Tragic blondes, Hollywood, and the “radical sixties’ myth: Seberg and once upon a time in Hollywood as revisionist and reparative biopic

Tincknell, Estella

Abstract

In this essay I explore two recent ‘reparative biopics,’ Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino, 2019) and Seberg (Benedict Andrews, 2019), which share features found in the resurgent cycle of 1960s-set ‘back studio’ films that have appeared in the wake of feminist criticism of mainstream Hollywood. Although positioned very differently in terms of genre (as biopic and counterfactual history respectively) and in their creative engagement with the cultural and political history of the late 1960s, both are notable for the way they deal with the real female stars at the centre of their stories, Sharon Tate and Jean Seberg. While each film seems to be seeking reparation for the past, their approach ultimately recuperates the women into a mythic discourse of the ‘radical sixties’ in which masculine agency and homosocial bonds are privileged. I argue that these films rehearse familiar biopic conventions to depict the blonde female star as tragic victim, not only of history but also of her own inherent frailty.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 15, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Nov 30, 2022
• Publication Date: 2023
• Deposit Date: Dec 13, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 3, 2023
• Journal: Celebrity Studies
• Print ISSN: 1939-2397
• Electronic ISSN: 1939-2400
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 568-583
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2022.2149346
• Keywords: Cultural Studies; Blonde; Back studio; Jean Seberg; Sharon Tate; Hollywood; Revisionist history
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10231456
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19392397.2022.2149346