Female Protagonists

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/824016/

KEY LINE:

"we can see the development of an impressive variety of female characters and protagonists. One might even argue that by comparison with Hollywood, British cinema, with its perennial concern for realism, its desire to speak about ordinary lives and social concerns and its comparative lack of emphasis upon superficial beauty and glamour, has permitted a greater breadth of female representation. "

"While a number of famous female protagonists have been presented as strong models of motherhood (as in Poor Cow (d. Ken Loach, 1967) and A Taste of Honey (d. Tony Richardson, 1961)), we have rarely seen women whose priority is to pursue and develop their ambitions, talents or vocations (see, for example, The Red Shoes (d. Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger, 1948), Educating Rita (d. Lewis Gilbert, 1983), and Little Voice (UK/US, d. Mark Herman, 1998)). Female characters who are uninterested in motherhood and domesticity are frequently depicted as lacking something or paying a price for their success. Those who do pursue larger ambitions are often portrayed as being in some sense naïve, manipulated by other (male) characters in the pursuit of their dreams."

"female characters play a larger part in propelling the narrative forward"

"confined their female characters to motherhood and domesticity, leaving the male protagonists to speak out about larger social concerns, many contemporary social realist films allow female characters greater power over their own destinies."

"The representation of women in film depends as much on issues of production, institutions and genres as on social, political and historical contexts"