“Golden Retriever” Movies: Cooperation and Trust in Action

by Sulagna Misra · August 27, 2015

Sulagna Misra’s previous work for The Toast can be found here.

Screen Shot 2015-08-25 at 12.16.58 PM

After I saw Mad Max: Fury Road, I was less preoccupied with jumping into a mental whirlpool of “whether the movie was feminist or not” than I was in examining the trope I saw emerging, as highlighted in this Tumblr post:

Pacific Rim: Well written and developed female character fights aliens with her golden retriever
Winter Soldier: well written and developed female character fights the government with her golden retriever and bird
Mad Max: Several well written and developed female characters fight everything with their confused golden retriever

Sure, it’s only a few movies, but as I thought about it, I could see the comparisons: The “golden retriever” action movie trope is so called because of the main male characters’ cooperative, trusting, and loyal nature. This is a change-up from the regular lone hero — or the anti-hero, or the chosen one, or the subversive spy — because of the focus on trusting another person, with that trust leading to cooperation and then actual results. Because cooperation is tantamount, the male characters’ stories don’t overshadow or subsume space for female characters’ stories, which flourish in tandem with theirs.

Compare this to Ant-Man, an enjoyable movie but exactly what the golden retriever trope is not: The female character’s story is shunted aside; no one trusts anyone till the end, after a series of mistakes and missteps; and the two male main characters are framed in terms of their own personal genius rather than how they work with others. I also noticed this in The Lego Movie, The Matrix, and Star Trek, among other films, because the women in these movies don’t really get their own personal story arcs separate from the hero — even while using their own particular skills — partly because their male counterparts barely listen to them, or believe they don’t need to.

It’s not that those films need to be anything more than they are — it’s that it’s just so incredibly rare to have a trusting or trustworthy nature be a defining characteristic of a male movie character. Suspicion is often rewarded in characters like Sherlock Holmes, Batman, and James Bond. The only way this is overcome is usually through a man’s romantic interest (or, depending on the time span, his sexual interest) in a woman.

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In contrast, the golden retriever trope highlights the idea of cooperation, especially men cooperating with women — not to show off or to save them, but as the way they’ll succeed. Women aren’t important to the story because the male character is interested in them; women are important to the story because they are vital to the plot and the plan against the enemy. The characters don’t always immediately trust each other, but they do have to put their trust in each other within a short amount of time — and what’s rare about the male “golden retriever” characters is that they do this without questioning the female characters’ skills. Each relationship grows as a result of that initial trust when they go into action: Raleigh and Mako trust the newfound connection they have, Cap trusts Black Widow and goes on the run with her, and Furiosa trusts Max to drive when she yells “Fool!”

But why does it matter when male movie characters are trusting, especially of women? Why does it resonate so much, especially on Tumblr, that although Winter Soldier has been succeeded by several Marvel movies, it’s still on top of the movie fandom metrics week after week? Why was this one shot of Tom Hardy reacting to an odd question about the female presence in Mad Max shared with a feverish exuberance? (The asker of the question even noted that his poorly worded question was meant to be anti-sexist, and added, “I think a lot of male stars might have objected to this, but Hardy is of a special breed.”)

The golden retriever trope speaks to people on a personal level because so often, we’re used to not getting that reaction, that which that should be so clear as to go unmentioned. And as we saw in Jess Zimmerman’s piece on emotional labor, and the Metafilter comment section, there are echoes of this lack of parity in real life. In fact, “women’s work” is often denuded as unnecessary, or so invisible that it’s said to be disposable.

Black Widow’s skills in Winter Soldier are subtle and quiet. My favorite example of this is the scene at the mall: while Cap is coordinating a plan of action against the Hydra agents, she simply tells him to duck his head and laugh, which works. Mako Mori’s strengths are in her engineering and construction of the jaeger she and Raleigh use, which means they are already prepared when they reach a moment of desperation. And after their initial fight, Furiosa simply knows well enough to ask Max if he “wants that thing off his face,” which brings them from enemies to a wary alliance. It reminds me of Eavan Boland’s poem, “It’s a Women’s World,” which subtly suggests that this “women’s work” percolated change even while hidden beneath history:

as far as history goes
we were never
on the scene of the crime.

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Of course, these golden retriever movies aren’t perfect, and they’re not the stories about women we need — the ones about women as champions and geniuses and superheroes and leads that don’t need to rely so heavily on men. Pacific Rim and Mad Max: Fury Road both start with voiceovers from the male main characters. The titles Mad Max: Fury Road and Captain America: The Winter Soldier bear the names of their male main characters. CATWS and Pacific Rim have only a few female characters, with only one getting her own arc. Now whenever I see men and women together in an action movie, my brain puts it against the algorithm: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. seems to fit, while Jurassic World deliberately places the characters at (mistrustful, disparaging) odds in the beginning. And if the new Star Trek doesn’t work, will the new Star Wars fit the bill?

But these movies aren’t trying to be those movies, the movies about women we really need, nor should they be misconstrued as them. Those movies need to run the gamut of stories: woman against man, woman against nature, woman against herself, women in groups, women by themselves. They need to be action movies, adventure stories, post-apocalyptic, futuristic, historical, funny, dark, frightening, worrisome, quiet, loud. As long as we have so few movies that give women their own space to have their own story arcs, their own special skills, their own personal triumphs, we’ll be hungry for more.

But stories that focus on cooperation and show characters succeeding because they trust one another are still important, and can even be revolutionary. Taking down a patriarchal tyrant, breaking down a powerful government structure, destroying a global menace that’s been devastating the world for years — these stories are about changing the way of life as we know it so something new can grow. The characters are able to do that because of their faith in one another, a faith based not on precedence, but on the ability to see past ego to true worth, to acknowledge that they can’t do it alone. And they don’t have to.

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74 Comments

  1. Evil Overwench +35

    So, exactly what Jupiter Ascending was attempting to do? Only with good writing?

    Also, thanks to this I’m going to be forever picturing Chris Evans as a were-golden.

    1. Lady_Honoria +14

      I find that scene where Sean Bee-n encourages Tato to go get Jupiter much better if you and your friends replace it with a voice over going ‘whhhhhhhere’s Jupiter? Where is she? Can you find Jupiter??? Can you?? Go get Jupiter! Go get her, boy! Yeah, good boy, go find Jupiter!’

    1. citystillbreath +5

      Thanks for this! I truly thought this post was going to actually be about golden retrievers, and I was kindof disappointed (sorry!).

    2. BessieMaeMucho +5

      Yasssss! My friend is married to a movie reviewer and the proud mother of a Clifford-sized golden, and you can imagine my disappointment to realize this wasn’t directly, perfectly aligned with her interests. Golden superhero pics make it all better. 🙂

  3. sausagedog +90

    I love this new trope you’ve come up with, and you’re breaking my heart by suggesting the new Star Wars might abide by it– I’m trying not to get my hopes up, dammit! But now you’ve got me imagining John Boyega’s character in the golden retriever role and I want it to happen so bad.

    (PS: Not an action move, but… Magic Mike: a few well-written and developed female characters transport a van full of golden retrievers to Florida because they cannot get there on their own.)

    1. Sulagna Misra +22

      I’m not really a Star Wars person (I enjoyed the originals but I saw them when I was in college) and I want SO BAD for them to be awesome! I feel like the originals had Luke ready to help Leia immediately, at least. I mean, for really weird reasons, but, you know.

      Also hahaha yes Magic Mike! They totally need help from Rome and Andie MacDowell!

    2. RuncibleSpoon +12

      your ps just had me snickering at my desk, and the coffee’s barely kicked in. so, thank you

  4. RudyRed +10

    Counterpoint – I saw the Scott-Hope-Hank dynamic in Ant-Man as almost identical to the Raleigh-Mako-Stacker dynamic in Pacific Rim. That is, you have a reluctant male protagonist (Scott/Raleigh) who is recruited by the father figure (Hank/Stacker). The more enthusiastic and more qualified female protagonist (Hope/Mako) wants to contribute but is held back by her overly-protective father figure, which makes her feel somewhat resentful. The male protagonist recognizes that the female protagonist is the right person for the job and should be included, and says so. Eventually the father figure comes around and realizes he was wrong to stifle his daughter figure’s ambition. The only difference is that in Pacific Rim he figures this out fairly early on in the movie, and in Ant-Man he doesn’t figure it out until the very end.

    1. Sulagna Misra +22

      Yeah, I think you’re right about the dynamic, but you’re also right about the difference, which is really the disqualifying quality for me. Mako and Raleigh have to work together, and do so several times over the movie, while we can all feel Hope being held back for, honestly, no good reason, and not given enough to do when she so wants to. It’s one of the reasons I was so frustrated with that movie — that they acknowledge that it’s a terrible dynamic, but plead off having to fix it until the very end.

      1. RudyRed +23

        Yeah, that one shift in the timeline makes all the difference. After a while it almost like Ant-Man was rubbing the lack of female-led Marvel movies in our noses. “Isn’t it infuriating that female superheroes are kept out of the spotlight for no good reason?” Yeah it is, Ant-Man. Are you actually going to do anything about it?

        I almost wonder if the writers were somehow protesting studio meddling that kept the Wasp from playing a bigger role.

        1. Lady_Honoria +6

          Also I feel like they got halfway through Ant-Man and someone was like ‘oh yeah, hey, why ISN’T Hope the one doing this?’ and they were like ‘uhhhh…. he… wants to protect her? Wasn’t her mother fridged, or something? Yeah, that’.

          It would have made a HUGE difference to me if Hank was the one who said that that was why. Instead SCOTT has to filter Hank’s emotions through, and tbh it leaves me unsure that was the reason. Hank AGREES with it, but he doesn’t say it himself. He demostrates fear and remorse about Janet’s death but it’s equally plausible to me that he just doesn’t want Hope to do it for sexism reasons, or some other reasons, instead of/as well as not wanting to risk her, emotionally.

          Stacker ends up acknowledging Mako’s capabilities, and that the world needs her, and dealing with his own emotions in a mature way. Hank, otoh, gets all his own way, with Scott in the Inspector Gadget role and leaves Hope to be Penny AND Brain, fixing everything secretly behind the scenes. Hank does acknowledge her, but basically when it doesn’t matter and people can watch the whole movie without registering that (tbh I’m blanking. When does he? I don’t remember. I was hoping for it the whole movie and I don’t remember it happening, so… what does that say?)

          Honestly, given that we get a demo in that training montage of JUST HOW terrible Scott is, and how amazing Hope is, of how short the time span is and also how desperate Pym is to stop what is happening… well, if nothing else it makes me lose all respect for Pym as a rational human who can deal with his own emotions. So the best I can say for his motivations is ‘selfish manchild, at least not intentionally misogynist’. Which isn’t saying much, tbh.

  5. unsung_gyro +19

    Oh my god I love this! You’re 100% right about the way that when male characters are trusting it helps gives space for female characters to be fully part of the plot, instead of relegated to the role of nagging sexy lady or whatever. Golden retrievers 4ever.

  6. Zelenka +48

    Hunger Games. If Peeta isn’t a golden retriever, nobody is. That’s why it’s so hard to take him seriously as a love interest.

    1. Frumiosa +50

      Hunger Games: One well-written and developed teenage female character fights less well-written and developed teenage male/female characters with the help of her on-site lab/golden mix and off-site German shepherd/golden mix.

    3. Alli525 +5

      Well that WOULD explain why I cried so hard at the end. (trying not to get into spoilers, but i think we all know what i’m saying?)

    4. shiftercat +13

      I’d argue that the character arcs of both Max and Nux have to do with them starting off as a feral hound and an attack dog, respectively, and learning how to become golden retrievers.

        3. Lady_Honoria +11

          To me that ending was 1 part ‘fuck this shit’ and 1 part ‘what do I have to offer to this next important stage? Nothing’. RESPECT to men/anyone who can recognise that and peace out. Seriously.

  9. RuncibleSpoon +21

    my own real life golden retriever man person is lovely and wonderful for many reasons, hadn’t really thought before how he’s awesome in some of these very ways. but he is. (this comment could be summed up in ♡♡♡. going to go text ♡♡♡ to man person.)

    1. Canary +2

      I have on many occasions referred to my husband as a golden retriever who has somehow assumed the form of a man. It’s a pretty awesome dude-temperament.

  10. Turnip Truck +9

    Why I always had a soft spot for John Sheppard on Stargate: Atlantis, what with his teammate-bond with Teyla. Even though the show got to be awful and misogynist in plenty of other ways.

      3. depizan +3

        He does spend some of it unconscious, but whenever he’s awake, he’s usually playing back-up to Ripley and deferring to her knowledge of the beasties.

      4. eeecstatic +4

        no, that’s lt. gorman, who spends most of his time ignoring the feedback he hears from Ripley and Apone (the black guy in charge), until he is knocked unconscious when Ripley gets fed up of his shit and takes the tankmobile to save the marines. Hicks is the hot hunk who 100% listens to Ripley and her advice, and is the Final Boy

  12. Frumiosa +14

    Amazing pic to accompany this post. “My bionic arm and I are not having any of your shit, Max.”

  13. minaguth +20

    There needs to be more articles about Pacific Rim on the Toast so that this article isn’t the only one under the “Pacific Rim” tag.

  14. erindubitably +18

    I feel like John Crichton in Farscape is a pretty golden retrieverish guy, and Aeryn definitely gets space and trust from him to be awesome and have her own character development arc.

  15. Marizane +22

    I thought I would redeem Chris Pratt from his disappointing turns in Jurassic Park and the Lego Movie with his fantastic work as a golden retriever:

    Guardians of the Galaxy – moderately well written and developed female character/alien fights aliens with her golden retriever, raccoon, tree, and very literal maniac.

    Parks and Rec – Well-written and developed female characters fight bureaucracy and celebrate female friendships (with bonus golden retriever).

    1. Sulagna Misra +31

      What’s so weird about Chris Pratt is that he feels like TOTAL GOLDEN RETRIEVER but he’s rarely cast as one. But he’s definitely one in real life.

      He’s definitely one in Parks & Rec but I think I need to watch Guardians again to get if it works. I just felt like there wasn’t enough Zoe Saldana the first time…and his character was kind of off-putting, to be honest….

    2. halloweenjack64 +6

      Someone on Tumblr suggested, when the “Chris Pratt charms three raptors at once” picture was trending, that his character was drift-compatible with “Blue” and they should definitely crew a jaeger together in PacRim 2.

  16. Unreadaethel +37

    “Space princess fights vampire capitalists with her golden retriever, because she’s always loved dogs.”

      1. Lady_Honoria +7

        What are you talking about that is the best line in the whole movie, possibly in any movie ever.

  17. winterbymorning +28

    The Man from UNCLE movie: well-written and developed female character saves the world from fascists with her psychopathic underwear model and her golden retriever.

  18. aiquale +50

    Just realized that all my favorite action movies have this Golden Retriever plot line.

    If only men knew how amazingly attractive it is when they have the balls to unquestioningly acknowledge a woman’s expertise.

  19. bookwormV +16

    It’s not that those films need to be anything more than they are — it’s that it’s just so incredibly rare to have a trusting or trustworthy nature be a defining characteristic of a male movie character.
    Fury Road: where to be “reliable” is the highest praise that can be bestowed upon a man. <3

    (It has been two months now since I saw it and I still think about it for about 50% of any given day. Send help.)

    1. Lady_Honoria +8

      I think about that scene where she very distinctly does not QUITE snatch the sniper rifle from him, but then he worldlessly if reluctantly admits that she is by far the more capable in that situation, but at least he can be a contribution by letting her literally lean on him… at least once a day.

        1. Lady_Honoria +3

          Well, you know, there’s also all the other parts to think about, and also that bit in MMXXL where he does his accounts, and also all the other parts of MMXXL…

          I spend a lot of my time thinking, is what I’m saying.

    2. Frumiosa +4

      And now it’s coming out on Amazon Prime next week (actually it’s already out but $21)!! The obsession cycle begins anew.

      1. bookwormV +2

        The UK DVD release isn’t until October. October! Good thing the internet is providing me with a steady stream of gifs and fanfic.

  20. mkpatter +16

    OK but for argument’s sake let’s say that Cowboy Bebop did this first, except it was a corgi, and also a literal corgi. #Ed/Ein4lyfe

    EdEin

    I’m gonna go have a cry now.

  21. jennycieplak +4

    Yeah I was kind of hoping for real golden retrievers here, I like dogs, what can I say… Then again I suppose Chris Evans is as close as you can get to a golden retriever in human form…

  22. champagnewastoblame

    Yeah I was kind of hoping for real golden retrievers here, I like dogs, what can I say… Then again I suppose Chris Evans is as close as you can get to a golden retriever in human form…

  23. deitybox

    And now it's coming out on Amazon Prime next week (actually it's already out but $21)!! The obsession cycle begins anew.

  24. isabelcooper +2

    I love this trope, and also this essay, but I kind of thought it was going to be an essay about Dean Koontz for a second there.