roseembolism (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
roseembolism) wrote2008-07-29 04:10 pm
roseembolism) wrote2008-07-29 04:10 pm
A fun test of female portrayal in movies
Courtesy of Alison Bechdel and Charlie Stross' blog, here's a little test of how women are portrayed in a film.
1. Does it have at least two women in it,
2. Who [at some point] talk to each other,
3. About something besides a man (or marriage or babies).
It's actually an interesting test of the objectification and role of women in films- do they have a role or purpose in the film outside of being an adjunct to the men? Charlie of course goes on to make some good points about how it relates to cultural anxieties, anti-feminist backlash, etc..
To me though, the interesting thing is that of this year's crop of summer blockbusters, NONE of them seemed like they would pass this test. Iron Man, for all I like Pepper's character, fails this test (Hell, she's a cross between a mother and a love interest for Tony, and that's it). The female characters in Hellboy are almost completely dictated by their relationship with the male characters (At least I don't recall the two female characters talking to each other at all). The Dark Knight of course was pretty much an "all-boys plus one sex object/victim" film.
In fact, the only film I saw recently that passes this test was PItch Black, which we watched last night. And well, the female characters in that film had a lot more important things to talk about than men and marriage. But then, shouldn't most of them?
1. Does it have at least two women in it,
2. Who [at some point] talk to each other,
3. About something besides a man (or marriage or babies).
It's actually an interesting test of the objectification and role of women in films- do they have a role or purpose in the film outside of being an adjunct to the men? Charlie of course goes on to make some good points about how it relates to cultural anxieties, anti-feminist backlash, etc..
To me though, the interesting thing is that of this year's crop of summer blockbusters, NONE of them seemed like they would pass this test. Iron Man, for all I like Pepper's character, fails this test (Hell, she's a cross between a mother and a love interest for Tony, and that's it). The female characters in Hellboy are almost completely dictated by their relationship with the male characters (At least I don't recall the two female characters talking to each other at all). The Dark Knight of course was pretty much an "all-boys plus one sex object/victim" film.
In fact, the only film I saw recently that passes this test was PItch Black, which we watched last night. And well, the female characters in that film had a lot more important things to talk about than men and marriage. But then, shouldn't most of them?
no subject
Which is another reason that Pitch Black is interesting; there's definitely a sexual subtext between the male and female leaves, but it's incidental to the actual horror, and it's ultimately subverted at the end. Subverted twice, actually.
I could do a paper on the ways that Pitch Black screws with the horror genre, I really could.