Movie Stereotypes

Movie Stereotypes

I sat down last week to watch the newest addition to my favourite movie genre of teen comedy, Moxie. With my ice-cream and juice, I was excited, sure that Amy Poehler’s directorial venture couldn’t possibly include any of the old female movie stereotypes that we’re all growing tired of seeing. Unfortunately, whilst most of them were missing, it wasn’t hard to spot the ways in which Moxie contained the remnants of old teen movies with its painfully selfish, white-saviour lead and her tokenistic, POC friend. This isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy the movie because I did. But even whilst so many films today are moving in the right direction, there are still the odd few that would have been better written for an audience of the 1950s. It got me thinking: what are some of the female movie stereotypes that need to be left in the past?

1. The Soulless Lead

You’re probably wondering: what exactly constitutes a soulless lead? Well, she’s usually the main character in a series, and she’s usually conventionally attractive (at least by Eurocentric standards). However, perhaps her most defining trait is that… well, she has none. She’s a template upon which any young woman can imprint herself, meaning that she’s often incredibly dull, providing a shoddy role model who both lacks in ambition and puts the needs of everyone else above her own. Take Bella Swan in Twilight, for example. As much as the Twilight saga remains wonderfully entertaining it’s not hard to see that Bella’s complete obsession with becoming a vampire (so that she can be with her teenage boyfriend forever) was hardly teaching younger viewers to consider their own dreams before finding a partner. All in all, this trope is just downright lazy.

2. The Bitchy Antagonist

I’ve found less examples of this character recently, meaning that perhaps, the tides are changing. However, sometimes I’ll sit down to watch an easy-going teen movie and find myself infuriated as she appears on the screen once again. An easy way to explain this particular trope is Regina George in Mean Girls. Like Regina, the bitchy antagonists are often just as beautiful (and usually ten times more charismatic) as the lead, but instead of their beauty and personality being celebrated, these traits will often be seen as reasons to hate her. In 2021, there’s truly no place left for this trope. Not only does the inclusion of such a character encourage young women to see all other women as enemies and competition, but she also encourages them to see themselves through the male gaze.

3. The Stupid One

The stupid one comes in many shapes and sizes. Sometimes she’s the pretty, brainless addition to the group, sometimes she’s the klutzy, clumsy lead role and sometimes she’s a hybrid of the two. However, one thing is for sure, the stupid one exists solely to demonstrate that women can’t be simultaneously intelligent and attractive. Usually unable to think for herself, she’ll take on outlandish advice easily and often ends up revealing the rouse of the movie by mistake.  Whilst many of these characters tend to be quite likeable, their inclusion in movies only encourages young women to dumb-down their intelligence to appear more palpable to the men around them.

4. Manic Pixie Dream Girl

She’s probably got dyed hair, a light, ethereal quality to her voice, an unconventional hobby, and exists solely to help a man (who probably lacks in any personality) to explore his more playful side and become a vaguely interesting protagonist. The films that this quirky girl usually appears in tend to be light-hearted, but this stereotype has real-world consequences. Whilst so many movies continue to present us with female characters whose only purpose is to help a man embrace life, this teaches young women that no matter how many individual qualities they might possess, they’ll never play the lead in their own story.

5. Career-crazy Lady

Miranda Priestley in The Devil Wears Prada should have been the last time we saw this trope, but unfortunately, she continues to pop up in the world of romantic comedy time and time again. This cold-hearted character is usually the head of a well-respected international company, and all she has time for is work, work and more work. Even though she’s often very good at what she does, the career-crazy lady will always have a frosty demeanour and seem to be completely incapable of feeling love. What good does it teach young women to suggest that you can’t possibly be career-driven andactually be a human with feelings? That’s right, none.

6. The POC/Queer Sidekick

The fact that I’m able to put this under one subtitle is proof of how problematic this trope is, but until it disappears, I refuse to stop moaning about it. There’s nothing wrong with these characters, per-se. They’re often wonderfully developed and funny, but the problem is that they’re never the lead. Instead, their (probably much more interesting) story is pushed aside to make room for the tales of a white, straight woman (or man) living out the same drama we’ve seen a million times before. This trope does nothing but tell young women of colour or queer women that their stories aren’t interesting enough to be told on the big screen, and whilst yes, this trope is slowly dying, it’s not dying quickly enough.