Where Are the Women? Miss You Already

A stellar example of a film that allows women to be fully human, including as scared, as asshole-ish, and as ignoble as men are allowed to be onscreen.

BASIC REPRESENTATION SCORE: +25

+25

Is there a female protagonist? [why this matters]

FEMALE AGENCY/POWER/AUTHORITY SCORE: +2

Is there a woman whose role could easily have been played by a man? [why this matters]

THE MALE GAZE SCORE: 0

[no issues]

GENDER/SEXUALITY SCORE: -5

-5

Is there a female character who is primarily defined by her emotional or biological relationship with a child or children*? (*in this case, an adult child) [why this matters]

WILDCARD SCORE: +5

Is there anything either positive or negative in the film’s representation of women not already accounted for here? (points will vary)

The film is specifically about the unique nature of women’s friendships with one another — as distinct from men’s friendships with one another — in a way that is rarely seen onscreen.

TOTAL SCORE: +27

IS THE FILM’S DIRECTOR FEMALE? Yes (Catherine Hardwicke) (does not impact scoring)

IS THE FILM’S SCREENWRITER FEMALE? Yes (Morwenna Banks) (does not impact scoring)

BOTTOM LINE: With not only one female protagonist but two, and with the focus of their story on the relationship between them at a time of great stress, this is a stellar example of a film that allows women to be fully human, including as scared, as asshole-ish, and as ignoble as men are always allowed to be onscreen.

Click here for the ongoing ranking of 2015’s films for female representation.

NOTE: This is not a “review” of Miss You Already! 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 Miss You Already.

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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