Women Filmmakers Working In and Out of Hollywood-Sofia Coppola

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Women in Filmmaking: Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola is among the famous female filmmakers around the world. She can best be described as a director, actor, producer, and screenwriter having starred in over three films. Coppola was born in 1971 to Francis Ford Coppola and Eleanor Coppola CITATION Sof161 l 1033 (Sofia Coppola-IMDb). Her father is well known for his production of the famous Godfather Series. She is best known for directing Lost in Translation and The Virgin Suicides and her acting roles in the series Godfather. According to biography.com, Lost in Translation was nominated and won the Best Original Screenplay Award in 2003. Some critics credit her success in the film world to her family tree. Whether there is some influence from the family, Sofia Coppola has proved her talent and ambition to push her career forward as a personal choice. Her work as a writer and director in The Virgin Suicides proves her skills behind the camera. She is now the first American female filmmakers to receive the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
In essence, her career in the film industry started earlier as a child starring in her father’s work, The Godfather. Later, she took roles in other movies such as Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) and The Cotton Club (1984).She would soon be demoralized as an actress after receiving bad criticism during a Golden Raspberry Awards in 1990 and soon started pursuing roles behind the camera. After graduating from the California Institute of Arts, she focused on photography and fashion design.

In the mid-1990s, she wrote and directed The Virgin Suicides which turned out to be a hit in Hollywood. The development and reception of this film marked a turning point for Coppola. Her public image changed from the girl riding the success of her family, especially the father, to an authentic female filmmaker with acceptable original ideas. Whether her audience knew who she was at that time was unclear, but the academics in the industry were convinced of her talent and worth as a valuable colleague.
The next phase of her life revolved on the creation of movies and networking with other stakeholders in production. Within two decades, she was married to Spike Jonze, a Hollywood director, but later divorced in 2003. She is currently married to Thomas Mars, a French singer (the lead singer of the Phoenix), and has two daughters. The second break in her personal career took place in 2003 when she received an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for writing and directing Lost in Translation. Other notable films are her production of Marie Antoinette in 2006 which received a rather cold reception compared to the other two CITATION Sof161 l 1033 (Sofia Coppola-IMDb). Nonetheless, it was nominated for costume Design and creativity. Coppola is currently working on The Beguiled, which is a remake of the drama aired almost five decades ago.
In addition, the general reception of Coppola in Hollywood can be described as bittersweet with moments of joy coupled with intense periods of negativity. Her decision to focus on writing and directing as opposed to acting is a clear indication of the situation. People have mocked her work citing her apparent and ill-advised criticism of the Hollywood atmosphere and treatment of women. Heller from Slate.com believes that most of her films are an attack on the American culture. He finds such a theme to be hypocritical given that she had a privileged lifestyle from parents; he says that she fights a war she does not understand. The famous Virgin Suicides depicts the story of five girls who died after some bizarre psychological problems. In a sense, the movie creates awareness about dangers of depression and other teen-related problems. She urges parents to spend more time with their daughters and protect their childhood. Her consistent portrayal of issues affecting the modern woman is recommendable. Most of the problems, as she demonstrates, develop out of ignorance.
A closer look at Lost in Translation exhibits the struggles of a young woman, Charlotte, with self-identity. Ashby summarized the movie by saying that she moved from Los Angeles after getting married and everything changed (45). Critics argue that the move might reflect the physical movements in the last two decades with Spike Jonze and Thomas Mars. She currently lives in Paris despite her involvement in Hollywood but Coppola states that she loves the city because of its artistry. The film appears as a warning to young women willing to forego their creative integrity as Heller puts it. She wants to publicize the idea of the independent woman in matters of career, education, and marriage. Despite her clear emphasis on the family and marriage structure through her characters in the two movies, Coppola iterates the importance of self-worth and ambition. The girls from the previous movie suffered from psychological problems leading to suicides. Charlotte, as the movie suggests, is lost in translation which is a metaphor for the loss of identity in a world dominated by male chauvinism. Interesting enough, Lost in Translation was shot in Tokyo which reveals that the ability to network between continents and away from Hollywood. Lastly, the less popular film, Marie Antoinette, talks about the story of a young queen being pushed down by the world which views women as an inferior gender incapable of leading. The movie acts as a call to female professionals everywhere to stand and defend their roles in the society.
Other famous movies from Sofia Coppola would include the popular, Bling Ring. The movie describes true events of a group of adolescents who grew fond of celebrities. Their thirst for the Hollywood life developed into a series of robberies where they took priced possessions of their idols. Coppola captured phenomena well known in the world today; young people doing anything to get rich quickly. The last scenes captured the effects of social media on girls and boys. She affirms the notion of incarceration and addiction to fame and drugs as a side effect of capitalism. Another worthwhile movie is the movie somewhere which questions the decisions of a young girl and her fatherCITATION Ash13 p 76 l 1033 (Ashby 76). The movie demonstrates the fact that children mimic some behavior form adults and parents should be careful. In the movie, the daughter watches as his father smokes and brings women home. Her decision to use a female child rather than male indicates her focus on the daughter-father relationship. Conclusively, Sofia Coppola did an excellent job in developing plots aimed for gender equality and focus on critical issues affecting the society. She started off as a daughter of a famous producer and director but grew into an independent woman. Her fans and critics can acclaim her role in developing women as filmmakers as opposed to the expected acting careers.

Works Cited
BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Ashby, Arved. Popular Music and the New Auteur: Visionary Filmmakers After MTV. Oxford: OUP USA, 2013.
Heller, Nathan. Sofia Coppola: You either love her or hate her. 28 December 2010. www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2010/12/sofia_coppola.html.Accessed 6 December 2016.
Sofia Coppola Biogrpahy . 3 March 2016. www.biography.com/people/sofia-coppola-10434307#personal-life. Accessed 6 December 2016. BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033
Sofia Coppola-IMDb. 2016. http:www.imdb.com/name/nm0001068.Accessed 6 December 2016.