Bridesmaids and Feminism

There’s been some buzz around the blogosphere about what kind of feminist statement, if any, the film Bridesmaids makes.  I don’t think the film itself contains a strong feminist message, so much as a yay sisterhood thing, but the fact that it was made is undoubtedly a good thing for women.  Ladies are underrepresented in Hollywood, both as writers and as stars of non-sucky movies, especially of the comedy variety.

I was rooting for Bridesmaids even before I saw it, but now, even more so.  Bottom line, the movie is funny.  Like, almost-peed-my-pants-funny.  Laughed-so-hard-I-almost-cried funny.

And as for its feminist cred, I think there’s something pretty cool, if not quite radical, about a movie that features women who seem like actual people instead of caricatures.  This is especially redeeming for Judd Apatow, whose films tend to feature women as shrill shrewish kill-joys.  Sure, they’re more mature  than their man-child counterparts, but who’d want to hang out with them?  Whereas the ladies of Bridesmaids seem like they’d be great fun to get drinks with.

Bridesmaids clearly passes the so-called Bechdel test, a measure of women’s role in movies.  Alison Bechdel came up with the idea in a comic strip in which one character says she only watches a movie if it meets these requirements:

1. It has to have at least two women in it,
2. Who talk to each other,
3. About something other than a man.

(Wikipedia)

It’s kind of startling how many movies fail this simple test.  In Bridesmaids, most scenes meet all three criteria.  I like the way the women’s friendship is the central relationship; even the main character’s love interest is a secondary plot line.  As my mom pointed out, even though it’s a “wedding movie,” the groom doesn’t actually have any lines.  Plus the wedding itself makes up about five minutes of screen time.

Also, it’s really funny.  Not just for chicks– my boyfriend liked it, too (I’ll admit, not as much as I did, but then, I really loved it).   Here’s hoping the movie makes a ton of money and leads to a whole rash of funny, female-driven comedies.

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3. Poem of the Week