Eighties films about "Career Women" and other small "f" feminist themes...

[Pickman's model]

Are you all just enjoying reminiscing, or should I point out that the kids are fifteen?

yes

 

[Reno]

Aliens. The 'baddie' alien was a she.

To claim that she pursued spawning killer aliens as a "career" is a bit of a stretch though.

 

[Reno]

In Baby Boom Diane Keaton plays a career woman who inherits a baby and hilarity ensues. Not a good film, it's full of all the cliches about career women, like totally hopeless in domestic tasks. It may be of historical interest.

In Big Business Bette Middler and Lily Tomlin play career women with huge shoulder pads and their gingham clad wearing country pumpkin sisters.

While the career girls of the screwball comedies of the 30s and 40s always ended up with their man at least they were shown to be far more capable and less ruthless than their 70s and 80s counterparts. There wasn't the same suggestion that they gave up their feminity for their career.

 

[rekil]

To claim that she pursued spawning killer aliens as a "career" is a bit of a stretch though.

We never really got her pov. Typical Hollywood.

 

[The Octagon]

Was the Buffy film 80s?

Nah, 1992, and nothing like the series in terms of feminism, botched job.

 

[Sea Star]

Are you all just enjoying reminiscing, or should I point out that the kids are fifteen so sex and violence (and 18 certs) are out?

Ahhh, the age I saw Evil Dead 2 and Friday the 13th :-p

 

[Reno]

Fat is a feminist issue:

 

[Miss Caphat]

Beaches?

 

[Miss Caphat]

Oh, oh! Mystic Pizza!

 

[Miss Caphat]

Dirty Dancing?
Satisfaction?

 

[Reno]

For something a little more out there, there is Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story from '87 by Todd Haynes which is a biopic about the titular pop star enacted by Barbie dolls and it deals with anorexia and body image:

 

[Reno]

Two good films about gay women were Lianna and Desert Hearts, but they may have love scenes which are a bit too explicit for the age group. Can't remember because I haven't seen them since then, but worth a check.

Housekeeping by Bill Forsyth is one of the most underrated films of the 80s. Starring Christine Lathi it's about a woman who won't conform to ideas about how a woman should behave in a conservative U.S. small town and who becomes the guardian to her nieces but it's another period film taking place in the 50s.

Heart Like a Wheel was a good biopic about a female drag racing driver, which snagged awards and was very popular at the time.

The Dutch film A Question of Silence is one of the few genuinely feminist films of the 80s. It's about the trial of a couple of women who snap and almost randomly Decide on the spot to kill a shopkeeper because of patriarchy and stuff. I remember it was quite controversial back then.

There also was Sweetie by Jane Campion.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Satisfaction?

Damn you, was wracking my brains trying to remember this one! Neeson is so un-TFN in this I had it in my mind his character was played by Aidan Quinn or someone. Though TBF I also misremembered it as having Susanna Hoffs in it, but that was The Allnighter and a whole different kettle of shit

 

[Santino]

Wildcats! - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcats_(film)

I think this might be one of the most Eighties films ever. A woman... coaching a sports team?? What were they thinking?!

Also features a white person coming to the rescue of poor black kids, and - if memory serves - I think there may be a rap number over the end credits.

 

[Santino]

Oh my word



LL Cool J's finest hour.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Silkwood. Meryl Streep's portrayal of a whistleblower and trade union activist working in the nuclear industry. The film was made in the 1980s, but was based on life story of woman who died in 1970s, so I'm not sure if that fits?

 

[Idris2002]

....as do I......dredged up this one...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wish_You_Were_Here_(1987_film)

...and the one about Cynthia Payne ofcourse..which may be not quite what we are aiming for..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Services

Wasn't Wish you were here based on the early life of Cynthia Payne?

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

And what about Gregory's Girl? While it's not set in the workplace in a career woman sense, it's from the right era and it addresses the issue of what girls/women can and can't do, specifically with reference sexism in sports, in particular football, and that has relevance today, because of e.g. the women's world cup, and the controversial Twitter comment about the England women's team being mothers, wives, etc., and heroes, and that's not really a comment that would've been made in respect of the male England football team members. And then there's the issue of critical comments about Serena Williams' looks, about her 'looking like a man', that deflect attention from her achievements as a tennis player. See also swimmer Rebecca Adlington. And there's the related issue of pay and prize money for women in sports.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death
Night of the Comet

With these two, 1990, The Guest etc, I'm starting to think you've been burgling the Tastes & Opinions department in my brain