I’ve been thinking this week about the connections and the differences between books and movies and particularly in relation to women’s fiction.
I realize that there aren’t a million movies about women that aren’t romances but there are some.
Which movies do you love? Which movies might inspire you in your writing? Tell us about them and why they work for you.
Kate Austin
www.kateaustin.ca
STEEL MAGNOLIAS. Those women are everything I aspire to describe and pay homage to when I write. It’s never about their education (or lack thereof) or how they look or even what they do; it’s about how they live and how they care. They are who I want to be when I grow up, and they are who I want to write about.
Thank you for this subject. I can’t wait to see more answers!
You know, when I think about this – Julia Roberts has done a couple – I’m thinking Erin Brockovich. Has the added benefit that it’s true (mostly.)
Laura
Oh, Lord, don’t we all love to be asked for our opinions on something we love, like movies?! I am a vintage movie fan…um, addict, so I’ll mention a couple of off the wall ones: “You Can’t Take it With You.” The characters in this movie, which is romance all over the place, not just between man and woman, influence me in writing and in life. Then there is ‘The Women’. The remake was abysmal, but the original with Norma Shearer is a gem.
CurtissAnn
I’m following in CurtissAnn’s wake–because I’m so excited to find someone else who loves vintage movies. (And those are two of my absolute favorites. I was just walking with “The Women” on my iPod.) Both mine are really women’s journey stories. Though the protagonists end up with a guy, they have to face their own self mis-perceptions first. There are two excellent versions of “When Ladies Meet,” in which an author is essentially writing her own story, but finally understands she can’t make the plot work because she’s doing something she doesn’t believe in (though she believes in the bad man who’s almost convinced her they’re right to cheat on his wife). Next, is “Mary, Mary,” a fun play on film about a woman who finds the self she wants to be, inside and out.
Oh, vintage movies – I love them, too, and love TCM for just that. But my favorite of all times? Bette Davis in Now, Voyager. Now that’s a women’s fiction story from beginning to end and it’s absolutely lovely. Just thinking about it makes the tears come to my eyes – if you haven’t seen it, you’ll definitely want to.
Kate
I love Diane Keaton movies like “Something’s Gotta Give” and “Because I Said So.” I love those movies – even have my own copies! To me they are the best combination of romance and women’s fiction – which is what I seem to write – not just romance – not just women’s fiction – but a marriage of the two.