2013 in female roles

Now that movies that include strong female leads are making the most money at the box office, I have high hopes that companies will strive to produce even more films that at the very least pass the Bechdel Test. But when I look at the lineup for this year, the children’s movies alone make me wince. I see token female feisties and not many other female characters in almost every movie.

Of the top 50 films in 2013, only 17 passed the Bechdel Test. You know what that means, right? Only 17 of the top grossing movies included two female characters who had a single conversation about something other than men.

How hard is that to accomplish? How difficult must it be for writers to come up with movies in which women have something to talk about other than men?

I gotta tell you, Hollywood, as a woman, I talk about a lot of things all day long and most of them are not men. Most of the women I know are from the same cloth. So why do you keep painting us as these insipid caricatures when we are HALF the population? I’m not surprised about Anchorman 2, but Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Monsters U, really? You have got to stop excluding half of your audience.

Come through for us, Hollywood. Show us that you can stop regurgitating the same primeval plots from the days of yore and start creating female roles that mirror the actual female population.

I promise we’ll buy tickets. I’ll be the first in line.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia