Why Can’t the Hollywood Suits?
Quote from filmmaker Benh Zeitlin (via Spout Blog) who was named on of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Indie Film.
Female characters in general have to be the most gaping disparity between life and cinema. Women are amazing, how come not in movies? I’m mean, look around you, women are friends with each other, I can count the number of believable female friendships I’ve seen on screen on one hand, and I’m not talking about that hackneyed faux-feminist Thelma and Louise shit. Minnie and Moskowitz has a great friendship, Days of Heaven has one, Rosie and Madonna in A League of their Own totally make it happen, Fucking Amal by Moodyson has one, and then I draw a blank.I think the easiest way to make a good film is just to write three dimensional women, you’ll already be way ahead of 98% of movies these days. And it’s not just talking about art films, 10 or 15 years ago, in big movies you had great women, Die Hard, great, Point Break, Aliens, and its not like these ladies are such brilliantly rounded figures, but they at least have some spunk, some personality, a sense of humor, and a degree of humanity to them, unlike the cardboard cut outs they’re serving up today. Even in the better blockbusters, Spiderman, Pirates of the Caribbean, these women are total nonsense, even if you’re just going to write a damsel in distress to motivate your dude hero, you got to give him something to fight for with a little personality.
Love the quote but totally disagree with his thoughts on Thelma and Louise.
he was SO wrong about Thelma and Louise. That film was such a huge hit because many women felt like they could relate to these characters AND it was a fantasy violent movie for women, too. How often do we females get our own violent super-heroines? Not many.
Thelma and Louise was such a powerful movie with a strong feminist message. Any guys who disagree just dont f—— get it.
I also disagree with the assesment of PotC. Elizabeth wasn’t remotely just a damsel in distress. She was the equal of Jack and Will, and it was the attempt to turn her into chattel that sparked the entire plot.
Aside from quibbles, though, the guy totally gets it. The last movie I saw was the WereRabbit, and before that Chicken Run. There’s no point going to anything else because there’s no real people in any of them. The women are cardboard cutouts. And the men are metal cutouts.
Hopeless.
Liz Chesney here –
What a fantastic observation — they really DON’T write films which have female relationships as a major plot point. Perhaps “Sisterhood” and “SATC” may signal a change, but I’m not holding my breath. I did a quick perusal of recent academy award nominees for women, and nearly every role was for an evil bitch out of control (Devil Wears Prada, The Queen, etc.), an insane woman or a woman whose major dealings were with her husband/lover or children.
Remember “The Turning Point.” with Shirley McLaine and Anne Bancroft? Now THAT was the female relationship film to end all relationship films.
I really need to write that screenplay…