Women’s Roles in Movies

by Alexandra V.

As a young girl growing up, I want to see more roles for women in movies that are inspiring and not degrading. I find it upsetting for women to have a disappointing role in movies when there are so many inspiring women out there whose stories could inspire generations to come. For example, the woman who founded the Red Cross, Clara Barton, has no movie to honor her helpful actions. By founding the American Red Cross, she saved the lives of many soldiers on the battlefield. The movie “Young Woman And The Sea” is the recognition of a young girl, Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle who had a passion for swimming. She started out being a poor girl living in New York to the first woman who swam the English Channel at the age of twenty. I want to see more of these movies, ones that honor the brave actions of young women and inspire the young generation. But sadly, there are movies that have lead roles of women whose actions are not respectable. Women and their inspirational stories should be featured in more movies, yet the roles for inspiring role model women seem minimal. 

Inspirational stories of women are not often shown in movies. One example would be the TV Show “The Queen’s Gambit.” It follows the life of an orphaned girl named Beth Harmon, who takes harmful drugs to improve her chess skills and win chess games. This show has gotten eighteen Emmy Nominations and has won eleven of them. Most people like this show for its escapism. Contrary to popular beliefs, have you ever wondered why she would have to take drugs and not use her own mind and skill to succeed in chess? In real life, taking drugs would not help you succeed in chess but would only result in an eventual death!

 Another example of a movie that has a leading woman with a disappointing role is the 2015 horror and mystery movie: “The WITCH.” This movie is about a thirteen year old girl, Thomasin, who is the daughter of a Puritan family. While assigned to look after her baby brother, her baby brother is kidnapped and eaten by a witch. When her mother blames Thomasin for not only the disappearance of her newborn child but the death of her son and husband, Thomasin kills her mother and sells her soul to a devil to become a witch herself. Although this film won many awards including Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie in The Critics Choice Awards and has a high rating of 91/100 on Rotten Tomatoes, the plot of this movie is quite pointless and the choices of the young girl Thomasin are violent and discouraging. 

So, as you can see, while there are so many respectable women in the world, film industries make movies about fictional women whose actions are discouraging. Just like our own moms, aunts, cousins, neighbors, and friends who are women that we love, respect, and find inspirational, movie industries should showcase female characters that are inspiring and respectable. Instead, why do women have to kill or take drugs to score large audiences?  Though “The Queen’s Gambit” starred Anya Taylor-Joy, who is my favorite actress, had good ratings, and caught my attention, I recently quit watching it at Episode 3. If the movie industry continues to make movies that degrade women, we should do something about it. Let’s make our own movies, ones that support and respect women, and will inspire the generations to come! 

About the Author

Alexandra V. is a young writer who is now in 6th grade! She loves to watch movies (action or sci-fi), read books, write, and draw.