It’s A Strong Female Role
Why Men Never Say The Same
By Bobbie L. Washington
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ1RmBXyGY4
What is it about a film or television role led by an actress that must call out for her to be “strong”? This mantra of “a strong female role” has been said for many years by many actresses that have paraded themselves across the talk show landscape. Should we concern ourselves more than the role she is about to play carries significant meaning for us to glam on to? Looking back in film history, the roles women have played have been varied but why has the “strong female role” been a battle cry for some?
Natalie Portman won the best actress Oscar for portraying a woman who was battling her personal demons in Black Swan. Lupita Nyong’o won a supporting actress Oscar for 12 Years A Slave. Neither one could best be described as “a strong woman’s role”. And when you look back into the history of the Academy Awards, the diversity of the parts leads one to take away a different point of view. There has been a union organizer, a wacko nurse, a flighty muse, a cabaret singer, a prostitute, and on and on. A lot of these roles don’t necessarily meet the criteria of “a strong female role”. If they hadn’t taken the role, would the part have taken on a different perspective with a lesser actress doing the part? Would the director’s vision be skewed by having someone there who just wasn’t up to his or her standards?
By announcing the fact that you are taking “a strong female role” you someone seem to demean the actress whose film role may not meet that criteria. Meryl Streep portrayed a high-powered fashion editor in The Devil Wears Prada. It was a role that said she is a powerful woman. Meryl Streep also portrayed a woman of means in The Bridges of Madison County explores the everyday life of a housewife. It was a role that had no superwoman running a Fortune 500 company or as a figurehead government official to a country. But what is supposed to make “a strong female role”.
Does the role show the actress beating up an army of men? Does she wield the power of a vast industrial complex? Does she sit at the table of political fortune? Yes, she does, but does that get tiring to the audience?
Men have never said, “it’s a strong male role”. That’s because the role men get, ranging from buffoons to presidents to killers is never questioned. Jim Carrey plays a not-too-intelligent person in Dumb and Dumber, Denzel Washington plays a bodyguard in Man On Fire, Bradley Cooper plays a guy off his meds in Silver Linings Playbook. None of them came out and once said that this was “a strong man’s role” nor will any man ever will.
Has this old and tired refrain needs to be laid to rest? It seems like to only one who is talking about this is a woman. This isn’t the late 50’s or 60’s where some old white guy is holding you back or down. Women have been taking the reigns for quite some time. There are well-established writers and directors who have made significant inroads in the industry. There has been praise lauded upon many for the work done. If only they could accept that a role is what you make of it.
