Why Female Gaze Films are so Important.

Updated: Jun 30, 2021

When you look at the highest rated movies of all time, you often find classics like “The Godfather” and stuff, which of course I respect. However, this is largely appealing to a male audience and leaves no room for any plot lines involving women. This seems to be the case with most big box mainstream films that are deemed “the best of the best”. I’m not saying they are bad, but these become highly viewed and leave little room for girls to relate to any female plot characters that are realistically portrayed. This create the image that women are objects or merely pawns in the story about men

I find female-oriented plots to be so refreshing and much more relatable , as they view women with real problems and portrayed much more realistically than how they are portrayed in the male gaze; perfect, porcelain, pure or seductive. Or else the classic “housewife.” I’ve made it my mission to seek out good films that do the opposite and show girls with real problems their own sexual desires, careers, hobbies and passions and emotions.

"Why should male gaze films I thought of as the norm & mainstream, but female gaze films are only for girls?"

There seems to be the stereotype that female gaze films are too "girly" for all audiences, something that only girly girls will enjoy but that is not the case. Female gaze films just offer equality in complexity and realistic depictions of all genres. Why should male gaze films I thought of as the norm & mainstream, but female gaze films are only for girls?

Movies written by women highlight the true complexities of women and it is really important for everyone to see more of this. There have been movies before that have explored the coming of age of young girls from a male gaze which seem to highlight their sexuality in a sexualized and romanticized way, for the male pleasure, but when women have gotten their hands on such plots, they show the confusion, exploration and awkwardness in a much more realistic way which makes other girls feel normal.

I hope we can see some more female gaze plots out there and not just in the “indie scene”, but for them to become more popular for mainstream audiences so we can equalize the female and male narratives.

To give you some inspiration I have listed some films below that are about women and or written/directed by women that do a good job of realistically portraying girls.I will be updating and posting new lists as I assemble more as time goes on, but this is a start.