Live Poll: Most Female-Empowering 'Girl Power' Movie?

My picks:
Thelma Louise
Wonder Woman
The Help
GI Jane
Tomb Raider ( orig & new version)

Where's Spice World?

(I'm kidding, although it would be a fun final option.)

I have a suggestion. A movie from India - 'Lipstick Under My Burkha', controversial, won multiple awards.

Hidden Figures or Wonder Woman.

I'm not sure about the inclusion of superhero or superpower movies... does a figure like Superman 'empower' guys? No, he just entertains us and appeals to us... but we know we'll never be Supermen. Same goes with Wonder Woman, Hunger Games or Tomb Raider, I doubt the majority of women will ever identify to any of these characters like they would with Thelma and Louise, Norma Rae, Karen Silkwood etc. 

About empowering guys, by the way, you can't say there's no movie to empower men because they 'already' have the power, not all men do... many of us are just average guys who don't have what it takes to fit in society unless we accept to get it and build more confidence... because empowering is all about motivating people who feel they don't have the power and that's totally gender-blind, maybe more than ever. Superman, Batman or Zorro don't empower guys, Rocky, the Little Tramp or Andrew Beckett do. Hell, they could even empower women but let's focus on female protagonists.

Totally agree with the female biopics or  strong fictional protagonists, in fact, if you check the list of all the Oscar nominated performances from actresses in leading roles, you'd find many contenders:

The Queen
Jezebel
Gone With the Wind (after all, Scarlett O'Hara is bad-ass in her own way)
Gloria (the one with Gena Rowlands, not the crappy remake with Sharon Stone)
Fargo
Mrs. Miniver
Elizabeth
Gorillas in the Mist
Terms of Endearment
The Color Purple
What's Love Got To Do With it
The Hours

Also how about:
Amelie
Fried Green Tomatoes
Any version of Joan of Arc
Any version of Marie Curie
Belle from any version of Beauty and the Beast

I think these are the real empowering movies, because it wasn't just about empowering for the sake of empowering. I bet there are many producers today (probably guys) who just think all it takes is to give a woman an arrow or a super-weapon and they'll have their 'empowering movie' with all the marketing around it. Cinema didn't wait for it to become a commercial trend, from the start, there were actors and actresses and movies with strong female protagonists played by Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis or Ingrid Bergman.

Anyway, sorry for being so long, I'm not asking for agreement just my opinion on the subject, it reminds me of this scene from The Simpsons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_j4BlrDO7k

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Women's History Month 2019 bump

24 Most Anticipated Films By and About Women of 2019 | Women and ...

30 Best Female-Led Films of 2019 | Best Life

 I wanted to suggest Spike Lee's debut "She's Gotta Have It", it's a pity the votes criteria don't make it eligible to your list, because it's more girl-empowering than many of the usually labeled as girl power movie in an ahead of its time way, which make it more impressive, I reviewed it recently but here's the pitch: The story of Nola Darling's simultaneous sexual relationships with three different men is told by her and by her partners and other friends. All three men wanted her to commit solely to them; Nola resists being "owned" by a single partner.

Now I know I'll sound like a broken record but I'm never really sure about what "girl power" means, some films just happen to have heroic female protagonists, that's all. And I mean "that's all" in a positive way, their heroines' appeals were as broad as if they were men, we didn't cheer for Clarice because she was a woman, or more if we were a female audience, I don't think anyone intended to make a feminist or girl empowering statement while making the film. It's not the same for "Thelma and Louise" or "Mulan" which perfectly fit the criteria.

"Rocky" is an average-Joe empowering movie but not all films about average Joes are, "Billy Elliott" is a boy empowering movie but not all films about boy are, "Malcolm X" is an African-American empowering movie but not every film about African Americans are so why is it that every film about women should de facto be a film that empowers women.

Maybe there's the gender factor playing here since I'm only referring to movie about men or men and women. Maybe I'm wrong (and I put it in bold to insist that I'm not giving a lecture) but I've learned to make a distinction between "female empowering" movies and "female led" movies, if we assumed both were the same, I'm afraid it would be rather patronizing toward women (not saying it's anyone's intention of course) because that would mean that any movie with a strong female protagonist is endorsing girl power and not trying to please a male audience just like girls would enjoy a good old 'Stallone. I think it kind of entraps movies into a social-political framework they might not have intended.

There must be some moment in the film where it's said or implied that it's all about women conquering the power they don't have. "Fried Green Tomatoes" would be an interesting addition, in fact, how about "Dangerous Liaisons"; who said they all had to be heroic, here's what Madam de Merteuil said :

"Well, I had no choice, did I? I'm a woman. Women are obliged to be far more skillful than men. You can ruin our reputation and our life with a few well-chosen words. So, of course, I had to invent, not only myself, but ways of escape no one has every thought of before. And I've succeeded because I've always known I was born to dominate your sex and avenge my own."

That's a girl power speech if I ever read one. But maybe the film doesn't fit... anyway, i think we should have a deeper reflexion on that "girl power" subject.

Congratulations, urbanemovies!

Most Female-Empowering Popular Girl Power Movie?
Live Poll: https://www.imdb.com/poll/rgUizu8lZ_Y/

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Most Female-Empowering Popular Girl Power Movie?
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Which of these movies or movie franchises driven by a strong female protagonist or female group is the most empowering story for women? *50,000+ IMDB votes and 6.5+ IMDb rated


Bombshell 2019 | Movie 6.5 (4,246) WATCHLIST
It needs 50,000+ IMDB votes and a  6.5+ IMDb rating to qualify for poll inclusion. The potential 2020 oscar nominee would seem to fit the premise of the question but is far from the voting threshold and the topic would to question whether its rating will hold.

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