Paul Feig, I Salute You!

*Disclaimer: I may sound like a feminist. I can't help it, I'm a woman*

Paul Feig has been working pretty consistently in the entertainment industry since the 80s, perhaps most prominently known for his work on the small screen, the most obvious being Freaks and Geeks. I can't say that I've followed him as I've done a number of his peers but I have seen his most recent works that have put him in the spotlight, Bridesmaids and The Heat. Bridesmaids had funny moments and It was good to see a pretty much all female cast in a major Hollywood film that wasn't Sex And The City, but I did feel that it was ridiculously overrated. Sure, I found it enjoyable at times (who couldn't both love and be disgusted by the food poisoning scene) but I was expecting that second coming of The Hangover after the way people were talking about it and The Hangover was far superior. The characters within Bridesmaids were a disappointment to me, other than Megan (Melissa McCarthy), pretty much played up to the stereotypes of women, many of them which were negative, being catty, shrill, envious ect. I didn't really like the characters, I couldn't really relate to them. I mean, I don't think I know any women like that so why an Earth are women in their late 30s behaving like that?

Due to this I didn't have high hopes for his next effort, The Heat, but I was pleasantly surprised. I expected it to be pretty much the same as The Other Guys but with a love triangle and jokes about menstruation, but no. It didn't rely as much on the stereotypes of women as Bridesmaids did, in fact I felt that had the lead roles been tweaked slightly the could have easily been played by men. Unlike Bridesmaids the film didn't need to abuse the subject of gender roles to get a laugh. Because the females went against type I felt more familiar with them, and I was able to get invested in their adventures (or misadventures if you'd like to call it that) which made the experience all the more enjoyable and made the film far superior to Bridesmaids for me. Paul Feig bought funny, interesting FEMALE characters to us in the film which, I think any of you know we don't get a lot of. Sure, he may not have written the characters but he played a huge part in bringing them the the big screen, making them feel real.

It reminded me of another one of Feig's creation, Lindsay Weir who was the protagonist of Freaks and Geeks, who in my opinion is probably one of the most engaging, relatable, least alienating female characters in teen dramas. Seriously, can any other women reading this relate to Blair Waldorf or whoever's on 90210? Freaks and Geeks proves that Feigs fair representation of women is not an isolated incident, I for one hope he has a lengthly career and he can carry on doing so. Paul Feig, I salute you!

Live Long and Blog!