Danny Manus of No Bull Script Consulting recently wrote a great article for Script Magazine about the lack of strong, well-rounded, likeable female characters on the silver screen these days. I highly recommend reading the full article, but here are a few of the highlights:
Recently, at the Final Draft Screenwriting Awards, the infamous Nancy Meyers labeled 2013 as the Year of the Shrew. That with few exceptions, most of the lead female characters in films last year were basically shrew-like bitches that no one could like and advised that writers “should write women you want to know, instead of run away from.”
The more I thought about it, the more I realized – she’s not wrong. Look at most of the 2013 movies featuring major female roles or female protagonists; Blue Jasmine, August: Osage County, American Hustle, Her, Saving Mr. Banks, Mama, Identity Thief, Spring Breakers, Admission, Frances Ha, Bling Ring, Stoker, Carrie…
Were some of them complex characters? Sure. Did some of these characters lead to amazing performances? Absolutely. But are any of them characters that you want to see much MORE of or feel like women you’d want to know? Not really. The “girl next door” role of the 90s seems to have been replaced with “the bitch banging on the door” role of the 2010s.
Even the films where women did shine and were likable and strong, in only Philomena, 12 Years a Slave and Hunger Games Catching Fire did the lead female character have a motivation, backstory and emotional gravitas that grounded the film. Sure, The Heat and Gravity had strong female roles (both played by everyone’s favorite movie star Sandra Bullock), but they weren’t exactly deep character studies.
Manus goes on to outline the 15 female character archetypes:
