Real Women of Gaming

Movies are a great window into society. Like all forms of storytelling they show what people value. What they want to change. What they see. What they are passionate about. Women have had a complicated relationship to the movies throughout the years. 

When movies first started being made there was more freedom for filmmakers, their cast and crew. Many women were able to shine, as directors and in their acting. Unfortunately, a rise in conservatism led to strict rules on who could make films, what was shown and who was in what roles. Throughout the years women of all races, religions and walks of life have fought back to create the art that they wanted to showcase. They have been able to lead audiences to proverbial windows and give glimpses of different lives. 

There are five movies I choose to highlight for Women’s History Month. There are so many more out there. I also choose movies that I have personally watched. They are from different times with different subject matter. The criteria was that they have moved me and have shown a spotlight on different women’s stories. 

There will be spoilers for the rest of this article. I will be talking about Over the Moon, Cinderella (1997) The Color Purple, Everything Everywhere All at Once and Barbie.

Let’s start off with two movies that are for movie fans of all ages. 

Over the Moon is a movie about loss and grief. Fei Fei is a brilliant girl whose family love her and foster her creativity. Unfortunately her mother dies when she is very young. Fei Fei pushes herself in school and helps with her family’s business. Routine and her father’s love helping her through her loss. When her father brings home his new girl friend Fei Fei is thrown off and resentful, thinking that her father could be replacing her mother. She builds a rocket to go prove the moon goddess of her mother’s stories is real so that her father will realize that her mother is his only love. During her journey Fei Fei learns about her grief, that love is infinite and there is always room for more. This movie also features a killer soundtrack and phenomenal animation. 

Cinderella (1997) tells the story of a young woman looking for a way to live the life she deserves with music! Prior to the start of the story Cinderella’s father has died, leaving Cinderella with her step mother and step sisters who have relegated her into the position of a servant. Thus showing domestic abuse in a way that is a little easier for children. Cinderella keeps herself hopeful and dreams of a life of excitement. When she finds out that the Prince is hosting a ball she takes her first steps, with the help of her fairy godmother, into a bigger world. In this version Cinderella is leaving when she and the Prince reunite and she gets her happy ending. Meanwhile you also get an extremely talented cast, gorgeous costumes and fun musical numbers. 

Now here are three movies that are more adult.

The Color Purple tells the audience about Celie’s resilient life. Warning, this is a very heavy story. Celie has been sexually abused by her father and after giving birth to her second child as a teenager she is given to a grown man to be his new wife to care for his children. Celie’s situation does not improve as she is physically, sexually and verbally abused by her husband. As her life continues Celie finds her own strength. She learns how to read, finds support in other women and starts to help end the cycle of abuse. By the end of the movie she has her own business, reunites with her sister and her two grown children. In the face of racism, socioeconomic hardships and abuse Celie finds her own joy and purpose. There is also a musical and movie version of the musical which I have not been able to watch due to my own sexual trauma, so I cannot speak to them. I used to watch this movie with my mom and it gave me the stepping stones to learn more about racism, abuse and finding empowerment in female relationships.  

Everything Everywhere All at Once is for anyone who has complex relationships in their families. Evelyn is a Chinese immigrant trying to navigate her life in America, her small business, her failing marriage, and her broken relationship with her daughter. Suddenly she is pulled into an adventure where only she can save the universe by going into different realities of herself. Through these adventures she is forced to see herself, her husband and her daughter differently. She decided to try to repair these relationships, but also to be true to herself in the process. This movie has a lot of heart, wacky fights, emotional monologues and an insanely talented costume department. It does not shy away from showing Evelyn’s immigrant experience, and how that colors her relationships and fuels the cycle that she and her daughter Joy are in. 

Barbie is surprising in its depth. The Barbies of Barbieland believe that they have fixed all the problems for women in the real world by being an alternate option to baby dolls. They live in a perfect world where every night is girls night and they can be anything. Stereotypical Barbie wakes up one morning to that everything is wrong. In order to fix it she has to go to the real world to find the girl she is connected to. Even this trip is not achieved with ease she is used to; Ken learns about patriarchy, she experiences sexual harassment for the first time, the girl she thinks she is connected to thinks she is a useless tool for patriarchy, and Mattel wants to put her back in a box. Upon returning to Barbieland she discovers that the Barbies have become brainless servants to the Kens, who have taken over Barbieland with their own version of patriarchy. She, her new friends, and the discontinued Barbies have to help take back Barbieland. Stereotypical Barbie realizes she is more than who she was before and that she wants to continue being more. This is a movie all about finding yourself, moving away from your past if it doesn’t serve you, and making sure that everyone has the same opportunities available to them. 

I think all of these movies have valuable lessons for the viewer. They teach us how to love ourselves. How to help others. How to break cycles of abuse–or even just how to start in doing so. They have plots that center on kindness. They can have hard stories but they are worthwhile to get to the end. 

Our joy is important. Our hope fuels us to move forward through hard times. These women teach us different ways to fight. 

I hope that you have stories that make you feel. I hope they inspire you. I hope they give you a starting point to learn about others. Most of all I hope you have stories that make you want to be your most authentic self. 

ALWAYS KEEP SPARKLING!!!