I recently saw this article discussing an untitled movie that is in the works which is best described as the female version of the Expendables. I personally hated the Expendables—the movie was complete garbage from the perspective of acting, story, dialogue, and even action. As much as I’d like to bash the movie, this post isn’t about my extreme distaste for bad ensemble casts of aging beefcakes. The point of this post is to discuss whether or not society needs to have “female versions” of things: specifically movies.
Like most people, I love movies. However, it is important to me that movies are well executed. I can be a harsh critic; but, my main criterion in judging an effective movie is answering the question “how well does the film accomplish what it sets out to do?” In the case of many movies such as the female Expendables idea, the question can be asked “does this need to exist?” An argument can be made for both sides.
Women can do anything men can. I don’t think any of our regular readers would question this statement. Doesn’t portraying women in a variety of roles in cinema only reinforce this notion? I’d have to say the answer is yes. A great example is the 2010 Angelina Jolie movie, Salt. For those unfamiliar, Salt is an action movie (and a pretty good one) in which Jolie plays a secret agent. Interestingly enough, the movie was originally written for male lead Tom Cruise. Regardless, the end result was a film which exceeded both critical and box office predictions.
What about movies that aren’t action/thrillers? A example that comes to mind is the Julia Roberts movie, Eat Pray Love. The film is based around Roberts facing an existential crisis and traveling the world in order to figure out her life. Though this “life crisis” concept has been done before, the movie was successful in portraying a female take on a concept that has been done many times with male leads.
This is all well and good, but should the female versions of movies exist for the sake of existence? Will the female Expendables bring anything new or interesting to the table? Early reaction seems to be that the movie is being viewed as a novelty, which is exactly my problem with it. Is anything gained by taking existing ideas and lazily swapping male leads with female ones? I can see that in many cases, strong female leads in movies which were otherwise male dominated fosters equality. However, I also think that female portrayal shouldn’t be hamfisted into male storylines for the sake of making money. So, what does the community think of the “female versions” of existing movies, such as the Expendables? Good, bad, or somewhere in between?
ShoutOut! James Madison University 
Maybe this is my personal way to resolve a distinction between good movies and bad movies but I think there is a difference between movies that are great examples of empowerment, and movies that were written by men, for men, that only *feature* women. I think the Expendables 2 fits into that second category. Although I haven’t seen it yet, I have (unfortunately) seen the first Expendables. There seems to be nothing redeemably “feminist” about that series…at all. Furthermore, this new sort of “just add women and stir” method does not seem to be an effective way to promote feminist ideals. It just seems like a way to make some more money by appealing to a different audience (or even the same audience, in a different way).
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I completely agree. I don’t like the “add women and stir” approach specifically because it simply makes female roles into a novelty.
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To add on to what’s been said, I also think dubbing a film as the “female version of [insert film here]” can also be detrimental. An example of this would be when Bridesmaids (2011) was coming out — everyone claimed it was the female version of The Hangover and people were quick to dismiss the film for the exact reasons your listing above. The lazy attempt at genderswapping roles just to have more women in a film is both insulting and off-putting — I remember having no interest in going to go see Bridesmaids because of that very reason. I can’t say how grateful I am for my brother inviting me to tag along when he went to go see the movie. Bridesmaids, as many people know, is almost nothing like The Hangover and with an almost exclusively all-female cast it was a breakout comedy. The fact that people were dismissing it before the film even came out was awful because, not only do people not like the laziness behind the genderswapping, but they had already made the assumption that the “male version” was inherently better.
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Definitely agree. Bridesmaids was a great movie, but I too had some apprehensions because I thought the Hangover was terrible and was worried about a bad money-grabbing knockoff. Instead, I found an awesome comedy that, as you’ve stated, was nothing like the Hangover. In this case, the comparison was lazy. Thankfully, the movie achieved lots of success and acclaim on its own.
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As a follow up (and I know you’ll be happy/I Told You So! 😛 about this-the new Bond was….really good. (That felt horrible…even typing it). Some things I liked:
1. It toned down the sexism.
a. The nude wavy (?) silhouettes were (almost) all gone.
b. The sex scenes weren’t (as) prevalent
2. It made fun of its earlier self (Don’t worry, I won’t have a spoiler).
3. Javier Bardem.
4. Javier Bardem.
5. It was stylistically much better than any of the recent adaptations (plot, direction, etc.). As I said with you, it’s like a weird take on The Dark Knight (which, I am sure, many of us can appreciate).
Some things I didn’t like:
1. It was still sexist.
a. those weird wavy silhouettes were still there…and still unnecessary.
b. the main new “Bond girl” is, unsurprisingly, as underdeveloped, helpless, and irrelevant as usual. I say irrelevant not because I think her story line is irrelevant or unnecessary, but their treatment casts it in an irrelevant light.
c. M! Come on! She could have done better than that….I know this is vague but to prevent spoilers, I just have to say: she should be more skilled than they make her out to be.
2. The character’s names…oh, the character’s names. I guess the names featured in this film avoid outright genitalia references but still….
3. The treatment of that female operative. “I think maybe a desk is best.” Take your desk is best and cram it with walnuts! (I don’t fully know what that means, but it’s powerful!) Side note: That should probably go under #1, but I am too lazy to format it differently.
4. I had bad a bad seat…which probably isn’t all their fault….
That’s it for now.
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