“An unlikable man is inscrutably interesting, dark, or tormented but ultimately compelling even when he might behave in distasteful ways,” Roxane Gay writes, but when women dare to be unlikeable (emphasis on the dare), it becomes a conversation, a challenge, a how-dare-she situation directed at the characters, the author, and the performer. We wouldn’t want them to be our friends, co-workers, bosses, or partners, would we? Likeability equals money. That’s the unwritten law that’s dominated filmmaking since, well, the birth of Hollywood.
