When I was taking this script around, and -and because it's a love story between a mother and a daughter,
I remember every -every man I talked to who
was raised with sisters or, who had a daughter...
said "I know this. That's my wife and my daughter." or "That's my sister or my mom." And guys who didn't,
as they said "I don't... Do women fight like this?"
Like, ohh...
...you've never seen this, because why would you know that this is what this relationship is?
[Ripley]: This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo...
...signing off.
The movie "Alien" provides a fascinating case study
into how women are typically written.
In an early draft of the script, the screenwriter wrote that the crew is unisex and all parts are interchangeable
for men or women. The character of Ripley can't really reinforce stereotypes
about women, because the writer did not have a woman in mind in the first place.
In many ways, a largely genderless hero
is a great character to have in a critically acclaimed, Hollywood blockbuster.
There's something cathartic about not having to think about gender in a main character.
Writing without a woman in mind means a writer can
explore universal human experiences, without worrying about falling into stereotype.
It's definitely fun and exciting to see a character who doesn't get treated differently because she's a woman.
She is a well-written character with qualities not associated with any particular gender.
Ripley in "Alien" is a strong woman character,
because gender plays a very little role, and her strengths could just as easily exist in a masculine character.
Ripley is just one of the many valid ways to approach writing women.
She plays out the fantasy that gender can be ignored and that leads to a great movie with a great lead...
...but a big strength of film is its ability to tell different human experiences,
and the real world is usually much different than Ripley's. Your gender plays a huge part in your identity.
There's nothing wrong with a movie that explores a character without exploring their gender,
but a movie that incorporates gender into the story can lead to moving and diverse character arcs.
[Hannibal Lector]: Good evening, Clarice.
Maybe the best example of writing women with gender at the forefront is Clarice Starling in "Silence of the Lambs."
She stands out in the masculine dominated world of the FBI, and she is rarely taken seriously by her masculine
counterparts. Most guys either subtly check her out or blatantly hit on her.
Frederic Chilton thinks she was only assigned to interview Lector because she's a pretty girl.
[Starling]: I graduated from UVA doctor, it is not a Charm School.
[Professor]: Good, then you should be able to remember the rules.
Perhaps the moments that emphasize her gender the most are the subjective point of view shots of men gazing at her.
They are always looking either in contempt or attraction,
clearly marking her as an outsider and, there's more to pointing out her gender than just to show sexism in the workplace.
Her gender has clearly shaped parts of her character arc.
She personally identifies with the women abducted by Buffalo Bill. Seeing the wake of one of the girls gives her a flashback of her father's death.
The opening shot of the movie has Clarice pulling herself up a hill, and her goal in the movie is
to save the captured girls from holes they cannot pull themselves out of.
[Lector]: What did you do?
[Starling, whispering]: I went... downstairs...
...I crept up into the barn.
I was so scared to look inside, but I had to.
[Lector]: What did you see Clarice, what did you see?
[Starling]: Lambs.
[Whispering]: They were screaming.
[Woman yelling]: Just get me out of here! *Dog barking*
[Lector]: You ran away?
*Dog whimpering*
[Starling]: No.
[Starling]: Catherine...
*Dog still whimpering*
...I'm gonna get you out of there, but right now you listen to me.
The climactic finale of the movie is the ultimate visual link between the Buffalo Bill
abductions, and the men looking down on Clarice. In Buffalo Bill's lair,
he watches over her while she's unable to see him.
[Lector]: Don't you feel eyes moving over your body, Clarice?
Of course, this scene is creepy and
incredible all on its own, but it also means more because she is a woman and because we have already inhabited her
perspective, as a woman in a world where men glare at her and objectify her.
She has a universal journey of triumph against adversity,
but the obstacles in her path are shaped by the fact that she is a woman. If she were played by a man, the movie
would feel drastically different. Unlike Ripley an "Alien," Starling's gender elevates
the emotional payoff of the movie. Starling's gender is a key component of her character arc.
It's a realistic, grounded and important story, but a movie starring a woman doesn't always have to focus on the struggles of being a woman.
The bride in "Kill Bill" is certainly not genderless. Her story begins when she's shot at her own wedding while pregnant. Immediately
after waking from a coma, she goes on her quest for revenge on her assailant, her former lover Bill. The bride embodies the character
traits of a traditional masculine hero. Revenge is a classic staple of drama and a common plot line for narratives typically starring men.
In contrast, "Alien" and "Silence of the Lambs" have more in common with a survival narrative. Ripley survives an invasion of an alien monster...
...Starling does choose to confront the villain herself,. but much of her story involves surviving events that are out of her control.
She has to withstand the gaze of other men,
especially in the climax when she's blind to the villain staring right at her. With "Kill Bill,"
the story is completely driven by the hero. Her journey is not a situation
she's thrust into, but rather a conscious plan
she devised for herself. This quest for revenge
echoes the popular storylines of old American westerns, where heroes decide to reconcile some past trauma. Like Ripley in Alien,
she fulfills a fantasy of transcending her gender...
...but instead of being genderless like Ripley, the bride fulfills the fantasy of being the action hero archetype,
traditionally associated with a man. The bride does not asked gender-neutral; she acts in a masculine way, just like the male heroes before her.
She's aggressive; She takes charge of the story and she gets her revenge. "Kill Bill" fulfills
the fantasy that a female character can act like a male hero. The movie gives a fresh perspective on writing women.
She is never a victim in this movie. When men wrong her,
she always fights back immediately. Starling had to tolerate the men in her life,
but the bride doesn't have to. Like the characters before her, she's tapping into the
universal fantasy of being able to right every wrong. The trade-off is that this movie does not seem to tap into a distinctly feminine experience.
What I mean by that is, her near-death feels like this symbolic death of a delicate, more feminine side of her.
As appropriate and badass as this transformation might be, there does seem to be a part of the female experience
missing in this story. All three of these movies write women with some element of a masculine
perspective. "Alien" is a movie where the characters could have been played by men.
"The Silence of the Lambs" has Clarice interacting almost exclusively with men, and "Kill Bill" has a woman playing a masculine role.
It's also worth noting that all of these movies were written and directed by men.
So, it makes sense that there are some masculine elements in each of them.
Maybe the last piece of the puzzle is a movie that embraces an experience exclusive to women.
[Marion]: You're not even worth state tuition Christine.
[Ladybird]: My name is Lady Bird!
[Marion]: *stammers* Well,
actually, it's not. And, it's ridiculous...
Unlike most coming-of-age movies Christine's romantic interests in "Lady Bird" are fleeting and unimportant.
She paints over her crushes' names before moving out... a visual reminder that she has completely moved on. And, those
relationships do not have a permanent effect on her. The relationship with her mother is explored with much more detail.
The opening shot instantly shows us the movie's emotional core. In the script, Greta Gerwig describes this opening shot as "a modern-day
romantic Mary Cassatt ripoff painting of motherhood."
Mary Cassatt was an impressionist painter known for her images of women in social and private life. Unlike many painters at that time, Cassat
consistently portrayed her women with a dignity that suggested deeper, more intimate views of her characters. People
look at Cassatt's paintings and relate to the mother-child interactions in their familiar activities.
The thoughtful expressions of many of her subjects gives them a certain intellectual look, like there's more than meets the eye.
I think a Greta Gerwig wants to capture that exact spirit in this movie. "Lady Bird" gives an incredible
look at the complicated relationship
between two women. Who would have thought a mother's opinion on the clothes her daughter tries on could have so many layers?
[Marion]: I want you to be...
...the very best version of yourself, that you can be.
[Ladybird]: What if this is the best version?
This scene ends with the mom trying to think of what to say, and cutting to the next scene before she's able to. Gerwig noted
that Lady Bird and her mother are most intimate when they are unconscious in the first frame.
We will never see them be this close to each other for the rest of the film. Ironically,
they also look extremely similar, which Gerwig
reinforces in the match cuts of them driving. Despite their similarities, these characters try to be as different from each other as possible.
It's this complicated back-and-forth relationship that makes their scenes so full of depth.
[Ladybird]: You are so infuriating!
[Marion]: Please stop yelling.
[Ladybird]: I'm not yelling.
[Ladybird]: *Gasps* Ohh, thats perfect.
[Marion]: Do you love it?
The characters are imperfect, and most importantly vulnerable. While there's value in the female badasses like Kill Bill,
there's also a strength in embracing the weaknesses and faults a person can have. It's about covering the entire spectrum of human experience,
where a female can act a masculine in one movie and feminine in another. Women directors and writers can give an honest and relatable depiction
of women experiences in addition to the fantasies of FBI
Agents, space explorers, and assassins. and it's important that all these kinds of characters exist for women.
Each of these characters gives us a different look into the human experience
Maybe a well-written character played by a woman challenges you to think a little differently.
Maybe they challenge you to look without gender or to see women from a new perspective. If it works, it works.
There's no wrong way to write women.
At the end of the day, the great part about cinema is how it gives us a window into worlds
we wouldn't have seen on our own. Combine that with the connectivity of the Internet, and the possibilities are endless.
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