Tad Friend examines female characters in comedies and finds an unsettling pattern:
Funny women in movies must not only be gorgeous; they must fall down and then sob, knowing it’s all their fault.
Nerve has a super-cut to demonstrate:
Friend’s article — a lengthy piece on Anna Faris — looks at a lot of the issues surrounding female roles in comedy. It’s easy to point fingers at screenwriters (“Write better parts!”) or studios (“Make better movies!”), but the real obstacle is of course the audience, voting with dollars.
The more money female-driven comedies make, the more female-driven comedies will get made. In the short term, the success of Bridesmaids should make studios less gun-shy about spending money to produce and market these movies.
But will they be any good? I worry we’ll learn the wrong lessons and just make more comedies about women in wedding dresses.
