Alien vs. Predator Requiem (AVP-R)

Femtique — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 00:36:40 -0600

In the original Alien vs. Predator, Alexa Woods (Sanaa Lathan) outlasts her male co-stars and ends up as the heroine of the film. In Alien vs. Predator Requiem (AVP-R), Kelly (Reiko Aylesworth) was written as a heroine, but she was not nearly the heroine Lathan was. This is the result of different writers. Two groups of writers created two different stories. The writers of Alien vs. Predator created a dynamic and fierce heroine. The original Alien vs. Predator was feminist friendly. The writers of AVP-R created one woman who was a heroine and another who was "eye candy", i.e. physically objectified.

The physically objectified character, Jesse (Kristen Hager), was introduced at the beginning of the film as the disgruntled girlfriend of the large and in charge violent boyfriend. After all, every woman wants a man who is in control, right? Jesse was powerless next to her boyfriend. Her boyfriend was violent, and even though she said she would "fire him", at no point did she verbally disagree with his brutality to his face. After watching her male friend get beat up by her boyfriend, her boyfriend commanded her to follow him back into her house ... and lo and behold, she did exactly what he told her to do. Big surprise. Her passive acceptance translates to audiences that women accept men who are violent, in control, abusive, and if they know what's good for them, should not show their discontent to their boyfriends' faces. She eventually broke up with him, but her boyfriend stalked her and beat up her new male interest.

The director had at least three 15 second semi-nude camera shots of Jesse in the film. During the pool scene, she stripped semi-nude while her date watched in amusement -- he did not take one article of clothing off. This unbalance of nudity created a power imbalance as opposed to a mutually intimate moment on screen. Jesse was thoroughly physically exploited and then killed quickly by the Predator near the end of the movie. She was also used as an object of desire and affection for one of the lead male characters.

The heroine of the film, Kelly (Reiko Aylesworth), was a military woman. Like many films with a part-time heroine, there was a point in the film where her expertise could not be trusted because she was a woman. Transformers (2007) had a similar character that was blatantly ignored because she was a woman. Everyone knows a woman in charge in an action-adventure movie should not be trusted! Sarcasm aside, Kelly should have been trusted. A few of the people who trusted a woman survived while the rest of the town ceased to exist. Kelly's military experience was not used until the very end of the film. I as hoping at some point that the writers would rectify her role as a leading action woman, but the writers failed to do so.

Kelly's connection to her daughter was unfair compared to the role men play in this genre of film. At the beginning of the movie, her daughter preferred her husband to read to her at night because he was at home more than she was. The price she paid for being a military mother was emotional distance from her daughter. If the roles were reversed, and the father was the military hero, it is likely that the child would have requested the father's presence. Why? Because the child would have wanted to spend as much time with with father before he left again. In the end, the military mother saved her child's life. Ironically, the father died very early in the film despite the privilege of spending more time with his child compared to the mother.

Screenwriter of Memoirs of Geisha (2005) and Matilda (1996),Robin Swicord said,

"It is very hard to get movies made that are genuinely feminist, or even portray women in a fair way. I genuinely believe there is a big domestic audience for this kind of movie, but if there is only a domestic audience, it won't get made."

How could this film be feminist friendly and still maintain it’s pop appeal?

1. Perpetuating the stereotype that heroine's should not be trusted or are somehow incapable because they are women needs to stop. This is a gender specific stereotype that does not create a strong heroic female character. This stereotype sends the message to audience members that no matter how great a woman is, her logic cannot be trusted over a male's. More often than not, film watchers have a difficult time believing that a woman can be a hero -- this is because of stereotypes like this. It is no wonder why people have a hard time believing a woman is capable of physically overthrowing a man. Even in fiction people refuse to believe it saying, "Oh that's ridiculous . . . a woman could NEVER do that!"

2. To be fair, a mother who is a hero should not necessarily lose the admiration of her child(ren). Most movies with male heroes are admired by their children for what they do.

3. The stereotype of the disgruntled girlfriend who passively accepts verbal abuse by her boyfriend sends the message that intimate partner violence in the form of verbal abuse is to be tolerated by women. In order to make this movie more feminist friendly, Jesse could have verbally disagreed with her boyfriend and not tolerated his behavior. How many movies have a character like hers? Too many . . . way too many.

4. There is nothing wrong with nudity, but when men do not strip as much as women, it creates a situation where women are physically objectified. All the writers and director would have to do to remedy this would be to have 15 second nude-focused shots of men. A good example would be a phallic focus.

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Alien vs. Predator Requiem (AVP-R)