Watching List

Good science fiction movies are hard to find, but good feminist science fiction movies are even more rare. At least they were until Ridley Scott's 1979 smash hit, Alien, was released. Years later, the legacy of the film's female heroine, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), is still felt in the sci-fi genre. These science fiction movies feature strong female characters who fight their way out of male expectations and gender roles placed on them by the patriarchy. In other words: they're pretty awesome.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)

One of the most obviously absent premises in the vampire sci-fi genre is the idea of an independent female vampire that isn't defined by her male sire or the male vampires around her. This movie is about a skateboard-riding, indie rock-listening, blunt-banged killer known as The Girl, who sucks the blood of bad men.

Amirpour says she didn't intend for the film to be a feminist statement – or a statement on anything at all. But in watching A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, it’s difficult not to politicize its heavy symbolism. The Girl wears a chador which, in this context, seems like a symbol of empowerment as she goes about inflicting pain and death on those who’ve done wrong by women, while re-imagining the way Western audiences think about the symbols that go along with feminism.

Advantageous (2015)

Advantageous follows a mother and daughter who live in a futuristic world where males spend too much time dominating and dick-waving. Gwen works for a cosmetic surgery company that has developed a way for old people to move their consciousness into hotter, younger bodies. When the center decides that Gwen is too old to be their spokesperson, she decides to undergo the surgery herself.

Although it’s not really cosmetic surgery as we know it, Gwen’s predicament with whether and how to change her body for the sake of her career can be seen as a metaphor for the real world struggles of women trying to succeed in their jobs, and as mothers, while facing social pressure to stay skinny and wrinkleless and radiant, thanks to greed-driven societies and institutionalized misogyny. Amen.

Alien (1979)

In Alien, Ripley, the OG feminist sci-fi hero, fights off extra terrestrial evil, rebels against a corporation, and manages to survive in a hostile environment where all men fail.

Ex Machina (2014)

Ex Machina explores how men control women, specifically how a powerful young genius creates female robots for his pleasure. But women, we know, can never be controlled.

Princess Mononoke (1997)

There’s no way to talk about this Studio Ghibli film without sounding hyperbolic: Princess Mononoke is one of the most beautiful films ever made. Miyazaki's majestic animation goes hand in hand with a timeless story packed with symbolism and subtext as it tells the story of humankind vs. nature.

A thread of feminism weaves itself through the film. The women are, in general, so much more interesting and developed than the male characters. The film also features a tenacious heroine, San, who subverts feminine stereotypes and is written without the unrealistic idiosyncrasies often found in animation; Wolf-goddess character Moro deserves attention as an unlikely mother figure who is both fierce and nurturing; Lady Eboshi is refreshingly portrayed as an unflappable leader, not a demanding bitch.

Tank Girl (1995)

Based on the British cult comic-strip, our farting, nose-picking anti-heroine fights a mega corporation, which controls the world’s water supply. Tank Girl – a post-apocalyptic movie directed by a woman – is a hilarious feminist landmark in comic book history and what most chick flicks should ideally be, smashing its way victoriously through the Bechdel Test in the first 10 minutes of the movie.

What makes it even better is the extreme weirdness of it all, including Ice-T playing a mutant kangaroo (ahhh, the '90s). A rewatch of the film will also remind you of the brash comedy and fourth wall-breaking vibes of Tim Miller’s Deadpool. They’re both aiming to dismantle and satirize the classic comic book movie routines, with a self-aware hero who refuses to play by the stereotypes with which we’re all familiar… Only, Tank Girl does it in a way that touches on gender tropes.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Two words: Sarah. Connor.

Under the Skin (2013)

In Under the Skin, Scarlett Johansson’s alien character takes the body of a young woman and travels Scotland in a van picking up men. She lures her victims into a trap with the promise of sex, instead bringing them back to her apartment and harvesting their flesh. Glazer’s alien serial killer film has the premise of a horror movie, but is actually something very different.

It’s brazenly feminist in the sense that it reflects the struggles of women living in a patriarchal society. Johansson’s character is objectified by the movie’s men because of her looks, but she doesn’t know how to exercise agency over her own body, or use it for her own pleasure. The last man she meets sexually assaults her and in the process reveals what’s under her skin; he’s disgusted when he’s forced to see her as more than just a sexual object. It’s a movie that tries to make us understand what it sometimes feels like to be a girl.