Suzanne Freyjadis-Chuberka writes
Did you want to see a movie with a female lead this summer? Well, too bad.
I was looking at my movie listings trying to find something to see last night and I was struck by the lack of female leads in the summer blockbusters. Struck, but not surprised.
It seems to be standard Hollywood fare to send out a string of movies that feature men doing heroic things, with women present as sidekicks or partners, but not leads. Angelina Jolie is ever present in Wanted, but she is merely one of a cast of many, the majority of whom are male gunslingers or women who are bitches.
I know that Charlie's Angels was successful and so was Kill Bill, both of these movies series have strong female leads and Uma Thurman kicks some serious ass. What happened? Where did our kick ass female leads go?
What really gets me is that I am excited about so many of the summer releases. I am looking forward to Brendan Frasier's return with The Mummy 3 and Will Smith's movie, Hancock, but I feel a strong sense of loss over the action chicks.
We don't even have any great comedy's staring women to look forward to. Was I supposed to be satisfied with Sex in the City? Did the movie industry decide that women shouldn't need more? I feel like a dog being thrown an old bone and being told that I should be happy I got any bone at all. As Cate pointed out in an earlier post, Baby Mama was certainly not all that we hoped it would be, either.
The entertainment industry's happy ignorance about women as a market is overdue for an overhaul. On the one hand, women are now at least present as relative equals in action movies. Angelina Jolie is equally tough to the men in Wanted, and Michelle Yeoh appears to be a featured warrior in the Mummy 3. It is simply the fact that women don't occupy an equal amount of screen time that's frustrating.
So is my problem a lack of patience? When the kids in high school are making movies will it be better? Are they less steeped in all the isms including sexism. Do they see women as equal?
I don't know. But I'm tired of being patient. I want to see more women kicking ass and taking names!
Suzanne Freyjadis-Chuberka is a freelance writer in Austin, Texas.
