your favorite american films of the past 50 years with female protagonists

i thought she was rather good in black swan, she's still got it in her, just please stop making her play stupid girlfriend roles!

One of these Halloweens I'm going to get my shit together and do a Lydia/Beetlejuice costume

oh man a couple with lydia and beetlejuice costumes would be off the charts. actually winona+dress + johnny depp from edward scissorhands would be nifty too.

Nah, Edward himself is the protagonist, she's the leading lady.

Beetlejuice is an ensemble piece, mostly led by Winona and Michael Keaton, surely?

xposts

i thought she was rather good in black swan, she's still got it in her, just please stop making her play stupid girlfriend roles!

― former personal denim advisor to the mayor, (La Lechera), Thursday, May 3, 2012 4:08 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah her role in that vince vaughan/king of queens comedy was likewise a kind of harsh meta-assessment of winona's waning fortunes.

Nah, Edward himself is the protagonist, she's the leading lady.

really? doesn't she probably has as much screen time??

It's not about screen-time, though - the mother (forgotten her name) has as much screen-time, too. It's about how the story is presented, who the story belongs to, how the characterisation works...

(what the cinema ticket in your hand reads)

It's not about screen-time, though - the mother (forgotten her name) has as much screen-time, too. It's about how the story is presented, who the story belongs to, how the characterisation works...

― emil.y, Thursday, May 3, 2012 4:14 PM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

right, i know. in my memory winona's goals are of equal importance, but i haven't seen it in years, so you're probably right.

The Virgin Suicides? Lux is basically the protagonist, but it's also all five sisters as remembered by the teenage boys who worshipped them. So I'm not sure if it counts.

There were a couple I dithered on because of uncertainty about how "American" they were. E.g., A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries or Maria Full of Grace.

or emma, i guess.

i think monster is pretty good

There were a couple I dithered on because of uncertainty about how "American" they were. E.g., A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries or Maria Full of Grace.

― sockless in moccasins (jaymc), Thursday, May 3, 2012 7:20 PM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark

someone mentioned eXistenZ, which i think of as totally canadian

The Virgin Suicides? Lux is basically the protagonist, but it's also all five sisters as remembered by the teenage boys who worshipped them. So I'm not sure if it counts.

― clemenza, Thursday, May 3, 2012 6:07 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'm not sure the virgin suicides is even really "about" the sisters at all, which i guess is kind of the point

well, it's about perceiving them, but also about their sense of existing in the perception of others, so

it's about them as objects and not characters. they may be at the center of the story but that center is a void. idk

may be overstating things tho, it's been a long time since i've seen it

I think you're both right...which is why I wasn't sure if it belonged or not.

Ones I liked (to varying degrees) that haven't been mentioned...

Young Adult
Citizen Ruth
Haywire
Strangers With Candy
Waitress
and, um, Dreamgirls?

Has anyone said Juno yet? Or Whip It?

Getting laid and abandoned by Josh Hartnett on the 50-yd line? Doesn't that disqualify Virgin Suicides by these Bechdel Criteria I seem to have missed?

(I assume it's the graphic novelist Bechdel, whose big book I actually read)

Sofia Coppola's protagonist women are interesting and perhaps debatable cases, true, but i would still call them protagonists in Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette. and i really like those films.

actually, now that i really think about it, not debatable, def protagonist

Hanna also rad

and btw Ginger Snaps is Canadian!
^ patriotic duty done for the day

Morbius: the Bechdel Test

oops, i want to expand the criteria to include canada then, cuz ginger snaps is great

so's hanna, can't believe i forgot that one

A Question of Silence, for example, tackles the intense emotional reactions of three women

Nobody's mentioned "3 Women" yet! Where are the Altman stans?

it has been

Has anyone said Juno yet? Or Whip It?

I mentioned both.

haha I totally read Morbius: the Bechdel Test as the title of an imagined film.

xxxxxpost Ah, so it has. I knew it was unlikely to have been missed (except by me obv.)

the end result of this thread is gonna be another poll, amirite?!?

Nobody's mentioned "3 Women" yet! Where are the Altman stans?

― Race Against Rockism (Myonga Vön Bontee), Thursday, May 3, 2012 11:32 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's one of his worst movies, though (IMO).

Blue Car is really good.

It's interesting to note that many of these movies fail to pass the Bechdel test... I think one reason I had a hard time coming up with good examples was because I was unconsciously excluding movies that don't pass.

The thread premise is 'with female protagonists' tho, not 'which pass the Bechdel test'.

haha I totally read Morbius: the Bechdel Test as the title of an imagined film.

Call yr contacts at Marvel. I'll have my treatment ready by monday.

the Runaways! def passes the Bechdel test

I'd like the Runaways a whole lot more if it had nothing to do with the Runaways and was just a throwaway movie about a fictional girlband

Anyway, the Bechdel test is an interesting exercise to look at the state of women in movies in general, but isn't very useful in assessing individual movies, IMO.

yeah i agree with that.

otm

Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, nor is the 'female protagonist' thing, without a list of criteria... Though asking for favourites does make it a slightly different exercise.

Where are the Altman stans?

The only movie I mentioned was an Altman! Even though most of his films featured ensembles where few individuals really stood out above the pack, he generally made good use of female protagonists. He was a very female-friendly director (in many senses).

No one likes Terms of Endearment?

prefer Steel Magnolias

love terms of endearment

I really like Nicole Holofcener's movies, Lovely & Amazing and Friends With Money. Both are largely populated by female protagonists and both pass the Bechdel test (according to bechdeltest.com).