After reading a recent post on the Women in Media & News blog by guest blogger Nia Vardalos on how studio executives do not consider female leads to be profitable characters, I couldn’t help ask whether this is only the case for summer movies or for movies in general. You may remember Nia from an independent movie about Greek culture, life, and living called My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Nia is back with another Greek-themed romantic comedy this year titled My Life in Ruins, which might be one of the only summer movies with a female lead, not counting animated movies. Let’s face it, when the studio executives pick up scripts for summer releases, they look for the big-budget, explosion-filled, blockbuster hits. This includes G.I. Joe, Transformers, Harry Potter, Star Trek, and many more. All of these movies do, however, have female supporting cast members. Then there are a handful of laugh-out-loud comedies, which also fit into the male-dominated cast category, like Bruno, Year One, Funny People, and more.
Then I decided to look at this from another perspective. I must note that I actually think about this a lot. It seems to me that the less and less females are appearing in summer blockbusters, the more and more they seem to be showing up on summer television shows. There is In Plain Sight, a USA show about the life of a female U.S. Marshall in New Mexico; HBO’s True Blood, whose main character, Sookie, played by Anna Paquin can hear people’s thoughts and is in love with a vampire named Bill; My Boys, the TBS comedy about the life and friends of a female Chicago sports columnist; Showtime’s Nurse Jackie, staring Sopranos great Edie Falco; Weeds, about a suburban mom who sells “you know what” for a living; TNT’s dramas The Closer and Saving Grace, along with TNT’s new nursing drama, Hawthrone, staring Jada Pinkett Smith.
Sounds like a lot huh? That’s my point! While most people have been paying attention to how the summer blockbusters have become overwhelmingly known for their male-dominated roles, I can’t help but notice that networks, be it cable or not, are figuring out that female leads are viable routes for successful summer programming on TV.
The real question that we should be asking in regard to decisions these Hollywood executives make is where are all of the female action heroes? In order to determine how marketable female leads are, shouldn’t we give them the same big blockbuster movie roles that men are given? Even if we look at other genres like the various comic book remakes or action thrillers, we hardly see any female leads during the summertime. Seriously, when was the last time you saw a Judd Apatow movie with the main character played by a female? And I mean the main character, not the main character’s female love interest. So, Hollywood, I challenge you to venture outside the realm of romantic comedies to cast your female leads, because in my opinion this has the potential to draw large audiences for its originality and sheer genius!
This is something I think about a lot, and I’m glad we’ve made a post about it. I am so sick of going to the theater and being bombarded with trailer after trailer after trailer of movies where the lead characters are men. Then there’s a woman thrown in as a romantic accessory or maybe a moral guiding voice. This is in every genre. I think a similar argument can be made regarding ethnic and racial diversity. Hollywood has gone way over the top and the sad thing is that it didn’t use to be this bad. A half century ago you can find films with more women and stronger women leads. We’re supposed to be making progress, not stepping backwards.