Top 10 Films for Every Feminist

Face it, women on the big screen aren’t always accurately represented, or more to the point, they’re simply the "eye candy." That’s offensive, to say the least. Women are as strong and fight just as hard as men for simple things, like the right to vote, wage gaps, and a whole bunch of other things that men will never understand what it’s like to be without. Even when a movie producer aims to have that strong female lead, it sometimes tanks anyway because that’s just not how women work in real life. There are some amazing movies, though, that every feminist should see in their lifetime. The following ten films shed real light on issues and show women in the best way possible.

1. 'The Color Purple' (1985)

This film, directed by Steven Spielberg, is an American period drama based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Alice Walker.

Set in Georgia, the film follows Cecile, an oppressed black woman. Cecile faces rape, sexism, domestic violence, loss of children at birth, loss of her sister, chauvinism, and the demoralization of her friend Sofia, who also loses her freedom thanks to the law.

The characters tell a story of overcoming racism and misogyny in the rural south during the early 1900’s making a perfect story for the struggle for equality. Cecile’s determination persists through the whole story. By the end, the characters have changed remarkably and relationships begin to heal.

2. 'Legally Blonde' (2001)

In this comedy film, also adapted from a novel by Amanda Brown, sorority leader Elle Woods wants nothing more than to be Mrs. Warner Worthing the Third. The only thing stopping him from proposing is that she is too blonde. So, Elle works her ass off and gets into Harvard Law School, where she finds out that Warner is already engaged to another woman.

Elle stands out a lot, but that doesn’t shake her nerve from being her and doing things her way. Still determined to prove that she isn’t some dumb blonde, she suddenly is at the top of her class and even lands a coveted spot in Callahan’s law firm as an intern.

When the case seems too difficult for everyone, Elle manages to look from a different perspective and makes a break in the case, ultimately solving it on her own.

While it’s placed in the comedy genre, it can be an eye opener for how men view conventionally pretty women as dumb. But with a little dedication and a lot of hard work, anyone can do or become anything – regardless of how others view them.

3. '10 Things I Hate About You' (1999)

Both pretty boy Joey Donner, and new kid Cameron James want to take Bianca out on a date — but there’s a catch. Bianca isn’t allowed to date until her shrew-like older sister is taken out on a date first.

Based off Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, this modernized remake film portrays Kat Stratford as the cliché breaking feminist — no matter how unpopular that makes her.

4. 'Suffragette' (2015)

This British historical period drama film has a focus on women's suffrage in the UK. It’s 1912 and the suffragettes are holding protests. Maud Watts, a 24-year-old laundress gets caught up in one of the protests, and later the wife of an MP encourages women to give testimony to Parliament to secure the right to vote.

Maud’s colleague Violet offers to testify, however, she ends up beaten by her abusive husband leaving Maud to take the stand. Energized with her testimony the women gather to see if they have been given the right to vote; sadly, they did not. Following this, the police begin beating them. Caught up in the crowd, Maud gets arrested and jailed for a week.

Her return home is full of stigma from her neighbours and colleagues. She tells her husband she’ll stay away from the suffragettes but she gets invited to a secret rally. When Sonny finds out, via Maud getting dropped off by police, he kicks her out on the street.

While on the street Sonny won’t allow Maud to see her son, and so she turns to more radical movements to get laws changed for women’s rights.

The film itself is true to history and is an eye-opener for anyone who doesn’t know what kind of struggles women faced to be recognized as legal people.

5. 'Belle' (2013)

Another British period drama, this film is inspired by the 1779 painting of Dido Elizabeth Belle beside her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray. Belle is the illegitimate, mixed-race daughter of a British admiral. She plays a crucial part in the campaign to abolish slavery in England.

Raised by her aristocratic great-uncle Lord Mansfield and his wife, Belle’s lineage affords her certain privileges, yet her skin colour prevents her from fully acting in the traditions of her social class. Wondering if she’ll ever be able to find love, Belle falls for a vicar’s son bent on change who, with her help, forms Lord Mansfield’s role as Lord Chief Justice to end slavery in England.

6. 'Iron Jawed Angels' (2004)

The American historical drama focuses on the American women’s suffrage movement in the 1910s following as the leaders use peaceful and nonviolent strategies to revolutionize the American feminist movement.

Returning from England where Suffragettes took place, Alice and Lucy present a plan to the National American Woman’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to push in Washington for the women’s right to vote nationally.

This film also pushes racism as well as the suffrage movement as the African-American’s refuse to march behind the others in the parade.

Further conflicts are explored when the women are arrested and sent to the Occoquan Workhouse for 60 days. Despite the abuse and terrorizing treatments they faced, the women undergo a hunger strike. The suffragists are blocked from seeing lawyers or visitors until U.S. Senator Tom Leighton visits his wife, one of the imprisoned women. News of the treatment leaks and the pressure is on for a change.

Also sticking true to real life this shows the American side of the suffragette movement and portrays the racism on top of the sexism.

7. 'Obvious Child' (2014)

Hitting home on one of the more controversial topics, an immature, newly unemployed comedienne Donna Stern must dive deep into the muddy waters called adulthood when her drunken one night stand with a graduate student ends in an unplanned pregnancy.

Called “The most winning abortion-themed rom-com ever made” by The Dissolve, the film tackles the hard decisions about parenthood. After discovering her pregnancy, Donna visits Planned Parenthood to schedule the abortion.

As she’s about to tell Max, the man she’s falling for, about the appointment, he comments about how he’d like to be a grandfather someday. Instead of owning up to what she’s doing she avoids Max and goes home that night with another man.

Ashamed she seeks her mother’s help, and her mother shares before Donna, she too had an abortion. When Max finds out about the abortion he is angry, but on the day of the appointment arrives with flowers and asks if he could go with her.

8. 'She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry' (2014)

This documentary follows the birth of the women’s liberation movement in the 60s. The film tells the story of the brilliant, sometimes outrageous women who founded the movement. They said “the personal is political” and turned it into a revolution. Not only in public, but in the bedroom, in the workplace; in all spheres of life. Called threatening by the FBI, yet ignored in many history books, these women changed the world.

The cast is genuine, they are all themselves and there is no fiction here. It simply resurrects the buried history of these amazing women. Basing in years 1966 to 1971, it was the second wave feminism movement. The film documents the lives and efforts of over 10 of these feminists.

9. 'The Help' (2011)

Born during the civil rights movement of the 1960s an ambitious author decides to write a book describing the African-American maids’ point of view on the white families they work for, and the hardships they face every day.

This film — and the 2009 book it’s based off — is full of hardships. Miscarriage, racism, assassination, and more. Set in Jackson, Mississippi, Skeeter takes it upon herself to find out all the shameful things her socialite friends and family have been doing to their “help.”

10. 'Mona Lisa Smile' (2003)

It’s 1953, a time when women’s roles were rigidly defined; a free-spirited, novice art history professor, Katherine Watson, begins teaching at the all-female Wellesley College. Despite the academic reputation, success is ultimately defined by "how well" the students marry. Encouraging the women to strive for more than that, Watson challenges the administration and inspires her students to look beyond "what is" and consider "what could be" instead.