Alice Guy-Blaché: A Masterclass in How Erasing Our Stories is the First Step to Eliminating Our Rights
The Woman Who Invented Film—And Why You've Never Heard of Her
Want to see how the historical erasure that Jason Stanley writes about in “Erasing History” actually works?
Meet Alice Guy-Blaché, the woman who invented narrative cinema and then was systematically written out of film history.
Her story isn't just tragic—it's a textbook example of how erasing women's stories becomes the foundation for eliminating women's rights.
For over a century, Hollywood has perpetuated the myth that women can't be directors.
Meanwhile, the woman who literally created the film industry was so thoroughly erased that most people have never heard of her name.
This isn't just about film history.
Alice Guy-Blaché's erasure demonstrates exactly how society systematically removes women's voices, contributions, and authority—making it easier to deny women opportunities in the future.
This is a strategy that’s been used to repress women, people of color, religious minorities, ethnic minorities, the LGBTQ+ community…the list goes on. If you think you’re safe from it, think again.
History proves you’re wrong.
What Alice Guy-Blaché Actually Accomplished
Before we examine how Alice was erased, let's establish what she actually did:
She invented narrative cinema.
In 1896, Alice Guy-Blaché created "The Cabbage Fairy" (La Fée aux Choux), widely considered the first narrative fiction film ever made.
While the Lumière Brothers were filming trains arriving at stations, still marveling at the existence of newfangled film technology, Alice was already using this new technology to create stories.
She founded a film studio.
Alice established Solax Studios in 1910, becoming the first woman to own and operate a film production company. At its peak, Solax was one of the largest studios in America.
She directed over 1,000 films.
Between 1896 and 1920, Alice directed more films than D.W. Griffith, who is often called "the father of cinema." Her work spanned genres from comedy to drama to early science fiction.
She pioneered filmmaking techniques.
Alice developed early special effects, innovative camera work, and storytelling methods that became industry standards.
She was experimenting with synchronized sound films decades before "talkies" became mainstream.
How Historical Erasure Actually Works: The Alice Guy-Blaché Case Study
Alice Guy-Blaché's systematic removal from film history follows classic erasure patterns identified by scholars studying how dominant groups rewrite history in order to perpetuate their control of society.
Tactic 1: Credit Her Work to Men
The most blatant erasure tactic was simply attributing Alice's films to male colleagues. Many of her early works at Gaumont Studios were later credited to Louis Feuillade or other male directors.
Film historians "corrected" old records by removing Alice’s name. Their excuse? They assumed a woman could not have been responsible for such innovative work.
Tactic 2: Diminish Her Role
When Alice couldn't be completely erased, her contributions were minimized. She was reframed as an "assistant" rather than a director, a "secretary who occasionally helped with films" rather than the head of production. Her role as Gaumont's chief of production—a position she held for years—was downplayed or omitted entirely.
Tactic 3: Omit Her from Official Histories
Early film histories omitted Alice Guy-Blaché.
Academic texts, museum exhibitions, and industry publications told the story of cinema's origins without including the woman who started it all.
This wasn't accidental oversight—it was systematic exclusion.
Tactic 4: Question Her Competence
Later narratives suggested Alice couldn't have achieved what historical records showed. Film historians questioned whether a woman could have been technically proficient enough to direct films, manage a studio, or innovate filmmaking techniques—despite documented evidence of her work.
The Systematic Nature of Alice's Erasure
Alice Guy-Blaché's removal from history wasn't the work of one biased historian. It happened systematically across multiple institutions:
Film Studios stopped crediting her work and reassigned her films to male directors in their archives.
Academic Institutions excluded her from film history curricula and scholarly research. University film programs taught students about cinema's origins without mentioning its actual inventor.
Museums and Cultural Institutions built exhibitions about early cinema that featured her male contemporaries while ignoring her contributions.
Industry Publications wrote about filmmaking pioneers and influential directors without including the woman who created the medium.
This wasn't a conspiracy—it was the result of male-dominated institutions writing their own version of history, one that excluded women's contributions.
The Payoff: How Erasure Enabled Decades of Exclusion
Here's where Alice Guy-Blaché's story becomes a masterclass in how erasing women's stories eliminates women's rights.
Once Alice was successfully removed from film history, the industry spent the next century using her absence to justify excluding women.
"Women Can't Direct" Becomes "Common Knowledge"
With Alice erased, the film industry could credibly claim that women had never been successful directors. The fact that “women can’t direct” became as common as “women are bad drivers” and “women are bad with money” — other lies that were used to look down upon and exclude women.
If a woman had invented film, it would be pretty hard to say women cannot be directors. Erase the women, erase the problem. Now Hollywood executives, producers, and financiers were free to use this "historical precedent" to justify not hiring women directors.
Why take a “risk” on women when “history” showed they couldn't handle the job?
Fighting Back Without Our Full History
Women who challenged these restrictions faced an uphill battle because history had been hidden from them. Female filmmakers and advocates couldn't point to Alice Guy-Blaché as proof that women could not only direct films but had actually invented the medium.
With Alice gone, their arguments seemed to be asking for something unprecedented rather than demanding the restoration of rights women had always possessed.
The "Revolutionary" 1970s
When women directors like Lina Wertmüller, Elaine May, and Joan Micklin Silver gained prominence in the 1970s, they were celebrated as pioneers breaking new ground.
Media coverage treated women directing films as a radical new development rather than women reclaiming their rightful place in an industry they had created.
This narrative made women's inclusion seem like a generous concession rather than basic justice. The establishment could give women a sliver of access to the industry they’d invented, then pretend they were magnanimous for doing do.
The Ripple Effect Across Industries
Alice's erasure is a template used across many industries.
The pattern—erase women's contributions, then use their absence to justify continued exclusion—appeared in technology, business, politics, and science. Without knowledge of women's historical achievements, each generation of women had to start from scratch, arguing for opportunities rather than reclaiming them.
The Modern Rediscovery and What It Teaches Us
Alice Guy-Blaché's story remained buried until feminist film historians began investigating women's contributions to early cinema in the 1970s and 1980s.
Researchers like Anthony Slide and later scholars like Alison McMahan worked to reconstruct her biography and restore her films.
Their work revealed not just Alice's achievements but the systematic nature of her erasure. By studying how Alice was removed from history, we learned how historical erasure actually functions—and how to recognize it happening in real time.
Why This Matters for Today's Women
Alice Guy-Blaché's story isn't just historical injustice—it's a warning about how erasure works today.
In our digital age, controlling narratives and reshaping history happens faster than ever.
Women's voices are currently being minimized, their contributions erased, and their achievements attributed to men. If this continues, we’ll have a new generation of girls with no CEOs, scientists, or military leaders as role models. They’ll have to start over and be “pioneers” for the umpteenth time.
The lesson is clear:
Those who control the stories control the future. If we don't protect and promote our own narratives, they will be rewritten without us. And without our past, we cannot protect our future.
Alice Guy-Blaché invented cinema, built an empire, and pioneered an art form. For a century, the world forgot her name. Her erasure enabled decades of discrimination that we're still fighting today.
We cannot let this happen again.
Related Reading
Looking to understand more about how historical erasure works and why it matters? Don’t leave without reading Erasing History: How We Lose Our Stories and Our Rights. Just as we can learn from how Alice Guy-Blaché's story was systematically removed, understanding these patterns helps us recognize and fight erasure in real time.
Want to ensure your story never gets erased? Contact Lynn Krueger Designs to build a website and brand that puts you in control of your narrative.
