/I'm a guy so apparently my opinion on the subject is less than important but I always felt as long as a character is well written then their gender is completely meaningless. I don't buy into the whole Heroine's "for girls" and Hero's for guys crap (although sometimes it seems like nobody cares if boys have good rolemodels anyway)! Some of my most looked up to characters are female, and not just because I think they are "attractive"./
Kudos to you! ^^ I think that one of the big problems is that Hollywood doesn't realize that there are guys like you who do appreciate female characters and who have female role models. I think that one of the assumptions that is still around, even in this day and age, is that girls will accept any main character, male or female, but guys will only gravitate toward films with male leads. Apparently, according to Hollywood, any movie with a female lead is a "chick flick," and no self-respecting guy who hasn't been dragged there kicking and screaming by his wife/girlfriend will see one. Earlier in the comments, southerngaelic mentioned that Disney changed the name of the movie from "Rapunzel" to "Tangled" because they were afraid that the mere mention of a princess's name would drive boys away.
And I think the reason why nobody seems to care if boys have role models is because white male characters have such a monopoly on films that such a worry seems superfluous. You have male cowboys, male astronauts, male spies, male scientists, male athletes, male soldiers, male superheroes, etc. Boys have a wide variety of heroes to choose from. By contrast (and this is probably one of the reasons why there's a backlash against princesses and why the author of this article is so concerned), girls and minorities don't have such a wide pool of characters to choose from to identify with and emulate. Many female characters in Hollywood *are* princesses and in many cases, they're limited to just that role. Because women and minorities are seen as "special groups" and not the default, they're very often presented with limited, stereotypical roles. Once you start to notice that most of the roles for women are the same, then you start to notice a pattern. And then you wonder why such a pattern exists and why there are hardly any deviations from it.
But it certainly says something when people criticize "Twilight" for having such a terrible role model for girls in the form of Bella, but hardly say anything about Edward being such a terrible role model for boys. I know, it's probably because they assume that boys don't read "Twilight," but still, it's something to think about.
no subject
Kudos to you! ^^ I think that one of the big problems is that Hollywood doesn't realize that there are guys like you who do appreciate female characters and who have female role models. I think that one of the assumptions that is still around, even in this day and age, is that girls will accept any main character, male or female, but guys will only gravitate toward films with male leads. Apparently, according to Hollywood, any movie with a female lead is a "chick flick," and no self-respecting guy who hasn't been dragged there kicking and screaming by his wife/girlfriend will see one. Earlier in the comments, southerngaelic mentioned that Disney changed the name of the movie from "Rapunzel" to "Tangled" because they were afraid that the mere mention of a princess's name would drive boys away.
And I think the reason why nobody seems to care if boys have role models is because white male characters have such a monopoly on films that such a worry seems superfluous. You have male cowboys, male astronauts, male spies, male scientists, male athletes, male soldiers, male superheroes, etc. Boys have a wide variety of heroes to choose from. By contrast (and this is probably one of the reasons why there's a backlash against princesses and why the author of this article is so concerned), girls and minorities don't have such a wide pool of characters to choose from to identify with and emulate. Many female characters in Hollywood *are* princesses and in many cases, they're limited to just that role. Because women and minorities are seen as "special groups" and not the default, they're very often presented with limited, stereotypical roles. Once you start to notice that most of the roles for women are the same, then you start to notice a pattern. And then you wonder why such a pattern exists and why there are hardly any deviations from it.
But it certainly says something when people criticize "Twilight" for having such a terrible role model for girls in the form of Bella, but hardly say anything about Edward being such a terrible role model for boys. I know, it's probably because they assume that boys don't read "Twilight," but still, it's something to think about.