If you missed yesterday’s post, I’m recapping all the essays that didn’t make it into the final version. Yesterday it was Guilty Pleasures. Today is Men Writing Women. As you can tell these titles were a work in progress, just like the essays themselves.

This essay came about when I notice discourse about male screenwriters writing female-focused movies with the releases of Last Night in Soho and The Last Duel. Both films were released around the same time and reactions to them were slightly mixed.

Both films were generally well praised. However, there were reviews that were critical of how the male screenwriters, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Edgar Wright, wrote for female characters, their storylines, and certain choices the filmmakers made.

Some people felt the male screenwriters couldn’t authentically capture the experiences of the women depicted in the films. In my essay, I would’ve explored if men could/should write about women and their experiences. Or if female-focused films should be left in the hands of female screenwriters.

This is an idea I’ve toyed with since of release of these films in 2021. And it’s one I definitely still want to get to, but it didn’t make it into Living Rent Free In My Head because I wasn’t able to conduct thorough research into the topic like I wanted to.

I set a personal deadline for when I wanted to be done writing/editing the essays included. By that deadline, I had 20 essays completed and edited. But not enough time to research and write this particular essay about Men Writing Women. If I had more time to dedicate to the essay it would have been included.

Out of all the essays I cut, this is the one I still want to write. I think it’s an interesting topic with many different opinions about it. Don’t be surprised if this one shows up on the blog eventually.