As the weather begins to get colder and the days get shorter, that means we’ll be spending a lot of time inside at home. With that is a great opportunity to have some movie marathons with your friends. Here are some movies to check out during your next movie marathon if you’re looking for some strong female leads.
*Potential Spoilers Ahead*
- The Sound of Music
-
Yes, this movie is a little old, but nonetheless it’s a classic that never gets boring to me. It stars Julie Andrews as a governess named Maria who is able to change the dynamic of the von Trapp family she is assigned to work for after their mother/wife has passed away. She is able to bring music and joy back into their hearts and while doing so, stands up to their father, the initially intimidating Captain von Trapp, asserting her position as a woman who doesn’t need to listen to a man to make choices she knows are right.
- Breakfast at Tiffany’s
-
Another iconic class film from the 1960s. This one stars Audrey Hepburn as the free-spirited Holly Golightly who shows that she doesn’t need a man in order to be happy in life. She’s able to move around and be independent as a woman, which would have been uncommon for women during the time the film was set and filmed.
- Pretty Woman
-
This movie follows a sex-worker named Vivian who meets a rich businessman, Edward, and is able to negotiate how she wants to be treated within their relationship as he pays her to be with him for a week. She’s not afraid to dictate to Edward when she feels as though she is being disrespected by him and his peers and tries to take care of herself as best she can. One of my favorite lines in movie history takes place at the end of this movie when Edward asks her “so what happens after he climbs up and rescues her.” She replies, “she rescues him right back.” I just think that just screams women empowerment.
- Flashdance
-
Now I’m not exactly the biggest fan of this movie, but I think the overarching ideas within it are still important to consider. It follows a college-aged woman named Alex who is a welder (in a male-dominated industry) by day and an exotic dancer by night, but all she really wants to be is a ballerina and study at a prestigious dancing school. Alex shows how she is able to overcome her life in a male-dominated society by staying true to her goals in life and not allowing men to get in the way of her dreams.
- Pretty In Pink
-
This is one of those cliche high school movies from the 1980s by John Hughes; however, this one has always stuck out to me because of how confident the main character Andie (played by Molly Ringwald) is with who she is. Despite the bullying she faces because she is not as wealthy as the other kids she goes to school with, it doesn’t deter her from being herself, advocating for the education she deserves, pursuing the boy she has a crush on or wearing clothes that she wants to wear. While I don’t necessarily like the romance plot in this movie, she still gets a nice, happy ending at the end which I’m glad about.
- Legally Blonde
-
In this iconic movie from the 2000s, Elle Woods (played by Reese Witherspoon) decides she needs to go to Harvard to impress her ex-boyfriend and prove that she is “wife-worthy” to him and his family. At first she was perceived as just a rich, blonde woman who was enamoured by shopping and getting her nails done, but as time goes on she overcomes these stereotypes of her and proves her doubters wrong by becoming a strong lawyer. I’m pretty sure after I watched this movie for the first time, I wanted to be a lawyer and have a moment like Elle does at the end of the movie when she gets Chutney to admit she killed her father.
If you haven’t checked out any of these movies before, I strongly recommend you do. They aren’t perfect movies by any means, but I think the overall messages within them are great and make me feel as though I can conquer whatever life throws at me next.