"I'm not good at communicating... I'm a woman, but I'm a scientist"

July 8, 2021 5:29 AM

Caitlin Reilly's latest short skit is a satirical take of how women are portrayed in scifi movies as one-dimensional workaholics who can't have a personality outside of being a scientist, or her scientist dad's daughter.

See also: The Girl You Met On Hinge Who Just Moved To LA
Every Male “Thinkfluencer” on YouTube
WASP Mom Gets Ready For A Targét Trip With Her Daughter

posted by antihistameme (21 comments total)

I love Caitlin. She is incredible. My favorites from her are WASP Mom Takes Her Daughter to the Salon, Meeting Your Friend Who Just Went Abroad, and the weirdly specific but hilarious Girl You Can’t Get Away From At The Club Who Won't Stop Talking About The Titanic.
posted by all about eevee at 5:44 AM on July 8, 2021 [2 favorites]

these are amazing. Yeah... oddly specific but totally spot on once you watch it. thanks for introducing me to this!
posted by EllaEm at 7:19 AM on July 8, 2021

I think a huge part of the success of Alien is Sigourney Weaver and Ellen Ripley. That came out in 1979 and its still regarded as one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time. Ripley's tough, brave, smart, she loves her cat. And she's the hero, she's the one saving the universe.

You would think that movie would have proven that there's an appetite for lady action heroes in sci-fi. Instead followed a decade of brutes on steroids blowing shit up. Makes me wonder about how many screenplays were inspired by Ripley, only to have some studio prick decide Rainier Wolfcastle was better for the role.
posted by adept256 at 7:33 AM on July 8, 2021 [18 favorites]

Makes me wonder about how many screenplays were inspired by Ripley, only to have some studio prick decide Rainier Wolfcastle was better for the role.

Oh, mother gods, yes!!!

I am stepping into screenwriting; am the lone fem in a writing group comprised of men. Whenever I submit an idea or treatment of a a woman-centric story or a “strong” female protagonist, I almost always hear, “it’s already been done.” AS IF EVERY MAN-CENTRIC STORY / STRONG PROTAGONIST FILM HASN’T ALREADY BEEN DONE. They. Just. Don’t. See. What. They’re. Saying.
posted by Silvery Fish at 8:01 AM on July 8, 2021 [40 favorites]

You would think that movie would have proven that there's an appetite for lady action heroes in sci-fi. Instead followed a decade of brutes on steroids blowing shit up.

This really is weird, especially as the first two Alien movies were both really really good and managed to have a point in having a female protagonist. It's also kind of amazing that both of those films were so good even though they were completely different genres.

This isn't unique though: after Die Hard came out, I felt the same sort of excitement because here was another example of an action hero who isn't a 260-lb wall of muscle. But it was a one-off. We went back to more big, stupid, steroid-filled mindless action movies. The worst was probably True Lies, where the hero is a "computer salesman" (code for nerd) who completely surprises his normal WASP-y wife by turning out to be a bad-ass super-spy! Except you want me to believe that it's surprising when Schwarzenegger turns out to be the bad-ass. Honestly, Superman has a better disguise. Imagine if you had cast Paul Giamatti in that role, THEN it's interesting. Or even better, rewrite it so that the Jamie Lee Curtis role is the spy in disguise.
posted by nushustu at 8:18 AM on July 8, 2021 [11 favorites]

You would think that movie would have proven that there's an appetite for lady action heroes in sci-fi. Instead followed a decade of brutes on steroids blowing shit up.

I don't really mind those '80s action movies, or that many were rehashes as I like pop dance as a music genre and songs can be pretty similar, but Terminator and T2 also makes your point with Linda Hamilton.

People also generally like The Rock with Nicholas Cage as an action hero (not me, but people do) so it also makes your point.

Action movies in the 2000s do this quite a bit better - I'll take Melissa McCarthy in Spy over The Rock any day of the week.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:41 AM on July 8, 2021 [1 favorite]

Also the videos with "LA woman" and "WASP mom" are all gold. Watch them all.

Too funny that the "Shelly the retail worker who works on commission", the youtube comments are all supportive! Too real to mock!
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:54 AM on July 8, 2021 [1 favorite]

I almost always hear, “it’s already been done.” AS IF EVERY MAN-CENTRIC STORY / STRONG PROTAGONIST FILM HASN’T ALREADY BEEN DONE. They. Just. Don’t. See. What. They’re. Saying.

If we had room in our hearts for seven police academy movies and two police academy tv series there is room for this.
posted by phunniemee at 10:03 AM on July 8, 2021 [8 favorites]

"I need to find the equation!"
(No seriously I really do, what am I doing on mefi)
posted by nat at 10:19 AM on July 8, 2021 [10 favorites]

Imagine if you had cast Paul Giamatti in [Schwarzenegger's role in True Lies], THEN it's interesting. Or even better, rewrite it so that the Jamie Lee Curtis role is the spy in disguise.

So we get Paul Giamatti in a darkened hotel room putting on a creepily-reluctant-and-terrified sexy prostitute act for Jamie Lee Curtis? I'm into it. If Giamatti turns it down maybe we can call in James Adomian as a ringer.

But back to the amazing parodist we're supposed to be talking about: thanks for all the terrific Reilly videos--great observations and great performances.
posted by col_pogo at 10:36 AM on July 8, 2021

If we had room in our hearts for seven police academy movies and two police academy tv series there is room for this.

I don't disagree with your point at all, but I'm compelled to clarify that there has never been any room in my heart for them. Now I'm off to view the links.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:54 AM on July 8, 2021

These are glorious. I feel the male Thinkfluencer should have gone more into his breakfast. Is he an overnights oats person? Maybe he has a smoothie bowl? Is he low-carbing like it's 2017?
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:03 PM on July 8, 2021 [2 favorites]

Caitlin Reilly is a gem!! Great FPP.
posted by rogerroger at 12:30 PM on July 8, 2021

all about eevee: thank you for the Titanic video. "ARTIFACTS!"
posted by brainwane at 12:59 PM on July 8, 2021 [1 favorite]

This is great, because I just started rewatching The Incredible Hulk (the 2008 MCU movie), and even though Betty Ross has a PhD in cellular biology, and part of the movie is set at a university, we never see her doing any actual science--we see Bruce Banner doing research in the middle of a favela in Rio, but not Betty. Maybe it's later in the film and I just haven't gotten to it yet.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:16 PM on July 8, 2021

To be fair, no one ever does much resembling actual science in movies (or visual media generally). It's an activity the public has an impression of, and expectations of seeing on film that's entirely divergent from any reality. At least IT people sit in front of computers, instead of say.electro-mechanical analytical engines in movies. "Scientists" in movies and pop TV wave vaguely at 19th century glassware rigs full of food colouring. Nothing looks anything like a modern lab. Nothing that's set to appeal to a pop culture audience looks even notionally like what a lab tech would do all day.
posted by bonehead at 2:28 PM on July 8, 2021 [5 favorites]

Sure, but I bet dollars to doughnuts that male characters get to do a lot more fake science than female characters do.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:16 PM on July 8, 2021 [4 favorites]

> nushustu: "Imagine if you had cast Paul Giamatti in that role, THEN it's interesting."

We don't have any Giamatti in stock right now but may I interest you in a Bob Odenkirk?
posted by mhum at 6:19 PM on July 8, 2021 [3 favorites]

You would think that movie would have proven that there's an appetite for lady action heroes in sci-fi. Instead followed a decade of brutes on steroids blowing shit up.

I know this is a complete derail, but I unabashedly adore The Long Kiss Goodnight and wish that more people realized that women can make stupid-awesome action movie heroes just as well as men can.

For scientists, I will say that some of this is a can't-win battle, though. When you put a scientist character in heels (even in their off hours) you get blowback in the other direction about how in Hollywood women scientists have to be sexy women scientists (and G-d forbid if they show emotion). I think that's why we're seeing far more nuanced women characters on TV than in movies - we get the luxury of more time to let their characters show more sides of themselves to avoid some of those hot takes.

ETA these videos are a ton of fun - thanks for putting her on my radar!
posted by Mchelly at 5:07 AM on July 9, 2021 [2 favorites]

No Caitlin Reilly thread is complete without LA Mom Gives Her Assistant the Grocery List. Reilly is so good at nailing tropes, both in media and in people.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 12:44 PM on July 9, 2021 [1 favorite]

You would think that movie would have proven that there's an appetite for lady action heroes in sci-fi.

The script for Alien was written "unisex". Casting decided they wanted Weaver for Ripley - that's when Ripley became a woman. I'm not saying that the rest of the production was not influenced by the casting after that, but I found it interesting that the scriptwriters didn't really have a woman in mind.
posted by Harald74 at 8:01 AM on July 10, 2021 [1 favorite]