In a conversation with author and social activist bell hooks, Emma Watson revealed she will be taking a year off from acting. Emma and hooks discuss feminism, reading, and the reasons for her hiatus. You can read the complete article published in Papermag here.
hooks: “As part of your efforts for activism and for self-growth, you’re taking a year away from acting. That’s a big decision.”
Watson: “I’m taking a year away from acting to focus on two things, really. My own personal development is one. I know that you read a book a day. My own personal task is to read a book a week, and also to read a book a month as part of my book club. I’m doing a huge amount of reading and study just on my own. I almost thought about going and doing a year of gender studies, then I realized that I was learning so much by being on the ground and just speaking with people and doing my reading. That I was learning so much on my own. I actually wanted to keep on the path that I’m on. I’m reading a lot this year, and I want to do a lot of listening.”
And she’ll continue on with her work for HeForShe and the UN:
“This January, our HeForShe IMPACT champions are ten CEOs who for the first time will be releasing to the media what their companies look like internally. So how many CEOs are male or female, the gender wage gap. We’ll be making all of these statements completely transparent, which is huge. It’s never been done before. I’m very interested and excited to see how that works out. I’ll also take another field trip in the next two or three months. We are organizing a HeForShe arts week, a university tour, and launching the HeForShe website. It’s a lot. There’s a lot to do.”
Well, all the best and I hope she gets the success she’s wishing for. Still hope she’ll keep us posted on her progress…and that she doesn’t forget to include a few photos now and then as well.
It’s a brilliant article, but my one critique is the critique on Hermione’s character. What’s wrong with frumpy? Is it only acceptable if she outshines Harry? I’m a feminist and never thought “Harry’s great, but I think he ought to move over so Hermione can be a political statement”.
“then to also witness that that intelligence was placed in the service of boy power” – bell hooks
Narratively-speaking, if I don’t see anything wrong with a boy’s character being in the service of a girl’s, then I don’t see anything wrong with a girl’s character being in the service of a boy’s. There IS a gender-problem in media still, but it is the prevalence of the latter and lack of prevalance of the former that I’m concerned about. I would like a balance through all of media, but I hope I never expect to shame one film or set of films as being wrong because they didn’t check *all* the boxes of what I consider right. Hermione is a character, not a political statement.
However, I loved everything else bell hooks said, and I hope that my statement above doesn’t suggest I don’t like the rest of her ideas. I’d never heard of her until now, but she seems like a crucial and very good force in Feminism from what I can tell. Great interview between the two of them.
Utter f*****g insanity. She’s completely gone in the head. The feminazis got their hooks in her while she was at Brown, I’ve no doubt, and now she’s well and truly hooked on the Kool=Aid. Turns out she wasn’t as smart as we all thought after all.
Wow, this comment has made me 180 on my thoughts! So much reason and logic.
Wait. No, no it hasn’t.
@Kim
Good comment! It’s because of silly remarks by Hooks like about Hermione, that there exists a general dislike of feminism and feminists.
I like the idea of feminism, and it’s important everybody has equal changes, but some feminists should be more careful about what they say.
“It’s because of silly remarks by Hooks like about Hermione, that there exists a general dislike of feminism and feminists.”
Exactly. And to add to that, I’m not really sure why there’s this idea that if one person thinks a certain way in a group, then the rest of the people in that group must either immediately leave the group or proclaim as publicly and loudly as they can how much they disagree. And if they don’t do either of those things, for some reason it’s assume they agree.
I disagree with more feminists than I can count, but they don’t own the term, and so I shall continue to call myself a feminist. I think everyone faces issues, not just women, and we should all work together and not feel like we’re enemies. And that is why I love the HeForShe campaign so much, even if Emma wasn’t a part of it. I know many feminists were upset because “we don’t need men’s help”, but I hope I’m not so proud that I’ve become illogical; I’m perfectly happy to include men in the fight for equality, and in fact, consider it incredibly stupid to exclude them (or to exclude anyone!)
Yes, exactly! I can honestly say, as a man, that I feel like some ‘feminists’ do not want equality at all, but are striving to emulate the favoured position, that we as males, can perhaps sometimes find ourselves in, mostly in a business life.
Of course I realize, that most feminists really just want equality, and therefor I support feminists. Feminists who realize we are all just the same, men/woman, black/white, and that we need to make use of everybody(!) for equality, and not only women.
I think it is unfortunate that many do not understand feminism is in the best interest of men too. I have heard Emma explain that a Thousand times, but it seems to be too difficult to understand for some people.
This chick has completely lost her marbles. Batshit insane now. Brainwashed and brain dead and throwing her career away on an insane religious cult.
Consider me an ex-fan. Stick a fork in me, I’m done. What a crushing disappointment she turned out to be.
So filming on “The Circle”, which, was Emma’s last film ended sometime in November 2015….so maybe she’ll start filming “Queen of the Tearling” or another project around Nov/Dec 2016. Though prob not until Feb 2017… That’s not too bad…
I understand the disapointed fans (for the gap thing) as I was a bit disapointed myself, but let’s not forget : we still didn’t see Colonia, The Circle and Beauty and the Beast ! So while she’s not filming, we’ll still hear from her 🙂
Other than that, this article is utterly interesting and ispiring.
Nice,Emma can do whatever she wants and it’s cool to get a breather once in a while,I hope sometimes she winks at us once in awhile,just don’t forget us Emma-I understand your situation,I’m still a fan.! I’ll just watch for some interview’s or something.!
I agree. Emma is a human being just like the rest of us. As long as she continues to do what she believes is right for her then who are we to question what she does.
Good luck on your journey ahead Emma.
Very good comment! None of us (sadly enough) owns any part of Emma… and there are too few people who dare to make their own decisions for fear of offending some silly group behavior.
I’m not really for feminism, because it somehow says that “if you have an apple, you’ve got to give it to me, so that I have one too”. It’s been, however, a long road to achieving freedom of speech, thought and decision, so let’s not break the track.
I am sorry Harald, I just need to react to your feminism comment and the example of the apple. It is not asking you to share your apple. It is about having the oppertunity to get an apple too if I want, and not being denied access to apples on the basis of gender alone. So if you got an apple from a tree, I would be able to get an apple from that tree too. Instead of not being allowed to get one, because I am a woman.
This works both ways. It is also feminism to support men who want to stay at home to watch the kids, to be able to do that, and not looked down upon, because some unwritten rule states that it is not a job for men.
Hi, agreed, but that’s the way it should be… but unfortunately it isn’t.
Hi Emma,
I’m glad you’re taking time off for a nice, long, reflective journey inward.
Way to go on graduating from Brown!
Take Care,