Fiction and Fact: Insightful Narratives in Female-Led Thrillers

Popular thriller films featuring women as the lead, or basing their plot on the female experience, speak volumes to what women fear while navigating the world today. Using their insights, viewers get a taste for fears of powerlessness, abandonment, and failure. These fictional, creative thrillers tease reality to provide society with a better understanding of womanhood—and the delicacies of living in a man’s world.  

Filmmakers are using real-life thrills to relate to their female audiences

Insights on Power

It doesn’t take a genius to guess that the dominant antagonism in most mainstream thrillers pertaining to womanhood is the presence of a controlling, manipulative, powerful man. Filmmakers continue to comment on inequality; the role of male characters in this thriller genre is almost always to trap the female hero. Whether she is then forced into traditional roles, taken advantage of, or just plain tricked, reflect long-standing fears that accompany centuries of disempowerment.  

While statistics today show that women are getting married less often and at a later age, these persistent themes in films suggest that marriage and traditional families are not the only traps some women perceive. The idea that men, in appearing wholesome, thoughtful, or kind, are always hiding a truer intention lingers on-screen. Creators are showing that a society who values men disproportionately is one that, at any moment, can take power away from women. Films suggest that, because women are still physically and professionally at the mercy of men, the horror isn’t in waiting for a trap, it’s waking up to realize you’re already in one. 

Narratives on Abandonment

Another reoccurring element in many of these stories is a matriarchal character who, after the lead assumes she can trust her, betrays the female hero. In male-antagonizing plots, this older woman is sometimes a mother; other times, she is seen in charge or with knowledge that could help the lead, that she refuses to give. This betrayal stings differently than the man’s—perhaps viewers expect the man to be a villain, but when another woman abandons the main character, it feels like someone understands, but chooses to hurt them all the same.

Commenting on previous generations’ contributions is hardly new, and so, it’s important to remember that for every generation that has come, more progress has been made. With that said, films confronting a mother character who perhaps raised a problematic son might mean that women are incrementally increasing the accountability a mother has in teaching their sons to be respectful and moral men. It also lends to show how hurtful it is to find that a woman vaguely removed from conflict is not willing to fight for another woman. Filmmakers are then expressing how it feels to be left out to dry, and addressing traditional practices that might have been at one time progressive, but today, are contributing to other women’s pain.

Female-Led Conflict

Finally, female characters are often poised as rivals. As a subplot, this works to create discomfort in female audiences, who dread the antagonism to come. This storyline highlights self-comparison, insecurity, and attempts to outdo each other. It’s a relatable plot piece that points to how women have been conditioned to hate one another.

When society demands women to justify their worth at every turn, the result is women feeling constant pressure to do, say, and be enough. Films show that subliminal messaging persisting in every corner of a woman’s life has dire consequences on her peace, self-worth, and accomplishments. As the hero often is distracted and additionally terrorized by her own competitiveness, viewers are reminded that the female experience isn’t supposed to be nasty. It also shows that creators are tired of it and are using film to break the narrative that there is not enough success or beauty to go around. 

With audience support, women can keep expressing their fears through stories

Insightful Narratives in Female-Led Thrillers

Filmmakers are crafting insightful narratives in female-led thrillers, reminding viewers that there’s plenty of actual terror in the world to draw inspiration from. Harnessing popular storylines such as a loss of power, abandonment, and inadequacy, fiction conveys the reality of the female experience. As viewers continue supporting high-grossing thrillers, creators keep finding new ways to speak out.