Hollywood has a problem with women. Despite all the think pieces, outcry from moviegoers, and revelations from prominent actresses, studies show that men far outweigh women in the film industry. To help place a spotlight on this issue, toy company GoldieBlox released an advocacy video that reimagines classic action films with female heroes. Spoiler alert: it’s pretty fun!
The video is set to “Holding Out For a Hero,” which is appropriate considering audiences are holding out for a female hero to grace more than a handful of action movies. In the spirit of spearing misogyny, GoldieBlox remade James Bond, The Matrix, Back to the Future, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, Mission: Impossible, and other classic films with female dolls.
Watch the video below:
GoldieBlox is a company founded by Debbie Sterling, whose mission is to develop toys that “get girls building.” Ruby Rails, one of the dolls in this video, is one example; the sets are designed to teach its owners about aerodynamics, engineering, and more.
A statement from the company posted below the video reads:
We’re not here to produce the next blockbuster; we’re here to provide a role model in play. When the girls in your life pick up Ruby Rails, we want them to know that they can be a high-flying, fashion-loving programming extraordinaire too. We want them to feel like they can be a boxer, a secret agent, a dinosaur wrangler, or a fighter pilot.
Our girls deserve action heroes with flowing hair and combat boots. Our girls deserve to see themselves on-screen and calling the shots behind the scenes. Our girls deserve more.
As cited by GoldieBlox’s video, a study was recently released by the Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film. The research found that, among the most egregious bullet points, women comprised only 20% of behind-the-scenes roles on the top 700 theatrically released films of 2014. This comes at a time when Jennifer Lawrence was inspired to write a “Lenny Letter” detailing how she’s still underpaid compared to male actors and called “bratty” for speaking up. This comes at a time when, in 2015, Viola Davis finally became the first black woman to win the Emmy for Leading Actress in a Drama Series. This comes at a time when Ashley Judd detailed a cringing story of sexual harassment by a top industry exec. Until change occurs, we need more attention to this issue.
And, to the point of GoldieBlox’s video, films with female action heroes can be entertaining as hell!
