Yet there’s an issue with this landmark achievement, and the issue is no one’s talking about it! There’s a distressing lack of positive feedback towards 2015’s progressive female roles, which leads to a larger issue regarding feminism in media. If I had a dollar for every time I saw a film, book, or video game being criticized for poor female roles/lack of females, I'd probably make an extra 50-60 bucks a year; yet if the same applied to every time I saw a film, book, or video game being praised for positive female roles/gender diversity, I likely wouldn’t make it to 10 bucks. There's a disproportion between articles focused on negative female portrayals and those focused on progression, and it’s precisely such unbalance that has helped escalate public negativity towards feminism—the word itself having gained a rather venomous undertone. 2015 wasn’t a perfect year for female portrayals, yet for every Focus and Sicario released, there were four additional films to make up for such poor depictions. Negative feedback towards poorly-written female roles and/or misogynistic media should and needs to be balanced with positive critique towards well-written female roles and/or feminist media—especially when such critique is rightfully deserved—unless one desires defensive backlash from the general public (particularly regarding online communities, which is exactly what’s happening present day).
That, if anything other than to express my thoughts, is the reason for creating Part 2. I want to honor the films that gave a damn when crafting, and/or adapting their female characters. Here’s 21 of the most notable, positive examples.
I’ve separated the films into three categories: Films with Strong Female Roles, Feminist Films, and Female Focused Films (refer to Part One to understand their differences).
Feminist Films:
45 Years:
Charlotte Rampling delivers a powerful performance in this predominant two-character act about an elderly couple celebrating their 45th year of marriage, yet finding their relationship troubled by an unexpected letter. 45 Years gives a surprisingly somber look at love and settlement: examining the two characters as they begin questioning the true depths of affection in their relationship. Rampling’s character Kate is a beautifully-made persona, balanced between natural insecurity and reassuring self-confidence.
Mad Max: Fury Road:
I’ve already explained in Part One why Fury Road is effectively feminist; “A recent film that is an actual example of feminism is Mad Max: Fury Road. Now, at first this doesn’t seem to be the case: the film starts off with a primarily male cast, male protagonist, male antagonist, and a single woman (Furiosa) who appears to be playing the token action female trope. Yet as the film progresses, the focused cast of characters become much more gender balanced: introducing the smuggled five wives, and then later the badass, female-only Vuvalini clan. Take into account Furiosa’s character development, in addition to becoming as much the protagonist, if not more, than Max himself, and the R-rated action film becomes an unexpected balance between gender quantity, character, role and importance to plot.”
It Follows:
A more subtle example, but one nonetheless. Paying homage to classic 60s, 70s, & 80s horror (while, in turn, being incredibly original), It Follows' female teens are modern reconstructions of their past horror selves. They’re sharper in wit, while still capable of making mistakes—they’re no longer scream queens, yet susceptible to fear and terror (aspects the male characters share with them). The females are diverse enough to make simple categorizing—the nerd, the cool girl, the promiscuous one—difficult. One teen reads expressive poetry on her phone, before farting and making a joke about it.
Paper Towns:
A deceptive feminist film, primarily because the first half is shown through the eyes of a naïve teenage boy. The second half, however, effectively removes the film’s rose-colored glasses to reveal its “perfect” female lead to be both flawed and three-dimensional. Add in several unexpected secondary females, flesh out their personalities, and make one a Pokémon fan (any character who enjoys Pokémon, regardless of their gender, is a great character) and Paper Towns becomes a well-rounded high school story regarding both genders.
Tangerine:
Tangerine will be, by far, the most controversial placement on the list, because it relies on one’s viewpoint as to whether it’s a feminist film, or a male-focused one. The film’s two lead roles are transgender characters played by transgender actresses, and with gender identification being a hot-button issue right now, not everyone will agree with Tangerine being a feminist film. The thing is, this is my blog, and these are my opinions, and as far as I’m concerned, Tangerine is a hilariously original, gender-balanced comedy with fascinating male characters, fascinating female characters, and two delightfully fascinating female leads.
Ex Machina:
I really had to think about this one. Ex Machina features a minimalist cast, and while there some additional minor female/male roles, the film is focused primarily on three characters: two male, and one female named Ava. This immediately asks the question of how “balanced” does a film’s gender ratio need for it to be considered feminist? There’s also the subject of its male leads rather chauvinistic ideals, one being particularly twisted. Here’s how I see it: for one, the film is self-aware of its chauvinistic ideals, and successfully deconstructs them into disillusions and/or faults for its fleshed out, morally complex males. The film’s last third builds upon Ava’s predicament from her own viewpoint, giving her more character and moral complexity. The film concluding on Ava helps balance out the male-oriented focus, and while the trifecta is still primarily male, Ex Machina’s themes give stability towards an unexpectedly feminist perspective.
Female Focused Films:
Brooklyn:
Brooklyn:
Randomly turn on any part of Brooklyn for five minutes and you’ll know exactly why it’s a positively-portraying, female focused film. It’s also the first time I’ve ever seen a drama where its female protagonist gets sick and has a bowel movement into a bucket—complete, I might add, with very graphic noises.
Carol:
Based on the groundbreaking 1950s book, Carol features a complex, well-written look at lesbianism—with Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara giving fantastic performances in addition to having great chemistry. Carol goes a step further, however, additionally portraying a close friendship between two female ex-lovers—a rarity to see in film, and an aspect I neglected to mention in my initial review.
Clouds of Sils Maria:
One of the best films from 2015, Clouds of Sils Maria features a prominent female cast, alongside two outstanding performances from Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart (yes, the Kristen Stewart—who’s been acting so well lately, the idea of mentioning her “vampire-romance” role seems downright insulting). The film is beautifully well-made, and has two, delightfully three-dimensional females played by its lead roles.
Girlhood:
Girlhood is a remarkable outlook on teenage life, all the while diving into issues of race, identity, and sexism. It’s so remarkable, in fact, that an American, white male such as myself was swept up in nostalgia of my own teenage years—a feat Boyhood was unable to accomplish. Allow me to emphasize: Boyhood—a coming of age, English language film about an American white male—was less effective at creating nostalgia than Girlhood, a coming of age, foreign language film about a French black female. Director Céline Sciamma is simply better than Richard Linklater at understanding, and conveying, developing teens—so much so, that it bypasses race, gender, nationality and circumstances to become universally relatable.
Inside Out:
Director Pete Docter says it best about the effort put into making Inside Out's well-written females; “Although animation as an industry had been dominated by men, half of the story crew were women, in an attempt to have more diverse input. The choice to focus the film on a girl came from research that claimed that females age 11 to 17 are more attuned to expressions and emotions than others. The idea to have Riley play hockey came from Del Carmen, who observed that the sport is very popular in Minnesota. They tried to stray away from stereotypically feminine interests, such as the color pink or dresses.” Unfortunately, with such focus on avoiding female clichés, the male characters ended up getting the high end of stereotypical portrayals, which—combined with its prominent female leads—is the reason Inside Out is under Female Focused and not Feminism.
Spy:
Let’s bring out the check list: female lead? Check! Multiple female characters? Check! Solid screen time for female characters? Check! Well-written character development for lead? Check! Themes on female independence and strength? Check! Great comedy, loveable characters, and a refreshing take on the espionage satire to go alongside its female focused elements? Check, check, check!
Bonus:
2015 was an amazing year for female roles, and with 2016 already bringing films such as Zootopia and 10 Cloverfield Lane to the mainstream, it’s quite possible a new wind has (once again) begun for women’s cinema. My only hope is that this time, it stays.
