Alex Garland’s sci-fi blockbuster Annihilation, to be released in the US on February 23 and on Netflix worldwide a few weeks later, is a rare example of a sci-fi movie led by women that avoids some of cinema’s worst cliches.
Here is a list of gender-related tropes in film that often have critics gnashing their teeth.
The Smurfette principle, coined by American poet and essayist Katha Pollitt in 1991, is the practice of including only one woman in an otherwise entirely male cast.
These movies are typically driven by a male-dominated narrative, with the woman existing only in relation to how she affects the men.
Examples: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Justice League and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
The Bechdel test asks whether a movie features at least two named female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man.
Various surveys have shown that only around half of all movies pass the test, named after the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, who credited the idea in part to the writings of Virginia Woolf.
Examples: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Avatar, the entire Lord of the Rings and original Star Wars trilogies.
Here is a list of gender-related tropes in film that often have critics gnashing their teeth.
The Smurfette principle, coined by American poet and essayist Katha Pollitt in 1991, is the practice of including only one woman in an otherwise entirely male cast.
These movies are typically driven by a male-dominated narrative, with the woman existing only in relation to how she affects the men.
Examples: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Justice League and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
The Bechdel test asks whether a movie features at least two named female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man.
Various surveys have shown that only around half of all movies pass the test, named after the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, who credited the idea in part to the writings of Virginia Woolf.
Examples: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Avatar, the entire Lord of the Rings and original Star Wars trilogies.
