“Untitled Actress” and Other Timely Words from Amber Tamblyn
January 11, 2016
By Erin Langner, WITS Program Associate
After the Golden Globes ushered us fully into film’s award season Sunday night, the usual questions of how far the industry has pushed beyond old boundaries in the past year have come back, too. When Kate Winslet declared 2015 “an incredible year for women in film,” during her acceptance speech, I wondered how many women in film agreed with her and how many didn’t. In particular, I wondered if Amber Tamblyn agreed, mostly because her poem, “Untitled Actress,” had been echoing in my mind since the first time I heard it.
Amber Tamblyn lives at an unusual intersection between literature, film, and television, and her poetry provokes many resonant questions this time of year in particular, though her insights bore deeply into ideas about identity, obsessions and relationships that extend well beyond Hollywood’s confines.
Should you also need a fresh perspective or a break from the teleprompted commentary on the state of the American movie industry over the next weeks, Tamblyn’s thoughtful words have been conveniently circulating in recent days:
- In Lena Dunham & Jenni Konner’s Lenny Letter newsletter
- On Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls website
- I also loved her interview in The Believer last year
And, tickets are still available, should you like to hear her perform with her mother Bonnie Tamblyn in Seattle on February 10.