Lets face it: in terms of screenwriting, women tend to get the fuzzy end of the lollipop. Its not so much a conscious effort to invalidate women, its just on some level the writers fundamental lack of understanding on how to write female characters. For every hundred great male roles, theres just a few really juicy female ones. Characters that arent just wives and girlfriends, set pieces that revolve around the men in the film, but actual people in their own right. A lot of attention has recently been given to the Bechdel test, which attempts to identify films in which two female characters have a conversation with one another that doesn't revolve around men. Although this test can hardly be held up as the golden standard in determining which films are sexist (for lack of a better word), it is a helpful indicator of exactly how little some filmmakers understand the complexities of a gender that is consistently underrepresented. But there is hope. There are some really great films out there that feature wonderfully interesting and multi-faceted depictions of women, and don't resort to the same old tired stereotypes.