Finally got around to seeing this. "Soap opera-ish" material does kinda sum it up. It does end on a more serious note that felt really out of place, but 90% of this movie is "woman has baby, discovers a serious problem, and then keeps it to herself because drama". It's Pedro Almodovar so it's not terrible and the acting is pretty good, but man, the whole movie would have been over in 30 minutes if one character hadn't have kept her mouth shut.

I haven't gotten through As Good As It Gets yet. I hope to write women as well as Pedro does, some day.

@CelluloidFan said:

I haven't gotten through As Good As It Gets yet. I hope to write women as well as Pedro does, some day.

Although I do love a lot of Pedro's movies, I think the way he writes women is pretty simple to replicate. Not that this works in all cases, but simply writing your female characters as if they're old women or not sexually attractive regardless of the character's actual age/looks. Most old women have reached the point where they can no longer get by on their looks so they don't care about their looks anymore and they don't care about your feelings, they will say/do whatever they feel like saying/doing regardless of if you like it or not unless you're someone really close to them that they want to protect. And in the cases where they are being polite they are letting you know through word choice or body language how they _really _feel (guys have a tough time picking up on this, best example is when she says "I'm fine" when you know she's not).

I also think it's funny that NeoLosman brings up that AGAIG quote because it is kinda. When I was first starting out I used to write idolized versions of my female characters. This is a huge mistake and I see it in movies and TV shows all over the place because I can recognize it so easily now. Women, with few exceptions, rarely do anything that doesn't in some way benefit themselves or further their own goal. They also have a very hard time apologizing for wrongdoing which is why you rarely see women at fault for anything in movies and TV, even when they have blatantly done something wrong it will be justified in a way that makes her feels makes her the good guy.

The other thing I do which I think works much better with female characters than male characters, is giving your female characters a strong opinion on a touchy or controversial topic (related to the theme of your story) and attune their character to that opinion. Most female characters of the past only existed to serve the man's story/desire while these days they exist mostly to spout political ideology, which is not what I meant in my pervious sentence. I'm talking something as simple as she thinks the toilet paper roll should be over instead of under and she judges everyone who says differently.

There are tons more nuances that you can attribute to female characters depending on their goal, but I have to admit that in Parallel Mothers it was a little frustrating but I did understand why Cruz's character maybe wouldn't want to admit the truth to protect her own feelings. Because if that were me I would have raised hell IMMEDIETLY, but the movie does a great job at introducing a new problem ever 10-15 minutes or so.

I feel you... it can be a bit of a challenge writing a female character whom you deem to be attractive. I don't personally feel I have trouble doing it -- I don't trip over their power over the male characters, or "fall in love" with them. Actually, there was a statement made by the defunct pop group TLC that often helps me in doing this: they simply pointed out to their male listeners, to whatever fault or error, that they are just like them.

When I say a female character that is "attractive" what I mean is, when male writers want to covey that this female character is cool/sexy/alluring, they tend to be written ideally; they don't say or do anything that might anger or upset the man they are intended to end up with or seduce. It's one of those things I never really noticed when I was young but sticks out like a tattooed nun now.

Typically we want that woman to be "likeable" and so she ends up being generic or bland. These days I sort of see the opposite though where the women are no longer sexy or even that physically attractive, they're mean and angry and condescending but the guy still falls in love with her, which I think is equally bad writing. Aside from the visual of a young thin woman with long hair and big boobs, I think guys are attracted to women who are interesting, but are also kind. It's the kind part that seems to be overlooked. We've gone from the stereotype of sexy bland bimbo to emotionally heartless girlboss.

Pedro's female characters often walk that line of being attractive, interesting, but also kind in some way. There's a softness that lets their femininity shine through without relying on them being overly snarky man-haters.

@cswood said:

When I say a female character that is "attractive" what I mean is, when male writers want to covey that this female character is cool/sexy/alluring, they tend to be written ideally; they don't say or do anything that might anger or upset the man they are intended to end up with or seduce. It's one of those things I never really noticed when I was young but sticks out like a tattooed nun now.

Typically we want that woman to be "likeable" and so she ends up being generic or bland. These days I sort of see the opposite though where the women are no longer sexy or even that physically attractive, they're mean and angry and condescending but the guy still falls in love with her, which I think is equally bad writing. Aside from the visual of a young thin woman with long hair and big boobs, I think guys are attracted to women who are interesting, but are also kind. It's the kind part that seems to be overlooked. We've gone from the stereotype of sexy bland bimbo to emotionally heartless girlboss.

Pedro's female characters often walk that line of being attractive, interesting, but also kind in some way. There's a softness that lets their femininity shine through without relying on them being overly snarky man-haters.

That's fine.