Gender Swap in Adaptations: Don’t Assume it Easy

——Lord of Thunder is becoming a woman. Is it necessary?

Hollywood’s New Tactic

Thor, the Nordic superhero, will be re-casted and re-invented into a superwoman, according to Marvel. He is not the only one switching the gender. In the latest James Bond feature, suspense is held, and audiences wonder whether the series is welcoming a gender/race flip version. It looks like the industry is balancing the sex ratio and embracing a politically correct strategy, thanks to #Metoo’s efforts.

To be clear, today it is not to debate about to what extent the originality and spirits should be reserved. The arguments will not be drawn upon the technical domain in screenwriting or motion production. What I attempt to challenge is the intention of Hollywood, the decision-makers represented by studios and top management.

Is this wave of gender swap a sincere salute to women or a move for grossing?

A Fresh Take or a Shortcut

In the investors’ opinion, hopefully, some audiences are intrigued by this novelty while others pay for the selling point of feminism and diversity, followed by a new box office record. It sounds like anything but a bad business——you invest little, but win big.

The truth is, these haughty moguls could underestimate the actual costs. It takes scriptwriters arduous work to turn originally male characters into well-written female ones. The actions, lines, and motivation differ from their sexual counterparts. At the same time, it is working on one’s undoing that adheres to the bromidic portrayal of women (e.g., sexy, sloppy, mentally unstable). In this sense, flipping the sexuality does not mean changing the pronounce from He to She, or moving the personality scale from masculine to the opposite end of the spectrum, highly feminine.

I did go to the cinema for James Bond: No Time to Die. Honestly, polishing the scrappy plots precedes the urgency for a female lead. Gender swap might be a disguise of failed stories, if it is not a genuine act. Retrieving from the past archive, there is female Dr. Watson by Lucy Liu in Elementary, and Tilda Swinton’s Ancient One in Dr. Strange. They provided proof of validity. Therefore, the key variable is the level of sincerity to make characters convincing.

Do something about the real Elephant

Though I have been harsh on the flipping phenomena, I see no reason to reject the broad idea of gender equality. One direct benefit of this gender swap approach is the increase in the number of roles, which is a good sign itself. Whereas, right under the spotlight, the struggle of actresses, such as intense casting competition and excessive standards on physical appearances, remains unresolved. Going backstage, sweat and tears from women are even less visible.

To tackle the root of the problem, we surely have more thoughtful options in hand——

Work on the existing female roles, fix the biasedly depicted ones, recognize the women practitioners, and adapt more stories from a female perspective that are worth seeing on-screen…

When the elephant is still in the room, we’d better listen to what exactly it needs.