There has been this great push of making female-led films in Hollywood recently. Now more than ever people are vocal. With incredibly easy access to the internet, everyone has the opportunity to voice their opinion and find others who agree. And everyone has come together to support females in films. There have been excellent films produced in the last couple of years starring strong female protagonist: "Hidden Figures" (2016), "Atomic Blonde" (2017) and "Wonder Woman" (2017) to name a few. But why has there been this great push? Is it for revenue purposes by movie studios, or is it about time for females to be properly represented in films? It is important for us to analyze this in order to continue this trend of powerful female-leads in film.

I love the idea of females finally taking charge in film. I try to go to any action film starring a female protagonist to see what Hollywood is cranking out (Depending on funds of course). Earlier this week I had the opportunity to finally watch the recent "Tomb Raider" (2018) film. The film is based on the video game series of the same name where Lara Croft travels the world trying to stop an evil organization from unleashing ancient magic on the world. A simple premise that movie-goers have watched time and time again. However, I particularly like this film and feel it's unique. The story isn't mind-blowing and the acting can be spotty, however, this film stars Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft, and I feel that is super important for little girls. To see icons they can look up to. However, Lara Croft isn't the only female-icon out there with her own film.

"Wonder Woman" released with almost universal praise. The Amazon Princess has graced comic book panels for over seventy-five years. For years people questioned why Princess Diana (Not that one) did not have a film to her name yet. However, Warner Bros. saw an opportunity and had director Patty Jenkins create an excellent solo film. Ten years ago, a Wonder Woman film would not have "worked". Action films starring a female protagonist ten years ago and were pretty lackluster. No director or screenwriter was going to put effort into a film that wasn't going to sell well. This constant loop hindered movie studios from releasing these Female action films.

But during the mid-2010s, there was this great online push for female equality. With twitter hashtags like the #MeToo Movement calling out sexual harassment, to people online calling out the inequality of females in film. This was a golden opportunity for film studios to take advantage of the female craze. One example involves Marvel Studios. Prior to the release of "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015) Marvel revealed that they would be releasing a Captain Marvel film. The character Captain Marvel is the story of a female-heroine named Carol Danvers who is part human, part alien and travels the galaxy trying to bring peace. The film was originally scheduled for 2018 but was pushed back a year to be released on "International Women's Day" in March of 2019. A bitter-sweet move by Marvel in my opinion. But the question still arises if these films are just studio cash grabs and movie executives are not really concerned about making these female-led films.

Why is it now that these movie studios are producing these films? Marvel has had Scarlett Johansson play Black Widow in the MCU for almost ten years, and she will be getting her FIRST solo-film in 2020. Yes, there has been other female-led films In the past however they do not have the female protagonist being strong and independent. While the controversy over movie studios can be argued more in-depth, I am more concerned that this trend will end abruptly. And not by the fault of the movie studios, but by people on the internet.

While there are many people who like the idea of females taking charge on film, there are some outliers who hurt the idea for everyone. Recently on Twitter, I saw a tweet talking about the "Captain Marvel" trailer. In the trailer, there are voice-overs by Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson. A woman on twitter counted the number of words said between the two and Samuel L. Jackson had nearly twice as many words than Brie Larson and someone on twitter felt that it was a disservice to women in film. That extreme analysis is very harmful for these leading women films. This type of attitude alienates a specific group of moviegoers. Specifically, it alienates men who originally would've supported the film, however, are shunned as these outliers see all men as evil. This is a prominent problem online and while it can be understood that women have been oppressed for centuries, not every man is out there to get them.

I am going to continue to support the idea of female-led films. However, I recognize that with the current political culture in the United States, these films need to incorporate girl power without shoving the idea down people's throats and alienating potential revenue opportunities. If these measures are not in place, then we can kiss these films good-bye.