After Brie Larson’s near-perfect performance in “Captain Marvel,” as well as her character’s exciting appearance in the new trailer for “Avengers: Endgame” which released last Thursday, I felt inspired to look into films that feature women in important or leading roles. So for this week, I have decided to dedicate the conversation to films that I would place under the umbrella of feminism.
Going along with the theme of superhero movies, the very popular film “Wonder Woman” is a great place to start. Not only did this film make the most money of any female-directed film, but the director Patty Jenkins made sure to steer away from Wonder Woman’s sex appeal in order to pay attention to the main heroine as a powerful demi-god. Not only were the Amazonians depicted as fierce warriors instead of objects for the male gaze, but Jenkins also made sure Diana did not take orders from the men around her.
An upcoming superhero film is the untitled Black Widow movie, a solo film for the character Scarlett Johansson made popular in 2010 with “Iron Man 2.” Though they have yet to confirm a release date yet, it is safe to say this film is long overdue. Along with this film, Marvel has also confirmed a television show based on Elizabeth Olsen’s character The Scarlet Witch.
The all-female film “Ocean’s 8” is another example of a feminist film. The film was based off of the original “Ocean’s 11” and was meant to show audiences that women can do what the men did in that film: Pull off a heist. The superb acting of each of the main actresses in the film made up for the somewhat predictable plot.
A Disney film that rejects its usual girls-need-a-man-to-be-happy theme is “Frozen,” where the sisterly bond of the protagonist, Anna and Elsa took the place of this theme as the lesson taught in the film. In fact, the first “Frozen” was so popular that Disney is releasing the second film this November.
The classic dramedy “The Devil Wears Prada” is another film with feminist aspects with the many notable examples of female empowerment and women supporting women. At the end of the film, Anne Hathaway’s character, Andy, learns what it means to respect not just the people you work with but also yourself.
There are a plethora of films that I’ve found so many have elements of feminism. It’s also wonderful to see that the film industry is now trying harder to support females both in and out of movies.
Calista Giroux is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at calista.giroux@gmail.com.
