although,accordingtoLauzen,femalecharacterscur
rently only make up 31 per cent of all blockbusterleads
(up from 2017’s24 per cent figure),this amountsto a
‘recenthistoricalhigh’ in the number of profitable films
headlinedbywomen.^10
HydecitesTVseriessuchasDesireeAkhavanand
RowanRiley’sTheBisexualaswellasIlanaGlazerandAbbi
Jacobson’sBroadCity– bothheavilyfemalecentrictitles
- asAnimals’ antecedents.^11 The film also parallelsthe Irish
TVseriesCan’tCope,Won’tCope; thisDublinsetdramedy
followstwotwentysomethingwomen– oneanartist,onea
corporateflunkey– contendingwith the discordantrefrains
offeminism,capitalismandtraditionwhiletryingtohavea
goodtime.Animals’ resonanceswiththesestoriesis notby
accident.Withitsfemalewriteranddirector,severalfemale
producersaswellasassociateandexecutiveproducers,a
strongcontingentof womenin creativeroles,andtwofemale
leadactors,Animals– like its predecessors– exemplifies
somenecessarycoursecorrectionstowardsgenderparity
currently unfolding on screensand sets around the world.
- Animalsis a film about love – a word that, coincidentally,
is often used to describethe type of labourinvolvedin
indie filmmaking.It’s also a film about fear. Like many young
women,TylerandLauraarescaredofanimpendingfuture,
onethatmayormaynotyielda career,marriage,children
and/orfamily.Theydetourthroughthedread,suspicion
andenvythatpitswomenagainstoneanotherontherace
totickoffthosemilestonesbeforethebig 3 0 becomesa
blipin theirrearviewmirror.In theend,Lauramustlean
intoherfearofinstability.Sheannulsherengagementto
JimandgraduatesfromherfriendshipwithTyler,stepping
intoa freer,moremalleablelandbeyondcoupledom.Tyler’s
futureis evenmoreambiguous.Aftersometimeapart,
theformerbestiescrosspathsatLaura’sfather’sbirthday
party,whereTyler’spresencesuggeststhatsheis stillon
goodtermswiththerestofherchosenfamily.Witha new
bestfriend– orpossiblegirlfriend– in tow,Tylerappearsto
havemovedonfromherfriendshipwithLaura.Butwhether
she’srepeatingherdetrimentalhabitsandbehavioursis not
revealed,leavingviewersin thesame nebulous new world
as the characterson screen.
Ultimately,Animalsis a testamenttowomen’spower
andpleasure– andnotjustwhenattainedthroughbooze,
sex, sequinsand humour,even thoughthese may be de
lightfulindulgencesenroutetothelargergoal.Thesame
canbesaidofHyde’sinvestmentin theproject,whosecen
tralstorylineresonateswithherownyouthfulpast.‘I feltlike
I wasseeingthesecharactersthatfeltveryfamiliartome,
but I wasn’t seeing them much on screen,’ she recounts.
Women’sstorieswerebeingtoldin a certainway,andthere
wasa bitof‘girlsbehavingbadly’,buttherewasn’ta lot
ofdepthunderneaththat– there’sa kindofmoralising.I
wantedtoseesomethingthatfelt so visceral and connec
ted to my own experience.^12
Animalssuggeststhatnomatterhowhardwerun,the
surestroute to joy involvesfilling your own bottle.More im
portantly, it reminds us thatneitherthe hare nor the tortoise
is ‘adulting’wrong,solongaseacheventuallyreaches
its destination (and has a little fun along the way).AimeeKnightis a writerand critic from Kaurnaland. She is
thesmallscreenseditoratTheBigIssueandthepopcul-
ture columnistatTheLiftedBrow. HerworkappearsinLittle
White Lies,Overland,Meanjin and more. mEndnotes(^1) SophieHyde,quotedin WalterMarsh,‘SophieHydeon
Animals, NostalgiaandLettingFriendshipsDie’,TheAdelaide
Review, 28 March2019,https://www.adelaidereview.com.
au/arts/cinema/sophie-hyde-animals/, accessed 19 May
2019.
(^2) ‘HollidayGraingerandAliaShawkatStarin SophieHyde’s
Animals’, mediarelease,ScreenAustralia,22 March2018,
availableat https://www.safilm.com.au/pdfs/mr-180322
-Animals.pdf, accessed 19 May 2019.
(^3) Marsh,op. cit.
(^4) MarthaM Lauzen,‘It’s a Man’s(Celluloid)World:Portrayalsof
FemaleCharactersin the Top GrossingFilms of 2018’,Center
for the Studyof Womenin Televisionand Film, San Diego
StateUniversity,2019,https://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/
wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2018_Its_a_Mans_Celluloid
_World_Report.pdf, accessed19 May 2019.
(^5) MarthaM Lauzen,‘The CelluloidCeiling:Behind-the-scenes
Employmentof Womenon the Top 100, 250, and 500 Films
of 2018’,Centerfor the Studyof Womenin Televisionand
Film, San DiegoStateUniversity,2019,https://women
intvfilm.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2018_
Celluloid_Ceiling_Report.pdf, accessed19 May 2019.
(^6) MarthaM Lauzen,‘IndieWomen:Behind-the-scenes
Employmentof Womenin IndependentFilm, 2017–18’,
Centerfor the Studyof Womenin Televisionand Film, San
DiegoStateUniversity,2018,https://womenintvfilm.sdsu.
edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/2017-18_Indie_Women
_Report_rev.pdf, accessed19 May 2019.
(^7) ScreenAustralia,GenderMatters:Womenin theAustralian
ScreenIndustry, November2015,p. 5, availableat https://
[http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/getmedia/f20beab8-81cc-44](http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/getmedia/f20beab8-81cc-44)
99-92e9-02afba18c438/Gender-Matters-Women-in-the
-Australian-Screen-Industry.pdf, accessed19 May 2019.
(^8) In contrast,the participationrates for femaleproducersand
writershas increasedto 34 and 24 per cent, respectively;
see‘GenderMattersKPIUpdateandNewIndustryData
Released’,mediarelease,ScreenAustralia,15 August2018,
https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/media-centre/news/
2018/08-15-gender-matters-kpi-update-and-new-data,
accessed19 May 2019.
(^9) See, for example,NoahBerlatsky,‘The All-femaleOcean’s 8
Is Easilythe Best Film of the Franchise.They Should’ve
Ditchedthe Men Sooner.’,NBCNewsTHINK, 8 June 2018,
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/all-female-ocean
-s-8-easily-best-film-franchise-they-ncna881156; and
AngelaWatercutter,‘CaptainMarvelIs AboutFemalePower
- Not Empowerment’,Wired, 11 March2019,https://www.
wired.com/story/captain-marvel-is-about-female-power-not
-empowerment/, both accessed20 May 2019.
(^10) Lauzen,‘It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World’, op. cit.
(^11) Marsh,op. cit.
(^12) Hyde, quoted in Marsh, ibid.
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