![Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Movie Trailer Screenshot (4)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Gentlemen_Prefer_Blondes_Movie_Trailer_Screenshot_%284%29.jpg)
A female buddy film is a type of
buddy film. In these films, women are the main characters and their friendships and relationships with each other drive the story. The plots of female buddy films can share the same concept of male buddy films—
opposite personalities go on an adventure or journey of sorts—or they can concern an ensemble group of women. Female buddy films gained popularity in the 1960s from the emergence of the
woman's film
The woman's film is a film genre which includes women-centered narratives, female protagonists and is designed to appeal to a female audience. Woman's films usually portray "women's concerns" such as problems revolving around domestic life, the fa ...
and the male buddy film genres.
Characteristics
The main characters of female buddy films are women, and the film's events center on their situations. The main cast is often female, depending on the plot. Critic Hannah McGill of ''
Sight & Sound
''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...
'' wrote, "Films that centralise friendship between women and girls are thus always doing something slightly radical, whatever their other themes and content. They repudiate the message that women are adjuncts to men; they emphasise the fact that women and girls still exist when there are no men or boys in the room."
Background
The buddy film was historically a
genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
limited to men and rooted in the literature and culture of America, with the fictional portrayal of
male bonding
In ethology and social science, male bonding or male friendship is the formation of close personal relationships, and patterns of friendship or cooperation between males.
In the context of human relationships, male bonding is used to describe ...
in the United States tracing back to 19th-century author
Mark Twain's characters
Huck Finn and
Tom Sawyer
Thomas Sawyer () is the titular character of the Mark Twain novel ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: '' Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), '' Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and '' Tom Sawyer, ...
, as well as Huck and
Jim
Jim or JIM may refer to:
* Jim (given name), a given name
* Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James
* Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy
* OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism
* ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring
* ''Jim ...
in ''
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' or as it is known in more recent editions, ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'', is a novel by American author Mark Twain, which was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United S ...
''. The occurrence of one woman interacting with another in film was so rare that concepts like the
Bechdel test originated as a means of measuring the representation of women in fiction.
Female buddy films appeared as early as the 1930s, with
George Cukor
George Dewey Cukor (; July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director and film producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studio's Head ...
's ''
The Women'' and
Gregory La Cava
Gregory La Cava (March 10, 1892 – March 1, 1952) was an American film director of Italian descent best known for his films of the 1930s, including ''My Man Godfrey'' and ''Stage Door'', which earned him nominations for Academy Award for Best ...
's ''
Stage Door
''Stage Door'' is a 1937 RKO film directed by Gregory La Cava. Adapted from the play of the same name, it tells the story of several would-be actresses who live together in a boarding house at 158 West 58th Street in New York City. The film ...
.''
Other prominent examples include ''
Dance, Girl, Dance'' (1940),
''
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'' (1953),
''
The Group''
(1966), and ''
Daisies'' (1966).
1991's ''
Thelma & Louise
''Thelma & Louise'' is a 1991 American road crime comedy-drama film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri. It stars Susan Sarandon as Louise and Geena Davis as Thelma, two friends who embark on a road trip that ends up in unfores ...
'' remains one of the most notable female buddy films to date and had a similar impact on popular culture as buddy film ''
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' did in the late 1960s. Similar films also paved the way for onscreen female friendships such as that between Evelyn Couch and Ninny Threadgoode in ''
Fried Green Tomatoes''. Other popular duos and groups include those in ''
Waiting to Exhale
''Waiting to Exhale'' is a 1995 American romance film directed by Forest Whitaker (in his feature film directorial debut) and starring Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett. The film was adapted from the 1992 novel of the same name by Terry McMil ...
'' and ''
Walking and Talking
''Walking and Talking'' is a 1996 independent film written and directed by Nicole Holofcener and starring Catherine Keener, Anne Heche, Todd Field, Liev Schreiber and Kevin Corrigan.
The film is #47 on ''Entertainment Weekly''s "Top 50 Cult Fi ...
''. Though there are far fewer female buddy films than there are male buddy films,
their frequency has increased in conjunction with rising numbers of women in production and creative roles.
Examples
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for ''The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has ...
has praised
Jacques Rivette
Jacques Rivette (; 1 March 1928 – 29 January 2016) was a French film director and film critic most commonly associated with the French New Wave and the film magazine '' Cahiers du Cinéma''. He made twenty-nine films, including '' L'amour f ...
's 1974 film ''
Céline and Julie Go Boating
''Céline and Julie Go Boating'' (french: Céline et Julie vont en bateau: Phantom Ladies Over Paris) is a 1974 French film directed by Jacques Rivette. The film stars Dominique Labourier as Julie and Juliet Berto as Céline.
It won the Special ...
'' as an example of the genre and wrote that he knows "many women who consider ''Céline et Julie vont en bateau'' their favorite movie about female friendship."
Dennis Lim sees the influence of Rivette's film in other female buddy films, such as
Susan Seidelman's ''
Desperately Seeking Susan
''Desperately Seeking Susan'' is a 1985 American comedy-drama film directed by Susan Seidelman and starring Rosanna Arquette, Aidan Quinn and Madonna. Set in New York City, the plot involves the interaction between two women – a bored housew ...
'' and
David Lynch's ''
Mulholland Drive
Mulholland Drive is a street and road in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. It is named after pioneering Los Angeles civil engineer William Mulholland. The western rural portion in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties is nam ...
''. ''Céline'' ''and Julie'' was also an influence on
Erick Zonca's 1998 film ''
The Dreamlife of Angels
''The Dreamlife of Angels'' (french: La Vie rêvée des anges) is a 1998 French Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Erick Zonca. The film was selected as the French entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Best ...
''.
Female buddy films are not limited to lighthearted fare, and some critics argue there is a significance in the representation of complex female friendships on screen.
"For women to whom a significant component of equality is the recognition that they embody the full spectrum of human traits, not just the sugar-and-spice ones, the onscreen depiction of ‘toxic’ friendships can be as significant and affecting as the celebration of healthy ones," critic Hannah McGill wrote.
In 2011, the comedy film ''
Bridesmaids
Bridesmaids are members of the bride's party in a Western traditional wedding ceremony. A bridesmaid is typically a young woman and often a close friend or relative. She attends to the bride on the day of a wedding or marriage ceremony. Traditi ...
'' was a major box-office success, crossing over the $100 million mark in just 23 days.
The film's popularity arguably ushered in a trend of R-rated female buddy comedies in the following years, such as ''
The Heat'', ''
Bad Moms
''Bad Moms'' is a 2016 American comedy film directed and written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. The film stars an ensemble cast that includes Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Jay Hernandez, Annie Mumolo, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Christ ...
'', ''
Snatched'', ''
Rough Night
''Rough Night'' (released in some countries as ''Girls' Night Out'') is a 2017 American black comedy film directed by Lucia Aniello (in her feature debut) and written by Aniello and Paul W. Downs. It stars Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, J ...
'', and ''
Girls Trip''. Producer
David T. Friendly
David T. Friendly (born May 1, 1956) is an American film producer best known for co-producing the 2006 film ''Little Miss Sunshine'', for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.
Career
After graduating from Northwestern U ...
called this phenomenon "the ''Bridesmaids'' effect".
The genre is crossed with the
buddy cop film
Buddy cop is a film and television genre with plots involving two people of very different and conflicting personalities who are forced to work together to solve a crime and/or defeat criminals, sometimes learning from each other in the process. ...
in the 1988 comedy ''
Feds
''Feds'' is a 1988 American comedy film written and directed by Dan Goldberg, and starring Rebecca De Mornay and Mary Gross. The plot follows two women, the ex-Marine Ellie and Bryn Mawr graduate Janis, who aim to become FBI Agents and enroll ...
'' and the 2013 comedy ''The Heat.'' In both films, two female cops who are opposites in personality are paired up together.
Other recent examples include ''
Booksmart
''Booksmart'' is a 2019 American comedy film directed by Olivia Wilde (in her feature directorial debut) and written by Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel, and Katie Silberman. It stars Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever as two grad ...
'' (2019)
and the animated TV series ''
Tuca & Bertie
''Tuca & Bertie'' is an American animated sitcom created by cartoonist Lisa Hanawalt for Netflix. It began streaming on May 3, 2019. It stars Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong, with a supporting cast including Steven Yeun, John Early, Richard E. Gra ...
''.
See also
*
Female buddy films by decade
*
Womance
A womance is a close but non-sexual, non-romantic relationship between two or more women. It is an exceptionally tight affectional, homosocial female bonding relationship exceeding that of usual friendship, and is distinguished by a particularly ...
*
Feminist cinema
*
Bromance
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
{{Women in Media
Film genres
1930s in film
1950s in film
1960s in film
1970s in film
1980s in film
1990s in film
2000s in film
2010s in film