Horton Hears a Lack Of Female Leads

April 4, 2008 - 9:30 am By Jess - NYU

horton-hears-a-who-1.jpg

Peter Sagal, author and host of NPR’s “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” (a show for smart democrats, and other people who enjoy playing games of wit on the radio), is so freaking pissed. And I love it.

I love it because finally someone is saying what I’ve known for years: Hollywood is obsessed with dudes.

Upon seeing the smash hit Horton Hears a Who with his 3 little daughters, Sagal flipped his sh*t about a plot point involving a father, his 96 daughters, and one sullen son:

“And there’s this — not only does the movie end with father and son embracing, while the 96 daughters are, I guess, playing in a well, somewhere, but the son earns his father’s love by saving the world. Boys get to save the world, and girls get to stand there and say, I knew you could do it. How did they know he could do it? Maybe because they watched every other movie ever made?”

As a woman who’s been trying to make her way in the entertainment industry for years, Sagal’s anger rings so, so true. Movies are full of guys. Guys saving the day. Guys being funny. Guys being awesome. Guys being guys. This plethora of testosterone has made it almost impossible for women to have an equal say. Hell, these days, we’re lucky if we even get a complete character arc.

The lack of formidable female characters in film is a big issue, but no one seems concerned enough to raise their voice.

Well, almost no one.

Peter Sagal, continue to flip your sh*t, and I’ll continue to flip mine.

They’ll hear us soon.

[Read the rest of Peter’s fantastic article HERE]

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11 Comments on "Horton Hears a Lack Of Female Leads"

  1. thestorysofar says:
    Fri, 4th Apr 20081:06 pm 

    Oh come on… female leads in movies are great, and maybe we do need more, but Horton is a dude, always was… the evil lead was female… and the BEST character in the whole movie was female too (Katie).

    Dont take a lack of female leads in movies out on one film that happens to have a male lead. It seems kind of silly.

  2. CC says:
    Fri, 4th Apr 20081:09 pm 

    Oh please. Female leads are present in tons and tons of movies. Chick flicks, romantic comedies, regular comedies, dramas, action movies. My entire movie cabinet is full of female dominated movies so saying there’s a lack of female leads is bs. The Horton Hears a Who Movie, which I LOVED, was based on a Dr. Seuss book and if it didn’t remain true to the story line, people would’ve been pissed.

  3. J - NYU says:
    Fri, 4th Apr 20081:36 pm 

    Opinions taken. And while I think you all have valid points, female leads — not counting romantic comedies — are certainly in the minority…especially if those female leads AREN’T focused on finding a love interest..

    Also, I think Segal wasn’t trying to say they should have changed the original story, I think he’s just tired of seeing women as background…

  4. L says:
    Fri, 4th Apr 20081:56 pm 

    Horton Hears a Who is a TERRIBLE example for you to use! It’s based on a Dr. Suess story which happened to be written a long freakin’ time ago…and there are plenty of movies out there dealing with regular every day successful women who don’t sit around doing nothing. And there’s plenty of butt kicking women around. Every one of those bond girls can hold her own, and have we forgotten Lara Croft? There’s tons of girls like that. So a love interest is usually involved…there’s always a guy involved in that love interest too. That’s realistic.

  5. Dasha says:
    Fri, 4th Apr 20082:39 pm 

    “Opinions taken. And while I think you all have valid points, female leads — not counting romantic comedies — are certainly in the minority…especially if those female leads AREN’T focused on finding a love interest..”

    I totally agree.

    And it is true this is an old story. BUT the writers of the MODERN movie script edited it significantly, it changed into a film that the writer of this post and the anchor on NPR saw as sexist. And I don;t have to remind everyone that that NPR guy was a male. Not some crazy “GURL POWER” chick out looking to cause some waves.

  6. Dasha says:
    Fri, 4th Apr 20082:42 pm 

    and also want to add that while I agree Tomb Raider and other female lead movies ARE out there, I would like to end with this snippet from Hollywood producer Beverly Graf.

    A documentary titled “Invisible Women,” on which Graf’s lecture will be based, purports that 73 percent of all film and television roles are for males, while the remaining 27 percent of roles intended for females are unfairly given to the youngest, most attractive applicants.

    “The focus of the documentary is on sexist ageism, particularly in casting, where women over 40 drop off the cliff as far as the screen is concerned,” said Graf about “Invisible Women.” “But there’s also quite a bit of material on how under-represented even young women are.”

    Balls in your court now ladies!

  7. Eliza says:
    Fri, 4th Apr 20085:54 pm 

    I’m just glad I’m not the only who listens to “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me”. Its like my Saturday religious ritual.

  8. Erin says:
    Fri, 4th Apr 20086:01 pm 

    So I take it you would prefer Hollywood rewrite the classic Dr. Seuss tale? Honeslty, of all the movies to complain about a lack of female leads, why a movie that was based on something the producers and writers had pretty much no control over?

  9. Dasha says:
    Fri, 4th Apr 20089:16 pm 

    they DID rewrite the classic dr. suess tale……

    thats half of the point of this article.

  10. Dasha says:
    Fri, 4th Apr 20089:25 pm 

    The film-makers ADDED 96 daughters to the story, and left the only one son (who is the hero of the plot and basically gets all the parental attention). The daughters might as well be houseplants. Why did they need to add all those insignificant female siblings? Why not 96 male and female siblings?

    THAT is why people are a little (or greatly) ruffled.

    Don;t get me wrong, I don’t assume the writers did this on purpose. It speaks to a greater conditioning that our society has been through; namely females can’t be leads without it having something to do with being in love with the male hero, being rescued by the male hero, ect. Sure there are exceptions, all these people are saying is that those exceptions are FAR too few.

  11. J - NYU says:
    Fri, 4th Apr 20089:33 pm 

    Couldn’t agree more, Dasha.

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