Is The Genuine Female Character in Hollywood Regressing?
Gender neutrality has been skiing uphill for so many years and just when you think the slope will plateau to generate real progression, in walks Hollywood
After leaving the cinema in 2015 having just watched the shiny new Jurassic World film with my family, I said, ‘Well, that was shit. That literally just put storytelling back 25 years.’ Which is an obvious embellishment, that also happens to be true. But what was more interesting was how my sister replied. ‘Sure,’ she said, ‘but it also put feminism back 25 years.’
Much discussion and biting, rapier critique of Jurassic World’s high-heel wearing, T-rex dodging, morally bankrupt female ‘main character’ later and I realised that not only were we both lamenting the same issue — because, without great characters, you simply can’t have great stories — but also that Hollywood’s struggle with the issue of gender neutrality has seen a large regression of the equality message at its core over the last two decades. What in the 90’s constituted large steps forward for leading ladies finally able to break away from the damsel in distress cast, have recently reverted right back to where they were in the post 80’s era, amounting to over-sexualised ‘strong’ personas with little in the…
