“Women don’t belong in balloons” shouts the stodgy old woman in total disbelief that a young woman could possibly have a dream. Little does she know she’s going to be proven wrong by the headstrong, independent woman of every little girl’s dreams. At least, that’s what Tom Harper, the director of 2019’s The Aeronauts, wants everyone to think.

The Aeronauts is a biopic of sorts, telling the real-life story of James Glaisher’s 1862 record-breaking flight in a coal gas filled balloon. Glaisher, played by Oscar-winning Eddie Redmayne, is joined not by his actual companion, Henry Tracey Coxwell, but by the ass-kicking, fictional daredevil that is Amelia Wren, played by Redmayne’s regular co-star Felicity Jones. But why would they remove the real story of Coxwell and replace it with a generic female character?

Harper defended his character choice by saying that his intention wasn’t to make a documentary and that he wanted the film to reflect a contemporary audience. Namely, the women in the audience that may not see the film otherwise. While Felicity Jones has stated that Sophie Blanchard, the first woman to work as a professional balloonist, was the inspiration for the character, why do the two achievements need to be mixed up?

Kristy Puchko, in her review for IGN sums up the film’s fundamental issues: “As is, the would-be biopic of James Glaisher wildly reinvents his story to make a Manic Pixie Dream Girl his co-pilot. It completely erases his actual co-pilot, and plays half-hearted tribute to another unrelated aeronaut, thereby muddling her story too.” 

So why do directors or studios feel the need to add in the single female character who is both a badass with quick-wit and has an embattled sympathetic backstory? Is it to profit off feminist ideals through the idea of a powerful woman? Probably. The trouble is this token female character is present in many of today’s highest grossing films. 

Female tokenism or the so-called ‘Smurfette principle’, named after the sole female character in the universe of blue, human-like creatures, dictates the inclusion of only one woman in an otherwise entirely male ensemble. Think Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow in the first Avengers movie, or Marla Singer in Fight Club, or Roxy in Kingsmen: The Secret Service or Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin or Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy. You get the idea.  

The inclusion of a lead woman at all is a big step for the film industry. Whether they be the typical femme fatal or the manic pixie dream girl, the token woman is an achievement for many directors. But it’s an achievement that a post #MeToo world thinks is far from enough.

Helen O’Hara, a film journalist who writes for Empire, The Telegraph and Grazia, says that “the sad fact is that there are so few lead roles for women, or significant speaking roles, that even tokenistic ones can be a step forward. They're a chance for an actor or character to catch the spotlight and launch something: Black Widow (2020) is not a bad example of that. So, I don't like female roles that seem pointless, and complain about them a lot, but they have proved to be a step towards slightly more representation now and a few successes so far have paved the way for more.” 

In 2014, the Geena Davis Institute found that only 10% of films have a gender balanced cast. So, what was Hollywood’s answer to the bluest of problems? Remake some of the most-loved movies with an all-female cast.

Ghostbusters. Ocean’s 8. Even What Men Want. Despite the general hatred for reboots, these movies offer something more. Were they critically acclaimed or primed for award season they would not bare mentioning, but with Ghostbusters, the best reviewed of the three, reaching a 50% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, it becomes abundantly clear that all-female reboots aren’t what the audience want. So, what can big Hollywood studios do to become more inclusive?

O’Hara says “the ideal would be to launch big properties that are female-led from day one: think Little Women but a franchise, sort of thing. Miss Marple, but at a $100m budget like Sherlock Holmes. But again, until we get those, gender swapping can work. It did for Salt, Panic Room, Battlestar Galactica. There's just a lot of hostility to it in some quarters. Ocean's 8 did okay; Ghostbusters just wasn't good enough. The principle is not doomed.” 

The problem with token female-led stories is that they’re coming from the same places as male-led ones. Just add longer hair, a higher voice and the studios achieve free advertising in exchange for little creativity. The real-life female experience isn’t used to expand the storytelling in any way. In Ocean’s 8, Sandra Bullock’s character is the same as George Clooney’s, yet she is hailed for being a ‘feminist badass’ simply because she is a woman. Representation just for the sake of it isn’t good representation at all.

Despite the continued creation of these films, some high-budget movies have become a saving grace for female representation. Patty Jenkins’ 2017 Wonder Woman film received critical acclaim for its portrayal of the Amazonian warrior. Not only was it the industry’s first female-led superhero movie, the character was supported by a group of female military warriors, all with important roles of their own.

While Wonder Woman’s costume design has been controversial in the past, being made up of a mini-skirt and corset, Jenkins told Entertainment Weekly that she "shouldn't be dressed in armour like men ... It should be different ... I, as a woman, want Wonder Woman to be hot as hell, fight badass, and look great at the same time—the same way men want Superman to have huge pecs and an impractically big body."

O’Hara agrees with the idea of the chosen costume being more feminist than most would initially believe, saying: “Well, I think Patty Jenkins did a really good job of capturing what a woman's fantasy looks like with Wonder Woman, rather than making a superheroine designed principally to appeal to men.”

It seems clear that the only way to change female tokenism into female empowerment is for studios to support female filmmakers. Diversity in filmmaking matters because directors from different backgrounds have different perspectives and want to tell different stories.

Looking to female-led production companies like Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, which created the critically acclaimed television series Big Little Lies led by four female characters, or actresses who are more influential in the creation of their characters, women in Hollywood are making that change one step at a time. O’Hara says: “I think some actresses now demand more: look at the roles Margot Robbie has played since breaking through; look at what Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman are doing these days.”

Those who spent the majority of their careers in front of the camera are now moving behind it and shaping the content coming out of Hollywood, arguably for the better. Women like these have been and continue to break the glass ceiling. And they didn’t have to be in a balloon to do it.