Women Empowerment In the Film Industry

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(Image via Harper’s Bazaar)

Joselyn Gonzalez, Writer

  Over the centuries, women have been pulled down and denied major lead roles in movies. Even if they have worked hard or even harder to get where they are now. This was the case for many years until the early 2000s where women are finally getting the recognition they need and deserve. Movies such as Like a Boss, The Help, and The Blind Side are great to feel empowered if you are a woman. Most of those movies are usually for a more mature or older audience but it’s also important to demonstrate a strong female leader to our younger population. It’s important that young girls continue to grow up knowing their worth in this world. Thanks to the film industry, this is possible through the comfort of your own home.

   In today’s date, we still see men having lead roles but it’s important to acknowledge that a few movies are better than none. Movies that came out in the 1990s are mostly filled with men with a little bit of female input, but today we can see how that has evolved throughout the years. 

   As I mentioned before, movies like The Help, Like a Boss, and The Blind Side are mostly done for an older audience which is perfect because women of all ages need to feel their worth. These movies perfectly portray that. To add on, the people that are cast are powerful women in real life. For example, Tiffany Hadish who plays Mia in the movie Like a Boss is an excellent comedian. She had a very difficult childhood because she was born into a broken family. To distract herself, she would seek comfort in acting and stand up. One thing she had to work for is her career. Haddish wasn’t born into a multi-millionaire family; instead, she had to work many other jobs while pursuing her dream career as an actress. In 2018, Tiffany was awarded an Emmy award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series as well as an award in Best Comedic Performance. All of her hard work is showcased in all of the amazing roles she takes in the film industry.

    Besides adults, a more important audience is children. They are truly the future of this world so we must feed them the right information. Little girls shouldn’t be growing up with no role models. From a young age, kids are taught that girls are less than men. This has been a recurring issue for decades but it’s important to understand that if this is what they learn this is what they are going to teach in the future as well. That will cause no change, this issue has been slightly lifted. Disney movies that have strong female characters have the power to portray how successful a woman can be. For example, some great movies are Moana and Brave. In both these movies, young girls stand up for what they believe in despite being told that they should just stay in their place. There should never be a situation where a girl is told not to express herself, movies like those will teach our young generation what is wrong and what is right. 

   There are many other movies that reflect on women empowerment and every single one sends a positive message throughout the world. There is so much more potential in this world to showcase equality for both men and women. Our younger generation is growing up with great empowering movies and our society is slowly changing for the better.