12 out of 100?!
The latest issue of Empire magazine has come out with its list of 'the 100 greatest movie characters of all time' as voted by their readers. I can't say I'm surprised that the majority of movie characters that were voted were male but I was surprised at how few female ones were there; only 12 of the 100 were female and that was with 2 of them being voted by manic Julia Roberts fans (as in my opinion there is no other reason for 97 and 95 making the list - it must just be crazed Julia-philes).
The Females characters listed were:
Erin Brockovich 97
Vivian Ward (the walking cliche hooker with a heart of gold from Pretty Woman? WTF?) 95
Marge Gunderson from Fargo 74 (Awesome - at last one I agree with)
Maria from The Sound of Music 68
Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffanys 63
Annie Hall 58
Bridget Jones 46
Scarlet O'Hara 44
Juno MacGuff 43
Ellen Ripley 33
The Bride from Kill Bill 28
Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz 18
No women in the top 15 and about 50% of them are from 'classic'* movies. I felt rather affronted and started a rant at Matt about which female characters should have been placed higher or were unjustifiably missing from the list. Firstly, Ripley should be far higher up the list in my opinion and I can't work out why Princess Leia didn't get on the list. There was a lot of Star Wars love on the list - Luke, Yoda, Han solo (number 8), Darth Vader (number 3) and even Chewbacca made it. I mean the list seems to be about which movie characters have notably made an indelible stamp on popular culture rather than character depth or believability (see Rambo, Neo from Matrix, Freddy Krueger etc) so I fail to see how the sassy Leia doesn't make it. Heck, the hairdo and the gold bikini alone make her an iconic movie character but she also had some great moments and memorable lines such as "I'd rather kiss the wookie".
I also found it strange than when male characters from famous movie couples made the list, their female counterpart was noticeably lower (eg, Scarlet made 44 but Rhett Butler was 16 - higher than any female character on the list, and Jack from Titanic made 64 but Rose** who was no less developed didn't made the 100).
However, I really struggled to come up with 10 female characters who should be on the list and aren't there, and I really can't think of any female characters that I would rank as highly as the ones in the top 10. The list allows characters from movies that are based on books or historical figures so Elizabeth Bennett and Elizabeth I are allowed but I'm still struggling to come up with 10 movie female characters who should be on the list and aren't. Maybe Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard, Sophie from Sophie's choice, possibly Catwoman (definitely not Halle Berry, but Michelle Pfeffier was not bad in the role). Heck, this shouldn't be as hard as it seems to be...
So it got my wondering. Are there just not that many great movie women out there? I'm sure there must be and I'm just having a mental blank. Can anyone think of obvious omissions?
* Where classic is rather loosely defined as pre-1990s.
** OK, Rose is not exactly a great character but neither is Jack really. Their characters and romance is pretty standard stuff and they're really the supporting cast of the film. The film is really about the far more interesting relationship between the Titantic and the iceberg.
The Females characters listed were:
Erin Brockovich 97
Vivian Ward (the walking cliche hooker with a heart of gold from Pretty Woman? WTF?) 95
Marge Gunderson from Fargo 74 (Awesome - at last one I agree with)
Maria from The Sound of Music 68
Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffanys 63
Annie Hall 58
Bridget Jones 46
Scarlet O'Hara 44
Juno MacGuff 43
Ellen Ripley 33
The Bride from Kill Bill 28
Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz 18
No women in the top 15 and about 50% of them are from 'classic'* movies. I felt rather affronted and started a rant at Matt about which female characters should have been placed higher or were unjustifiably missing from the list. Firstly, Ripley should be far higher up the list in my opinion and I can't work out why Princess Leia didn't get on the list. There was a lot of Star Wars love on the list - Luke, Yoda, Han solo (number 8), Darth Vader (number 3) and even Chewbacca made it. I mean the list seems to be about which movie characters have notably made an indelible stamp on popular culture rather than character depth or believability (see Rambo, Neo from Matrix, Freddy Krueger etc) so I fail to see how the sassy Leia doesn't make it. Heck, the hairdo and the gold bikini alone make her an iconic movie character but she also had some great moments and memorable lines such as "I'd rather kiss the wookie".
I also found it strange than when male characters from famous movie couples made the list, their female counterpart was noticeably lower (eg, Scarlet made 44 but Rhett Butler was 16 - higher than any female character on the list, and Jack from Titanic made 64 but Rose** who was no less developed didn't made the 100).
However, I really struggled to come up with 10 female characters who should be on the list and aren't there, and I really can't think of any female characters that I would rank as highly as the ones in the top 10. The list allows characters from movies that are based on books or historical figures so Elizabeth Bennett and Elizabeth I are allowed but I'm still struggling to come up with 10 movie female characters who should be on the list and aren't. Maybe Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard, Sophie from Sophie's choice, possibly Catwoman (definitely not Halle Berry, but Michelle Pfeffier was not bad in the role). Heck, this shouldn't be as hard as it seems to be...
So it got my wondering. Are there just not that many great movie women out there? I'm sure there must be and I'm just having a mental blank. Can anyone think of obvious omissions?
* Where classic is rather loosely defined as pre-1990s.
** OK, Rose is not exactly a great character but neither is Jack really. Their characters and romance is pretty standard stuff and they're really the supporting cast of the film. The film is really about the far more interesting relationship between the Titantic and the iceberg.