busyThis bothers me. I'm all for having strong female leads in entertainment. But Pixar is a great studio precisely because they're making the kind of movies they would want to watch. That's an approach I want to encourage. If you want strong female characters, you make some. Don't try to fob off your creative desires on somebody else. If Pixar wants to tell a girl story, great. But if that's not what inspires them, I don't think they should have to do it. I'd rather see a great boy story that they love than a mediocre girl story that they made because somebody said, "You should put a girl in the lead role." Apparently Pixar does have a princess story somewhere in the works; that has potential.
I don't mind ragging on an entire industry, if it has a bad habit of misrepresenting or under-representing certain people. I don't mind people saying, "I'd really like to see X," or "I'm offering merry bundles of cash for people who write/draw/produce X." But I don't think it's right to point to a specific creative company or individual and say, "You HAVE to do X." That is not how creativity works. If you put something into a story strictly for political or moral purposes, and not because it's the core of a cool story that excites your imagination ... chances are, it's going to suck.
I think that if women really, really want a movie with a strong female lead, they should make their own. Same with books. If you don't like what's on offer, do it yourself. Do it better. Because if you're right, and there's a real gap in the entertainment, then there will be other dissatisfied fans out there who will flock to your offering.
If you want stuff with strong female characters but you don't feel creative yourself, there's another option: support women in entertainment. Give them your attention and your money. Here's a terrific movie by a woman, starring a goddess in the lead role. Here's an online serial by a woman, featuring a cookie-baking mom who slays alien bugs to save the galaxy. Here is some vivid art by a woman, inspired by the African diaspora and frequently depicting women. Here is the landing page for my Poetry Fishbowls; feel free to suggest a strong female character whenever a fishbowl is open. Want more examples? Check out the Links list over in
crowdfunding; many (though not all) of those projects belong to women and/or feature strong female leads.Because asking the guys to do stuff for you? Is not feminism. You want girls to have good role models, be one. Do it yourself.
October 9 2009, 12:38:28 UTC 11 years ago
But to change things up and create a story about a female character would be refreshing. I don't see how you can argue with that statement.
As an aside, do you devalue critics and believe that critics should create art instead of analyzing it? Just curious.