i think when people try to assign a quota of female characters in any particular medium, really it's doing more harm than good to equality for females.
I definitely agree with this. As I said, shoehorning women in just for the sake of equality is not what I want and it would be odious. But when the gender doesn't matter, why not consider casting either gender? While I really want to see more female lead characters in films, I also think it would be cool to see women take those secondary roles where they just get to make jokes and blow stuff up. I don't need them to be poster girls for feminism, I'd just like them to be there in the first place.
also, you have to take into account the genre of the film. essentially, it's an action movie, and action movies generally attract more of a male audience. a greater proportion of male actors will naturally allow the (predominantly) male audience engage with the medium more, which is what any director wants.
See, I don't agree here. I know plenty of guys who list Alien as their favourite film: that has a female main character who was originally supposed to be male. Likewise, guys who go ga-ga for Buffy Summers because she kicks ass. I think that guys do and would respond to an action movie/TV show with a female lead - but the story itself has to be good. I think that the Catwoman and Elektra movies did poorly not because they featured women in the lead roles but because they sucked. After all, men having been buying comic books about female superheroes for decades.
But I don't think Hollywood is willing to take the chance and that may be because there aren't as many female actors capable of handling the action or because they don't give them the opportunity.
Incidentally, the films I have seen twice at the cinema this year? Iron Man 2, Inception, and Tomorrow, When The War Began, an Australian film about a group of teenagers battling occupying forces with guerrilla tactics, led by 17 yr old girl. Women do turn out for action movies and while percentage wise there may be more men, I don't think the difference is dramatically huge.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2010-11-07 06:01 pm (UTC)I definitely agree with this. As I said, shoehorning women in just for the sake of equality is not what I want and it would be odious. But when the gender doesn't matter, why not consider casting either gender? While I really want to see more female lead characters in films, I also think it would be cool to see women take those secondary roles where they just get to make jokes and blow stuff up. I don't need them to be poster girls for feminism, I'd just like them to be there in the first place.
also, you have to take into account the genre of the film. essentially, it's an action movie, and action movies generally attract more of a male audience. a greater proportion of male actors will naturally allow the (predominantly) male audience engage with the medium more, which is what any director wants.
See, I don't agree here. I know plenty of guys who list Alien as their favourite film: that has a female main character who was originally supposed to be male. Likewise, guys who go ga-ga for Buffy Summers because she kicks ass. I think that guys do and would respond to an action movie/TV show with a female lead - but the story itself has to be good. I think that the Catwoman and Elektra movies did poorly not because they featured women in the lead roles but because they sucked. After all, men having been buying comic books about female superheroes for decades.
But I don't think Hollywood is willing to take the chance and that may be because there aren't as many female actors capable of handling the action or because they don't give them the opportunity.
Incidentally, the films I have seen twice at the cinema this year? Iron Man 2, Inception, and Tomorrow, When The War Began, an Australian film about a group of teenagers battling occupying forces with guerrilla tactics, led by 17 yr old girl. Women do turn out for action movies and while percentage wise there may be more men, I don't think the difference is dramatically huge.