In many ways, my own heist series, Justice Hustlers, is inspired by Maney’s work. I also have these all-girl crews who run around doing their part to make trouble, have fun and generally upset the patriarchy. While Maney wrote an all-gay world, I write a world where straight, queer and trans women all find love, sex and trouble. Plus, they conspire together to steal things.
Ocean’s 8 stars Sandra Bullock as Debbie Ocean along with Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Rihanna, and Helena Bonham Carter. Debbie Ocean masterminds the robbery of a $150M necklace from the Met Gala. As the first mainstream female heist film, I really wanted to love Ocean’s 8, but the film couldn’t decide if it was a remake of Ocean’s 11 with a female cast, or a little sister story. On the one hand, it follows the 2001 narrative: A member of the notorious Ocean family gets out of jail and pulls off a heist. On the other hand, it sets Debbie up as Danny’s younger sister. Danny is conveniently dead, presumably, so we don’t have to explain why he’s not part of the team? Why couldn’t Debbie just be the mastermind in her own right? Oh yeah, sexism. But it undermines at more than just the abstract level, because the already long film wastes two critical scenes establishing Debbie’s relationship to her dead brother instead of investing in the relationships with the living women on her team.