Where are the women-focused biopics?
Plus four suggestions of some notable women to put in a movie
This year in movies, there has been a seemingly endless string of biopics and corporate origin stories. I’ve reviewed quite a few of them here. But what I noticed while looking through some lists is that in nearly every biopic this year, with the exception of Nyad and Reality, the subject of these movies was men.
This came into focus for me as I was watching Maestro (review coming next week) and started thinking that two very buzzy movies this year, the aforementioned Maestro and the summer blockbuster Oppenheimer, are both just biopics about men who were kind of shitty to their wives. Indeed, J. Robert Oppenheimer and Leonard Bernstein lived fascinating, noteworthy lives. But there is something similar about their stories that struck me as I was watching yet another biopic featuring an already famous man.
Truthfully, it has been in my mind through much of the year. Even in movies that I enjoyed, like A Million Miles Away and Flamin Hot, highlighting men who are far less well-known, the reason they were able to achieve so much was largely because they had a wife taking care of their kids for them, keeping things buttoned up at home. They had partners who didn’t get Wikipedia pages because their work wasn’t deemed important but whose work enabled them to experience success.
I get it. We don’t want to watch a movie about someone at home doing laundry, cooking supper, and shuttling kids to school. We don’t want to watch a movie about moms going to an IEP meeting, cleaning up spills, picking out Christmas gifts, and labeling them from both parents. We don’t want to watch a movie about her working part-time at WalMart to ensure the rest of the bills are covered while dad is out chasing his dream.
No, the inspiration is the person who DID SOMETHING. And in a world where a woman is forced to continue a pregnancy, even if it kills her, it’s probably not going to be a woman. In a world where the cost of childcare is prohibitively expensive, and women are expected to be the ones to put their careers on hold, it probably won’t be a woman. In a world where women are more than three times as likely to be the parent to stay home with a child, it probably won’t be a woman.
There are plenty of women who are the subjects of documentaries. But a biopic is something else. They are generally able to reach a much wider audience than a documentary. The ability to get a known talent to play a notable character is something that draws people in. They may not watch a documentary about a woman wanting to swim from Cuba to Florida, but they will watch Annette Bening and Jodie Foster tell that story.
Biopics also generally have significantly larger budgets. The ability to put together a compelling story requires money, and most documentaries are not afforded a significant budget. But you can throw Amazon or Netflix money behind a biopic, and it can be something special and impactful.
So here is a quick list of women I want to see on the big screen, played by a famous actor and supported by a large budget.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Hollywood loves a music biopic, and Sister Rosetta has an incredible story. If you’ve heard a song with a distorted electric guitar, you can thank her for it. Her blend of gospel and electric guitar influenced much of popular music today. Her personal life is equally fascinating. A queer black woman who revolutionized rock and roll? Come on.
Kathrine Switzer. If you’re not going to do a movie about a musician, the next best thing is a movie about an athlete. So, a film about the first woman to be a registered runner in the Boston Marathon is an easy choice. She was attacked during her run. And it’s an excellent opportunity to talk about Bobbi Gibb, a woman who ran the race (though unregistered) and whose time was a full hour faster than Switzer’s. But then again, remembering that it was just over 50 years ago that the rules were rewritten to make it so that women were banned from the marathon is not awesome.
Grace Hopper. Another favorite category is a war hero, and Hopper fits that bill. A graduate with a doctorate in mathematics, she quit her job teaching at Vassar to join the Navy to help in the war efforts. When she was finally accepted there, she began work on the MARK I, the first electromechanical computer in the United States. She was among the first coders, eventually being the person who translated code from symbols to words, expanding the accessibility of computers to more people than ever before.
Bessie Coleman. She was the first black woman to earn her pilot’s license in the USA. She became famous as a trick pilot and used her fame to battle prejudice, refusing to perform in segregated spaces. She died tragically young, but her legacy is fascinating and would make a spectacular movie.
Please don’t read this and think that I believe we should stop making biopics about men. I just don’t think they should ONLY be about men. There are plenty of women with movie-friendly stories, and I wish directors would also consider sharing their stories.
There was the Nyad biopic with Annette Bening and Jodie Foster and Barbie! Yea i hear ya on all the male centric biopics but let’s not forget that probably the biggest grossing Fall film was “Taylor Swift’s Eras Concert Tour” ($250 million) and I’m sure Beyoncé’s is up there too. To me, it’s more to do with the maturity model of where female based stories are in the world (in a historically male dominated industry) and also the channels and outlets sought out by women (we have to be more creative!) I think disruption is key. Also women are more about collaboration and I think the stories of one person’s greatness is so antithetical to a core feminine tenet.
Yes!