As a filmmaker and aspiring screenwriter, I already hate the remaking of movies. In my opinion, a film of any kind should not be remade. Ever. Yet now there is a trend of remaking movies that once had male-dominated casts and gender-bending them so that women are at the forefront.
Representation is so important that instead of having original thoughts and stories that are unique to how women experience the world, filmmakers have decided to fake female representation by coasting off the success of men.
The main examples that come to mind are the all-female Ghostbusters, and the all-female Oceans 8.
Now, one of my biggest problems with these films and with films like them is that they are marketed as “all-female casts.” Yeah, we get it. Representation is important. But if that’s your main selling point then I’m going to assume that you, as the production team and studio, already know that the story sucks.
My other major issue with the genderbending casts of existing films is that, if representation is so important, why are we not telling original stories?
Women are not just men with boobs. We have our own thoughts, ideas, stories, and experiences. To simply gender-bend existing movies suggests that women can only find success if men have found it first.
Men and women do not experience the world in the same way and therefore should not be telling the same stories. There is a very big difference between the hero’s journey and the heroine’s journey, and the longer we ignore that, the slower fruitful representation will be.
Now, the other side of this argument is that the current state of Hollywood and the powers that be are simply uninterested in the stories of women.
The powers that be are men, for the most part, and therefore this may just be a female filmmaker’s way of getting their foot in the door. Perhaps this is the only way we’re being allowed to tell stories at all.
I think it’s important to note that the state of the industry might be driving this and backing women into a corner. Offering up ultimatums like, “If you want to make films, this is how you’re going to do it.”
And women, who have been grinding away and just want and need their name on something, say yes.
On the other hand, we are starting to get truly female-led films. Not just in who is on screen but who is behind the camera and in the writer’s room.
Some more recent movies that have been released have focused on being more female-led. One can not claim a strong female movie if nearly everyone behind its making is male. It’s simply counterproductive and makes absolutely no sense.
Little Women and Wonder Woman are excellent and successful examples of truly female-led films. Suckerpunch is an excellent example of men telling stories that aren’t theirs to tell.
If you’re whiter than winter snow, you wouldn’t try to tell the experience or story of a Black man, and you definitely wouldn’t do it without an actual Black man’s input. So why the hell are we allowing Hollywood to do it to women?
Why, while amidst Hollywood’s very slow shift in power, are we still using men’s success to define women?
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