Meryl Streep, the actress with the most Oscar nominations in history, is a compelling case study. Her on-screen prowess is considerable; her ability to elicit emotional responses from the audience is uncanny. But her influence on American culture renders her star power worthy of even keener analysis. This paper will examine how the various persona Streep has assumed have both represented the concerns of vast swaths of American society and in turn shaped new concerns for them, especially in the realm of womens issues.
Streep's protean career has allowed her to form a varied and salient relationship to American culture by taking on roles that reflect the issues of the day. She excels in adaptability, often taking on roles that have defined the way Americans viewed the zeitgeist of the times. Streep was iconic playing a woman fighting for her right for custody of her son in Kramer v. Kramer at a time when women's rights were at the forefront of the culture war debates.
In discussing how Streep's performances galvanized the nation into caring about the often ignored plight of females, Rachel Abramowitz writes, "In the early part of her career, critics noted that Streep often seemed devoted to bringing compassion to women who've been marginalized, like the Holocaust survivor Sophie Zawistowski in Sophie's Choice or activist Karen Silkwood in Silkwood" (Abramowitz "Meryl Streep Enjoys the Ride Back Up" 1). Thus, Streep is an expert in detecting what the culture is saying about a certain type of person and then adding to the dialogue with her performance. In a speech at Princeton University in 2006, she described how she seeks roles that can instruct audiences the way the United Nations instructs citizens about world peace (Altmann, "Meryl Streep Talks About the Mysterious Art of Acting" 1).
Indeed, Streep's ability to sniff out roles that will serve as cultural and moral allegories for the public and women specifically at...