I agree with everything you've said here. I get the feeling that Joss doesn't really sit in much on casting sessions (not that I really think he's as big a feminist as people say he is, but still) - there is a general bias in casting towards symmetrical faces and fit bodies. They should be just different enough to be called "unusual", so people will remember their name, but they should all be...pretty. At least, that's the general feeling I get from TV and movies in general these days. I feel like, even in comedy, the women they play off as "homely" are just dressed down so that they CAN have that big "She's All That" reveal if they want it, and they woman they play off as "ugly" are usually what normal, everyday, attractive women look like.
I think the main problem here is that... a lot of women want to be Sarah Michelle Gellar, or Charisma Carpenter, or Eliza Dushku, or even Kristen Bell, because they kick ass and take names and get their man, and subconsciously a lot of times that image comes with a "hot chick" picture.
I have a hard time finding decently written females in any media - all of my favorites are repressed, and at least supposed to be nearly a-sexual Victorian era women who, lets face it, are NOT todays standard. And I wouldn't want to be them, knowing what life is like today. The closest I've come in a good long while are all, surprisingly, from YA lit. Nearly every female in Harry Potter is rounded out as a PERSON, and CHARACTER, and not as a chick, and I think that's one of the greatest things about JK Rowling's rise to fame. And the other, although this is probably an unpopular opinion, is Katniss Everdeen, who will likely get torn apart in the movies but who, as a female character, was strong, independent, and rounded out as a person. I don't necessarily like Katniss, but I don't actually like a lot of real people either, and I enjoy that I dislike her not because of Mary Sue-ness but because I actually DO NOT like her as a person.
And, actually, while I'm thinking about it, Rookie Blue is doing a pretty good job of it. Not with Andy, really, most of the time, because she's ALL the telenova that show ever needs, but with women like Noelle Williams and Traci Nash, they've got these women who can balance their lives and their jobs and their relationships and be cool gals and have friends and have emotions but still be...people.
Long Rant is long....
I agree with everything you've said here. I get the feeling that Joss doesn't really sit in much on casting sessions (not that I really think he's as big a feminist as people say he is, but still) - there is a general bias in casting towards symmetrical faces and fit bodies. They should be just different enough to be called "unusual", so people will remember their name, but they should all be...pretty. At least, that's the general feeling I get from TV and movies in general these days. I feel like, even in comedy, the women they play off as "homely" are just dressed down so that they CAN have that big "She's All That" reveal if they want it, and they woman they play off as "ugly" are usually what normal, everyday, attractive women look like.
I think the main problem here is that... a lot of women want to be Sarah Michelle Gellar, or Charisma Carpenter, or Eliza Dushku, or even Kristen Bell, because they kick ass and take names and get their man, and subconsciously a lot of times that image comes with a "hot chick" picture.
I have a hard time finding decently written females in any media - all of my favorites are repressed, and at least supposed to be nearly a-sexual Victorian era women who, lets face it, are NOT todays standard. And I wouldn't want to be them, knowing what life is like today. The closest I've come in a good long while are all, surprisingly, from YA lit. Nearly every female in Harry Potter is rounded out as a PERSON, and CHARACTER, and not as a chick, and I think that's one of the greatest things about JK Rowling's rise to fame. And the other, although this is probably an unpopular opinion, is Katniss Everdeen, who will likely get torn apart in the movies but who, as a female character, was strong, independent, and rounded out as a person. I don't necessarily like Katniss, but I don't actually like a lot of real people either, and I enjoy that I dislike her not because of Mary Sue-ness but because I actually DO NOT like her as a person.
And, actually, while I'm thinking about it, Rookie Blue is doing a pretty good job of it. Not with Andy, really, most of the time, because she's ALL the telenova that show ever needs, but with women like Noelle Williams and Traci Nash, they've got these women who can balance their lives and their jobs and their relationships and be cool gals and have friends and have emotions but still be...people.