women in strong roles

[zincoxide]

I know much about feminist film theory – I specialized in film school and studied women in film. Spent a while dissecting the "male gaze". I have a teenage daughter and all I’ve seen in the past decade is images of women in film and the media worsening. I don't want to keep her from entertainment and cinema, rather I try to provide her with an education so that she can view the images in context. I’m compiling a list for her of examples of movies that deal with feminist issues, celebrate women or at least don't objectify them. I'm trying to put together a list of these, can anyone help? So far I only have three films: A Question of Silence (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086369/) (I chose this because it is a feminist film that deals with solidarity between women), Fat Girl (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243255/) (I chose this because it is a VERY challenging film about virginity... I wouldn't show this to my daughter a year ago, she's 17 now), and Outsourced (http://imdb.com/title/tt0841926/) (I chose this because it's has a realistic and positive portrait of a modern working Indian woman, and it contrasts this to US standards of work/living/romance).

[jamesglewisf]

Fat Girl is by Catherine Breillat. Most of her stuff is just porn. She's not a feminist, she is a pervert.

Frankly, the images of men in media are worsening also. In sitcoms, we have replaced the ditzy wife of the 50s-70s shows with the stupid husband who does everything wrong. The last good representation of a father in sitcoms was the Cosby Show.

In the news media, men are pictured as potential pedophiles. Since most pedophiles are men, we automatically assume that all men are pedophiles. Male teachers, coaches, and pastors are not supposed to even touch girls anymore because they don't want to be accused of touching them inappropriately. We're basically raising a bunch of girls who don't get any real contact with men because society says that men are evil.

Basically, I think we focus so much on bad news about men and women that we are raising kids who think adults are not trustworthy or worthy of respect. You end up with young women who think that they have to use sex to have a relationship, and you end up with young men who think the end result of a relationship is sex.

[jamesglewisf]

BTW, I don't mind the ditzy wives and stupid husbands in sitcoms, but it is so one-sided. There aren't many shows left with anything other than stupid fathers. Let's spread the stupidity around a little and maybe have some mothers and fathers that aren't idiots.

[zincoxide]

Fat Girl is by Catherine Breillat. Most of her stuff is just porn. She's not a feminist, she is a pervert.

Wow get ready to argue. Granted, Fat Girl is the only film I've seen by her, but despite having overtly sexual content I thought it was one of the most cutting edge feminist films I've ever seen. The statements it makes about virginity, consent, weight, sisterhood, and motherhood are bold and I can't think of another film that even tackled the issues and subtlety she managed to pull off. I understand a bit where you are coming from because I started to watch the DVD extras on this and recoiled when I saw her describing her process. But, the filmmaker aside the work stands alone.

I do agree that images of men are worsening as well.

One of the reasons I listed Outsourced is that it is not a "feminist film". It's a "normal" film that happens to take great care with the way that the leading female is portrayed, and since it's dealing with a woman of a different culture I think it pulled off a sweet love story that isn't sexist.

[Justawoman]

Real Women Have Curves
Rooster Cogburn and The Lady

Okay the last one is a 1975 film with Katherine Hepburn. She is most definitely a strong lead in this film and very independent. My daughters love her character.