I recently saw the new Steven Soderbergh thriller Contagion for the second time. The movie follows a deadly new virus as it makes its way around the world, and the epidemiologists and government officials who try to track it down before it spreads even more. I’m a huge fan of thrillers, and I thought it was exceptionally well done. The plot was great and realistic, the acting was superb, and it kept up my interest throughout the whole film.
What I absolutely loved about Contagion at first was the strong female presence. There are three major woman leads, each attempting to help track down the virus. Three women leads in one movie?! That is surprisingly rare. So many movies feature just an ensemble cast of all men and one woman, so this was really refreshing.
But as I began to think more and more about the role of these female characters in the movie, it seemed that something was off. I realized the following:
1)
The woman who dies at the beginning, Beth Emhoff (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) is portrayed as a smart, independent woman who travels alone to Hong Kong for work. That’s great. But what happens to her? After she cheats on her husband with her ex-husband, she contracts the virus and dies—both a literal and figurative punishment for her sexual choice.
2)
Marion Cotillard plays Dr. Leonora Orantes, the smart, no-nonsense World Health Organization epidemiologist who goes to China to attempt to see where the virus originated. She is kidnapped and held captive by her Chinese associate, Sun Feng, who hopes that having her in captivity will move his village “to the front of the line” for acquiring the vaccine.
3)
Dr. Erin Mears, played by Kate Winslet, is sent by the CDC to Minneapolis (another center of the virus outbreak) to figure out how to get a handle on it. She contracts the virus and dies.
4)
The fiancé to Dr. Ellis Cheever, played by Sanaa Lathan, is one of just two women of color in the film. She is told by her husband, who works at the CDC, to get out of town because the virus is serious. She is not to repeat this confidential information to anyone else. She proceeds to tell one of her girlfriends.
5)
Monique Gabriela Curnen plays the other woman of color in the film, the pregnant news journalist Lorraine Vasquez (again, a smart, working woman). She turns down the male journalist’s request to do a story on the vaccine. She contracts the disease and dies.
6)
The one exception seemed to be Jennifer Ehle’s character Dr. Ally Hextall, whose hard work and perseverance results in her discovering the vaccine for the virus. (Like Dr. Orantes and Dr. Mears, she is not sexed-up or ultrafeminine; she spends most of her onscreen time in an orange biohazard suit. This is a nice relief from the persistant notion that smart, capable women also have to be sexpots.) I was very impressed by her character, but it is revealed that she only gets the idea of how to test the vaccine from her dad. Yep, a male character.
So what do we really have here? We have characters that appear to be representing brilliant and independent women at a forefront in the movie, but underneath the surface, they are unfaithful; taken advantage of; weak; blabbermouthed; weak again; and dependent on a male for success.
I’m not asking for flawless female characters. I’m just saying, these flaws don’t have to perpetuate female stereotypes (that women are always getting sick, or that women gossip, or that women need men to survive). Is it too much to ask for, Mr. Soderbergh, to have a few strong female leads who don’t somehow represent these clichés?
As I mentioned before, I loved that these strong characters weren’t oversexualized and they didn’t exist solely as an accompaniment to the men. I love that they are portrayed as hardworking leaders. I really do appreciate that and it’s a welcome change. But underneath this seemingly fair portrayal, it’s the same old subtly sexist tropes.
What I absolutely loved about Contagion at first was the strong female presence. There are three major woman leads, each attempting to help track down the virus. Three women leads in one movie?! That is surprisingly rare. So many movies feature just an ensemble cast of all men and one woman, so this was really refreshing.
But as I began to think more and more about the role of these female characters in the movie, it seemed that something was off. I realized the following:
1)
The woman who dies at the beginning, Beth Emhoff (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) is portrayed as a smart, independent woman who travels alone to Hong Kong for work. That’s great. But what happens to her? After she cheats on her husband with her ex-husband, she contracts the virus and dies—both a literal and figurative punishment for her sexual choice.
2)
Marion Cotillard plays Dr. Leonora Orantes, the smart, no-nonsense World Health Organization epidemiologist who goes to China to attempt to see where the virus originated. She is kidnapped and held captive by her Chinese associate, Sun Feng, who hopes that having her in captivity will move his village “to the front of the line” for acquiring the vaccine.
3)
Dr. Erin Mears, played by Kate Winslet, is sent by the CDC to Minneapolis (another center of the virus outbreak) to figure out how to get a handle on it. She contracts the virus and dies.
4)
The fiancé to Dr. Ellis Cheever, played by Sanaa Lathan, is one of just two women of color in the film. She is told by her husband, who works at the CDC, to get out of town because the virus is serious. She is not to repeat this confidential information to anyone else. She proceeds to tell one of her girlfriends.
5)
Monique Gabriela Curnen plays the other woman of color in the film, the pregnant news journalist Lorraine Vasquez (again, a smart, working woman). She turns down the male journalist’s request to do a story on the vaccine. She contracts the disease and dies.
6)
The one exception seemed to be Jennifer Ehle’s character Dr. Ally Hextall, whose hard work and perseverance results in her discovering the vaccine for the virus. (Like Dr. Orantes and Dr. Mears, she is not sexed-up or ultrafeminine; she spends most of her onscreen time in an orange biohazard suit. This is a nice relief from the persistant notion that smart, capable women also have to be sexpots.) I was very impressed by her character, but it is revealed that she only gets the idea of how to test the vaccine from her dad. Yep, a male character.
So what do we really have here? We have characters that appear to be representing brilliant and independent women at a forefront in the movie, but underneath the surface, they are unfaithful; taken advantage of; weak; blabbermouthed; weak again; and dependent on a male for success.
I’m not asking for flawless female characters. I’m just saying, these flaws don’t have to perpetuate female stereotypes (that women are always getting sick, or that women gossip, or that women need men to survive). Is it too much to ask for, Mr. Soderbergh, to have a few strong female leads who don’t somehow represent these clichés?
As I mentioned before, I loved that these strong characters weren’t oversexualized and they didn’t exist solely as an accompaniment to the men. I love that they are portrayed as hardworking leaders. I really do appreciate that and it’s a welcome change. But underneath this seemingly fair portrayal, it’s the same old subtly sexist tropes.
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