Women Vs. The Void in Cinema

"Nothing" belongs to men. In the beginning, personhood hadn't been acknowledged in female literary or movie characters. Male fantasies, macho adventures, and red-blooded romances were the main stories one could hear, and women were saliently absent from them. When art is supposed to portray a vivid picture of real life, patriarchy spread its rules over fiction and omitted women from having a life. Being coital characters or family figures for so long, this made women today rogues and deep divers into nothingness.

Jennifer’s Body (2009)

Then there was Sylvia Plath. Now there is Carmen Maria Machado. Women started owning the void. They grapple with narratives of their placement, ownership of their body, societal or existential challenges. The hiatus brought dismal internal struggles and bold self-discovery. In literature, the hollow female characters' wounds got covered with (still insufficient) bandages. Yet, they started getting covered. The void, the nothing, that used to fill male soliloquies with wild cosmic thoughts, opened doors to women too.

We are not simply talking about the gender gap in authors getting smaller, with female authors (white and cis-gendered) even exceeding male ones today. We are discussing the narratives. The female characters who are finally getting recognition and are allowed to follow their own path through the void. Female characters whose only traits aren't being meek, timid, and selfless, but who are gutsy, lost, or even rogues.

This genre of women facing the void can often be found within literature nowadays, with stories of women pondering their and the world’s existence. It’s an all-time favorite genre for all feminists since it goes beyond the stereotypical values for femininity - being organized and overly altruistic, as imposed by the patriarchy. My personal literary catnips from this genre are The Bell Jar (by Sylvia Plath), Her Body and Other Parties (by Carmen Maria Machado), and Normal People (by Sally Rooney), portraying some of the most intricate female characters I’ve met. Despite the popularity of this genre, literature remains a better place for women than cinema.

It’s 2024, it’s not that outrageous. Although the female vs. male distribution of movie directors is a never-changing underrepresentation of female voices (with male directors being above 80% of all in 2023), their ideas for narratives are not polarizing. In fact, most research highlights that while female directors portray female characters in a less stereotypical way, the difference between theirs and male directors' presenting is not that significant. On the contrary, the portrayals are similar.

So, where are these mettlesome female movie characters? In a male-dominated field, one cannot expect to see them more often than in literature which is infused with female voices. Females are usually inconspicuous characters, yet when a movie’s central storyline is women facing the void, it can get loud.

The summer of 2023 was loud with Barbie (directed by Greta Gerwig) coming out and telling the story of a stereotypical girl falling straight into the void of a male-dominated reality. A structure right from Campbell’s monomyth for the Hero’s Journey, yet the protagonist and ultimately the hero is a woman (Campbell would be shocked). The blockbuster is one of the greatest examples of the genre women vs. the void in cinema.

An unpopular yet one of my personal favorite recommendations is Jennifer’s Body (2009; directed by Karyn Kusama) with the protagonist being a bold character fueled by external pressures. With some iconic lines such as, "You’re killing people!; No, I’m killing boys.", the horror comedy is different from the teen movies people are used to, having an interesting approach to girlhood and female friendships.

A male director who portrayed a strong female character facing the void is Darren Aronofsky with his horror movie Black Swan (2010). The story highlights internal struggles inflamed by external situations and through this depicts a female character fighting with the void and exploring strong emotions and mental states.

Unlike in modern literature, in cinema it is more complex to find female characters facing the void without any men being external or internal factors. Just like in the upper recommendations, most popular movies with female protagonists are still shaped by the patriarchy or by men’s decisions being prioritized and final. Although this does not undermine their quality of being a great example in the women vs. void genre, it does make me ponder how rare are the movies with female main characters facing the void and not being influenced by male domination.

Gone Girl (2014; directed by David Fincher) can be considered as one of the protagonists is a female grappling with internal and external struggles and ultimately dominating the male protagonist.

As a cherry on top, Gravity (2013; directed by Alfonso Cuarón) is a prime example of a movie within the women vs. the void genre. A female protagonist facing multiple challenges as she is trying to survive on her first space mission (for most of the movie - alone). No love interests, not centered around her conventional beauty, just survival and self-discovery.

This small portion of my list of voids reminds me that female characters can also be central in self-determination and existential stories. Drifting apart from conventional femininity to the terrifying one is just what makes me face all my challenges and anxieties to the point where I enjoy being chewed by the void if it means that I own it. Nothing belongs to women too.