Can we please put an end to the cliché female traveler trope?

The cliché female traveler depicted in movies is typically a young woman from a small town. She has never left the country. But is erudite and seamlessly fits in with all the people she meets around the world. The young woman is understated, yet beautiful. She does not say anything ignorant or uncultured, she is usually the smartest in the room, very well-read, and an old soul. 

The cliché female traveler is ecstatic to be in another country and thinks drinking and going out are activities exclusive to party girls, which she vehemently is not. The cliché female traveler is usually mono-focused on her sole passion, of which nothing will get in the way of—fashion! Art! Writing! Seeing the world! Luckily this holier-than-thou traveler is not the same caliber of annoying as the self-righteous Joey Potter, but she is an annoying trope nonetheless. 

I started From Scratch, a new Netflix series, with low expectations. The show is about a woman, played by Zoe Saldaña, who goes to Italy and falls in love with a chef. She’s also into art in the predictable, sterile way someone from The Bold Type would adore art. At least this is what I gleaned from the brief clip Netflix played when I hovered over the movie.

I can’t remember the last good movie I saw with Saldaña. Center Stage? I clicked to start watching the first episode because maybe it could be good. Rotten Tomatoes gave the series 100% (this has gone down to 92% since I first checked the reviews. Still super high though). Just seconds into the series it was clear we were dealing with a quintessential cliché female traveler along with her party-girl sidekick and foil.

In the opening scene, we see Saldaña arriving in Florence. She is picked up by a stereotypical smoking Italian woman, who I assume we are supposed to perceive as saucy/sassy. No idea what the connection between the two women is.

There is no small talk between them before Saldaña starts her enthusiastic proclamation about everything she wants to see and do! (“I want to see everything. The David. The cathedral at the Duomo, the Uffizi Gallery, the Ponte Vecchio.”) I saw all those things drunk in one afternoon. It’s a pretty easy feat. Not something I would excitedly share with a local if I were above 12 years old, let alone the Georgetown Law student Saldaña claims to be. The Italian woman rightly notes it won’t take long to check off her list and she suggests Saldaña get a lover. See? Saucy!

Saldaña is then dropped off at an apartment that looks like a palace. Whatever. Next, she’s in some beautiful building where a woman is lecturing a group on the beauties of Florence. The speaker announces that she is looking for vision and bravery for an art competition in which a few candidates from the program will be selected to show their work in a gallery. Saldaña leans in contemplatively, communicating to the audience she is a deep soul and a serious artist, and will undoubtedly win this competition. 

This scene takes me back to every Mary-Kate and Ashley movie where the twins jet off to Europe and have six weeks to prove themselves to be selected for a coveted internship. Again the difference here is that Saldaña is supposed to be a serious law student, and Mary-Kate and Ashley are bubbly 15-year-olds living in a fun fantasy world. 

In the next scene, the saucy Italian re-joins Saldaña and again tells her to take a lover, to which Saldaña affirms she is not here for love! Classic. Saldaña then collides with a hot man in the street who I presume will be the chef she falls in love with. I can’t tell you how it pans out as I stopped watching and returned to the Soviet spy sci-fi thriller I had been watching. 

Seven minutes and thirty seconds. That is how long I could stand this female traveler trope. I think if I had a Xanax I could have made it further, but my current sobriety has me in a no-nonsense state. I cannot tolerate watching women having the dimensionality of paper. Either cast your heroine as a super sheltered, naive, virginal, and cutely-dumb girl who then proclaims she wants to see The David and is terrified to have a lover because she has never seen a penis (someone would need to warn her about that statue…) or have her be a law student who knows the best way to navigate any city is to have a fling with a local. None of this Dualstar Entertainment cringe that only works for the Olsen Twins.