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People Roast Male Writers For These 32 TV And Movie Female Characters That Just Don’t Make Sense
Some characters—be it a movie, a book, or any other form of expression—are so well-written, it feels like you know a person exactly like that or you can relate to them yourself. Others, not so much. In fact, some of those others can be so far-fetched, clichéd, or inaccurate, you can’t help but roll your eyes or even shame the writer.
The latter is what some redditors did after the user ‘SkywalkersAlt’ started a thread about the most obvious instances of a woman’s character being written by a man. Members of the ‘Movies’ subreddit discussed quite a few of such examples, often detailing what it was about the writing that they didn’t like. Scroll down to find their insight on the list below and see if you agree.
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#1
The classic, the obviously pretty actress "hides" her beauty by wearing glasses.
CanadianDimes 1 year ago
I remember on Law & Order: SVU, Alex Cabot, the ADA, wore glasses and no attention was ever drawn to it. I really appreciated that and I think it's sad how rare that is. No one ever commented on it, which is how it would also be in real life. She was just a woman who happened to wear glasses.
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#2
No one under-writes a female role like Christopher Nolan! The woman in Tenet is a real standout, they're explaining what they're up against and say "if this happens all of existence will be undone" and her response is "including my son!". Because "mom" is exactly as far as the character goes.
#4
After seeing Oppenheimer recently it became painfully apparent that Christopher Nolan sucks at writing women. I can’t think of a single well-rounded female character in any of his films.
u/taimychoo added:
This man really casted Florence Pugh just to give her one nude scene and 67 seconds of dialogue, all the while fawning over Oppenheimer for no real reason
#5
Uhh Padme pretending that Anakin's game was working on her.
CanadianDimes 1 year ago
Yes! You're telling me a young woman who is constantly surrounded by educated, intelligent people is going to fall for some whiny teenager?!
#7
Judd Apatow himself has come out and said the female leads in Knocked Up weren't great. Very real male perspective on display for a film mostly about a woman going through an unexpected pregnancy.
Electrical-Tiger-536 added:
The scene where they're grabbing multiple pregnancy tests, omg. I don't believe there are many women out there who didn't watch that and think "Those things are like $25 each!" Nobody spends hundreds of dollars on pregnancy tests in a single sitting.
#8
Harley Quinn in *Suicide Squad* (2016) was very clearly written and created/dressed by a man.
In her solo movie, *Birds of Prey: ...Harley Quinn*, she is very obviously written and created/dressed by a woman.
In the reboot/sequel *The Suicide Squad* (2021), I believe that Margot Robbie and the director James Gunn coordinated when it came to Harley Quinn's outfit and makeup, but that James Gunn still wrote her dialogue, although her characterization has more in common with Christina Hodson's writing than David Ayer's.
Enlee Jones 1 year ago
Suicide Squad: starring Margot Robbie’s t*ts and @$$. Birds of Prey: starring Margot Robbie.
#9
I watched Snow White starring Kristen Stewart recently and was not surprised to find out that it was written and directed by men. For a leading role, she hardly had any lines at all, it seemed her sole purpose was to look scared and sexy
Jill Rhodry 1 year ago
Or it could be that Kristen Stewart isn't that great an actress - it probs wasn't - but it could be.
#10
There's a movie called Born a Champion. There's a great scene where our middle aged, bleach blond haired MMA fighter hero is talking to a young woman (who later falls in love with him because what hot woman doesn't love wrinkles). She says the line every 40+ year old man with a pony tail and samurai sword wants to hear. I can't remember the exact quote but it was roughly:
"I work as a paralegal and I'm a part time model, but what I really want is to be a housewife and have kids".
#11
Clark Griswold's wife, Ellen, in *National Lampoon's Vacation*. She catches her husband in the act of cheating on her, blames herself, and immediately rewards him by recreating the infidelity with herself in the other woman's place.
Nice Beast Ludo 1 year ago
Vapid and husband-pleasing were her two driving qualities. At least she still was less stupid than Clark lol
#12
All the "born sexy yesterday" women. Has to be one of my least favorite tropes.
u/Censius explained:
For those that don't know "born sexy yesterday" is a trope where a fully mature woman is created, seems to have incredible skill/power/intelligence, but lacks knowledge of the world. Think Fifth Element or Tron Legacy. They often fall in love with a happless dude, since they seem impressively knowledgeable about things, but really they're just some guy.
Purplescales 1 year ago
So basically they all fall for Zaphod Beeblebrox because "he's just this guy"
#13
Most biopic/brand pic movies have the archetypical “wife” character who’s just there to imbue conflict and have like one argument scene
afia kooma 1 year ago (edited)
The reason the hero is in a bad mood, or why he cant chase the criminal - because he has a to go home to his wife.. edited spelling
#14
I just rewatched Edward Scissorhands. As a teenager I was absolutely enthralled but looking back Kim has pretty lackluster writing. She's pretty much only valued for her looks, is a jerk otherwise but that's overlooked because beautiful. Her final line is still about her appearance "I want him to remember me as I was".
#15
I hated that so much.
“You, a radioactive rage-controlled superhuman. Me, a woman who can’t procreate. We’re both monsters :(“
Hokuloa 1 year ago (edited)
Oh please. This is *not* a quote at all. In the context of what Bruce and Natasha are discussing, their mutual inability to procreate is a minor connecting thread. It is *not* why she says they are both monsters. She’s a monster because she has been methodically trained and stripped down into a single-focused killing machine with barely a shred of humanity left. Her sterilization was only part of the process. At least don’t twist the dialogue info fake quotes to unfairly push a BS narrative that was never intended. There are *plenty* of other roles that worthy of derision without making up ones like this!
#16
Working Girl. "I've got a mind for business and a bod for sin." Yeah, no.
#17
I feel like any of the Manic Pixie Chicks fit the bill as the are specifically written to advance the male antagonists self discovery. In some cases it boarders on meta, but it turns the female lead into a device instead of a character.
#18
The female accompaniment in most Nic Cage movies are dead set on falling for him regardless of the red flag t-shirt his characters seem to wear.
I do enjoy the majority of NC's filmography for his "professionally chaotic" energy, but I cannot understand the *romantic appeal* at all.
#19
Rachel McAdams in both Sherlock Holmes and in Midnight in Paris is honestly just hard to watch. I am a bit biased as I don’t like her acting at all, but especially Midnight in Paris the dialogue is so bad for her character that it’s hard to blame her for the role. It’s hard to make something believable when there is no reality a woman would have her character’s dialogue to begin with.
contre kems 1 year ago
It's also a damn shame what they did with the character of Irene Adler. It's supposed to be the woman who outsmarted Holmes and got away with it. She's not a tool in the hands of Moriarty, not a damsel in distress, nor a lovesick femme fatale who loses to Holmes or Moriarty in the end. You cannot find one good iteration of the character in any of the recent movie and TV series adaptations.
#20
Splash is a great example of this. As a kid I was like “yay, mermaids!” But as an adult it’s so cringe. She’s beautiful, naked a lot, wants to have sex with Tom hanks all the time, AND she’s ignorant about the world.
afia kooma 1 year ago (edited)
All of this is logical for a fish. Imagine only doing sex as a spray-activety you whole life and Tom hanks ends up ditches everything to leave with his woman.
#22
I do think the Honor Blackman pilot in Goldfinger is probably the worst offender.
Pretty enough to be desirable, but not interested in men.
She'll say yes if you beat her up!
Note- this is just as creepy as it sounds. This is not advice of any kind!!!!!!
#23
Lily James's character in Baby Driver.
Black Widow in Age of Ultron.
Lil Miss Hobbit 1 year ago
I think Age of Ultron in general was awful, haha. It was just especially bad for Nat.
#24
While not among the worst, it’s pretty obvious with Anne Hathaway‘s and Jessica Chastain‘s characters in Interstellar. There‘s a hilarious skit on Youtube about the writing of those characters
Luke Branwen 1 year ago
Genuine question: I understand why someone could have issues with Amelia Brand, but why Murph Cooper? For me she was one of the movie's highlights, and I'd say I have pretty high standards for female characters.
#25
Donna in the Mamma Mia sequel, i remember thinking the movie had a weird vibe and as soon as the scene of her jumping into the sea with denim shorts came on i went "this s**t was 100% directed by a man", looked it up and confirmed it lol.
#26
Vanilla Sky / Abre Los Ojos.
Penelope Cruz plays the same character in both movies and it’s just this fantasy of a woman that no one really is. The antagonist is also a freak. No women behaves like that unless they are actively looking to be idealised by men.
#27
I was watching Draft Day last night with Kevin Costner. Jennifer Garner plays what felt like to me to be a very clear man’s ideal woman. I’m not talking at all about how she knows the game of football very well or that she’s attractive but talking about how she interacts with her “man.” She treats him like he’s on a pedestal, the way she interacts and responds to him and supports him and lifts him up.
Elizabeth Tayler 1 year ago
And what is with the ridiculous shoes?! It is so distracting watching her tottering around on them, she can barely walk. Sorry, women don't wear 6" heels in the workplace.
#28
Anything written by or based on the works of Stephen King.
Short Ferret 1 year ago
Stephen King will always have special place in my heart and The Stand will always be my favorite book. That is because he can write a mans internal dialogue like no one's business, but I swear if I hear one more "she's hit 30, but maintains her 125lb frame, she's 5'8 and is perfect, but knows she isn't perfect and its totally normal that her husbands treatment of her borders on abuse" I swear I will scream.
#29
Suits has a lot of that
After watching the 1 season, i don't think any character passed the Bechdell test
Zedrapazia 1 year ago (edited)
For people wondering what Bechdell is, it's a test whose only job is to answer the following question: "Do two women talk to each other without speaking about the main character/a man at any time in this story?" If the answer is yes, the story passes the rest, if it's no, it fails to do so. The test was originally made as a mocking to show how many shows don't pass a test with such a simple requirement.
#30
I see your Baby Driver and I raise you Lily James' character in Yesterday
"I'd just be the girl with frizzy hair."
u/level 3Puncomfortable added:
It really took me out of the film when her character implies she is unattractive. Like, this woman played Cinderella.
#31
That woman who fell in love for no reason in particular with de Niro in Heat. And who is ok to flea with a criminal she barely just met.
What do you think ?
Daniel Atkins 1 year ago (edited)
The women in the Big Bang Theory they all stay the same. Bernadette is very mean to everyone I know she is supposed to a strong independent woman but why is she so mean. It is like she never wanted to marry or have kids. That is not what all independent women do. Penny waffled from being the “normal” person in the group to being a borderline idiot for a couple of seasons. They never gave a reason she loved Leonard other than settling. Amy is jus weird because Sheldon is weird.
Ritchat 1 year ago
Add pretty much any female lead character in any action movie or series. It's always the same: The strong, independent woman acts super tough, distant, and pretty much like a man because she has been hurt in the past, but the goofy male main character sneaks his way into her heart in the end.
Daniel Atkins 1 year ago (edited)
The women in the Big Bang Theory they all stay the same. Bernadette is very mean to everyone I know she is supposed to a strong independent woman but why is she so mean. It is like she never wanted to marry or have kids. That is not what all independent women do. Penny waffled from being the “normal” person in the group to being a borderline idiot for a couple of seasons. They never gave a reason she loved Leonard other than settling. Amy is jus weird because Sheldon is weird.
Ritchat 1 year ago
Add pretty much any female lead character in any action movie or series. It's always the same: The strong, independent woman acts super tough, distant, and pretty much like a man because she has been hurt in the past, but the goofy male main character sneaks his way into her heart in the end.
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