Warning! Some of the details here may constitute spoilers for those not familiar with the story.
BASIC REPRESENTATION SCORE: +30
FEMALE AGENCY/POWER/AUTHORITY SCORE: +5
THE MALE GAZE SCORE: 0
[no issues]
GENDER/SEXUALITY SCORE: -5
WILDCARD SCORE: -10
Is there anything either positive or negative in the film’s representation of women not already accounted for here? (points will vary)
TOTAL SCORE: +20
IS THE FILM’S DIRECTOR FEMALE? No (does not impact scoring)
IS THE FILM’S SCREENWRITER FEMALE? Yes (Barbara Curry) (does not impact scoring)
BOTTOM LINE: Yes, it’s a cautionary tale for women about the dangers of sleeping with sexy strangers, but it does cast as an outright villain a man who fails to appreciate that it’s not a unilateral decision whom one gets to have sex with. It also turns a familiar trope upside-down by putting a husband and son in jeopardy in order to motivate a female protagonist. The movie could have scored better, though, if it had treated her work as more than merely another place at which she could be menaced by the villain.
Click here for the ongoing ranking of 2015’s films for female representation.
NOTE: This is not a “review” of The Boy Next Door! It is simply an examination of how well or how poorly it represents women. (A movie that represents women well can still be a terrible film; a movie that represents women poorly can still be a great film.) Read my review of The Boy Next Door.
See the full rating criteria. (Criteria that do not apply to this film have been deleted in this rating for maximum readability.)
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