21 pop culture moments from 2018 we’re celebrating

The rise of female-led ensembles

Remember when Paul Feig made a Ghostbusters movie starring four women and misogynists on the Internet lost their minds? Well, this year delivered a veritable handful of high-profile movies centered on groups of women, and it was treated as no big deal. (Or maybe the media just finally decided to spare us from pointless outrage and stop feeding the trolls. Either way, it’s a win.)

What’s striking about the female-led ensembles of 2018 is their variety. Although Ocean’s 8 and Widows are both heist flicks, they approach the genre from polar-opposite directions. The former basks in frivolity, keeping its stakes minimal lest they distract from the bliss of watching Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett strut about in style. Steve McQueen’s film, on the other hand, rejects the notion of robbery as a lark. Steeped in neo-noir grit and violence, it features heroines, played by Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debecki, and Michelle Rodriguez, who are driven more by desperation than mischief and regard each other with suspicion, even hostility.

Meanwhile, Annihilation sends Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Notovy, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Gina Rodriguez on the sort of trippy sci-fi adventure normally reserved in cinema for men (see Stalker, the film’s chief inspiration). Like the alien landscape they navigate, the women are elusive, the details of their pasts and relationships shrouded in mystery. In The Favourite, Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest masterpiece of misanthropy, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone compete for the attention – and affection – of Olivia Colman’s Queen Anne. And on the far indie side is Support the Girls, a drama starring Regina Hall about the staff of a Hooters-type sports bar.

Needless to say, Hollywood remains far from equal. For one, the movies mentioned above are all directed by men, and only two – Widows and The Favourite – have credited female writers. But it was still a delight to see women at the forefront of so many different stories, stealing valuable items, facing existential crises, engaging in royal intrigue, or generally just living. Hopefully, this is only the beginning.