So I just watched the movie “Spy” with Melissa McCarthy and yeah, it had some funny moments, and I especially liked when her and Miranda Hart were on screen together, and yes, she proved everyone wrong in assuming that just because she was a “big girl”, she couldn’t be a good spy and save the day, AND I KNOW that a woman doesn’t need a “romance” to have a happy ending, I absolutely believe that, HOWEVER…(spoiler) I can’t help but feel that the filmmakers decided to go the “non-romantic” route with her character because she’s a “big girl”. 

Same goes for the movie “The Other Woman”; in that film, a woman in her 40′s (Leslie Mann) learns that her husband is having all sorts of affairs with younger women.  In that film (spoiler) ALL OF THE OTHER WOMEN end up with someone, *except* Leslie Mann’s character–she goes on to be the woman “who don’t need no man” and all the power to her, BUT THIS IS THE PROBLEM (or at least I see it as a problem).

Both of those films, the woman who “doesn’t need romance” to have a happy ending are either plus size, or older than the other female characters.  Meanwhile, at least in the context of “The Other Woman”, the younger women who were being used, do end up finding other romantic partners, including a 20-something with a guy in his 50′s.  *WHY* couldn’t THOSE particular women be the “I don’t need a romance to be happy” story line?  Why was it insisted upon that the 40-something be the one to hold up the “sisters are doing it for themselves” banner?

These are not great movies (especially TOW), and while they are comedies that feature women in title roles, I still can’t help but feel that they’re really being marketed to a male audience, and perhaps that’s the problem?  These audiences can’t fathom a plus size woman, or a woman over the age of 40, having any kind of story line that might lead to a sexual outcome, but heaven forbid if the thinner, bustier women under the age of 32 (and who 9 times out of 10 also tend to NOT be women of color, and if they are, very *light* skinned in tone) are still single.

Again, I’m not saying that a woman *needs* a romantic partner to feel fulfilled or be happy.  But at the same time, I’d just like it if it weren’t always the plus-size or older women who had to be those representatives for fulfilling singlehood.