FEMALE AGENCY/POWER/AUTHORITY SCORE: +11
THE MALE GAZE SCORE: -10
GENDER/SEXUALITY SCORE: -5
WILDCARD SCORE: 0
Is there anything either positive or negative in the film’s representation of women not already accounted for here? (points will vary)
No.
TOTAL SCORE: +21
IS THE FILM’S DIRECTOR FEMALE? Yes (Shira Piven) (does not impact scoring)
IS THE FILM’S SCREENWRITER FEMALE? No (does not impact scoring)
BOTTOM LINE: This is a movie about a woman coping with mental illness that doesn’t denigrate her or make fun of her. It does allow her to rage and vent and be weird and inappropriate and funny in ways that movies rarely allow women… and it also allows the particular problems of one woman to be metaphorically representative of the problems of humanity at large. A woman’s story as universal? That’s radical.
Click here for the ongoing ranking of 2015’s films for female representation.
NOTE: This is not a “review” of Welcome to Me! 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 Welcome to Me.
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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This is a movie about a woman with mental illness which doesn’t view that illness solely in the light of how it affects her quality as relationship fodder.