Written By A Man vs. Written By A Woman

Being a part of Gen Z, there are always new sayings, catchphrases, or inside jokes that are being created and get thrown around social media. I'll admit, Gen Z can sometimes be out of touch, but sometimes they come up with some of the most eye-opening things. Specifically, I have been interested in this one saying that goes along the lines of, "They were written by a man!" or "They were written by a woman!" 

This saying started going around, normally to critique aspects of fictional work, mainly works of entertainment such as novels, movies, and TV shows. The idea behind whether something was written by either a man or a woman does not literally pertain to the gender of a work's creator, but rather seeing one's work through the male and female gaze. 

Megan Fox in Transformers

Cameron Diaz in The Mask

Unfortunately, the male gaze is very prominent in cinema. In many films, there are multiple moments when a woman character is set up around a stereotypical male perspective. Whether it be by her clothes (or lack thereof), a bottom-up shot to show her body, a slow-motion entrance with music in the background, or even a makeover, it has been normalized that women are portrayed in this manner. And especially among Gen Z, more and more people are critiquing this aspect as it displays women as objects for a male's sexual desire. This is why most of the time, women are the ones who are usually using, "They were written by a man/woman," because it's their way of analyzing media through the male/female gaze. In this blog post, I wanted to further dive into what qualities of storytelling people have said give off a man or woman author, and also specifically dive into examples in film that were considered to be written by a man vs. woman.

"Written By A Man"

As I said earlier, things that are "written by a man," are things that are made for and through the male gaze. There are countless of examples of works written by men, but here are just a few. 

James Bond's Bond Girls

Bond Girl Actresses Ana de Armas and Ursula Andress

Girls of James Bond

If there was a recurring character that perfectly portrayed being "written by man," it's the Bond girl. Appearing ever since the first installment of the James Bond series in 1962, the Bond girl archetype is, as you can guess, the girl that accompanies James Bond on his missions, generally speaking. From what I've noticed, especially in the earlier movies with the original Bond, Sean Connery, the Bond girls are portrayed with some of the most stereotypical characteristics of the male gaze. They're usually a combination of being sexy, seductive, damsels in distress, confident, submissive, and so much more. Of course to put the cherry on top, they're also wearing the most impractical clothing and have ridiculous names. If "Honey Ryder" doesn't concern you, maybe "Pussy Galore" will.

The annoying thing about the Bond series too is that Bond's character is painted in such a handsome and praised light. Yes, he's the 007, but gosh, the guy's terrible sometimes. Going back to Sean Connery's films, his Bond was notorious for his "alpha" qualities. His Bond usually had multiple Bond girls, one to sleep with in the beginning and one that actually accompanied him on his mission. He also had a very domineering sex appeal, especially in Goldfinger (1964), basically forcing himself upon Pussy. But of course, no one really takes too much note of all these terrible qualities, because it's a normalized male heterosexual fantasy. Thus, written by man. 

The "Wear His Shirt the Next Morning" Cliche

Ok, so I'll admit, I am definitely not qualified nor experienced in any matter to speak on what actually happens after wild nights, but I doubt that waking up the next morning in the guy's button up is legit. I swear, I see it in every film that has anything remotely to do with sex. 

This was one of the funny examples I saw online, especially if the girl gets up and cooks her guy breakfast, in his shirt, dancing around the kitchen while listening to music, not getting burned by splashing oil, and smiling because she's just so happy after one hell of a night.

This entire scene from Barefoot in the Park (1967) is in mind, really romantically playful. Jane Fonda plays her character, Chorie, well, a deeply in love newly-wed wife, who just wants her husband to stay and make out with her even longer. And when she doesn't get a kiss goodbye, she threatens to go naked in front of the entire hallway. Now are there people who would do this? Probably, and to each their own. I feel like if this was from a woman's perspective, all of this would've happened from inside. Maybe she'd even be sleeping, because he's probably going to work early, and she wants to be resting still after a long night of rigorous activity. And most importantly, she'd either be wearing nothing, or a robe. Either way, I feel like the cliche itself is so normalized that people think it's what happens, but in reality just highly unrealistic. Again, just a normalized, male heterosexual fantasy: written by man. 

"Written By a Woman"

The most concise description I can give for things written by a woman is honestly just things not viewed through the male gaze. This is mainly because since the male gaze has been so dominant in cinema, there hasn't really been a chance to form a concrete idea of it. Therefore, I feel like these characteristics of things written by women are unique to each individuals wants or needs. But, there were definitely some commonalities between what people considered to be what. 

Complete Transparency of Feelings

Stereotypically, men are usually not known to be emotional and directly tell people how they feel, especially if it's confession of love. Therefore in film, there's a tendency for a sense of transparency to be left out, whether it be by men a/o women. But when there are moments to be heartfelt intimacy through communication of feelings, that's when the girlies start pulling out the "They were written by a woman!"

Pride and Prejuice (2005)

Ah yes, good rule of thumb: If the characters were literally written by women, then good chance they'll have the qualities of "written by women." The 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is a great example of keeping a novel's essence in its film, because Mr. Darcy is a beautiful character both on page and on screen. The big moment that stood out to viewers was his confession to Elizabeth, "You have bewitched me, body and soul. I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on." Along with his hand movements, Matthew Macfayden really has girls going crazy for his gentleness during that confession. 

Love, Not It's All Cut Out to Be

Throughout the past decade, Greta Gerwig has made a name for herself, in my opinion for her very "female gaze" films. From Lady Bird to Little Women to Barbie, Gerwig has a reputation for touching on very relatable topics that deal with womanhood and being a woman. Specifically in her adaptation of Little Women, Gerwig wrote Jo's character a very intimate monologue on women and their relation to love. 

In this speech, Jo's speech covers the duality of wanting to be loved, but not wanting it be the prominent aspect of one's identity. Especially during the era Louisa May Alcott's novel was first released, women were commonly treated as property, being identified as the man they were married to and how much wealth they had. Personally, this monologue was very eye opening, because it literally touches on so many things that pertains to the female gaze, women being more than just beauty, money, and pleasure, but intelligence, strong, and in tact with their emotions. Many people can probably relate to Jo's feelings about wanting to live up to so many personal self goals and break expectations, but ultimately, we're all just lonely. 

Conclusion

In the end, being written by a woman may just be having people feel seen instead of being objectified and looked at. It's being able to feel understood with all of the complex emotions people feel day to day. And who knows, that might mean Hollywood and cinema gets boring, but at least we can finally get more stories written by women for women.