Jodie Foster Braves It Alone, Again

When The Brave One opens on Friday, audiences will see Jodie Foster in the same position she finds herself on-screen in an awful lot: alone. Sans man. In this new flick, for instance, she goes on a vigilante rampage through the streets of New York City after her financé is brutally murdered by street thugs.

It would be easy to suggest that the kinda-sorta-out-but-not-really lesbian is deliberately choosing movies that don't pair her up with a guy or -- as Brave One does -- dispatches the guy ASAP. I don't think that's the case, though. I suspect it's more a matter of the limited imagination of Hollywood, which doesn't generally know how to create a strong female character, the likes of which would appeal to an actress of Foster's caliber, in the presence of an equally strong male character. Women on-screen in studio films tend to end up playing second banana to a man... unless the man ain't there in the first place. Until Hollywood starts learning to tell stories that don't let the gals get eclipsed by the guys, I'm sure Foster's films will keep trending the same way.

See more lonely Jodie in these movies:

Flightplan (2005): Jodie's an aeronautical engineer and a widowed mom who takes on terrorists in the skies over the Atlantic.
Where's her man? In a coffin in the cargo hold.

Panic Room (2002): Jodie's the new owner of a posh NYC brownstone, and a divorced mom, who takes on home invaders who have crashed her pad.
Where's her man? Shackin' it with some tramp on the Upper East Side, probably.

Contact (1997): Jodie's SETI researcher takes on anti-science idiots when a message from aliens turns the world upside down.
Where's her man? Her beloved dad is dead, and she's an atheist: there's no Big Man talking to her from upstairs.

Sommersby (1993): Jodie's lady farmer takes on the man who claims to be her husband, a Civil War veteran returning after being away for many years.
Where's her man, really? Probably dead in a field somewhere.

Little Man Tate (1991): Jodie's single mom takes on everyone who disses her genius little boy.
Where's her man? She's got only the little one of the title.

Silence of the Lambs (1991): Jodie's FBI agent in training takes on the world's most notorious -- and most charming -- serial killer.
Where's her man? Her beloved dad is dead, she dismisses suggestions that her boss is sexually attracted to her, and she blows off the nerd who hits on her. But you could almost say that this is the movie that proves the rule I mentioned above about guys and gals in movies together by being the exception: Foster more than holds her own against Anthony Hopkins. Hannibal Lecter is her man, and she doesn't get eclipsed by him. He's not exactly someone you settle down and buy china with, though.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
MaryAnn Johanson (email me)
reviews, reviews, reviews! at FlickFilosopher.com

Recommend (0)

|  Comments (0)

|  Email

|  Share

Share  Facebook Digg del.icio.us