Movies – What Women Want
I was recently read in The Guardian that Sandra Bullock’s new film, Blind Side, broke a box office record – it was the first sole-female led movie that broke $200k at the box office, beating out Julia Roberts and Reese Witherspoon.
I haven’t seen Blind Side yet, and I can’t particularly say that the story immediately appeals to me. But, this does represent a turning point. Whenever I talk about sexist stereotypes in movies, people respond that the reason it is like that is because young white men are the overwhelming majority of movie viewers. With the success of Sex in the City and the Twilight series, finally the men in charge of the movie industry are seeing that there is a large, female audience out there.
Because, while there has been a female revolution going on for the past 40 years, movies have not changed that much. The majority of movies targeted towards women are romantic comedies etc., which are usually centered around getting a man.
I would love to one day see a female-led epic, or even an action movie where the lead is a woman and the side-kick is a man. But, the key is not to simply put a woman in a man’s role. The key is to look at today’s audience as they are, and create characters that appeal to them.
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