Mad Max:Fury Road vs Spy

Right, this isn't really a versus -post, since we enjoyed both films immensely. But we thought we could review them together because they both have pretty great female characters and are more action-oriented. 

Mad Max:Fury Road

We weren't actually planning to go see this in the cinema, though we have seen the previous three instalments as kids, but then there was all this buzz about the movie's trailer being feminist "propaganda" in the blogosphere, and all these (we guess the correct term is) "meninists" were getting worked up about the film even before seeing it and advocating for "real" men not go see it. So of course, we had to go see it. It is true that the film does have feminist "propaganda", if by "propaganda" you mean that women are supposed to be equal to men, that they can take part in action just as much and have a right to their own bodies. In this particular case, the film totally exceeded our expectations. It was just great to see a "dick-flick" where women aren't marginalised. Also, the men weren't emasculated in any way when women were being badasses, shooting stuff, driving and even taking charge (mainly Furiosa).

The first thing we noticed in the film was it's absolutely gorgeous visuals. We can't help but think that this, visually, is what George Miller  had in mind when making the originals. The colours and the cinematography were simply breath-taking. The CGI didn't feel forced or over-the-top, which is quite unusual for a film using this much CGI. The story was coherent and simple, which helped to keep the movie's fast pace. This is definitely a film to see on the big screen, it just does it justice. Overall, the film worked very well as a whole, was pretty memorable and yeah..we don't really have complaints.

Spy

This is probably one of the funniest films we've seen in theatres. As proven by Jonna making her infamous snort laugh that echoed in the room after everyone else had stopped laughing. This functions as a parody perfectly, as it would work as a stand-alone spy movie as well as comedy. We found all the characters sympathetic, but this was definitely the main character's movie. And she's really great, we loved her. The humour of the film was fairly intelligent as it didn't rely on Susan's body type being the butt of the joke. Another of our favourite was the "love-making" Italian spy, Aldo.  If you've lived in Mediterranean countries, you know what we're talking about. He was just great fun to watch. 

This whole movie simply felt like it was done with love towards the spy genre. We thought it was pretty ingenious to have a woman as the main character, especially someone as unassuming as Susan. Action sequences were awesome and the story went forward without any major hitches. We just love close combat. And did we mention, it was freakin' hilarious.

General thoughts

It's great to see Hollywood finally starting to have variety of female characters represented in blockbuster films and being successful in the box office. It would be awesome to see this happen for minorities as well, as feminism isn't really feminism if women of colour or the LGBTQ+ community are excluded. We thought that both of these movies were pretty neat and would definitely recommend to go see them in the cinema. Also, both of these films pass the Bechdel test with flying colours, so here's to hoping this trend will become the norm in mainstream Hollywood. We would have to say as far as our preferences go, we found Spy to be more our thing. But both films are well-worth watching. 

Period drama clichés

Now when we say clichés, we don't mean that we wouldn't like them or that they make a period drama bad. These are just certain elements that we have noticed recurring in many period dramas of the romantic nature. Post Pride & Prejudice 1995 (mostly), because BBC has truly perfected the art of the period drama. May we just add, that we're sad that this kind of entertainment is stigmatised as being "chicks' stuff" (which is already an offensive term in itself). If you actually take some time to watch these without any gender-specific prejudice, you'll discover thoughtful drama that covers a myriad of issues/themes that are still topical today.

1. The man's dashing hair. They totally stole it from Disney. If it ain't curly, it still is this perfectly kept muff, that you wanna sink your fingers in. Suffice it to say how big of a cliché this is that we have a game we play while watching Pride & Prejudice, called "Spot the runaway curl on Mr. Darcy".

Starring: Perfect hair

2. The stare. At some point you will get these scenes where the guy just stares either at the woman really intensely/affectionately, or into nothingness, which we call "the brooding stare". Also, you can't have the hair without the stare.

                                                  
                                                                                                                                                                                             That's some serious brooding. Spot the curl!

3. The wedding. Almost always you will get a wedding at the end. Or then showing them already married.  On rare occasions, the wedding will happen at some other point and in addition will not be the two main characters but some others who are getting hitched.

4. The proposal. Normally, you get this "we've overcome so much, let's finally get married" -speech at the end. Though, we've found that the best proposals are the ones where the woman says no, or some other twist occurs.

5. The competitor. Usually, you get this person who is also interested in the main character(s). More often than not it's some other dude who's got the hots for the heroine, and he is quite often either a villain or a jerk. That's not to say that some femme can't have a thing for the main hero, it just doesn't happen as much.

6. The strong female lead.  It's great that you get different kind of personalities represented, to debunk the myth that women only fit in one category. Period dramas frequently deal with (white) women's independence, but obviously the end result, marrying someone who respects you, is fictional (we mean, it was the 1800's, what do you expect... women were basically a man's property to do whatever they wanted back then). It's kind of tragic that this is the only good genre where we have an ample amount of (again, white) female leads.

  

7.  The theme. This is the "yeah, these two are totally gonna end up together" - music that you hear playing in the soundtrack. Usually starts playing when they meet the first time or right after they've talked the first time. It's classic sweeping epic romance kind of stuff.

8. The ball. The epitome of glamour and gliding/feetstomping, depending if you're in the early 1800's or late 1800's. You can have the dance being the focus of the scene or happening in the background. Some of our favourite scenes take place on the dance floor.

Represent us!

This is what you might call our magnum opus. Lately, we've been discussing female representation in film and media so we decided to compile a list of our favourite Bechdel movies; and if you don't know what that means... where have you been the past years? Anyway, we held ourselves to a strict idea of what truly constitutes a Bechdel film: two women (human adults who have names) having a conversation about something other than a man. And we added that either the conversation had to carry on for a significant length of time or then the characters had multiple short exchanges. We've picked one conversation from each film that we think best reflects female representation or feminist issues. There are other good Bechdel movies which you won't find here (but we urge you to check them out) eg. The Help and recently Mad Max. And because Hollywood suck at ethnic representation, we don't have films with ethnic leads (and frankly, we can't believe that to be the case in 2015). Also, we need to mention that passing the Bechdel test doesn't automatically make a movie good or that not passing it would somehow make a film a sexist piece of crap. Some of our favourites don't pass this test and they're amazing movies. While it's important to recognise these flaws and problems, we think you might miss an experience if you let those issues blind you from seeing the movie as a whole. In addition, you'll come to notice that most of these films represent a certain genre and once again we point our fingers to Hollywood (and our ignorance of art films).

1. Sense & Sensibility (1995). Is it any surprise that this is the first one? Hands down the best adaptation to the big screen from an Austen novel. Most likely due to the brilliant script from Emma Thompson from which she deservedly got an Oscar. Frankly, this movie is filled with awesome feminist conversations, but our favourite has to be the one when Marianne and Elinor talk about the differences in their tempers and characters. Guess what, women can be analytical and tacit too or spontaneous and feisty and both are okay!

2. Gone with the Wind (1939). So, we know how racist this film is and we're not going to explain it away or defend it by saying "but it was the times!" Nope, it's terrible, and that's why it's #2. It has some AWESOME feminist material even if it's not intersectional feminism unfortunately. Mammy is the smartest of them all though... Anyway, our conversation pick is between Scarlett and Mammy when Scarlett is talking about how she doesn't want to have any more kids. Also, Scarlett is not exactly a role model but a real character with unusual traits for women in media. She's ruthless and emotionally she's one of the strongest people ever created. Obviously, the source material is by a woman so that might have something to do with it (although, women are capable of creating just as horrible female characters as men; Twilight, we're looking at you).

3. Eastern Promises (2007). Right, so this movie is #3 because we thought that this is quite an unconventional film to pass the Bechdel test and to have a female lead. It's refreshing and the movie's really good too. The best conversation is between Anna and her mother, Helen about how dangerous the mafia is and Anna's wish to keep Christine. This film disputes the assumption that women couldn't be as relatable main characters as men in this genre.

4. Thelma and Louise (1991). This is one of the best Bechdel films we've ever seen. The main characters actually talk about issues that are still topical for women, in a very realistic manner as well. There are too many awesome conversations to choose from. This should be on everyone's to-watch list. So empowering, could be something to do with the fact that it was written by a woman.

5. Penelope (2006). First and foremost, stay away from the horrendous 2008/2007 edit. Fortunately, we in Nordic countries have the original cut. This film really surprised us. It's a fairytale, so not shockingly the main character is female, but the resolution of the movie is quite uplifting and something that is actually healthy for young girls. Our favourite conversation is when Penelope comes to terms with herself talking with her mother, Jessica. Plus the screenplay is by a woman!

6. A Room with a View (1985). While this is pretty much pure romance, it does still talk about women's independence and their right to be their own person, to have their own thoughts. We picked the talk Charlotte has with Lucy, basically in order to manipulate Lucy to be quiet about recent events. Screenplay by a woman again, wohoo!

7. Marnie (1964). Considering it's Hitchcock in Hollywood, we're surprised it made the list. He doesn't have a very good history portraying women as complex human beings. While the movie has a lot of issues (like Marnie's husband raping her...) we don't think you should discard it simply because of those. As said earlier, a film can be good even if it's problematic. The movie has only two conversations to consider and we took the latter where Marnie talks with her mother, Bernice about her childhood trauma. It's a great scene. Script adaptation is by a woman so that's cool.

8. The Lady Vanishes (1938). Another Hitchcock, this time pre-Hollywood. It's adventure/crime so it's pretty great to see two women (and one of them an old lady!) in the centre of things. While the conversations aren't exactly significant for the plot they still are there and they do build a picture of the characters. The one we picked is where Miss Froy and Iris talk about Miss Froy's occupation and Iris' homecoming. Source material is by a woman, but the film deviates from it quite a bit.

9. The Sound of Music (1965). What can we say about this, we mean, everyone loves this film, it just puts you in a good mood. So in this case and in one other, the other woman doesn't have a name per se, but Mother Superior is Mother Superior! They don't have other names! Favourite conversation was between Mother Superior and Maria about how being a nun might not be for her. Source material obviously based on real events, thus from a woman.

10. Howl's Moving Castle (2004). Of course we had to include Miyazaki! The man has some of the greatest female characters ever created on this planet Earth. This was the only film that qualified though, since our rules were a bit stricter (otherwise Mononoke would've shared #1). Sophie's a great character, as always Miyazaki's women stand on their own two feet. We picked the scene where Sophie and the Witch of the Waste are walking the palace stairs. It's just a really funny scene and in which you see Sophie's amazing compassion even for her enemies. And as in the case of The Lady Vanishes, this movie's not very faithful to the source material (also by a woman).

11. Gosford Park (2001). This is an intriguing film in a sense that it has so many characters, but its focus is on Mary's character and she ends up being the one who figures out the whole murder-mystery. The last conversation between Mary and Mrs. Wilson we found to be interesting and quite extraordinary. 

12. The Painted Veil (2006). It's pretty nice to see a woman who cheats to be portrayed in a sympathetic light. It's basically a normal drama film, well worth watching. This is the other exception as our favourite conversation is between Kitty and the Mother Superior about what she can do to help the convent. 

13. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958). This is an interesting film since it shows a woman actually wanting to have sex with her spouse, and not to manipulate him or any of that crap, but simply because she desires him. Also, women don't need to like all children. Basically the only main conversation was between Maggie and Ida about Maggie's marriage and her childlessness. 

14. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964). Once again, there isn't much to say, good film. We just don't understand why people would compare this to Romeo & Juliet or when they talk about this movie as if it was a tragic love story. We picked the singing conversation between Geneviéve and her mother, Madame Emery about their financial troubles.

15. Stardust (2007). While this movie's not amazing or groundbreaking, it was great to see a real adventure film that didn't suck. Also, surprisingly it had many conversations to pick from but we ended up with where the witches Lamia, Empusa and Mormo talk about hunting down the star. This film was partly written by a woman as well.