With women, on the other hand, the archetypes are much more divided. It seems they are either portrayed as rough and tough femme' fatales, such as Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo or ditzy, cute "Zoey Deschanel" types, that become the male lead's love interest. Where are the in-betweens? It seems to me that women are more type cast then men are, at least when it comes to movies. It probably has something to do with the fact that most of the people writing these movies are men, therefore, their female characters become more on-sided, less complex then the male characters. The 2011 film Bridesmaids was written by Annie Mumulo and Kristen Wiig, who starred in the film.
Not only was the film funny, but it was about ninety percent women.
While Hollywood is still a primarily male dominated world, things are starting to shift and progress. Another film from 2011 was The Help, which was also nearly all women. There were also a number of t.v. shows that came out such as 2 Broke Girls, New Girl, Whitney and Enlightened that star women.
I agree with this post. It seems that a lot of movies these days cast younger "hot" in roles in the wish to be more desirable. I loved the movie bridesmaids for the exact reason that it was a nice breath of fresh air. It showed that all types of women can be desirable and likable, which is probably why it was popular. I also find it a coincidence that it was written by a woman, and it shows different types of women. When most movies written by men, have the stereotypical "hot" woman as the lead role.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the fact that women in the past have had very limited roles and a very limited age range to play at. Although I believe this is changing. There are more movies out (like Bridesmaids) these days that have women in more versatile roles. There are also movies out with older women. Meryl Streep is an actress that has played a variety of roles well into her older years. The same can be said for Betty White. She does not always play a cute little grandma. For example in the movie Lake Placid she's a foul mouthed tough woman who actually feeds the giant alligators in the lake. There is also a movie out called Calender Girls about a group of older women who do a nude calender shoot in order to raise money to dedicate a memorial for their friend's deceased husband. These are just a few examples. Even though a majority of women are still being portrayed in stereotypical roles I think there are more and more movies being made with women in "controversial" roles.
DeleteI agree with this. Females are type-cast into roles that only allow for beautiful, skinny, female actresses. I would like to see more "Bridesmaids" type movies to come out. When I left that movie I felt like both women and men could appreciate it. Enough for it to actually be advertised to men, as well. Problem is, men tend to think if it is advertised as a female movie, that it is going to be a chic flick. "Bridesmaids" was NOT a chic flick. It was a comedy. But do you think that I could get my fiance to watch it? Probably not. He has it engrained in his head that it is a chic flick. Therefore, he will likely never even think of watching it. He is bound to keep himself ignorant to a change like this.
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