I am not a movie snob. My favorite movies, in fact, are “Babe”, “Bringing Up Baby”, and “Big Trouble in Little China.” Hmm, all “B” movies, weird. Anyway, I love a great summer popcorn movie as much as anyone else, and my expectations are to have fun and not have to think. But when did aiming towards 14 year old boys =hiring the skankiest stripper girls for female leads?

I’m talking of course, about Transformers. I mean, let’s be honest, if you were at a dinner table with these girls they cast, would you drink after them and not think you risked catching hepatitis? Who’s idea of attractive is this?! And they MADE THEM look like that!
I try to think to myself, whenever I make a catty comment about another actress, if it’s just jealousy or some other personal reason. But, when I heard snickering in the theater when these girls tried to seem intelligent, I felt more justified. And it wasn’t entirely the actor’s fault; this was clearly someone’s VISION of what they though the audience wanted in their female characters: Tons of makeup, whorish clothing, and terrible extensions down to their waist. One scene, it seemed like they had a PA underneath the girl shoving her boobs up so the cleavage would JUST make the bottom of the frame. It was touches like that that really gave me a real eye roll.

I would argue that yes, if you’re aiming for women OR men, attractive is important. But there is a real difference between attractive and “hire me by the hour”. It’s a cartoon look at female reality some Hollywood filmmakers seem to have when all their women characters are either Whores or Mothers. It’s an infantile view, in my opinion. If you look at Buffy, and Alias and Lost, and even the latest Die Hard with the daughter(Not the best example, but my most recent and comparable :), female characters, when conveyed as intelligent and capable, BECOME sexy, not the other way around.  I mean, who really wants to follow those girls into a sequel? If the women had been more relatable, would it have made a difference? Am I being crazy defensive feminist “bah humbug” actress girl?