Greta Gerwig: Telling Our Stories, Editing Our Code

When I watched Lady Bird for the first time, I remember thinking: “Wow, someone finally understands what it feels like to grow up and not always fit neatly into your own life.” Greta Gerwig did not just direct a coming-of-age film – she bottled up a universal yet deeply personal experience of adolescence. Like Jennifer Doudna, who turned a microscopic immune system into one of the most powerful tools for editing human DNA, Gerwig took the everyday struggles of young women and transformed them into something revolutionary: a narrative that felt authentic, complicated, and unapologetically female.

At first glance, you might not think a filmmaker and a scientist would have so much in common. But both Gerwig and Doudna are editors and visionaries in their own right. Both took what already existed – be it the DNA of life itself or the tropes of film – and reworked them to tell entirely new stories.

    

Editing Narratives, Editing Genes

Greta Gerwig’s films are like precise emotional edits. She does not need to change every scene of a familiar genre; instead, she tweaks it just enough to make us see it differently. Lady Bird is not just another teen drama – it is filled with nuanced characters who make choices that feel real, raw, and imperfect. Little Women reorders a well-known story, adding layers of meta-commentary and feminism that feel urgently modern. And Barbie? Somehow, she made us laugh at a doll’s existential crisis while questioning beauty standards and capitalism.

Doudna’s CRISPR discovery works the same way. It is less about rewriting the entire genome and more about making precise, intentional edits. A small cut here, a slight modification there, and suddenly you have the power to silence a harmful gene or fix a mutation. Both Gerwig and Doudna show us how carefully considered changes can ripple outward, creating profound effects.

The Creative Process: Controlled Chaos

Gerwig’s creative process, much like Doudna’s scientific process, starts with observation and questioning. In interviews, Gerwig often talks about how much of her writing is autobiographical – how it comes from long walks, journaling, and listening to other people’s conversations. There is an element of trial and error, a “what if I rearranged this scene or rewrote this moment?” vibe to her work. Similarly, Doudna’s journey with CRISPR involved long periods of experimentation, uncertainty, and collaboration before landing on something that could actually work in human cells.

What both women understand is that creativity – whether in a lab or a writer’s room – isn’t a straight line. It is a series of questions: “What happens if I change this detail? How can I make this story or this DNA sequence work differently?”

Who Gets to Write (or Edit) the Future?

Both Gerwig and Doudna have also forced important conversations about who gets to shape the narrative – whether that is the story of women on screen or the genetic story of life itself. Hollywood has historically sidelined female directors, just like science has long struggled with representation. Gerwig’s success in taking Barbie, a brand often criticized for reinforcing stereotypes, and transforming it into a smart, feminist blockbuster is a reminder that who tells the story really does matter!

Doudna faced a similar ethical debate when CRISPR exploded onto the global stage. The question was not just, “Can we edit genes?” but “Who should have the right to do so?” The technology is powerful, but Doudna herself has advocated for caution and global discussions about its responsible use. Both women have opened incredible doors – Gerwig by making space for more women-centered narratives in mainstream cinema, and Doudna by democratizing a technology that could shape humanity’s future.

Redefining Possibility

At the heart of both Gerwig’s films and Doudna’s science is the idea of possibility. The possibility that our stories – whether written in a screenplay or our DNA – are never set in stone. They can be reworked, reimagined, rewritten.

When I think of Lady Bird and Barbie, I am reminded that storytelling has the power to shift culture. When I think of CRISPR, I realize that science has the power to shift life itself. Greta Gerwig and Jennifer Doudna both show us that sometimes, the most powerful changes come from looking at what already exists and daring to rewrite the ending!