In recent decades, Hollywood has responded to criticisms about the lack of accurate female representations in its movies. Many movies in the past (and today) still do not pass the Bechdel Test, a metric for rating how progressive a film is in representation of women. Movies that do not pass the Bechdel test often have very few female characters, who often never interact with each other. When they do interact with each other, it is often to speak about men and relationships.
While the Bechdel test is far from perfect, it does throw some light on issues of underrepresentation in film, and while there have always been some trailblazers, in recent years Hollywood has been actively focusing on improvement. More female directors, and more movies with fully fleshed-out female personalities, motives, and fears have become increasingly normal.
Mad Max
Starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road sees a city led by Immortan Joe, a tyrant who holds water from his people so that he can keep control of them. Furiosa selflessly saves Immortan Joe's wives from his imprisonment. Although she works for him, Furiosa helps them to escape, leading them back to her birth place the Green Place.
In Mad Max, the world is dead because of men, and women are revealed to be the bearers of life, the keepers of seeds, and the ones that can make things grow and reproduce life. Furiosa, indeed, is represented as an emotionally strong character who uses her willpower and their brains to defeat her oppressors: men who believe that aggression is the only form of power on earth.
Wonder Woman
Since she was introduced in 1942, cultural critics have never been able to agree whether Wonder Woman is a feminist hero or a powerless visual representation of male desire. Wonder Woman, starring Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, reinforced the argument that Wonder Woman is very much a feminist figure. Directed by Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman presented the backstory of Diana Prince.
The daughter of a race of warrior Amazons, Diana is a great warrior who uses not only her physical strength, but her emotional intelligence to defeat earth's mortal enemies. Like Furiosa, Wonder Woman is a character that presents the strength of the inner world of women's emotions.
Legally Blonde
Stereotypes about women include the idea that a woman into fashion and beauty is a stupid airhead, with nothing to be proud of. Legally Blonde breaks this stereotype by showing sorority girl, Elle Woods, becoming a lawyer through her hard work and her brilliance.
A fashion student at the beginning of the movie, to prove to her boyfriend that she can be taken seriously enough to become the wife of a politician, she enrolls at Harvard Law School. However, she soon realizes that she is intelligent and she does not need to lose her love of fashion and beauty to fit the mold about what intelligence looks in a male-dominated industry. She also realizes that her ex-boyfriend is, ironically, not good enough for her.
Mean Girls
Based on a book about Queen Bees in high school titled, Queen Bees and Wannabes, Mean Girls is a 2004 comedy movie written by Tina Fey. Mean Girls explores Queen Bee syndrome in high school, and how it was wrecking girls' experiences and self-esteem during their developmental years.
The movie is famous for Rachel McAdams' portrayal of Regina George as the most popular girl in school. Although the girls have learned to be really cruel to each other in school, Tina Fey as Ms. Sharon Norsbury teaches them to stop being cruel towards each other.
I, Tonya
Based on true interviews by Tonya Harding and her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly, I Tonya attempts to recreate the life of the infamous figure skater, Tonya Harding. Harding's life after the 1994 attack labeled her a nation-wide joke. Many TV shows today still use Tonya Harding as a joke to signify a crazy woman who will do anything to win. However, the movie portrays Tonya as a woman trapped in her circumstance by her working-class background. Her only escape was her figure skating. The movie attempts to show audiences that sometimes society does not allow a woman to rise up from the ashes of poverty.
The Wife
The Wife is a good movie to watch to understand how sexism and a patriarchal society really destroyed woman's happiness in the '50s and '60s. Glenn Close won the Golden Globe Awards For Best Actress for her performance in this film. She plays a woman who is phenomenal at writing, whose writing potential is stifled and stolen by the men around her. She learns very early on in her career that writing and publishing is a boy's club that would never take women writers like her seriously.
Joan begins to write all her husband's work, for which he is to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in the present day. During four decades of marriage and lies, her husband also cheats on her constantly, jealous that she has the writing talent that he does not. Joan, worn down by her husband's narcissism, asks him for a divorce.
Ginger Snaps
A cult horror movie classic, Ginger Snaps is a metaphor about life. Teenager Ginger Fitzgerald is attacked by a werewolf that has been terrorizing their quiet suburbs. She slowly begins to transform into a werewolf as she and her sister try to find a cure for her transformation.
Notwithstanding, Ginger finds that being bitten by the werewolf fills her with confidence and sexual liberation, especially as a teenage girl blooming into a woman. This, of course, marks her for abuse by her female peers who slut-shame her. The movie ends with Ginger's sister killing the fully transformed werewolf. The message is clear: women who are too sexually liberated have no place in society, and will suffer death.
Spy
Directed by Paul Feig, who also directed Bridesmaids and Ghostbusters, Spy celebrates ordinary women. Susan Cooper, played by Melissa McCarthy, is a very ordinary woman who does not stand out in any way. As a result, she is chosen as a spy to go undercover as a tourist in Italy. Despite this, Susan excels as a spy, and begins to succeed in all her missions, improving her confidence and self-perception.
It is revealed that she always knew she was a great spy, but she held herself back hoping to make Bradley Fine (Jude Law) fall in love with her. Her boss criticizes her for dimming her shine in the desperate hope of making a man love her back, and Susan soon learns that she is better than Bradley Fine.
Persepolis
Based on an autobiographical graphic novel of the same name, Persepolis is a 2007 animated drama film written by Marjane Satrapi. It follows Marji as a child trapped in Iran during the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Under newly-appointed Islamic Fundamentalist laws, women in Iran are suddenly forced to dress very modestly. Many of her family members also die under this rule.
Persepolis is a coming-of-age movie about a woman in extraordinary circumstances trying to hold on to her identity, her family, her history, and her pride, despite a life of oppression in Iran, and one of alienation in Europe.
Moana
2016 Disney animated musical movie Moana, was a huge success worldwide. Featuring the voice work of Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House, and Alan Tudyk, the movie could be seen as arguing that feminine energy is the source of life on Earth. The movie discusses how greed destroys planet Earth, and how Planet Earth is happier when humans leave her resources untouched.
Moana is a break from Disney traditions, where the young female character falls in love after patiently waiting for a man to rescue her. She is a great role model for children or teens to learn that they can become leaders too, and that older women in their lives are a great source of wisdom and guidance through life.