This weekend something interesting happened. A romantic drama that featured a female protagonist who was dying of cancer had a bigger opening than a Tom Cruise starring, mega-budgeted, science fiction film by the name of Edge of Tomorrow. The latter film had gotten great reviews from alot of respected critics and tested great in test screenings. It had Tom Cruise, a bonafined superstar, and an interesting premise. But it was beat by a film that did not have big stars or a large budget.
That former film, however, was based on the bestselling novel of the same name by John Green. A novel which I will admit I have read and liked very much. As this is not a review of said novel, I will not get into too much why I liked it so. But I will say that it featured fully realized characters, ones that felt real and ones that you actually cared about in a very honest way, like you would a friend or family member. That was one of the great appeals of that book and one of the reasons I am sure the movie did well. People who have read this book love these characters. They wanted to see them realized on the big screen.
Now that is certainly one reason for this film's success this past weekend. However, I tend to believe there is more to this than simply the fans coming out to see the film. That really only gets you so far. Rather, I think this all shows a developing trend in Hollywood. A trend that sees female led films, films that have female protagonists, doing better than many films with male protagonists. It also, in my humble opinion, indicates that people want to connect with films in a real emotional way and are fatigued of the overblown spectacle of the modern blockbuster.
Not that they haven't been able to connect with films this year or the year before as there were plenty of very good films that were able to provide them with that. But to perhaps make my point more specific, I feel like female moviegoers have had a desire for some time to be able to connect with a film that has a female protagonist front and center and one that does not treat her like the love interest, the side kick, or the bitch. I feel women want more strong, educated, layered, compassionate female characters on screen. They want films that give women more to do than simply be the one the male character or characters pine for, or the one who needs saving, or is helpless in some other way.
No the tide has changed in a big way right now and women are voting with their dollars. Which, of course, is the best and only way to truly get Hollywood's attention. It is working. If we look at the cast of Episode VII, they just added two more female roles to the film, bringing the total number of women in the cast to 4. In the previous two trilogies, there was but one major female role in each, those being Padme and Leia. There is also the continued success of The Hunger Games, which features a strong female character in Katniss Everdeen.
Women make up half the population and are grossly underrepresented in cinema currently. It is exciting to see films that seek to change that fact doing well. I was glad to read that The Fault in our Stars did as well as it did and did so against some pretty stiff competition. I hope it continues to do well going into its second week in order to show that its opening was a not a fluke.
This change is slow to take effect, but I believe in a few short years we will be in a world where women are much better represented in films than they have to this point. More women will lead films and more women will write and direct them. Moviegoers, particularly female ones, are voting with their time and their money. It is only a matter of time before Hollywood changes and gives them fully what they want. It is important to remember that women make up 51% of the population and make up a much, much smaller percentage of main characters in films.
I look forward to seeing the rise of women in film and seeing what quality films and great stories come as a result.
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