Women in Cinema:

I think Elizabeth Taylor ought to be included as a strong actor. In Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, for instance.

Edgar, thank you for the suggestion.

Tom,

Earlier I pointed out that Disney’s Cinderella was a bit more assertive than Snow White and that Alice was very much more so, but with “Sleeping Beauty” (1959) we go back to a story where things happen to the staring princess, in this case the 16 year old Aurora/Briar Rose who was voiced by the then 29 year old Mary Costa. But this brings us to the 2014 film “Maleficent” with Angelina Jolie in the title role. In the original tale Maleficent is just evil, but in the newer, live action film things are not that simple.

The Jolie Angelina character goes through many changes during the course of the story. She not only affects the world around her, but is in turn affected by her surroundings and by others. We see and are confronted with the conflicting emotions experienced by Maleficent. This makes her a multidimensional character. The story asks questions – what is evil, what is goodness and what is true love? In “Maleficent” the character of Aurora was played by the then 16 year old Elle Fanning. I enjoyed this retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story, except that I could have done with less violence.

As a point of interest most if not all of the music in the Disney animated “Sleeping Beauty” was written by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky for the ballet “The Sleeping Beauty” which premiered in 1890 at the Mariinsky Theater, Saint Petersburg. Also, while essentially the same as the story for the ballet the Disney version has one significant difference.

Tom,

Well, in the movie 'Messiah of Evil' Marianna Hill is so hot it's impossible to keep up with the plot.

That is until the scene in the supermarket.

In 'Carnival of Souls' Candace Hilligoss stars in one of the creepiest, downright mind bending movies of all time.

Shot over a weekend in Salt lake city with a budget of $40,000 it still is freakish and disturbing.

Rosalind Russell is still the most beautiful actress of all time.

Spooky, either you didn’t read what has been written in this topic or you did not understand it. I agree that women can be seen as beautiful, but I feel that men can also be seen as beautiful and there is nothing wrong with that. Was Marianna Hill or Candace Hilligoss the dominant character in the movies you mentioned? If they were how were they the dominant characters? In what movies was Rosalind Russell the dominant character? The only thing you mentioned about those women was how they looked. This topic was to examine how in movies Men Take Action and Women Appear. I do not thank you for your comment.
Tom,

Chill out dud! Get a life.

recently the author of game of throwns was asked about the female characters on his writing as they had strong personalities, had quite an influence over powerful individuals getting to controlled them completely and their past were full of important events and detailed experiences theay went through giving the character a deeper and outstanding relevance for the spectetor (or reader if we talk about those who got addicted to this complex story quite earlier through the original books the tv show is based on)
the interviewer wanted to know the cause of him being able to write those incredible women caracther. the author look confused for a few seconds by the question, letting the audience and the interviewer a little perplexed not knowing what in the simple question had throw the writer of balance... 2 seconds later the author said: well, i always considered women were people, and all the people want the same thing out of life but comes in different shapes and qualities depending on the circumstances they went through their lives, so he usually search somebody real that could have gone through experiences similar to those of his character: in case of the young bran stark he met paraplegic people to know about the changes and difficulties in their lives.... so to write the female characters talked and try to understand women who had experienced what those strong woman had gone through..... awesome ah?
Something i´ve been looking fordwar to here from any celebrity when asked about equally treating women in whatever their job is, a treat women equally because they are people
if it´s finally been heard for the first time in 2016 and took everybody by surprise
imagine how discriminated and belittle those women: actresses, writers, scientist ,... were.. You think women were not given the same importance as men roles were simply because you don´t give importance to somebody that is not seem as important in real life

This I feel is the most important idea to me, that female characters are make to appear less important than male ones.

the thing here is how couldn´t female characters appear less important then males ones when the actresses playing those characters are seen less important than their colleague actors in the real life
It´s not deliberately done by some mysoginist directors, it´s just the real thing being shown inadvertently in some many little but meaningful details ands aspects of the film

oh wow don't´forget "out of africa" a huge contribution to getting women be seen as strong and brave individuals without being any less feminine. it also shown the injustice and humiliating situations they were put through by egocentric husbands in the character of the husband that disappear of the scene once things got complicated and the fact that even though a out of every woman dreams lover appears with the elegance of Robert Redford, the female character is kept as the main one. I think nobody thinks about out of africa as a feminist film but it had that effect on me

Nice pick