocked the perennial struggle to pronounce her surname—and, by extension, the stereotypes attached to it—underscoring how the issue had become part of her public persona.
Industry data partly support her optimism. The latest USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative survey found that 54 of 2024’s 100 top-grossing U.S. films featured a woman lead or co-lead, the highest share on record, though representation for women of color declined. “Progress is real but fragile,” study founder Dr. Stacy L. Smith wrote, warning that a contracting marketplace could erase gains if studios retreat to “safe” formulas.
Advocates say momentum must now translate behind the camera. Speaking at a Women in Film breakfast in Cannes last month, WIF chief executive Kirsten Schaffer urged financiers to back stories “filtered through more than one gaze” and praised Johansson’s own directing debut Eleanor the Great as proof of that potential.
Scholars, meanwhile, note that the “male gaze” itself is being re-examined. A February round-table published by Mid-Theory argued the once-dominant concept is now “a historical construct” that younger filmmakers actively resist, often by placing women at the centre of authorship. Yet Laura Mulvey, who coined the term in 1975, cautioned in a British Academy talk that it remains a useful lens whenever power imbalances persist on screen.
Johansson embodies the crossroads: she premieres Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme next week and headlines Jurassic World: Rebirth later this summer, roles she says offer agency unthinkable when she broke out in Lost in Translation at 17. Whether that evolution proves lasting, she adds, will depend on “who gets to tell the stories”—a question that Hollywood, despite fresh gains, is still racing to answer.
