“It’s hard to find female leads that are flawed and interesting and dynamic”

So Rashida Jones wrote one for herself. Jones co-wrote and stars in Celeste and Jesse Forever, which comes out in New York and LA tomorrow, and she gave a really interesting interview to Women and Hollywood, in which she reflected on how feminism has changed women’s lives in America, and how Hollywood is reflecting that change back to us in the media we consume. Jones said that she wanted to play a role that wasn’t “just someone’s girlfriend or wife. I wanted to go on that journey.”

When Melissa at WiH asked why it’s been so hard for women to go on that journey, Jones gave the kind of answer that makes a feminist blogger want to yell, “preeeeach!”

Not be reductive but isn’t everything harder for women?  Isn’t it just harder to be alive and be a woman?  We carry this tacit burden of being more empathetic — again reductive — of keeping the peace, getting paid less, getting less acknowledgment.  And being nurturing as well as being powerful. It’s a high responsibility and I do think that I am very grateful for the feminist movement and it’s really put us ahead and has empowered us in a way that is daunting for men.  They don’t know how to fit in, they don’t know how to deal with it and I think that to publicly still be the “big guys” makes them feel better.  That is the one thing they still have control over.  They can still feel like they are balancing it by being in charge.

You should read the whole thing – it’s great.