I am a retired firefighter and veteran, and All of the military or public safety wives I have ever known have been consistently patient, supportive and strong. So why are female roles in every movie like this that I watch written as bitchy and weak? Women in the movie business are also frustrated by the "dumbed down" roles that they are forced to take to make a living, just ask them if you don't believe me :(
shareIn general I agree (that's part of why I'm a Joss Whedon fan:-). But in this particular case the vibe I got was that Molly was patient, supportive, and strong.
She hung around an awful long time after communications had completely broken down. She said nothing at all about Tommy's drinking for months even though she was clearly aware of it. The few times Tommy dumped a little of what was on his mind, she dropped whatever she was doing to listen, then tried to continue the conversation ...only to have Tommy clam up and refuse to say anything further each time. She figured out how to handle the household finances even though Tommy wasn't interested and the $50 for her missed exercise session was clearly significant. She mentioned the problem with her truck only once, then figured out some other way to handle it. And so forth...
Thanks for the reply Chuck and you make some valid points (I completely missed the fact that she had paid $50 for the training session, that scene makes more sense to me now). Molly was actually not that bad, I was just making a general point about the writing concerning female characters in movies. Most of the female stars that I follow absolutely loathe the scripts that are sent their way.
I am a fan of Joss Whedon myself and you are right, Tommy was not the most conversational guy and the drinking could be a real problem. Anyway, good movie and thanks for responding, cheers.
Thanks for the reply Chuck and you make some valid points (I completely missed the fact that she had paid $50 for the training session, that scene makes more sense to me now). Molly was actually not that bad, I was just making a general point about the writing concerning female characters in movies. Most of the female stars that I follow absolutely loathe the scripts that are sent their way.
I am a fan of Joss Whedon myself and you are right, Tommy was not the most conversational guy and the drinking could be a real problem. Anyway, good movie and thanks for responding, cheers.
And how do you know this? I'd tell a chump like you to DNA test your kids, but we both know you are too afraid to
shareAlmost every supporting character in every movie is a cardboard cutout. So why should military wives be any different?
shareHave you seen 'We Were Soldiers' with Mel Gibson? I though the wives in that film were very sympathetic and human characters - as it's set in the 60s, the roles are more traditional but still, the characters are as fleshed out as their husbands sent to war.
shareYou are right about that one, We Were Soldiers is an exception to the rule and I had not seen that movie in years. Good movie and thanks for the comment. It was written by Randall Wallace (a great writer) who also wrote Braveheart.
shareAlmost every bar here in San Diego is full of "patient, supportive and strong" military wives every time a ship goes out on deployment.
shareI was in the military for 6 years. Here are the archetypes of military wives I encountered.
1. Show Horse Owner: Husband was a career soldier. Wife knew he was her ticket to not ever having to work. Not ever having to do anything but care for children. Was a good mom and wife but thought she was part of the unit as if she was in the same platoon as hubby. Sorry, you're just extra baggage, lady.
2. Honey Boo Boo's Mom: Wife was morbidly obese due to not having to do anything but complain about military living conditions. IQ levels were just above that of a retarded Chimpanzee. Saw the military as WELFARE and felt entitled to every penny or benefit that they never burned a calorie to earn.
3. Gone Baby Gone: Husband is gone on deployment, field exercise, etc., wife waits about one day feeling sorry for herself and then goes out with 10 other wives in the same situation and gets drunk and stupid. Hooks up with the next young stud who pays her any attention. This was my favorite archetype. I banged about 15 to 20 wives in a year when the main unit on base had a major deployment. The clubs and bars were never as full as when that 10,000 man unit was gone. In their defense, it was actually more like 2 weeks into their husbands departure that they flooded the bars and clubs. When hubby came back it was yellow ribbons and signs at the airport. Just gross.
These hos aint loyal.
People hate what's popular and people jump on bandwagons. The rest of us are in the middle. Done.