Writing Characters, Another Movie
I saw quotes from this essay floating around last week, but only finally read it today: from Greg Rucka, “Why I Write ‘Strong Female Characters'”. Ah, yes. There’s a reason why he’s one of my favorite comic-book writers, and why his Wonder Woman run is up there at the top for me.
Everything he says is true of writing any character, of course. But it’s nice to have it spelled out so well.
I watched “Shooter” last night (with Mark Wahlberg) and enjoyed it quite a bit more than I thought I was going to. I can’t even remember when this came out because I don’t remember anyone talking about it at the time. I can’t remember why I decided to watch it, either, except that I was looking for an actiony-thriller and it was free on Amazon. I wouldn’t have regretted the rental fee, though — or a ticket fee, if I’d seen it in the theater originally. The trailer is below.
And, yep. I bought the book it is based on.
May 30, 2012 @ 6:31 pm
Well, while the plot seems pretty clear, I like the trailer and definitely like the casting choices. Good ending?
May 30, 2012 @ 7:30 pm
Yep, good ending.
May 30, 2012 @ 6:58 pm
I watched “Shooter” shortly after it was released on d.v.d, and was pleasantly surprised that I liked it as much as I did. It wasn’t the greatest movie but a pretty decent action movie. Have you seen “Red” starring Bruce Willis. I loved it. It has the perfect blend of action, comedy and romance.
May 30, 2012 @ 7:30 pm
I haven’t seen it! I will check it out.
May 31, 2012 @ 1:15 pm
I saw Shooter in the theater and it was way better than I expected. Exactly the sort of action movie I love. Highly recommended.
May 31, 2012 @ 1:53 pm
I like that Greg Rucka essay. I was reading a commentary by Jane Espenson recently that also touched on the topic of writing characters of the opposite sex and it’s interesting to ponder the ways in which their philosophies mirror one another.
On a related tangent, a few people I haven’t seen mentioned in the “writing strong female characters” discussion is Luc Besson and the Coen Brothers (admittedly, it’s a bit more subtle in the case of the Coens, but if you think about it, the females always seem to get what they want by the end of their movies).
I guess I’m going to have to get that one going some day…could be fun to re-watch their movies with that focus on the female in mind.