Do I really have to be fucked over that hard to get empowered? Very depressing.

Or, you know, be pretty hooker with a heart of gold.

Mebbe they're doing the whole "strength from suffering/struggling" theme?

My list would have included Aliens, Pitch Black, and Shirley Valentine, to name a few. Paradise Road. A Town Like Alice.

Movies where women act instead of get acted upon.

And much as I love Hepburn and Tracy, most of their movies don't support her agency; they tend to undercut it in favor of his.

Also, I am SO pleased that the empowered woman is empowered to be a hooker. Camille, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Pretty Woman.

What about Klute? Gigi? Sadie Thompson?

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Paradise Road.

LOOOOOVE this movie. Incredible cast, incredible story, and quite moving.

And yes, women with agency, in a situation where nobody comes by their own agency easily, regardless of gender.

And all true.

Wow. Whoever made that list is on some bad crack.

I mean, I love a lot of movies on the list, but empowering? I'd give it for Aliens, Girlfight, Born Yesterday and maybe All Above Eve. The rest of the choices kind of leave me agog, especially the incongruity of having "Black Narcissus" called 'a chick flick'. ::boggles::

I adore Breakfast at Tiffany's, but I wouldn't say its overwhelming message is female empowerment.

Woohoo! I just figured out that Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is actually coming out before Star Wars!

So I might be able to convince the powers that be in my super-dorky school to rent out the movie theater for the former instead of the latter!

(We do it once a year. This is my senior year. The ones we've done so far were Episode II, Matrix Reloaded, and Matrix Revolutions. I'm tired of watching steaming piles of crap with my entire school, and want to watch something good, but, my school being the nerdiest school in the world, only nerdy movies have a chance. tHHHttG, luckily, counts as nerdy. Yay!)

ETA: Our Social Veep, who theoretically plans it, is actually a Firefly fan, so that's always my first choice of course. But unless the advertising really kicks in good early next year, I don't think she'll be able to pull that off as the choice. Sigh.

Do I really have to be fucked over that hard to get empowered?

I agree with your caveats to the other films, but with What's Love I think it's that you CAN be fucked over that hard and get empowered. It makes her journey all the more amazing. I mean, I like An Unmarried Woman (for example0 but the achievement of self-realization when you are gorgeous, well-educated, Live in a stunning, huge apartment and and don't have to work is not nearly as impressive.

with What's Love I think it's that you CAN be fucked over that hard and get empowered

I actually think that Thelma and Louise were empowered too. I'm not knocking her story, but it would be the same eyebrow raise I'd give a black film festival I though skewed too hard to the "white man done hit us AGIN" side of the story.

Without downplaying the Sojourner Truths, I think it's too victimy. And for the movies I've seen on that list? I don't get a good haze of Girl Power.