24 Movie Women Who Were Just So Obviously, Painfully, Written By Men
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Recently, Reddit user SkywalkersAlt asked about the most obvious instances of a woman’s character being written by a man, and y'all, these examples have me furious. Here are 24 female movie characters who were very clearly written — or at least directed — by a dude.
1.Snow White in Snow White and the Huntsman (played by Kristen Stewart)
"I watched Snow White starring Kristen Stewart recently and was not surprised to find out that it was written and directed by men. For a leading role, she hardly had any lines at all; it seemed her sole purpose was to look scared and sexy."
2.Kim in Edward Scissorhands (played by Winona Ryder)
"I just rewatched Edward Scissorhands. As a teenager, I was absolutely enthralled, but looking back Kim has pretty lackluster writing. She's pretty much only valued for her looks, is a jerk otherwise but that's overlooked because she's beautiful. Her final line is still about her appearance: 'I want him to remember me as I was.'"
3.Jean Tatlock from Oppenheimer (played by Florence Pugh)
"This man [Christopher Nolan] really cast Florence Pugh just to give her one nude scene and 67 seconds of dialogue, all the while fawning over Oppenheimer for no real reason."
"After seeing Oppenheimer recently, it became painfully apparent that Christopher Nolan sucks at writing women. I can’t think of a single well-rounded female character in any of his films."
4.Natasha/Black Widow in Avengers: Age of Ultron (played by Scarlett Johansson)
Suggested by sid1805
"Yeah, weird how they paired her with Hulk out of nowhere with basically no chemistry, even though she already had a more interesting bond with Cap. Not to mention comparing not being able to get pregnant to turning into a giant green guy who destroys cities. Also kinda sucks that Widow didn't get her own movie until she was permanently dead, and her death had one dude throwing a bench while Tony's had like 300 actors at his funeral."
"I hated that so much. 'You, a radioactive rage-controlled superhuman. Me, a woman who can’t procreate. We’re both monsters. :('"
5.Ali Parker in Draft Day (played by Jennifer Garner)
"I was watching Draft Day last night with Kevin Costner. Jennifer Garner plays what felt like to me to be a very clear man’s ideal woman. I’m not talking at all about how she knows the game of football very well or that she’s attractive but talking about how she interacts with her 'man.' She treats him like he’s on a pedestal, the way she interacts and responds to him and supports him and lifts him up."
6.Kat in Tenet (played by Elizabeth Debicki)
"No one under-writes a female role like Christopher Nolan! The woman in Tenet is a real standout, they're explaining what they're up against and say 'if this happens all of existence will be undone' and her response is 'including my son!' because 'mom' is exactly as far as the character goes."
7.Janet Armstrong in First Man (played by Claire Foy)
"Most biopic/brand pic movies have the archetypical 'wife' character who’s just there to imbue conflict and have like one argument scene."
"It always sticks out as the worst part of an otherwise great script, but I think the most recent example where this annoyed me the most was Claire Foy in First Man. Absolutely thankless role."
"You could cut her out, if this was an original script and not based on Armstrong’s real life, and have it being him being over the loss of the daughter and wife, in some other nebulous way, and lose nothing."
8.Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad (played by Margot Robbie)
"Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad (2016) was very clearly written and created/dressed by a man.
In her solo movie, Birds of Prey: ...Harley Quinn, she is very obviously written and created/dressed by a woman.
In the reboot/sequel The Suicide Squad (2021), I believe that Margot Robbie and the director James Gunn coordinated when it came to Harley Quinn's outfit and makeup, but that James Gunn still wrote her dialogue, although her characterization has more in common with Christina Hodson's writing than David Ayer's."
9.Sam from Garden State (played by Natalie Portman)
"I feel like any of the Manic Pixie Chicks fit the bill as they are specifically written to advance the male antagonists self-discovery. In some cases it borders on meta, but it turns the female lead into a device instead of a character."
"My first thought was Natalie Portman in Garden State."
"There's a reason that character was essentially the invention of the archetype, despite similarly ridiculous twee girls existing before. It was just such a ridiculously hollow attempt at creating a woman Zach Braff thought was ideal without giving her anything outside of what might enthrall the lead. Watching a movie like that then watching Gone Girl right after is almost cathartic."
10.And fellow two-dimensional manic pixie dream girl, Samantha/Art3mis from Ready Player One (played by Olivia Cooke)
Suggested by u/ThatFreakazoid
"It is truly heroic in the movie how the main character was able to love her despite her having a faint blemish on her face."
11.Donna in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (played by Lily James)
"Donna in the Mamma Mia sequel. I remember thinking the movie had a weird vibe and as soon as the scene of her jumping into the sea with denim shorts came on, I went, 'This shit was 100% directed by a man.' Looked it up and confirmed it, lol."
12.Alison Scott in Knocked Up (played by Katherine Heigl)
"Judd Apatow himself has come out and said the female leads in Knocked Up weren't great. Very real male perspective on display for a film mostly about a woman going through an unexpected pregnancy."
"The scene where they're grabbing multiple pregnancy tests, omg. I don't believe there are many women out there who didn't watch that and think 'Those things are like $25 each!' Nobody spends hundreds of dollars on pregnancy tests in a single sitting."
13.Madison in Splash (played by Daryl Hannah)
"All the 'born sexy yesterday' women. Has to be one of my least favorite tropes."
"For those that don't know, 'born sexy yesterday' is a trope where a fully mature woman is created, seems to have incredible skill/power/intelligence, but lacks knowledge of the world. Think Fifth Element or Tron Legacy. They often fall in love with a hapless dude, since they seem impressively knowledgeable about things, but really they're just some guy. Coined by Pop Culture Detective on YouTube."
"Splash is a great example of this. As a kid I was like 'yay, mermaids!' But as an adult it’s so cringe. She’s beautiful, naked a lot, wants to have sex with Tom Hanks all the time, AND she’s ignorant about the world."
14.Ellen in National Lampoon's Vacation (played by Beverly D'Angelo)
"Clark Griswold's wife, Ellen, in National Lampoon's Vacation. She catches her husband in the act of cheating on her, blames herself, and immediately rewards him by recreating the infidelity with herself in the other woman's place."
15.Ellie in Yesterday (played by Lily James)
Suggested by u/MrBublee_YT
"It really took me out of the film when her character implies she is unattractive. Like, this woman played Cinderella."
"I'd just be the girl with frizzy hair.' Motherfucker, I'd get with you faster than you can say 'googoogojoob.'"
16.Brand and Murph in Interstellar (played by Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain)
"While not among the worst, it’s pretty obvious with Anne Hathaway‘s and Jessica Chastain‘s characters in Interstellar. There‘s a hilarious skit on YouTube about the writing of those characters."
17.Laney in She's All That (played by Rachael Leigh Cook)
Suggested by u/simianjim
"The classic — the obviously pretty actress 'hides' her beauty by wearing glasses."
"She's got glasses. And a ponytail. Ugh, she's got paint on her overalls."
18.Inez in Midnight in Paris (played by Rachel McAdams)
"Rachel McAdams in both Sherlock Holmes and in Midnight in Paris is honestly just hard to watch. I am a bit biased as I don’t like her acting at all, but especially Midnight in Paris, the dialogue is so bad for her character that it’s hard to blame her for the role. It’s hard to make something believable when there is no reality a woman would have her character’s dialogue to begin with."
19.Padmé in Star Wars (played by Natalie Portman)
"Uhh, Padmé pretending that Anakin's game was working on her."
"Honestly, Padmé staying with Anakin after he admits to killing a bunch of Tusken Raider children destroys her whole character. The movies want you to think that she is a noble champion for justice but she is okay with having a partner who commits some amount of child murder.
It is pretty clear that her whole character was created around the realization that Luke and Leia needed a womb to chill in for nine months."
"You mean inappropriate staring, unwanted advances, mass murder wouldn’t make you truly, deeply love someone?"
20.Mikaela Banes in Transformers (played by Megan Fox)...though for this one, it's actually the directing and shooting, not the writing, that makes her character feel like she was created by a man
Suggested by u/_kevx_91
"The wild part is Megan Fox's character is the most three-dimensional one in the film. I'd say it's the direction that makes her come off as 'hot girl to be in danger then kiss.'"
"Someone did a whole exposition on YouTube about how Megan Fox is actually an incredibly well-written character that is incredibly capable and basically the real hero of the first movie but because of the male gaze all of that gets lost."
21.Eady in Heat (played by Amy Brenneman)
"That woman who fell in love for no reason in particular with de Niro in Heat. And who is okay to flee with a criminal she barely just met."
"But he was so sexy at the coffee shop reading the book about metals and being hostile from the very beginning of their interaction — no woman could resist that level of rizz!"
22.Laya in Born a Champion (played by Katrina Bowden)
"There's a movie called Born a Champion. There's a great scene where our middle-aged, bleach blond-haired MMA fighter hero is talking to a young woman (who later falls in love with him because what hot woman doesn't love wrinkles). She says the line every 40+-year-old man with a ponytail and samurai sword wants to hear. I can't remember the exact quote but it was roughly: 'I work as a paralegal and I'm a part-time model, but what I really want is to be a housewife and have kids.'"
23.Annie in Field of Dreams (played by Amy Madigan)
"Every Kevin Costner movie, imo. The wife in Field of Dreams, Stands with a Fist, they're just different versions of his perfect woman."
"[Annie's] the perfect wife...and has absolutely no inner life or seemingly any goals of her own outside supporting her husband."
"I just rewatched that movie and I was sorta appalled at how self-centered and entitled he is, and how she's essentially just there to support his own quest for absolution. Even when she stands up to the PTA and is super excited, he totally ignores her and doesn't give two fucks about it."
24.And finally..."90% of Bond girls," but especially Pussy Galore from Goldfinger (played by Honor Blackman)
"I do think the Honor Blackman pilot in Goldfinger is probably the worst offender. Pretty enough to be desirable, but not interested in men. She'll say yes if you beat her up! (Note: this is just as creepy as it sounds.)"
What TV and movie characters give off major "written by a man" energy to you? Let us know in the comments!
Submissions have been edited for length/clarity.
