Garbo’s Impact

Greta Garbo’s most noticeable impact on her times was that millions around the world turned to her to understand how to be a modern woman. The natural questions that arise are - Why Garbo? Was she that unique?

Garbo’s training had been to be a naturalistic actor. The Swedish Royal Dramatic Theater School worked in the naturalistic style. Directors Mauritz Stiller and Georg Pabst adapted the naturalistic style to filmmaking. When she arrived at MGM, Garbo was already a fully formed actor.

Her technical ability, combined with the fortuitous timing of her arrival, led to Garbo being more than just an actor to her audience. Garbo’s ability to become a star in record time flowed directly from her acting style and ability. Her audience saw her as the representation of the Modern Woman. Without speaking dialog, Garbo still communicated to the audience with complexity, depth, and subtlety.

This generalization from Garbo’s specific performance to a broader representation was even captured by censors. “She becomes the symbol of sexual appeal rather than any particular bad woman,” wrote a National Board of Review critic after seeing Flesh and the Devil (Walker, Alexander Stardom Stein and Day: 1970 p 145).

Since other Modern Women stories were being written and other actors would portray Modern Women, what made Garbo unique? At the time no one had the combination of talent and training to allow them to deliver a naturalistic performance that the audience could relate to by mentally projecting themselves into the character. She created a connection from the screen to the audience that had not previously existed. This connection can be observed by their level of interaction with her through audience behavior; in letters, ticket purchases, media consumption and self-presentation. She took Hollywood, America, and the world by storm.