Bad Moms Written by Dads?

        

          Films often portray women as only concerned about one thing, men. However, in Bad Moms the writers discuss everyday problems for women, specifically moms. The movie shows the daily struggles and triumphs that moms experience and also show women who are interested in something other than just men. When scored based on the Rep Test, the movie Bad Moms received a pretty high rating of a B. Although the movie provides a good representation of women, it does lack in representation of other demographics.

              The creators of Bad Moms did a great job of representing both minorities and women in their film. The protagonist of the film is a thirty-something female mother who is struggling to be a good mother to her two children. The film easily passes the Bechdel Test because women frequently discuss their children with each other. Women are portrayed as human beings with substance and personality instead of just objects for the male gaze.  In addition, the film also features women and men of color. Both Jayda Pickett Smith and Wanda Sykes have major speaking roles in the film and are not reduced to stereotypes at all. In addition, Wendell Pierce plays the principal of the school in the film. The film does a great job of being more representative than most films that Hollywood produces.

              However, Bad Moms fails to represent many demographics. For example, the film does a very poor job of representing the LGBT community.  The protagonist is a straight woman, and the film actually has no lesbian or gay characters with speaking roles at all.  Also, there is no character in the film who has any disabilities. In addition, the film also does a poor job of representing men in the film. Although there is one single father in the film who takes care of his children, most of the fathers in the film are displayed as incompetent parents who are a secondary parent to the mother. Finally, the main problem I have with the film and what helps the film receive a B instead of an A in the Rep Test is that the film is written and directed by two men. In my opinion, this makes the movie increasingly less representative of females. The film is entirely centered on the struggles of the daily life of a mom; therefore, it makes no sense that it was written by two men. Of course, men observe women in their roles of being a mother; however, in order to make the film as authentic as possible, I believe the men should have hired a women director to help them produce the film.

              Overall, the movie successfully depicts women in a way that is more realistic than most films. The women in the film are more focused on family and children than boyfriends. The film does struggle to represent other minorities and also was created by two men even though the film is about women. Despite these details, the film received a B on the Rep Test grading scale and therefore, did a good job of representing minorities in the film. In the end, I believe this system of grading movies based on their amount of representation in films is a great way to make directors and producers more accountable. Although I think it is fine for movies to not represent every demographic, directors should try their hardest to make their films as representative as their storyline allows.