Leading Lady

Hello, I've come with an important update!

So, I've made a major change to the opening which is making the main character a female rather than a male. There are a couple reasons why I chose to make this change, but the main one would be for female representation. In one of my first blog posts I addressed how the main character of sci-fi films is always a white male. However, times have changed and women continue their fight for equality. My teacher taught a lesson on representation earlier in the year, and females are not the only group that is under represented in films. Other groups consist of certain race/ethnicities, LGBT, and people with disabilities. However, the one I will focus on is female representation.

Within the past decade, there hasn't been any increase of representation of females in film. In fact, the recent 2018 USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative concluded that in 2017 "women had fewer speaking roles in movies than they did a decade ago" meaning there has actually been a decrease in representation. However, after this study was published, and others like it, many have focused on increasing not only female representation, but gender quality as well in Hollywood.

But what isn't seen as often is female leads in sci-fi films. Until recently, there have been some science fiction films and TV series that star a female role. For example:

Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker (2019)

This film came out just last year that stars Daisy Ridley. The film focuses on her understanding her abilities, but maintains the same theme all Star Wars films have. The film made around $491 million in domestic theaters after just a month of being released. Although, it was different, in the sense of a female lead, from other films in the Star Wars franchise, it was quite successful. Forbes named it "One of 2019's biggest successes." They also compared it's success to other films that were just as successful, and that list included: Iron Man 3, Black Panther, and Beauty & The Beast, which also featured a female lead role.

This inspired me to create a female role in my opening, and making the lead, and main character a female. I hope that this change will inspires others to do the same, and eventually see more empowering females in film!