Simone de Beauvoir once said “one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” and while this statement has pointed out the primitive and stereotypical moulds women are forced to fit into, it also allowed women to break free from the society’s imprisoned misconceptions. And what better way to defy the society than by redefining the meaning of women on the big screen.

Read on to discover ten movies starring powerful women and who are also redefining womanhood!

Mona Lisa Smile

At a time where women were allowed to study but barely acknowledged as students rather than future wives, Katherine Watson came to break the chains of an institution that refused to see women as nothing more than a wife. The movie is as empowering for women as it is for every other person alive; education will take you places, kids.

Gone Girl
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Gillian Flynn’s disturbing, powerful, fascinating and critically acclaimed novel has been adapted into the big screen under the same name. It definitely defies everything the world shapes women into: the perfect behaviour, the perfect planner, the perfect wife and so on of that same old mantra. However, Amy Dunne manages to portray the perfectly dangerous—if not psychopathic—human. Not to say that she is a great role model for any human out there, but she sure is one of the most brilliant characters to have ever been written!

Hidden Figures

In a gender and racial segregated America, Hidden Figures—an autobiographical movie—portrays the real stories of three of America’s black female mathematicians at NASA. Simply put, it’s one of the best and greatest movies of all time! Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe killed it on the big screen! #GirlPower

Zootopia
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You know how hard it is, but not impossible, for women to work in a male-dominated profession?! Despite being an animated film, Zootopia makes it clear that women can, as officer Bunny (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) enters the police force and has to prove to her male counterparts that not only that she’s capable of doing her job, but that she can do it well. Yup! Even animation has stepped up their game, wake up world!

Joy

“Life gets better after divorce” is definitely not the point of that movie, but always a brightside to remember. Joy is another autobiographical film just to prove that women kick ass in real life just as much as they do on-screen. Joy Monagano literally turned her life upside down and made herself filthy rich by believing in herself and her ambitions. This movie will get your adrenaline pumped and you won’t rest until you start building your own empire.

Brave
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I love when Disney highlights social problems through great animation! Even though not every girl in the world is in line to become the next heir to a throne, but some of them are forced to marry for one reason or another. As some societies or Jane Austen have that fixed image of a husband as a safe haven on earth, which is utter and complete bullshit. Thank you Merida for proving them wrong!

Precious

This is a survival story based on the novel Push by Sapphire, Precious is a 16-year-old girl living in an abusive household. The movie discusses the mental and physical results of abuse, while also showing the importance of being a good teacher.

Erin Brockovich
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Julia Roberts strikes again along with autobiographical movies about powerful and brilliant women just keep on coming. Erin Brockovich is the real story of a woman who brought down Pacific Gas and Electric Company who were responsible for the contamination of drinking water in Hinkley. It’s fierce, lively and most of all true!

Mulan

A brilliant strategist, beautiful, loyal, and a warrior; that is Mulan, and SHE SAVED CHINA!! Need I say more?!

Hermione Granger and How She Saves The World Every Damn Time!

Yes, she may not be “the chosen one”, but she is definitely the one that got all the answers. She is loyal, fierce, and the brightest witch of her age. A role model to look up to, even when she was a cat!

Any other strong female leads you would add? Tell us in the comments below!

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How exciting is it when you find out your favourite book is being made into a movie? Pretty great until the worrying sinks in over the fact that Hollywood could utterly ruin the original source material. From cutting out fantastic and crucial scenes for the plot or character development, or to changing the personality or lore of a magical world, these changes are often made to help with the translation from page to screen. Obviously they have to work from anywhere to 90 minutes to over two hours and can’t have it word for word, but it does become disappointing when we lose parts of the books we love.

However, there are some films out there that have done justice to their original source material and attempt to please a majority of the fans of the novel.

Read on to discover seven great book-to-film adaptation and tell us in the comments below what your favourite adaptation is!

The Giver

Book (1993) / Movie (2014)

This dystopian novel by Lois Lowry made for a great film, although like any adaptation, some would disagree. The novel quickly hooks you in and so does the book, which is why the book was so successful when it was released and still is to this day. Sometimes it can be hard to portray a dystopian novel (read Allegiant by Veronica Roth and then watch it to see why), but they certainly did a great job. From the characters, setting, and the cast, including the talented Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges.

The Great Gatsby

Book (1925) / Movie (2013)

The talented and iconic F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby in 1925 with the first adaptation tackled by the equally talented Australian director Baz Luhrmann. Leonardo DiCaprio was an excellent choice for the role of Gatsby (although, he still didn’t get an Oscar), along with Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, and Tobey Maguire. The success of the film was not only due to the fantastic source material, director and cast, but also the rich visual style and direction the film took on along with the modern soundtrack filled with popular artists.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Book (1998) / Movie (2001)

Harry Potter is now one of the biggest franchises out there with endless amounts of books, films, collectables, and everything else you could imagine. Out of all of the Harry Potter films, Philosopher’s Stone is by far the best and perhaps this is because it’s the shortest book in the series making it easier to keep as many of the scenes as possible. It also did a great job portraying the characters and introducing them to us along with the Wizarding World.

Hidden Figures

Book (2016) / Movie (2017)

Based on a true story, Margot Lee Shetterly’s novel had an extremely short adaptation period, which tells us that the book was very good. The non-fiction novel explores how African-American women in the 1960’s worked as computers to solve problems for engineers at NASA and how they gradually came to the forefront of the organisation as both African-American’s and women. The film has a real sense of empowerment and really touches your heart.

The Hobbit Trilogy

Book (1937) / Movie (2012)

Following the popularity and success of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, almost ten years later The Hobbit films became equally as popular in theatres. The films are filled with talented actors who portrayed these well-known characters incredibly well, along with magical sets and creatures that really transported you to the world JRR Tolkien created decades ago.

Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief

Book (2005) / Movie (2010)

The movie lived up to most expectations and it was quite good to watch, especially since many people enjoy Greek mythology and this book helped us get our fix. The movie followed the storyline pretty well for a book to movie adaptation, which is exactly what we wanted.

Perks of Being a Wallflower

Book (1999) / Movie (2012)

This is a book and movie that really hits home for a lot of people. They both talk about something that is very serious in many people’s lives, which helped the film and the book succeed, along with its talented cast. It also helped that Stephen Chbosky, the author of the novel, both directed and wrote the screenplay for the film. The message wasn’t as obvious as its book counterpart, but we still got the gist of it and the message still tugged at our heartstrings.

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Last year gave us some great movies, and since it ended with La La Land and Moonlight, we have high hopes for 2017! January kicked it off with the box-office hit, Hidden Fences  Hidden Figures, as well as a certain controversial film which has just been released, and still to be released in some countries.

If you missed out on heading to the cinemas, here’s a quick wrap-up of a few films released this month!

HIDDEN FIGURES
This historic movie is about the untold stories of three African-American, who helped NASA get the first man on the moon. The three fabulous ladies deal with sexist and racist comments given by the co-workers they have to deal with. This movie not only is an inspiring film, but also shows females they can do whatever they want no matter what people say. The film stars Octavia Spencer, Taraji P Henson and Janelle Monáe.

THE BYE-BYE MAN
This horror movie is based on a chapter from The President’s Vampire by Robert Damon Schneck. The film follows a man known as the Bye Bye Man, who haunts people and uses hallucinations to manipulate them.

PATRIOT’S DAY
Patriot’s Day features another historic event which occurred not so long ago. The film is about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the manhunt which occurred afterwards. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Kevin Bacon and Michelle Monaghan.

SPLIT
This new (and much better) horror movie takes on a man who has 23 personalities, and yes, you did read that right. He kidnaps three girls and takes them to his home. The three girls experience most of the personalities and they attempt to get one of them to let the girls out. However, the doctor says that there is one more personality to meet and it will then be the alpha personality. People have been raving about this film, so if you are into horror, this is a must-see. The talented James McAvoy stars in this film.

THE FOUNDER
If you haven’t seen the trailer for this, then you have been living underneath a rock with Patrick Star. This movie talks about how McDonald’s came to be and as a person who lives in the state where McDonald’s was started, I might say that I am happy and hungry that this movie is coming out. The film stars Michael Keaton, Nick Offerman and John Lynch Carroll.

A DOG’S PURPOSE
A Dog’s Purpose has been featured quite heavily in the media at the moment as a controversial behind-the-scenes video was leaked. The movie is based on the 2010 novel by W. Bruce Cameron, which follows a dog who has lived several lives. In the film, we see Bailey live five separate lives from birth to death and spans from the 1960s to the 2000s and eventually, Bailey is reunited with his original owner. Despite the uproar, it has grossed over $23 million worldwide over the past few days.The film stars Josh Gad, Dennis Quaid and Britt Robertson.

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