Please recommend me some pro-feminism films- I am fed up!

[Aworryingtrend]

The last few films I have watched have either had very few female characters, or the ones they have had have either been 2-dimensional characters as a prop for the main lead characters, or simply as a sex object love interest.

It's really getting me down now, and Idon't think I am being paranoid as DH also remarked upon the lack of strong female characters.

Recently I have seen

• New Years Eve- anti-feminist on sooo many lvels
• The Accidental Husband- turned it off after 20 minutes
• Horrible Bosses- didn't even attempt to hide its 'women as sex objects' plot, use of lots of anti-women swearing and insults
• Teeth- NOT my choice to watch this, saw it at a friends house and was

The only half-decent film I have seen recently with a strong female character is 'La Potiche', a French comedy.

Does anyone have any recommendations for pro-Feminism films?

I really liked Leaving and I Am Love but wouldn't call either of them light hearted

Avatar is a pile of colonialist wank, unfortunately. And I'm sorry to say that I will gauge my own eyes out with a spoon before I watch a film about Mrs Thatcher.

Private Benjamin
Practical Magic
First Wives Club

How about The Help? Read the book which was brilliant. Haven't seen the film though. Lots of good female characters in the book and an awareness of the restraints of women in 1950's southern America.

The piano

An angel at my table

Camille claudel

oh I'm quite looking forward to the Thatcher film!

Private Benjamin is ace.

Monster is good from a radical feminist perspective, because it's truthful. It's very sad though.

Monster isn't 100% accurate though, did you see the documentary on aileen wornous(sp?).

Made in dagenham? Not see it but is billed as feminist

Fried green tomatoes at whistle stop cafe is great

The good girl with Jennifer Anniston was surprisingly good and raised plenty of feminist issues.

Legally blonde? That is probably stretching it...

Monster was based on letters that Aileen Wuornos wrote to the director. I'm sure there was artistic license involved, but then Nick Broomfield takes a fair amount in his own documentaries too.

Silkwood
Erin Brokovich
Mask

Worth looking through Meryl Streep's back catalogue too. 30s and 40s films with actresses like Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn, show women as strong characters and leads.

Also not feminist at all but Doris Day movies. Calamity Jane has a lesbian subtext though.

Ah, A Woman's Touch, and My Secret Love- how I missed that when I was a kid, I don't know

Talking of Calamity Jane, have you seen the TV series Deadwood? the actress who plays her in that is superb, and she gets a happy lesbian ending of sorts. I'd recommend that.

Caramel?

Aliens definitely. And I am perhaps alone in loving Alien vs Predator.

Broadcast News, maybe not Feminist, but interesting.

Oooh how could I forget 9 to 5? Like Whip It it's not a feminist film but it is fun and positive about women and (crucially for me) their relationships with other women (see also First Wives Club...sort of).

I must admit to hardly ever watching modern films, I find a lot of them boring/ uncomfortable/ unpleasant to watch. I think in the last 10 years the backlash has been very evident in the film industry

Thank you for the lovely welcome

I haven't seen if for years but maybe Mystic Pizza? Would have to rewatch.

Private Benjamin and Educating Rita are fantastic.

I have to say I'm struggling.......

Thanks all for those, I've added them to our Lovefilm list. 9 to 5 is one of my favourite 'sunday afternoon' films. It is very sad however that it is such a struggle to think of just a handful of films with a feminist perspective.

not feminist but the the help and the kids are alright at least feature more women than men. i really liked morning glory as well - was much better than i expected it to be.

have a look at His & Hers.

It's a gorgeous documentary - interviews with women and girls from childhood to old age.

Spectacularly fails the Bechdel Test - the interviews are all about their relationships with the men in their lives, from daddies, to growing sons, to the solitude of widowhood. They are all from one small rural Irish town, and live fairly traditional lives, in fairly traditional gender roles.

But for all that it's absolutely gorgeous, very respectful to women, their trad. roles and a celebration of the strength and wisdom of maturity rather than hotness of youth.

Lovely for Christmas too, I shed an old tear....
But it's a gorgeous

scrap out the last bit...
should preview!

Everyone's definition of Feminist is different I suppose but here are some films that I have enjoyed that had strong female characters,

I second, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, loved that film.

Deloras Clairborne ( another Kathy Bates)

Joy Luck Club

Sunshine Cleaning

Little Miss Sunshine -( just for the little girl's act in the beauty pagent, brilliant)

1970 version of the apocalyptic TV show Survivors had two female leads and was far superior to the recent revamped one.

The Notebook -( is a really beautiful love story and bucking the trend, love making scene was exactly that; no violence involved, no power plays, just two people in love)

V for Vendetta - graphic novel is better but I thought Natalie Portman was good and Alan Moore's inclusion of a woman persucuted for her homosexuality was a angle which is largely ignored in mainstream cinema.

Jennifer's Body - Horror, mixed reviews but I thought the power play between the two female leads were good and not all the males are numpties

Made in Dagenham - really good film
The Help
Is The Hours, about Virginia Woolf feminist? It's a brilliant film, anyway.

Oh, yes to Sunshine Cleaning!