Women take the lead, men follow

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Big movie franchises have been getting remakes in the past couple of decades. Most remakes don’t follow the same plotline or keep the same characters as the original film. 

Recently, I had a debate about the new “Evil Dead” films compared to the original franchise from the 1980s.

“I’m kinda tired of seeing women taking over the male roles in these new generation remakes. I understand we should support women but promoting feminism through films is repetitive,” said Stockton resident Michael Moreno. “Like where’s Ash? They should keep it to the original plot, not revise it. Like, the Ghost Busters [2016] with an all-female cast was stupid.”

Personally, I thought the new “Evil Dead” films were great. The female lead(s) executed the male-dominant hero role. It’s more thrilling to see women-led roles in action and/or horror films. It shows the perspective that women can also fight and be just as strong as men, if not stronger. 

However, some men have the same opinion about gender role-switching in films. 

“So what about Angelina Jolie’s role from Tomb Raider?” said former Delta student Vic Wagner. “If they remade ‘Tomb Raider’ and picked a man to take the role, there will be an uproar from men and women. It’s not the same. They better not change Indiana Jones into Indiana Jane.”

Okay, so what about women-led roles in prequels or spinoffs? 

In 2015, “Mad Max: Fury Road” starred Tom Hardy as Mad Max and Charlize Theron as Furiosa. It was rumored that Warner Bros was going to make a prequel explicitly based on Theron’s character, but nothing was confirmed for a few years. In January, a preview for “Furiosa” was released on YouTube; the film will be in theaters on May 24. 

I agree that a film’s quality often depends on production casting choices, sometimes the actors/actresses cast in remakes and prequels weren’t the best choices. 

However, I disagree that switching gender roles in films is problematic. Why can’t a man play Lara Croft in “Tomb Raider?” What’s wrong with an Indiana Jane? 

These opinions/complaints are sexist. The conservation of remakes, prequels and spinoffs casting a female lead(s) annoys male consumers. Which makes sense since the film industry is male-dominated.

In 2023, UCLA conducted a Hollywood Diversity Report. The report went over statistics on ethnicity, actors with disability and gender. 

“Women accounted for 38.6 percent of film leads in 2022, a more than five-percentage decrease from the 44.1 percent figure evident in 2019,” according to the report.

My issue is women are underrepresented in the film industry and in general. Who cares if a woman is the main character of a remake or a prequel. I understand people want to stick with the original storyline but keeping it the same can be repetitive and predictable. 

“I’m kinda tired of seeing women taking over the male roles in these new generation remakes. I understand we should support women but promoting feminism through films is repetitive,” said Stockton resident Michael Moreno. “Like where’s Ash? They should keep it to the original plot, not revise it. Like, the Ghost Busters [2016] with an all-female cast was stupid.”

Personally, I thought the new “Evil Dead” films were great. The female lead(s) executed the male-dominant hero role. It’s more thrilling to see women-led roles in action and/or horror films. It shows the perspective that women can also fight and be just as strong as men, if not stronger. 

However, some men have the same opinion about gender role-switching in films. 

“So what about Angelina Jolie’s role from Tomb Raider?” said former Delta student Vic Wagner. “If they remade ‘Tomb Raider’ and picked a man to take the role, there will be an uproar from men and women. It’s not the same. They better not change Indiana Jones into Indiana Jane.”

Okay, so what about women-led roles in prequels or spinoffs? 

In 2015, “Mad Max: Fury Road” starred Tom Hardy as Mad Max and Charlize Theron as Furiosa. It was rumored that Warner Bros was going to make a prequel explicitly based on Theron’s character, but nothing was confirmed for a few years. In January, a preview for “Furiosa” was released on YouTube; the film will be in theaters on May 24. 

I agree that a film’s quality often depends on production casting choices, sometimes the actors/actresses cast in remakes and prequels weren’t the best choices. 

However, I disagree that switching gender roles in films is problematic. Why can’t a man play Lara Croft in “Tomb Raider?” What’s wrong with an Indiana Jane? 

These opinions/complaints are sexist. The conservation of remakes, prequels and spinoffs casting a female lead(s) annoys male consumers. Which makes sense since the film industry is male-dominated.

In 2023, UCLA conducted a Hollywood Diversity Report. The report went over statistics on ethnicity, actors with disability and gender. 

“Women accounted for 38.6 percent of film leads in 2022, a more than five-percentage decrease from the 44.1 percent figure evident in 2019,” according to the report.

My issue is women are underrepresented in the film industry and in general. Who cares if a woman is the main character of a remake or a prequel. I understand people want to stick with the original storyline but keeping it the same can be repetitive and predictable.