Which new tough guy can take the title?
*sigh*
Does no one remember Sigourney Weaver's Ripley (from Alien) or Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy (or frankly ANY of the women on that show)? There are kick ass WOMEN action heroes and there should be more. Try stepping outside of the box, Hollywood. SERIOUSLY. If all you can do is recycle Indiana Jones, Rambo and 007 then I give up hope.*
#2 ... Then I saw this bumper sticker at my local mall today...
...and my head exploded.
What could make this day worse?
#3 ... How about nothing but spam e-mail and crummy forwards.
However, one of my forwards had a feminist bent. So I'm passing it on:
A preacher's wife was expecting a baby so he went before the congregation and asked for a raise. After much discussion, they passed a rule that whenever the preacher's family expanded, so would his paycheck.
After 6 children, this started to get expensive and the congregation decided to hold another meeting to discuss the preacher's salary.
There was much yelling and bickering about how much the clergyman's additional children were costing the church. Finally, the Preacher got up and spoke to the crowd, "Children are a gift from God," he said.
Silence fell on the congregation.
In the back pew, a little old lady stood up and in her frail voice said, "Rain is also a gift from God, but when we get too much of it, we wear rubbers."
*Well sort of, you know how I feel about Indiana Jones. He was my first real crush. Please, Hollywood, don't ruin it for me in this 4th movie.
5 comments:
That preacher needs to get a job. Or, an additional job.
With the exceptions of Kill Bill and Alien, almost all movies with female action heroes have sucked badly.
Ultraviolet and Aeon Flux? Garbage. Elektra? Tomb Raider? Um, yuck (though Tomb Raider managed to do well, I think).
My point is that Hollywood DOES try to put women in lead roles in action movies. But, um, rarely do we (women included) actually want to see them.
Brian,
That may be well and true, but I think you're looking at this through a sexist lens. When male action figures flop at the box office or are dubbed "lame" by the audience -- we don't question men's role in the action hero universe, we just recognize it was one flop.
However, women action stars do badly and suddenly it's "I don't know if women are viable in this market. I don't think women want to see this."
Kill Bill, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xena Warrior Princess, Alien, Terminator, La Femme Nikita -- all series/films that have done well and been based on women action heroes.
There could be so many more! And if they were well written and executed, I would DEFINTELY be there to see them!
Tobes,
I don't find your argument very intriguing. For starters, I find it very presumptuous that you say I am speaking as a sexist because I am disagreeing with your point. Had I typed my name as "jenny" would you have thought my comment so sexist? I sort of doubt it.
Second, I'm not denying that cases exist where heroines lead to huge success in the box office. Though, bear in mind, when I say "huge" I mean "acceptable from a business perspective". The only ideology that capitalist Hollywood believes in is profitability.
So, do you think it's fair to say that the chance of a successful action movie with a female lead is considerably slimmer than with a male hero? And that is decided by the masses. I think you should really do some research on this... if audiences reacted favorably to female action leads often enough to consider a production a "safe bet", do you think Hollywood would continue to skimp on them? I really don't think so.
I fully expect a rude response, but let's just say I'm not the only person I know that usually waits for the rental when it comes to female superheroes. They just tend to SUUUUUUCK.
Oh. And if you want to encapsulate all aspects of this issue, and really report on it responsibly, I suggest you look into the anime genre. I just wish I could witness your embarrassment.
Brian,
I said you were looking at it through a sexist lens. I didn't say you were sexist. And yes, regardless of what your name would be, anytime people make an argument along the lines of ...
"But women just aren't that funny.... women action films suck... women can't do X, Y, Z" Then I feel comfortable calling that out as a sexist-based argument.
The action movie 'Daredevil' with Ben Affleck wasn't a huge hit critically or otherwise, but when it panned, did people say, "I just don't think men can make decent action movies?"
No.
There is a real lack of scripts out there with originality when it comes to female action heroes. There are exceptions of course, but often times when Hollywood takes on a female action star, they seem to (in my opinion) spend more time finding the leather bat suit that most accentuates her cleavage and forget about the script. Which, if you think about it, is sort of Hollywood's own sexist issue that need to deal with.
I know nothing about anime. Sorry.
Sorry if my disagreeing with you came off as rude. Was not intentional.
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