Het boek dat Emma gaat lezen voor haar boekclub ‘Our Shared Shelf’ in maart/april is bekend. Dit zal het boek ‘The Power’ van schrijfster Naomi Alderman zijn. Dit boek is vertaald naar het Nederlands als ‘De Macht’ maar moet nog uitkomen. In januari verschijnt het boek bij bol.com.

DOur next book will be a speculative fiction novel called The Power by Naomi Alderman, winner of the 2017 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. The book asks a question we might have all asked at one time: what would the world be like if women were in charge?

In the book, teenage girls all over the world begin to develop the ability to do harm by transmitting electricity through their fingertips. News spreads quickly over social media and soon the girls are teaching older women how to harness their dormant powers. In a few short years, gender roles are reversed and the world is run by women. As governments are toppled, a new woman’s republic is born, and there’s a single new religion led by a cult leader called Mother Eve.

The book follows four main characters: Tunde, a male journalist who is following the emerging stories, and three women with new found powers, Roxy, Allie and Margot. Their paths cross as the world is heading into political and religious turmoil.

Alderman challenges the cliché that women are more noble than men, and that a world run by women would be more gentle, with benevolent leaders and no war. In fact, women become power hungry and begin to repress men. They commit war atrocities, perform male genital mutilation, rape and maim for sport and kill to occupy land.

With power dynamics reversed, the women don’t choose a righteous path – they act no better than men who have abused power throughout history. I think Alderman’s point is that people who abuse, do so because they can.

Alderman presents the main part of the book as an early manuscript of an historical novel, written thousands of years in a future where women still rule, by a male novelist ‘Neil Armon’. Through letter exchanges between Neil and his mentor, a female writer called ‘Naomi’, we see a world where men’s worth is only in their looks and ‘men’s literature’ isn’t taken as seriously as women’s. This is a really clever literary device which highlights how absurd rigid gender roles are.

Neil thinks he can prove that women weren’t always the ones in positions of power, but Naomi can’t see how the history books would lie. Neil’s reality is one where men’s contributions to history have been misattributed, or even stolen, by women.

This made me think about the fact that history was written by those who held the power. It also made me think about how the distribution of power and gender roles throughout history often seems arbitrary, and how they could have perhaps ended up very differently.

I’m excited to hear what you all make of the novel.

Love,
Emma and the Our Shared Shelf team

Emma is één van de vele beroemdheden die zich uitspreek over seksuele intimidatie nadat het schandaal rondom producer Harvey Weinstein bekend werd.

Joining a growing roster of celebrities, Emma Watson and Colin Firth have come forward to condemn Harvey Weinstein and applaud the women who have spoken out about Weinstein’s alleged sexual harassment and misconduct.

Watson, who worked with Weinstein on her 2011 film “My Week with Marilyn,” tweeted that she “stands with all the women who have been sexually harassed, and am awestruck by their bravery.” She did not say whether she herself had been subjected to or witnessed Weinstein’s alleged abuse.

“This mistreatment of women has to stop,” said Watson, who is known to be a strong advocate for women’s rights and was named a Women Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations in 2014. The 27-year-old Harry Potter star said she also stood with “all the men, indeed any person, who has suffered sexual harassment.”

I stand with all the women who have been sexually harassed, and am awestruck by their bravery. This mistreatment of women has to stop.

— Emma Watson (@EmmaWatson) 10 oktober 2017

In this instance it was women affected but I also stand with all the men, indeed any person, who has suffered sexual harassment.

— Emma Watson (@EmmaWatson) 10 oktober 2017

Emma is de zien in een video “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets About Themselves” van de talkshow Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Screencaptuptures van Emma’s laatste film ‘The Circle’ staan in de galerij.

Galerij Links:
http//: Screencaptures

Het boek dat Emma gaat lezen voor haar boekclub ‘Our Shared Shelf’ in september/oktober is bekend. Dit zal het boek ‘Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body ‘ van schrijfster Roxane Gay zijn. Dit boek is wel vertaald naar het Nederlands als ‘Honger: De geschiedenis van mijn lichaam’ en is te koop bij bol.com.

Dear Our Shared Shelf,

Roxane Gay describes her book ‘Hunger’ as a “memoir about my body”. It traverses many of the issues surrounding our human bodies, the sexual experiences we have, our relationship with food, how we feel about our own bodies and the difference gender has to play on a body… When exploring how society treats people of her size, Gay asks: “What does it say about our culture that the desire for weight loss is considered a default feature of womanhood?”

What struck me the most about the book is Roxane’s searing honesty. We know that there are many people of all genders who do not feel they can talk about their experiences – who live their lives carrying the huge burden of abuse and trauma. As the author suggests, many people do not realise the suffering that follows an act like the one Roxane experienced, and how it can completely alter the way the victim identifies with themselves and others.

While parts of the book are difficult to read, it highlights the very real damage done by sexual violence and puts you in the mind and body of someone that has to move through the world in a different way. A small insight or perspective I feel grateful for now having and understanding a little bit better.

I am also re-reading essays from Gay’s ‘Bad Feminist’. We put such high expectations on ourselves as feminists, on other feminists, and the movement as a whole. It feels like such a relief to take ownership of words like “nasty woman” and “bad feminist”. They don’t have so much power this way and maybe they remind us not to hold ourselves and others to unreasonably high standards – we are all human after all and at different moments of our learning journeys. We need to feel free to be on those journeys and make mistakes. I hope if you get time you’ll enjoy what she has to say about this too.

Love,
Emma

Emma staat deze maand op de cover van het Nederlandse blad Fashionchick Girl, scans hiervan staan in de galerij.

Galerij Links:
http//: september – Fashionchick Girl (NL)

Ik heb vele nieuwe stills toegevoegd van Emma’s laatste film ‘The Circle’, ik hoop aankomende week screencaptures van de film te kunnen toevoegen.

Galerij Links:
http//: Film Stills

Er zijn twee nieuwe outtakes verschenen van Emma’s fotoshoot met Jake Rosenberg eerder dit jaar.

Galerij Links:
http//: Jake Rosenberg

Volgens Forbes is Emma #6 op de lijst van best betaalde actrices in 2017, met dank aan het succes van ‘Beauty And The Beast’. Op #1 staat ‘La La Land’ actrice Emma Stone.

Brit Emma Watson (No. 6) is this year’s sole newcomer after depositing her paycheck for Beauty and the Beast, which grossed $1.26 billion to become the top-grossing movie of the year so far. Though tech drama The Circle flopped, she managed to make $14 million in our time frame, thanks to the Mouse House.

“Every kid who grew up on Harry Potter felt instantly comfortable seeing Emma Watson on screen; even if she wasn’t Hermione Granger, she was Belle,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at industry tracker ComScore. “[Disney] could have plugged in any actor into that role but it wouldn’t have had that magic.”

Emma won op 13 augustus enkele 2017 Teen Choice Awards voor haar rol in ‘Beauty And The Beast’ en ‘The Circle’. Emma was zelf niet aanwezig tijdens de uitreiking.

Choice Fantasy Movie – Beauty and the Beast
Choice Fantasy Movie Actress – Emma Watson – Beauty and the Beast
Choice Drama Movie Actress – Emma Watson – The Circle
Choice Movie Ship – Emma Watson and Dan Stevens – Beauty and the Beast
Choice Liplock – Dan Stevens and Emma Watson – Beauty and the Beast