Sandra Bullock Fan Club

Considering the genre conventions of Sci-fi, I pondered long and hard of a female lead in a film about space travel, and then I realized: without another male lead by her side, there has barely been any representation of a lone woman protagonist in space (Fun Fact: the first American woman to go to space was Sally Ride in 1983, about 25 years after NASA had first started. Sure took a while). Whether it be Anne Hathaway's Brand in Interstellar or Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia in Star Wars, they were always accompanied by another leading man like Mark Hamil's Luke Skywalker and Matthew McConaughey's Cooper. 

So... lets put a girl up there!

My main inspiration for breaking these conventions that a Sci-fi world is a man's one is the character Dr. Ryan Stone, played by Sandra Bullock in Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity (2013). Although George Clooney was shown to be by Bullock's side for the marketing, his character is shadowed by hers throughout the film. Stone is a powerful, intelligent astronaut with a highly advanced STEM career and an amazing ability to work under pressure. Showing a woman in this role alone, without a male love interest or family member, was a bold move. Bullock even said herself "'It was brave,’...'They created a big tentpole action/science fiction film with a female lead, when it’s probably much easier to make it a male".

I dedicate my character to Sandra Bullock and all the girls who have only seen men take the lead in science fiction movies. It's time for some change.

SOURCES:

Administrator, N. C. (2015, April 17). First American Woman in Space. Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2533.html

Collette, O. (2013, December 12). Dr. Ryan Stone: Everything a Typical Female Movie Character Is Not | Balder and Dash | Roger Ebert. Retrieved from https://www.rogerebert.com/balder-and-dash/dr-ryan-stone-everything-a-typical-female-movie-character-is-not

Garratt, S. (2013, October 28). Sandra Bullock: 'They were brave to make Gravity with a female lead'. Retrieved from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/10405800/Sandra-Bullock-They-were-brave-to-make-Gravity-with-a-female-lead.html