During an interview with The Radio Times recently, Doctor Who‘s Maisie Williams opened up about the film and TV industry’s pervasive sexism. As reported by Mashable, the actress talked about the lack of well-written female characters, and the emphasis placed on women’s looks:
I didn’t realise when I was younger that women were written so badly, but going further into this career I realised there are a lot of really bad characters, that it’s not common to come across females who aren’t just ‘the girlfriend.’
[…] When you get a script they always include a sentence or two about the character, something like: ‘Jason: 36, strong, built, quick, witty’ and a description of his personality…Then there’s a description of the girlfriend — ‘Sarah: hot, blonde.’ And that’s it! Hot-looking but in a cute way. That’s your character!
[…] You can’t pick and choose everything, but I hope to never have to play a character that is only there to benefit a male lead.
It’s incredibly depressing to think of the sexism Williams has likely experienced, even in the relatively short time she’s been in ‘the business,’ but it makes me optimistic to see young actors being so outspoken about the misogyny they see daily.
Hearing Williams talk about her desire to play characters that don’t exist just to serve a male protagonist’s development also made me even more excited for the prospect of seeing her in Pacific Rim 2. What about you, friends?
(via The Nerdy Bird)
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