Larxenne
07-14-2009, 05:39 PM
As one of this site's (probably) many resident cinephiles, I got around to thinking about awesome, mainstream, successful movies that feature "strong" women (in a real, rather than stereotypical manner) and LGBT characters (again in a real, rather than stereotypical manner). This * is * possible, and I think the Star Trek writers, clever as they are, can do it...
Anyways, some of my favorite movies under this heading are:
Gone With the Wind. When I first watched this a few years ago, I was expecting a stereotypical sappy romance story, and was surprised by an epic full of well developed characters including two strong, realistic female leads. In reading the book, I found that all of the characters were interesting (except, sadly, the African American characters...this was before the Civil Rights Movement) and that the female characters were well developed and utterly believable. Interestingly enough, this movie is also touted as one of the greatest films of all time and has been wildly successful over the years.
And a side note: author Margaret Mitchell was a total badass female journalist who pioneered roles for women in the press in the 1920s and 30s...and her manner of death is strangely analogous to that of Edith Keeler's in The city on the Edge of Forever.
The Silence of the Lambs. One of my favorite movies ever. Again, protagonist Clarice Starling is a strong woman, but believable...she's not really a stereotype of anything. As far as the psycho killer Buffalo Bill and the LGBT thing goes...I'm pretty sure the authors meant no commentary on LGBT people and were just trying to come up with a good psycho killer...but I'm not sure.
V for Vendetta. I love this movie because it features a lesbian couple not as the center of the film but prominently nonetheless. V for Vendetta is first a great action movie, political commentary, and romance, but the LGBT characters in there are not treated trivially or stereotypically.
Anyhow, just some thoughts. I like movies.
Anyways, some of my favorite movies under this heading are:
Gone With the Wind. When I first watched this a few years ago, I was expecting a stereotypical sappy romance story, and was surprised by an epic full of well developed characters including two strong, realistic female leads. In reading the book, I found that all of the characters were interesting (except, sadly, the African American characters...this was before the Civil Rights Movement) and that the female characters were well developed and utterly believable. Interestingly enough, this movie is also touted as one of the greatest films of all time and has been wildly successful over the years.
And a side note: author Margaret Mitchell was a total badass female journalist who pioneered roles for women in the press in the 1920s and 30s...and her manner of death is strangely analogous to that of Edith Keeler's in The city on the Edge of Forever.
The Silence of the Lambs. One of my favorite movies ever. Again, protagonist Clarice Starling is a strong woman, but believable...she's not really a stereotype of anything. As far as the psycho killer Buffalo Bill and the LGBT thing goes...I'm pretty sure the authors meant no commentary on LGBT people and were just trying to come up with a good psycho killer...but I'm not sure.
V for Vendetta. I love this movie because it features a lesbian couple not as the center of the film but prominently nonetheless. V for Vendetta is first a great action movie, political commentary, and romance, but the LGBT characters in there are not treated trivially or stereotypically.
Anyhow, just some thoughts. I like movies.