Posts Marked Dykes To Watch Out For

  • It’s Inception Week: How does it fare with women?

    July 22nd, 2010

    On Women’s Wednesday I talk about women in media.

    Have you seen Inception yet? It’s getting harder and harder to surf the web for those of you that haven’t, but fear not… Bitch Magazine has a feature for you: “Snarky’s Cinemachine: Five Non-Spoiler-y Things About Inception”. I found number 2 particularly interesting (and relevant) for today:

    Shocker! Female characters are poorly utilized.
    I counted four female characters in the film, two of which had barely more than a few lines. The remaining two—Academy-Award nominee Ellen Page and Academy-Award winner Marion Cotillard—are tasked with the thankless job of serving as plot devices or emotional mirrors for Dicaprio’s Dom Cobb (who is written with the emotional depth of a piece of lightly buttered toast). Cotillard’s beauty, maturity and soulful depth (remember, this is the actor who won an Oscar playing Parisian icon Edith Piaf) exist to suggest similar qualities of Cobb. Page’s presence works to make Dicaprio seem     older; doing a much better job than Dicaprio’s fuller face (he seems to fill out when a role requires him to appear aged), creative make up and access to an array of what appear to be his grandfather’s suits. Inception requires little of its talented female leads; it is unsurprising the film is tracking poorly with older audiences, particularly women. Expecting nuanced female characters in a Christopher Nolan film is about as fruitful as expecting the same from a Kubrick film. Nolan’s films haven’t managed to position women in thoughtful or empowered ways. In Inception, the women exist to provide the audience with analysis of the male lead, lacking individual motivations for their actions, thoughts, and feelings.

    I was going to include a still of the two actresses, but I couldn’t find one. Which leads me to…

    The Bechdel Movie Test. Have you heard of this? It’s a simple three-part test which must have all of the following criteria: (1) it has to have at least two women in it, who (2) who talk to each other, about (3) something besides a man. The test was popularized by Alison Bechdel‘s comic Dykes To Watch Out For, in a 1985 strip called The Rule.

    So, how does Inception fare with The Bechdel Test? According to the Bechdel Test Movie List, it “dubiously” passed.  Poster Laurel states:

    I know we can’t speak more broadly, but if we could, I would add that this movie, while brilliantly executed, was very dull and conventional as far as plot goes. Male protagonist is held back by weaker female, he’s strong she’s weak, helper female assists him to win free, females only exist as reflections of or part of the Hero’s Story – how often have we seen this? And how much more interesting the film would have been if Ariadne had been the protagonist. But of course we can’t do that, because if a female is the protagonist then the movie has to be about love, children or buying shoes.

    What do you think? Are you disappointed with the movie? Are you disappointed with the female characters?  I walked away from the film completely enthralled, but I must say that I wouldn’t mind seeing some stronger women in Nolan’s films.  Like Catwoman, purrrhaps? :-)

    July 22nd,2010 Blogging, Women's Wednesdays | Sections: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment