House on Haunted Gender Roles in Cinema

[epicycles]

Went to see the Rifftrax Live! showing of House on Haunted Hill. Pretty awesome, as usual -- if you ever get the chance to catch a Rifftrax Live show, they really are a hilarious good time, and you get much the same kind of crowd as a midnight movie, with the laughing/clapping/participation/etc

Comments

[kleenexwoman]

Ooo these are good points. I can't think of very many movies that focus on women that aren't also about the experience of being a woman, as opposed to the experience of doing whatever else it is you do in movies--the experience of being a man is either assumed, I think, in the same way that your friend was thinking of the Seven Samurai, or shows up in slightly navel-gazing movies like Fight Club

[epicycles]

Yes! A lot of movies with women are Girl Movies, where being female (usually in romantic relationships) is the end of it -- no magical quests or heroic last stands involved.

Good suggestions! Mulan is one ezazahaz suggested, I love that movie. I haven't seen the others but I've heard good things. Need to see Whip It especially, I love derby.

Yay script! \o/ I felt the same way, that I must just be forgetting the movies, but I still can't come up with any. And you're right, so many now are Twilight-esque or just high school dramas. I think anime is actually the best place to look -- they love Teen Girls Being Brave/Magical and Having Adventures, even if it does come with a lot of gratuitous fan service.

[teacupdiaries]

Huh. I can't really think of any either. O_o

I'd probably turn to books. We do need to see better roles for women in movies, to be sure, but books would be where I'd direct any hypothetical children for insights into human nature and their place in society.

[epicycles]

True, my first response was that I'd use books, since I grew up reading and not watching movies/tv. (Startling considering my current tv addiction.)

Any specific book recs? I'd use LOTR for sure, Ender's Game, maybe old mythology, but it's still all very male-centric.

[teacupdiaries]

Mists of Avalon, and the Sevenwaters Trilogy. I'm reading the latter now. They're both fantasy and have really strong female characters who don't lose themselves if/when they find love, and actually spend most of the time challenging social conventions with their actions and saving the men in their lives. These are more adult books, though (sex and violence).

The Bartimaus trilogy I just finished has a really awesome female character in and is YA. Also YA is Kelley Armstrong's 'Darkest Power' trilogy, which has a great female protagonist.

Hmm, I'm only really choosing books that have strong female leads; not books that show 'what it means to be a woman' or some such. I think that's kind of an outdated and problematic viewpoint, actually. Maybe I am pessimistic but if I were to show what it means to be a woman then I'd be talking about a long, dark and painful history when I'd rather be demonstrating that women are a lot more than people make us out to be. Does that make sense?

[epicycles]

Good suggestions, I've only read some of those so I may take a trip to the library! :)

I think the "what it means to be X" was part of the initial query -- that was how the original question was phrased. I do think "what it means to be a man" is something that is very deeply ingrained in our culture; we talk a lot about male role models, about teaching boys "how to be a man", that sort of thing, but a similar thing doesn't happen for girls, and that's what we found interesting. And I do think we're coming at the same point, kind of, because I agree that many "woman" films are very limiting in their definition of womanhood and the female experience. I want to see movies where women are awesome and badass, courageous and loyal, not just avatars of femininity.

er, it's late, I hope that made sense...