A review by katiescho741
Unlikeable Female Characters by Anna Bogutskaya

4.0

Thank you Anna Bogutskaya for breaking my crappy reading run of 2 star books!
This is a great book - it's funny and informative, and it gives you a list of the core films mentioned that are full of bitches, sluts, shrews, and trainwrecks. I loved the titles of each section, which do not shy away from using the words that have branded women for decades. I loved that several characters and actors got mentions in various sections, and that Anna kept to more mainstream cinema even though she's a massive horror and indie fan. There was plenty of variety in the films mentioned though, she brings everything from the Silent Era to recent superhero blockbusters into the conversation about how we see women characters. I especially enjoyed her mentions of the feisty women of the Hollywood Golden Age, as an important reminder that interesting and controversial women were not invented in the 2020s.
A great book for any film fan to read, a lot of fun, but it gives you some important and interesting new ways to think about how we talk about women in films and TV.