Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, and Lizzy Caplan in Bachelorette |
Rebel Wilson as the bride, a well-adjusted foil for the main characters |
Bachelorette has a happy ending without absolving the characters |
The radical notion that women like good movies
Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, and Lizzy Caplan in Bachelorette |
Rebel Wilson as the bride, a well-adjusted foil for the main characters |
Bachelorette has a happy ending without absolving the characters |
Here are some suggested film adaptations but feel free to suggest your own:
Little Women
The Color Purple
Jane Eyre
Gone With the Wind
The House of the Spirits
Sense and Sensibility
To Kill a Mockingbird
Romeo and Juliet
Women Without Men
A Streetcar Named Desire
Wuthering Heights
Dune
Love in the Time of Cholera
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Great Gatsby
Dracula
Blade Runner
Out of Africa
Raise the Red Lantern
Emma
The Lord of the Rings
Hamlet
Cry the Beloved Country
Vanity Fair
Moll Flanders
Alice in Wonderland
The Crucible
Beloved
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Doctor Zhivago
A Room with a View
Lolita
The Portrait of a Lady
The Good Earth
Remains of the Day
Dangerous Liasons
Age of Innocence
A Raisin in the Sun
The Wizard of Oz
New York Times film reviewer A.O. Scott said that 2012 was a year of Hollywood heroine worship, and he lists some fabulous movies with strong and unique female characters.
The long-running TV series The Gilmore Girls followed the lives of a single mother who got pregnant at 16 and her daughter as they live and grow in a small town. The mother and daughter duo (Lorelai& Rory) are unconventional, confident, independent, smart, capable, and fun-loving. In Lorelai’s words, “That’s because I’m not orthodox. I’m liberal with a touch of reform and a smidgen of zippity-pow.” The way in which Lorelai and Rory relate to food, however, is a complex issue that can function as a microcosmic reading of the entire show.
Rory (Alexis Bledel) and Lorelai (Lauren Graham) in Gilmore Girls |
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James and the Giant Peach |
James: “The man said marvelous things would happen!”Glowworm: “Did you say marvelous pigs in satin?”
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Mame Dennis (Rosalind Russell) — Auntie Mame
Lucy Van Pelt (Tracy Stratford) — A Charlie Brown Christmas
Maria (Sonia Manzano) — Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
Karen (Emma Thompson) — Love Actually
Susan Walker (Natalie Wood) — Miracle on 34th Street
Jessica Riggs (Rebecca Harrell) — Prancer
Clarice (Janis Orenstein) — Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Jessica/Mrs. Claus (Robie Lester) — Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town
The Ghost of Christmas Present (Carol Kane) — Scrooged
Did your favorite holiday female characters make the list? Let us know in the comments!
Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan in Ruby Sparks |
Zoe Kazan as Ruby Sparks |
Calvin at his magical typewriter. |
Morticia Addams (Carolyn Jones) — The Addams Family
Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) — Grey’s Anatomy
Vivian Banks (Janet Hubert-Whitten) — The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Lucille Bluth (Jessica Walter) — Arrested Development
Jamie Buchman (Helen Hunt) — Mad About You
Roseanne Conner (Roseanne Barr) — Roseanne
Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) — Star Trek: The Next Generation
Florida Evans (Esther Rolle) — Good Times
Ruth Fisher (Frances Conroy) — Six Feet Under
Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) — Gilmore Girls
Ellen Harvelle (Samantha Ferris) — Supernatural
Clair Huxtable, Esq. (Phylicia Rashad) — The Cosby Show
Grace Kelly (Brett Butler) — Grace Under Fire
Kate McArdle (Susan Saint James) and Allie Lowell (Jane Curtin) — Kate and Allie
Marge Simpson (Julie Kavner) — The Simpsons
Dr. Lilith Sternin (Bebe Neuwirth) — Cheers, Frasier
Hilda Suarez (Ana Ortiz) — Ugly Betty
Joyce Summers (Kristine Sutherland) — Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) — Grey’s Anatomy
Skyler White (Anna Gunn) — Breaking Bad
——
9 to 5
Aliens
Bagdad Cafe
Beaches
Born in Flames
Camille Claudel
Charli
Coal Miner’s Daughter
The Color Purple
Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
Crimes of the Heart
Desperately Seeking Susan
Dirty Dancing
Flashdance
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Hannah and her Sisters
Heathers
I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing
The Journey of Natty Gann
Labyrinth
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains
The Legend of Billie Jean
The Little Mermaid
Moonstruck
Mystic Pizza
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Pretty in Pink
The Secret of NIMH
Sex, Lies & Videotape
She’s Gotta Have It
Silkwood
Steel Magnolias
Sweetie
Teen Witch
The Terminator
Terms of Endearment
When Harry Met Sally…
Working Girl
M (Judi Dench) in Skyfall |
L-R: James Bond (Daniel Craig), M (Judi Dench) and Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) in Skyfall |
M (Judi Dench) in Skyfall |
——
Any Day Now — Rene Jackson (Lorraine Toussaint) and Mary Elizabeth “M.E.” Smith O’Brien (Annie Potts)
Bones — Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and Angela Montenegro (Michaela Conlin)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan), Buffy and Tara Maclay (Amber Benson), Tara and Dawn Summers (Michelle Trachtenberg)
Daria — Daria Morgendorffer (Tracy Grandstaff) and Jane Lane (Wendy Hoopes)
Deadwood — Alma Garret (Molly Parker) and Trixie (Paula Malcomson)
A Different World — Whitley Gilbert (Jasmine Guy) and Kim Reese (Charnele Brown)
Friends — Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), Monica Gellar (Courtney Cox) and Phoebe Bufay (Lisa Kudrow)
Gilmore Girls — Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel) and Lane Kim (Keiko Agena), Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) and Sookie St. James (Melissa McCarthy)
Girlfriends — Joan Clayton, Esq. (Tracee Ellis Ross), Maya Wilkes (Golden Brooks), Lynn Searcy (Persia White) and Toni Childs Garrett (Jill Marie Jones)
Golden Girls — Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), Rose Nylund (Betty White), Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan) and Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty)
Gravity Falls — Mabel Pines (Kristen Schaal), Candy Chiu (Niki Yang) and Grenda (Carl Faruolo)
Grey’s Anatomy — Christina Yang (Sandra Oh) and Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo)
Hannah Montana — Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus) and Lilly Truscott (Emily Osment)
How I Met Your Mother — Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders) and Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan)
A League of their Own
Mad Men — Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) and Joan Holloway Harris (Christina Hendricks)
Martin — Pam James (Tichina Arnold) and Gina Waters-Payne (Tisha Campbell)
Me Without You — Holly (Michelle Williams/Ella Jones) and Marina (Anna Friel/Anna Popplewell)
Mystic Pizza — Kat Araujo (Annabeth Gish), Daisy Araujo (Julia Roberts) and Jojo Barbosa (Lili Taylor)
One Tree Hill — Brooke Davis (Sophia Bush), Peyton Sawyer (Hilarie Burton) and Haley James Scott (Bethany Joy Lenz)
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion — Romy White (Mira Sirvino) and Michele Weinberger (Lisa Kudrow)
Roommates — Billie (Samantha Fox), Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart), Sherry (Kelly Nichols)
Sailor Moon
Sex and the City — Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte (Kristen Davis) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon)
Sliding Doors — Helen Quilley (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Anna (Zara Turner)
Thelma and Louise — Thelma Dickinson (Geena Davis) and Louise Sawyer (Susan Sarandon)
True Blood — Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and Tara (Rutina Wesley)
Growing up, my little brother was an enormous James Bond fan. He rewatched the films repeatedly on video; he developed an encyclopedic knowledge of all the villains, plots, and gadgets from reading his glossy making-of books; and, in an anecdote our mother never tires of retelling, he wanted to be Bond “without the kissing.”
Me, watching a James Bond movie, 1997-2002. |
Even the one where he shags Honor Blackman straight. |
SPOILER: this is the final shot of MI6 at the end of Skyfall. |
The British brain. See, it does too exist. |
The top-hatted octopus-man is James Bond. Okay, it’s not a perfect metaphor. |