Getting Women Right
Filed under: MetaMetaCritic, Newsstand, Angelina Jolie, Politics
There’s a fascinating piece up at Alternet in which Sheerly Avni examines the representation of women (I know, yawn) in Hollywood. She has no time for your chick flicks, your weepies, or even your Angelina Jolie-style action flicks. Instead of being constantly “empowered, encouraged, affirmed and celebrated,” Avni would rather see films in which she finds herself in the characters on screen. After all, as hot as Angelina is, there just aren’t many of us who can look at Lara Croft and go, “That is so me -- I kicked an evildoer off a cliff just the other day! And boy, sister, did I look good doing it.” Though many feminist critics would still say that it’s virtually impossible for female audiences to safely identify with women on screen, Avni is able to come up with ten films that, for her, contain female characters with whom she can identify; women who seem “real.” What’s great about her list is that it’s totally insane-- who would have thought Adam’s Rib, Batman Returns, and Fight Club would ever be on any kind of list together, least of all one about valid female characters?Since reading the article, I’ve been wracking my brain trying to come up with my own list. Now I’m just depressed, because I honestly can’t come up with a single freaking movie in which I looked at a female character on screen and just said, “Girl, I know.” I mean, I love Nora Charles more than maybe any other woman in the movies, but do I identify with her? No. She’s who I want to be, not who I am. I love Brigitte Bardot in Contempt because she’s a goddess, not because she’s me. Help me out -- what films would be on your list?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-13-2005 @ 5:30PM
DKI said...
HIlary Swank's character from Boys Don't Cry? ;)
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8-13-2005 @ 5:36PM
DKI said...
HIlary Swank's character from Boys Don't Cry? ;)
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8-13-2005 @ 5:53PM
karina said...
Sadly enough, Funny Ha Ha probably worked so well for me in part because of my similarities to Marnie. But even more so: Catherine Keener in Walking and Talking. Actually, Catherine Keener in most things.
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8-13-2005 @ 6:07PM
Chris said...
Jennifer Aniston in that movie whose name I can't recall. You know the one I mean, that indy flick where she works in a brand-x kmart. I'm not a girl but I can think of a number of girls that character reminds me of.
As for Catherine Keener, I wish girls were more like her characters.
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8-13-2005 @ 7:28PM
Jette said...
Anne Elliot as played by Amanda Root in the 1995 adaptation of Persuasion. I sympathized with Anne all the way.
Adam's Rib was a good choice but I probably would have picked Pat and Mike instead, because I was right there with Pat (Kate, of course) as she tried to free herself from an oppressive relationship and be her own woman.
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8-15-2005 @ 10:36AM
ladygoat said...
Thelma and Louise surely deserves to be mentioned. It's an action flick, but one whose characters are realistic and multidimensional, and which thoughtfully examines issues of women and power.
And while it's not quite on the same level as Thelma and Louise, I love the 1939 film The Women, in which only the female characters appear, and the male characters are always off-camera.
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9-11-2005 @ 9:23PM
Alexandria said...
The only Angelina Jolie movie that I identified with is probably Love Is All There Is. Because I, myself, am part Italian and I know how there can be bad blood between families. And when you go against who you are supposed to marry or what nationality you should be with, I can truly understand what Angelina's character was going through.
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