“You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby” ... (Don’t call me Baby)

“Bridesmaids reaches levels of hilarity and heart that movies like these haven’t reached in over a decade” is a quote on the Bridesmaids poster.

The recently successful film, Bridesmaids has garnered praise for pushing boundaries for women comedians.

 

"Bridesmaids" does seem to be giving writers more courage to push the boundaries, specifically when it comes to big comedic set pieces and raunchy talk that was previously reserved for the boys."

There’s a double standard that exists in comedy for men and women. 

Men can get away with doing outrageous things and making inappropriate jokes (often times, the raunchier the better.)

But for female comedians there’s almost a taboo that exists. Why?

(Because women aren’t supposed to be raunchy? Because they’re supposed to be well-behaved ladies relegated to the kitchen?)

It’s the 21^st century for goodness sake.

Society is still extremely uncomfortable with the woman's body and with womens bodily functions.  Male comedians doing fart/poop/puke jokes is the standard but almost unheard of for women.

To those that find such raunchy humor funny it should be funny no matter who performs the joke, whether a man or a woman.

The film did extremely well at the box-office earning a domestic total of $169,106,725. (Beat that Superbad).

These box-office numbers show that women can be funny (gee, who knew) and that there’s an audience for films about women. 

So now studios are trying to latch onto this idea because as we all know Hollywood isn’t about new and innovative ideas but rather copying a successful concept, and if a film about women sells then they’re going to jump on that bandwagon.

Previously studios thought that if they made films about women and that if they were marketed as “chick flicks” that men wouldn’t go see these films. 

But I think the box office numbers prove that an all female cast can be highly successful.

Why is there a stigma that men can’t see a movie with females in it? Even one of my own male friends asked me “Is it the kind of movie a guy can see?”

I could have answered numerous ways.

(“Yes, you have the viewing capability to see the movie on screen. The screen does not discriminate against sexes.”

“No, no boys are allowed. The ushers at movie theatres were informed to not allow any testosterone into the theatre.”)

What is it they fear? One of their male friends will spot them entering the theatre? They will be castrated inside the theatre? 

Or even worse, THEY MIGHT LIKE IT!!! (Gasp)

Previously studio execs would have passed on a film that contained an all female cast.

Usually the pass would have sounded something like: "It's hilarious; I was cracking up. But I can't get that made. No one wants to see women do that!”

(Think again boys!)

And now that studios are aware that women comedians are funny there is talk about “The Bridesmaids effect.” This film may have sparked an onslaught of other films that are about women.

ABOUT TIME!!

I think it’s great that female comedians will soon be given the same admiration and recognition as male comedians and that the number of female speaking characters will hopefully increase.

Researchers at USC did a gender analysis that looked at the 100 top-grossing theatrically released fictional films in 2008.

Across the 4,370 speaking characters coded with an identifiable gender, a total of 32.8 percent are girls or women.  So just over two boys/men appear on the silver screen to every one girl/woman. (Women comprise 50% of the population and should be represented so on-screen.)

So a film that contains six lead female characters is a rarity. 

The only thing I fear  about this increase in female based films is that numerous studios will try to repeat this women centered formula, but if it does not garner as much money they expected then that will be the end of that. 

They’ll defend their decisions by saying, “We tried, and it just didn’t work.”

One unsuccessful female film could set us back again. 

Another thing I fear is that studios will simply try to beat out the other by making their female center films even raunchier then the next. 

And as a result, the substance and depth of the female characters may diminish and then women are there only as props for the raunchy gags. 

One way to ensure the integrity of the characters remains intact is to have diverse voices create media images. (Another important reason there should be an increase in the number of women green lighting films about women.)

For now, we will be on the lookout for films that allow female comedians to break barriers. I guess we have Kristen Wiig to thank.

Kristen Wiig has made one small step for woman, one giant leap for Hollywood!! (hopefully)