Where Are the Women? Wild Card

WATWwildcard

If there was a Where Are the Women bingo card, this unpleasantly retro movie would win a booby prize. (Is there a hooker with a heart of gold? You betcha.)

BASIC REPRESENTATION SCORE: 0

[no significant representation of girls/women]

FEMALE AGENCY/POWER/AUTHORITY SCORE: -3

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

-5

Is there a woman who is raped (either onscreen or off) whose rape motivates a male protagonist? [why this matters]

THE MALE GAZE SCORE: -25

-5

Is a woman or women used as decorative objects/set dressing? [why this matters]

-20

Is this a major recurring visual motif? [why this matters]

GENDER/SEXUALITY SCORE: -40

-5

Is femininity used as a joke (ie, a man crossdressing for humorous intent) in passing? [why this matters]

-5

Is there a female character who is primarily defined by her emotional and/or sexual relationship with a man or men? [why this matters]

-10

Does a man police or attempt to police a woman’s sexual agency? [why this matters]

-10

Is there a female character who is sexually manipulated or abused by a male protagonist as a way to advance his story? [why this matters]

-10

Is there a hooker with a heart of gold? [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)

A woman is blamed for her own rape. By the protagonist. And not in a way that we’re intended to see as something wrongheaded and worthy of condemnation and as appalling evidence of rape culture. Fuck that shit.

TOTAL SCORE: -73

IS THE FILM’S DIRECTOR FEMALE? No (does not impact scoring)

IS THE FILM’S SCREENWRITER FEMALE? No (does not impact scoring)

BOTTOM LINE: If there was a Where Are the Women bingo card, this unpleasantly retro movie would win a booby prize. A hooker with a heart of gold who is raped in order to motivate the protagonist. A diner waitress who is wise and kind and actually named Roxy. A sexy bombshell who is defined so exclusively by her body that she is identified only as “DD.” All in the same movie!

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

NOTE: This is not a “review” of Wild Card! 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 Wild Card.

See the full rating criteria. (Criteria that do not apply to this film have been deleted in this rating for maximum readability.)

This rating is brought to you without paywall restrictions by my generous Kickstarter supporters. If you missed out on the Kickstarter and would like to support this project, you may:

• become a monthly or yearly subscriber of FlickFilospher.com
• make a pledge at Patreon
• make a donation via Paypal