Salt

The movie Salt is an American movie that came out in 2010. The movie plot includes many elements of the movie: Equilibrium. That is because the person who wrote Salt was the same as the Equilibrium’s writer.  Initially this movie was written for a male character to be interpreted by Tom Cruise. Cruise refused to make the movie and to complete the scripts because he thought that his role in Salt was very similar to that of the character he was performing in the Mission Impossible saga, Ethan Hunt. Ultimately, it was decided to rewrite the plot with a woman as the main character, Angelina Jolie. Because of this change, the main character, a woman in this case, was renamed as Evelyn Salt. The female main character was not chosen randomly. A very popular actor, pretty, skillful and recognized by her many outstanding performances, was chosen for Salt (pathos). She was also involved in the intense action film, Mr. and Mrs. Smith (logos). This film gives the audience a glance at her action skills. The movie Salt is filmed primarily in Washington DC and other major American cities. The reality of the political issues, though are some of the problems that have grown in the mind of the Americans over time and inspired this film. Many Americans thought of the possibility that the Soviet Union would take the revenge from the Cold War (ethos).

As mentioned earlier the protagonist of the movie is a woman, Angelina Jolie being chosen this role. This movie gained a lot of popularity for having a female protagonist. Some critics have argued that it was even better than the latest James Bond’s movies. This movie fails in the way that it does not include a black female that plays any role on the film. It was well done, though, in the way that it does not include one scene in which women are treated different than the men. In the CIA and spying fields, she plays the same role as those of his male partners. Salt is even considered better skilled than her male partner agents. Salt is also ‘’object for the male gaze’’ as she catches men’s eye wherever she goes. There is an instant in the movie in which Salt displays her sturdy character. It happens when Orlov, one of the leaders of the Soviet Union, killed her husband expecting that she, as a good Soviet soldier, would not mind. He also gave the strict order without giving her any choice to react. In this movie, however, Salt would do anything to show the power of women and her strong personality. She would kill anyone who had been involved with the Soviet Union to show her real character. I have not found the exactly age of Salt, but she surely does not look older than 45 years old. The movie also failed the Bechdel Test, which consists on having a moment in which two women are talking about a topic other than men. I have not even seen one moment in which two women were not talking about men.

The skills of Salt are the same as a man’s skills. I think they make a great job incorporating and adapting the movie to a woman. Also the movie shows that she has not one weakness. The movie relates to the fact that the women can be as strong as men. The majority of characters who act in the movie are men. They also play significant roles in the movie, but many of their performances are made to foreground the protagonist’s action. In the movie, a black man is included who is one of the main agents in the CIA where Salt work. As it is in several action movies, the film does not have sexual scenes on it, and the men do not display an extreme and unhealthy body ideal. Also the movie does not include any characters of the LGBT people group. People with disabilities are also excluded from the film.

According to the representation test the movie has been graded with a B. I was surprised at the beginning, but then when I started to look at the specific points of the test, I saw there is not much relevance to the movie. This representation test has been a great way to measure the character diversity. The film Salt does a good job to avoid the continuous pattern of giving white men the power of performing leading actions, which in the end only cause racial stereotypes. I do not think the rating of racial issues should be critically important. Today’s society does not care too much about these issues as in previous eras. The critics, however, are the ones who look into the deeper meanings of the movies. In conclusion I think the test has good points to discuss, as it encourages more female characters as film protagonists, as well as people from “minority” races such as black people, or just people with different taste who may not be attractive to the audience.

I would rate the movie as 3, and the representation test as a 2 because as I said sometimes the diversity does not mean all.