Women in Fiction

I was talking to Margot the other day about a movie that she had recommended to me, the most recent adaptation of The Great Gatsby.  While we both enjoyed the film, she did mention that she really detested the character of Daisy, to the point of saying that she was one of her most disliked characters in all of fiction.  While I didn't ask her directly where the ire towards Daisy came from, I suspect that most of it has to do with Daisy's materialism and choosing to marry a rich man rather than wait for her poor true love.

This got me thinking about other women in fiction and how they're depicted.  How often is the major decision that they have to make about their man (like Allie in The Notebook)?  Pretty much every Disney Princess is rescued from tragedy by her prince (Snow White, Aurora, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Rapunzel, even Tiana were all saved by their respective prince).  I think filmmakers are more guilty of this than book authors, as I can think of several novels that have strong female characters that are interested in more than simply finding a husband, but how many movies show women as only being concerned with either their man or lack of man?  Far, far too many.

Another problem is that even in movies with strong female characters, they either don't interact with other women, or only talk to other women about a man.  There is a test that was created by cartoonist Alison Bechdel to see if a movie is sexist towards women.  For a movie to pass the so-called "Bechdel Test," it must contain the following:

1) It has to have at least two women in it,
2) who talk to each other
3) about something besides a man.

It shouldn't be that difficult, but so many movies fail this test.  The original Star Wars fails despite having a very strong female lead in Princess Leia simply because she's never onscreen with another woman.  That is not to say that the Bechdel Test is completely definitive and any movie that fails it is sexist, but it is a good place to start.

What is my point in all of this?  Women are people, too.  I realize that that is nothing astounding, but too many filmmakers seem to think of women's interests beginning and ending with men.  Even though we are experiencing a huge boom in superhero movies, Warner Bros. and DC seem to think that the third biggest name in the genre is "tricky" to bring to theaters.  Why, because Wonder Woman is a female warrior that doesn't need a man in her life to feel fulfilled?  I'm not saying that woman can't be loving wives or mothers, but if that's all they are, we as the audience are being cheated of a fully rounded character.  Remember, fiction is a reflection of reality, so these (at the very least) partial depictions of women mean that people still think this way.  And that needs to change.

[And after all of that, I swear that I don't consider myself a feminist.]