Twitter Has Spoken: #FilmHerStory Demands More Female Protagonists

By Kristy Puchko | Popular | March 4, 2015 |

By Kristy Puchko | Popular | March 4, 2015 |

When it comes to Hollywood movies, representation can be boiled down to a pale sausage fest dominated by straight white dudes. And hey, we love straight white dudes. But as an audience we could totally stand to have more movies about ANYTHING else.

Apparently the Pajiba staff isn’t alone on this as #FilmHerStory is gaining momentum. In celebration of Women’s History Month, people are using the hashtag as a means to share incredible true stories of women that could make for great films! Here’s just a few we’d be game to see:

#FilmHerStory Maria Bochkareva, a Russian peasant who fought in World War I. She formed the terrifyingly named Women’s Battalion of Death

— Tara Lee C (@TaraUnscripted) March 4, 2015

"Stagecoach" Mary Fields an ex-slave turned Wild West ass-kicker. #FilmHerStory . pic.twitter.com/sLYq52EjTP

— Duncan MacMaster (@FuriousDShow) March 4, 2015

#FilmHerStory The ‘Night Witches,’ Russian WW2 fighter pilots. Shooting down one of their planes automatically won any German the Iron Cross

— Tara Lee C (@TaraUnscripted) March 4, 2015

Claudette Colvin,pioneer of African-American Civil Rights Movement.In 1955,was 1st person arrested 4 resisting bus segregation #FilmHerStory

— Audioseal (@AudioSeal1) March 4, 2015

#FilmHerStory HELLO OBV! Hedy Lamarr -creatd the system of wireless communication that would later form the foundation of cellphones, Wi-Fi.

— Tara Lee C (@TaraUnscripted) March 4, 2015

Henrietta Lacks - Black woman whose cells were used to create HeLa cells, an immortalized cell line used for medical research #FilmHerStory

— Film Fatale (@FilmFatale_NYC) March 4, 2015

But there’s plenty more where that came from.

As someone who’s had the pleasure of writing on the lesser known tales of history’s heroines (and anti-heroines), I’ve often marveled at how few have gotten movie adaptations. What this hashtag succinctly shows is just how rich women’s stories are. It’s not just about better representation for women in film. It’s about the possibility for outstanding cinema…that’d happen to have women at their center.

Why in 2015 is this still so damn revolutionary?

Kristy Puchko is not so much an angry feminist as an exhausted one.