This weekend, I watched the hit 2005 animated movie Bratz: Rock Angelz. This movie was one of the first Bratz films in CGI, and let me tell you- the plot is ALL OVER THE PLACE. The girls start a fashion magazine and use stolen passes to get into hot London punk clubs, but when they lose their passes they decide that the only way to get into the gig is to become a rock band? This movie can be considered capitalist propaganda- the Bratz shop in order to destress about their problems, and it's an implemental part of their lives. They don't have jobs either- Jade has an internship, but only for three hours until she is fired. Chloe meets a TRASH British prince and ignores her best friend Yasmin who finds celebrity judge Byron Powell's (I don't make this stuff up) dog, Ozzy. Jade and Sasha try to do a photo shoot for the magazine, but Sasha micromanages the whole thing and makes her friend feel bad! And this whole time, there's these two evil blond twins (Kaley Cuoco PLA...
Oh god. I'll try to keep this short! I think the main issue with female representation (or any oppressed group that is) in film is the lack of respect given towards them as people. Women are over 50% of the American population. They have just as much diversity in personality, political perspectives, wants, and needs as any man in this country. Despite this they are often written as archetypes with very little dimensionally.
ReplyDeleteI get annoyed sometimes when people talk about how we need more "strong" female characters. Because most of the strong women I see in film are just these blank "strong woman" characters that have no real personality besides the fact that she's "strong". But it's still like, okay but where's the respect? who is writing women as PEOPLE? That's the female characters I enjoy, a woman that is treated like a person. I don't want all the female characters I watch to be bad ass, sexy, thin ladies that can kick the shit out of someone in a pair of stilettos. I want to see women who are in the sorts of roles that we see men in. Women can be loud, shy, adventurous, cowardly, ambitious, lazy, smart, or uneducated. I want to see female villains with the same range of motivations as male villains, and female heros with flaws just like any male hero would have flaws. I want women with agency, that drive their own story. I just want equality and respect! So I guess when people say they find women unrelatable it might because we see the same women in film and storytelling over and over again (often there to support and assist a man in his journey) And we know from our real lives, that women are all so different and unique.
I can see where your friends are coming from. For me personally, it is pretty easy to tell when female characters are written by men (the verrrrrrry large majority of the time). There's almost always one line of dialogue that gets me like 'ah ok this is written by a dude'. I agree with the comment above generally and I definitely agree that the character's agency is usually what gives it away. Sure, Saoirse was the messiah and the only one who could save the day but only when the men in her life allow her to. I would not characterize her as a 'strong female character'. I also think that in the cases where it's really obviously written by a man, there's a specific dissonance between the motivation and actions of female characters. This can be fixed pretty easily by fleshing out the character and fully defining her, something that rarely happens as a lot of these female characters are auxiliary to their male counterparts. There's a lot of issues with the way men write women but I think these two are the really the big ones that stand out to me.
ReplyDeleteI think when it comes to writing any character you have to put yourself in the shoes of that character. I think female characters often get shoved aside as a token character or a love interest, therefore there's not much as development as there should be. I believe that it's all about good writing. Defining characters and their traits (and I mean ALL CHARACTERS, even that one extra) is important for any project because characters onscreen take up space and time. Female characters are typically underdeveloped because people don't know how to define them. I think it's a huge issue in Hollywood, and for that matter, student films.
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna stand up for Saoirse. Needing help doesn't necessarily mean you need "a man's permission" to do something. This movie was about bonding with family and accepting emotional pain - things that require a lot of support. I'm kind of tired of "strong, independent women" characters who are super tough and do things without any help - that's a very masculine idea of toughness, isn't it? That is often what feels disingenuous to me - when female characters either have no personality or just become men with boobs. What's wrong with being strong by inspiring others, forming emotional connections, etc.?
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna stray away from any broad generalizations, because those usually aren't accurate. For the most part I agree with what everyone else has said. I definitely don't find ALL female characters unrelatable or annoying. I actually think that sometimes, what I think is "annoying" in female characters is actually me not reading them as people? Which is a byproduct of being raised in a patriarchal society, etc. etc...
ReplyDeleteThat being said, there's a difference between well-written characters and poorly written characters. I've seen men write really poor women into their films. I've seen them write some of the best. I think that proportionally, women write better female characters than men, but again, broad generalizations don't really help in this case. I think the issue (which everyone else has touched on) is that there aren't enough women in film/television, and when they are there, it's usually in some kind of a stereotypical role, or only to serve the progression of a male character's storyline or emotional arc. I think this is starting to change (that or I'm being pickier about the kinds of content I'm watching), and that change is a result of the times we live in, but also a result of more women being involved in the actual writing and creation of female characters and their stories. I feel like it really just comes down to treating female characters the same way you treat male characters - like they can be anything, because they can.