The Female Gaze

Actor, Lorraine Toussaint, comments that it’s exciting to play the strong and clever Black female spy character, McCall in The Equailzer, a drama series reboot from the 80s.  Originally played by Denzel Washington, it’s timely that black women be reflected in more complex roles that some already inhabit in daily life as spies and black ops.

Further, actor, Elizabeth Debicki states spy dramas have historically eclipsed women reducing their roles into non-existent. In the Christopher Nolan’s new movie, Tenet, she plays a woman who evolves “in front of our eyes…. [and women] get to experience the same thing that men have, which is watching characters that represent their own gender who unfold in front of our eyes and teach us something about the human condition.” We can be what we see – so important for young women to see representations of complex, intelligent, funny, strategic and courageous women on screen.

Poornima Mandpe‘s article on Indian cinema and the women who are writing, directing and acting in Bollywood films is an interesting read on the subject of the female gaze.