When the phrase “feminist movie” comes to mind, we usually think of titles like The Hours or Sylvia Plaith’s The Bell Jar ; heavy, intellectual movies that scream “feminist,” and are loved and sought out by feminists.
However, some of the best feminist themes I’ve discovered on the silver screen are found in more mainstream fare, and they’re made all the better by the fact that we don’t expect to see them there. Here are some of my favorites.
Horror movies are often the genre most likely to use gender stereotypes and sexism as a part of their storytelling – ever notice how women who have sex in these things end up dead in the next scene, or die because their high heels and short skirts keep them from running from the monster?
Silent Hill, on the other hand, features female heroines, female monsters, a female villian, and even a female incarnation of the devil. Yet for all this, the movie loses nothing in terms of scare factor, intensity, or fascination, nor does it scream, “Look at me! I’m being a feminist movie!”
One of my favorite aspects of this movie is that the plot revolves around a woman searching for her missing daughter. This presents an image of motherhood as something that fights hard and faces horrifying danger, rather than the traditional, passive way its usually presented in western culture.
The Silence of the Lambs
This film was actually touted by some as a feminist piece when it was released, but hardly anyone believed it. It’s a film about a psychopath who hunts and dismembers women – how can it be feminist?
By featuring incredible female characters wherever it can, of course. This psychological thriller is based on the book by Thomas Harris, who writes only extraordinary, unique, and strong women. Clarice Starling, the young, dedicated detective who hunts the serial killer known as Buffalo Bill, is a character whose purpose is best summarized in a line that was cut from the movie: “This guy is out there hunting women, and I’m the only woman hunting him.” And hunt him she does.
Hannibal
This sequel to TheSilence of The Lambs deals with Clarice Starling ten years later as she hunts Hannibal Lecter – and in so doing, she is thwarted at every turn by bureaucratic sexism deeply embedded within the FBI. This movie didn’t receive much critical acclaim or popularity, largely because people didn’t know what to make of the unusual love story between Clarice and Hannibal, the only man in her life who recognizes her brilliance and is not threatened by it.
The Little Mermaid
Okay, so this movie certainly has its problems in terms of providing a good, feminist role model for young girls. But I was six years old when it came out, and after seeing several decades worth of Disney movies that constant portrayed women as damsels-in-distress, seeing the first of these movies where the heroine actually saved the prince’s life had a profound effect on my young understanding of gender roles.
Serenity
It’s a spaceship movie! And traditionally, sci-fi movies are some of the worst for suffering from what I like to call “one-or-two-token-females syndrome.” Ever noticed how the women in these things are generally only there to be love interests, or to remind the oh-so-masculine captain to consider his emotional side from time to time?
Joss Whedon’s Serenity, like the TV series it’s based on, features extraordinary female characters, and unlike other sci-fi, they actually make up half the crew rather than a tiny minority. Not only that, but they take on some of the most traditionally male roles, like ship’s engineer and seasoned war veteran.
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Sure, The Lord of the Rings is, overall, a sausagefest of sausagefests – nothing but men everywhere, doing everything, and most of the few females that do exist in this tale are little more than lofty ideals of untouchable beauty.
But in The Return Of The King, we finally get Eowyn, the warrior princess, defying the wills of her patriarchal relatives, fighting in the greatest battle for Middle Earth, and finally, proving that she can succeed in battle where men have failed.
