"A New Perspective on The Headless Women Film Posters: Two illustrators give us a more refreshing view on misogynistic film posters"
I was approached by the magazine to redesign to film posters which used the 'headless woman' poster style. The style depicts a woman in a sexualised and dehumanising way for promoting a film.
Poster 1: Just Go With It
‘Just Go with It’ is the 2011 romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler. The film is goofy and often crass, and I wanted the poster’s colour theme to reflect this with a bold garish palette. I was inspired by 1960s psychedelic design and as the film is set in Hawaii, I also looked at the beach movies from the same era. Particularly the posters for films such as ‘Blue Hawaii’ and ‘Bikini Beach’. The romantic comedy has family at its heart and the original poster shows no evidence of this key theme, so in my version I brought the kids to the front, highlighting the aspect of the family dynamic.
Poster 2: Kingsman: The Secret Service
Kingsman: The Secret Service’ is the 2015 action comedy starring Taron Egerton along with a large ensemble cast. The original poster reduces the kickass character of Gazelle, played by Sofia Boutella to simply her behind. For my redesign I wanted to highlight Gazelle and make her the star of the poster. I continued to take inspiration from 1960s psychedelia and looked to book covers of femme fatale novels of the same era. The colour palette is muted and echoes the grey and blue film setting of London. I also made a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the film’s title by separating Kings and Man from each other, as a reference to the lack of female representation in the film.
