Jump to content
IGNORED

Recommend a feminist movie


Lady Sybil Vimes

Recommended Posts

Lady Sybil Vimes

What movies do you like that would pass the Bechdal test (for any who haven't heard of this it's any work of fiction that has two women talk to each other about something other than a man, it's surprising how many movies can't pass it) or that you think have otherwise feminist qualities. It doesn't have to be perfect!


I'm going to pick Thelma and Louise because it's a classic, it's kick-arse fun and it really understands something about how violence affects women's lives.


Also, Steel Magnolias. I love this movie. A lot of it appears to be about men but they're sort of irrelevant. It's about the women, the support they give each other and mother-daughter relationships. I quote it all the time ("it's in the freezes beautifully section of my cookbook. I want to take something that freezes beautifully" and "Don't try to get on my good side. I no longer have one.").


Anyone else?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 54
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Lady Sybil Vimes

    7

  • rewritethestars

    7

  • Lou-bags

    3

  • Ernegirl

    2

Top Posters In This Topic

I watched Brazen Hussies recently. About the women’s lib movement in Australia.


Uplifting and depressing at the same time.


Edited to add- it’s a documentary so cheating a bit sorry.


How about The First Wives Club?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lucrezia Borgia

What movies do you like that would pass the Bechdal test (for any who haven't heard of this it's any work of fiction that has two women talk to each other about something other than a man, it's surprising how many movies can't pass it) or that you think have otherwise feminist qualities. It doesn't have to be perfect!


I'm going to pick Thelma and Louise because it's a classic, it's kick-arse fun and it really understands something about how violence affects women's lives.


Also, Steel Magnolias. I love this movie. A lot of it appears to be about men but they're sort of irrelevant. It's about the women, the support they give each other and mother-daughter relationships. I quote it all the time ("it's in the freezes beautifully section of my cookbook. I want to take something that freezes beautifully" and "Don't try to get on my good side. I no longer have one.").


Anyone else?

love Steel Magnolias - so many quotes - the one i like is Ouisa “I’m not crazy, i’ve just been in a very bad mood for 40 years” - i can so relate.


and Thelma and Louise would be my other pick, will have to think of others - they’re thin on the ground aren’t they.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[mention]Lady Sybil Vimes[/mention] YES that's it. It was really very good.


I particularly liked how they told story of that time period from multiple perspectives, different women's experiences. Even more so as I never felt like I was being asked to judge any part of the movement/any one approach as wrong or right. It really did not try to sugar coat anything or be all 'rah rah yay women' without also reflecting on the bad too - if that makes sense? It felt like a collection of honest accounts.


Go watch it and then we can have a spoiler thread to talk about it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lady Sybil Vimes

Love Frozen 2. Moana is great as well.


9 to 5 is another one that I love - Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton are so good. I think Alien might count as well, women didn't do those kinds of action characters before Sigourney Weaver.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Haven’t watched either in awhile but they were pretty powerful movies about strong women - Silkwood ( with Meryl Streep & Cher) and Norma Rae (Sally Fields) - that scene when she stands on the table with ‘union ‘ on it was always seared in my memory of how brave I wanted to be in standing up for my fellow workers!! However not sure if they’d pass the test or not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not a movie, but Star Trek discovery frequently passes the test. And it passes it while being firmly in that male dominated sci fi genre.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There’s a bit of debate around this but some consider dirty dancing as feminist.

Baby is sexual and confident and ends up being celebrated despite having sex. A character has an abortion but is not condemned for it (some discussion around the fact women were driven to this point of illegal abortions).


Basically clementine Ford has a good deep dive on it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am agreeing with others’ picks.


Definitely Thelma and Louise, The Colour Purple, Steel Magnolias and 9 to 5.


I would also submit Clueless plus Heathers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

So good.

 

I suppose if you think about it from a strictly passing Bechdal perspective, many films which centre lesbian characters pass it.

There's a couple of Aussie contributions on this front:

The film adaptation of The Getting of Wisdom

Also, the cult film Love and Other Catastrophes if anyone's seen that.


Not Aussie but the BBC screen adaptation of Jeanette Winterson's Oranges are Not the Only Fruit.


______________


An Australian action movie for the teen market that I'd recommend for those with teen daughters who'd like a role model for that kind of thing is Tomorrow When the War Began. Female lead saves the day, blows up bridges. She's not a perfect Mary Sue either It's pretty scary though. Or more to the point I was scared when I watched it at forty something.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hidden figures is the best feminist movie in existence. I LOVE IT

 

A league of their own?


Beaches?

 

I am also a love of A league of their own. Very different, light, but just love it

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Straight away The Color Purple and Erin Brokovich came to mind. As far as Disney movies go ... Moana. And another older film, The Joy Luck Club.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not actually sure it would pass the Bechdel, but I'd still consider it a feminist movie - "I am not an easy man" - about a male chauvinist who wakes up in a world where the roles are reversed. It was pretty funny given I wasn't sure the original 10 minute skit would translate to a full length movie, but I thought it did.




Here's the skit

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lots of those that have been mentioned already, and not so sure about the Bechdel test results, but

Election with Reese Witherspoon

My brilliant career

Hidden figures

Suffragette (yes, whitewashed, but still showing a side of the horrendous conditions that women loved under, especially poor women)

Oranges are not the only fruit (my mother tried to ban me from watching it when it was first on television. My grandmother taped it on her vcr for me to watch)

The Piano. Not really a “feminist” film but certainly interesting and thought provoking

The help

And for sheer entertainment, Oceans eight

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[mention]MoukMouk[/mention] Oh I loved The Piano.


Harrowing but pretty real in it's portrayal of sexual assault and the justice system. The Accused - with Jodie Foster playing the survivor who takes her attacker to court. I wouldn't recommend it if in a vulnerable space around these issues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Working Girl - 1988.


Interesting how many movies from the70's, 80's and 90's are being mentioned!

 

Movies have gone backwards as far as feminism and gender neutrality, in my opinion. These days it’s either a girl movie or a boys movie, nothing in between.

Mostly because Disney/marvel keep pumping out the same tripe again and again, the same macho super hero crap. Balanced only by the next cheap rom-com.


But kids films too have gone backwards. Now, they weren’t perfect, but I always preferred my kids watching the original Mary poppins and Chitty chitty bang bang, even the goonies, because the kids wore play clothes, the girls played what they boys were playing, and the kids were free to be kids. Some strong female leads in there too, and a single dad!

These days it’s all friggin fairies, unicorns and rainbows for girls, and police, action hero’s, and supermen for boys.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Advertisement

×
×
  • Create New...