Superheroes and Women: How About Some More Women Superheroes, Already?
by Super JiveSummer brings a slew of superhero movies. This summer we have Hancock, The Dark Knight, and brought to you by the letter "I": Iron Man, Incredible Hulk Part Two, Electric Smasharoo and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, among others, such as Mans Doing Serious Man Things and Man vs. Creepier Mans with some Hot Twenty-five Year Old Actresses Thrown In. Do you enjoy seeing superhero movies?
I will admit that I love action and used to love them until I started becoming critical of the imbalance of strong female characters. Now I watch fewer of them, and cringe my way through.
Recently, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists had a discussion of
...the current crop of superheroes and their movies, their appeal to and
treatment of women, and the root of the genre’s importance in
contemporary culture. We look at how women play in superhero movies and
whether their roles have changed in this summer’s crop.
The results were pretty interesting, if a little unsurprising. They asked the respondents which women they would like to see directing a superhero movie, but not about which character should feature in one (if they should feature at all), which I think is a more relevant question, since the presence of and the way female characters are portrayed on screen will probably have more of an impact on an audience than who is directing the film. As far as I know, there are no female superhero movies slated for this year. The AWFJ asked their respondents why recent female superhero movies (Elektra (2005) and Catwoman (2004)) have failed, here is a sampling of the responses from the same article:
“They were bad because they had poor scripts and not very good actresses,“ says [Laura] Emerick. And, “they were made by people who don’t understand women, comics or movies,” comments [Nell] Minow. And, “they played to centerfold fantasies rather than female empowerment,” according to [Carrie] Rickey.
Okay, fair enough. This made me wonder: what do women want in superhero movies? Do we really want a female lead? Would we really have more naked guy action and less technobabble? I like the idea of more women as superheroes, and less as a tacked-on, bosom-heaving plot point, staked to the nuclear warhead and rescued moments before it goes off. "Oh creepy masked hero with apparent psychological issues! Now that you have saved me my panties are just flinging themselves off!"
As for the opposite of panty-flinging, what about platonic relationships in the superhero genre? It seems like we've got beloved mom or babe. Or evil babe.
Kalinara over at Pretty, Fizzy Paradise calls for a She-Hulk movie, which sounds like it would ROCK.
Jen's a great heroine. She's got a simple, easy to follow origin:
(timid lawyer, shot trying to help her cousin, got blood transfusion,
becomes giant, green and awesome), she's charming, smart and funny. And
she makes a fascinating contrast to the Hulk, because for her, the
transformation is a source of strength rather than an out of control
curse. It allows her to free herself from her own fear and anxiety and
embrace her confidence and inner power.
How great is that? A movie that could feature smashing and strong female empowerment? I confess up until now I thought that She-Hulk, much like Ms. Pac-Man, was just "Hulk with a Bow" so to speak (sorry, Ms. Pac-Man fans).
A Wonder Woman movie has been in pre-production since 2001, apparently. Even Joss Whedon tried to write it, and walked away. I loved Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman when I was little, and would love to see a movie featuring her. Ragnell says that many call her a "cipher" and therefore hard to write, but counters with
Hell if I know who she is, but I know who she isn't and I know she knows who she is.
It's
not the usual characterization for a woman. According to what I've seen
of women in fiction, we're unsure of ourselves. We're uncomfortable
with ourselves. We're uncomfortable with our bodies. We're
uncomfortable with our sexuality. We don't know what we're capable of.
We second-guess ourselves. We surprise ourselves. We hate ourselves. We hurt ourselves and the people around us. Society seems designed
to make us that way and that's what I see in most female characters.
Every woman's story in fiction seems to be a coming into herself.
Learning those traits.Wonder Woman is not supposed to be like that. Wonder Woman is supposed to already be the woman other women in fiction learn to be. She's at the point where you are done working on your inside and ready to work on the outside world.
Using this interpretation of her character, could Wonder Woman be a good model for young women? A self-actualized, grown-assed women who can fight baddies using her wits, strength, and experience? Hell yes. Perhaps it's easier to write a character, like Batman, in some kind of psychic torment, or a woman as a crude stereotype, such as overly-sexualized or helpless. But I would like to see the Wonder Woman movie come to fruition.
So, please, Hollywood, give us some more starring roles for superwomen. And I don't mean like Super Ex-Girlfriend, which should be called Super Unhinged Stalker, and no more squealing helpless babes. I see strong women in my everyday life, and I try to be a strong model for my daughters. So why is it so hard to find in the superhero movies?
SJ also wishes she had her own rubber catsuit over at I, Asshole.
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Comments
Well, when the majority of the comics with
female
heroes are written by men...we have a long way to go in getting some good female characters.
The X-men movies have the last with some good TOUGH women...Rogue, Jean Grey, Ororo....
The Wonder Woman comic is not very good either...they can't seem to 'find' her....they don't know what to do with her.
The comic industry is very sexist.
I had a female artist friend told that women can't draw Superman!
Look for me at http://crunchycarpets.com or check out the ladies at www.wetcoastwomen.com
Jodi Picoult's Wonder Woman?
I haven't read a Wonder Woman since I was ten. OK maybe I read one or two when my kids were into comics, but if I did - they weren't memorable.
I did read Jodi Picoult's Wonder Woman and I really liked it. The Amazon reviewers hated it and it sounds like Picoult wrote her into a situation that the writers behind her didn't handle well. I'm planning to read the issues after Picoult's, to see how the guys handled the situation...
Has anyone else read this one?
~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager
Flamingo House Happenings
It almost hurt my heart to
It almost hurt my heart to see you call it 'Incredible Hulk Part Two'. I love superhero films, and I think we'll have a few female leads around the corner, especially since they have 'The Avengers' coming up in '10 or '11 and there were a slew of female super heroes in that crew. The only other films in the works right now though to tie into that movie are Thor and Captain America, but my fingers are crossed for a Wasp picture, or even Moondragon with her cocky attitude and bald head. OK, my geek is showing, let me zip up.
I think that in the most recent films such as Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and Hancock, the female 'leads' were very strong, opinionated, intelligent and portrayed very nicely, although they weren't the most integral characters. In recent years there were Catwoman, Laura Croft, and Storm & Jean Grey in X-Men, even Charlie's Angels could be considered. Oh! And let's not forget my favorite superheroine - Elastigirl, from The Incredibles. She managed to raise a family, rescue a husband and save the world all at once. Now *that* is a super friggin'woman!
I think the biggest hindrance is money. These big movie studios are only concerned with their bottom dollar, and Wonder Woman probably won't pull an Iron Man at the box office. I though, would gladly go see it. She was a favorite of mine when I was younger.
My Super X-Girlfriend was horrible. Just, awful.
- Maria
immoralmatriarch.com
Thanks for commenting, and I
Thanks for commenting, and I apologize about Hulk Two. I confess I just wanted to make an Electric Boogaloo joke there. But I am glad to see someone else sharing the Wonder Woman love.
Your Pop Culture Librarian also writes almost daily at I, Asshole.
Maybe we need to look to Comix
rather than comics. I think that is one of the reasons I like Second Life. I can fly. I can lift huge buildings. Yes. Undergrounds ands Indies are one avenue, but being your own super heroine is fun too. And you can publish books in SL. I just got Manga Software and am toying with creating a Goddess comic -- Goddesses are superheros, no?
Nancy
Build Peace
Virtuality
My Life As An Avatar
I agree about graphic
I agree about graphic novels! That's so funny, I almost mentioned them. I wrote an article about them a few months ago on this very site.
Your Pop Culture Librarian also writes almost daily at I, Asshole.
On movie audiences
I agree with you, Crunchy and Maria. Maybe movie producers are afraid to throw much money to super heroine flicks and consider more super guy flicks a sure shot. That guys are more interested to watch flicks on super heroes that they likely read, collected, and consider their alter ego since they are kids. And/or maybe movie producers also thinks that the only time women watch a super hero flick if she is on a movie date (and the guy gets to choose which movie to see) or a mom with little boys who wants to see that movie.
Maybe the comics industry is just plain sexist.
Wanted and other hot ass-kicking women
First, let me admit that I haven't seen Wanted with Angelina Jolie (but I want to, because as obvious as her hots may be, I could stare at them all day long.) She also did Lara Croft, which I also didn't see - though not a superhero, a good counterpart to Indiana Jones.
The only 2 superhero movies that I could come up with - using the traditional "normal my day, superhero by crisis" model were My Super Ex-Girlfriend (with Uma Thurman, yum) and Serial Mom (With Kathleen Turner.)
There was Supergirl in the 80's (and for that matter, The Legend of Billie Jean, which was something of a Junior Superhero Avenger chic.....)
What interests me is that the recent attempts at female superhero movies - like Catwoman - all use raw sexuality as part of the defining characteristic. As if it IS one of hte powers that give women in general a leg-up, should they chose to use it. (This is another debate.) Where as the male superheroes certainly make women swoon, it's for what they accomplish, not what they wear. Indeed, a man in tights with underwear on the outside is not anyone's idea of a kink, yest entire subcultures exist around women nicely bound in PVC restraints.
I have about 1/2 a dozen super heroes scripts in my computer. More in my head. I absolutely love the genre - LOVE IT - but have never found anything that made my soul sing in terms of role models for my daughter. Don't get me wrong, i LOVE raw sexuality in female superheros (and do think that it cripples those stuck in its path) but I want a female superhero that people swoon over for what she does, and can non nonchalantly walk away smacking her own ass saying, "oh, this old thing, i forgot i had it!"
Wait, except maybe the new Charlie's Angels films by Drew Barrymore..... those come damn close. We both love those - well, the first one anyway.
(I love that Catwoman outfit, by the way, and may or may not own one. Hmmm, this old thing?)
____________
Alyssa Royse
Just Cause It: A Web Site To Save The World
Start Her Up: A Blog for Women Ent
oh my
A few of the comments in the AWFJ piece made me want to throw up. My favorite was "women go to see superhero movies because they’re trying to please someone else–usually a man." Thanks for the stereotyping, Karen Martin, I'll remember it when I'm at Hellboy on opening night because I am SO EXCITED TO BE THERE. Even if I had to go by myself, I'd be there.
With friends like Karen Martin, who needs sexists?
But to answer your question about what "women" want in superhero movies, I think most of us would like to not have our intelligence insulted by making us the damsel you mentioned. I don't mind some of the movies having culturally-sanctioned-as-sexy women, but I want diversity of women, not just skinny white girls with big boobs and arms like sticks wearing shoes they can't run in.
I also want them to give us strong women and make them REAL strong women, not faux action girls like whatsherface in Van Helsing.
And I want them to make a movie of the graphic novel of Planetary, so I can see Jakita Wagner on the big screen.
p.s. "Gwyneth Paltrow’s liberated twist on the traditional Gal Friday role"? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
A few of the comments in the
Yeah, wasn't that awful? I wanted to comment on that, but it didn't quite fit. I knew one of you sharpies would catch that.
Your Pop Culture Librarian also writes almost daily at I, Asshole.
a dude @ blogher?
yes!
I actually wound up here searching for female superheroes to offset my two young daughters' (3 and 5) endless capacity for everything princess! I've beem trying to elevate their (especially my older daughter) TV interest from Barbie-Island-Princess-type junk to something that might make her shift her aspirations to being something a little bit more than pretty in pink.
She loves Batman, Spiderman, and Superman cartoons and comics which I purposely sought out to turn her onto something cooler than Cinderella III. But the other day she was talking about a new backpack for kindergarten, and of course nothing outside of princesses seemed to do. I suggested she get a spiderman backpack, and she told me only boys are superheroes! I quickly reminded her of all the female superheroes I could rattle off (she seemed to really spark up at my description of She Hulk!), but none of them have been represented in any shows of book she's seen.
I just ordered the entire first season of JLA just to get some wonderwoman ideas floating around in her head.
I also wanted to post because I didn't see anyone mention the Underworld series which I think is (besides Trinity from The Matrix) one of the best female superhero series of late.
I also really liked the main from the recently released 'Doomsday' - she is gorgeous and, unlike the nearly anorexic-looking Jolie, she has a super-strong physique.
my votes
The problem with Wonder Woman, as was pointed out in the OP, is that she's already perfect. She has no internal struggle, which is what most writing hinges on. Sure, you can pit her against something external, but it would be kind of boring. She's fantastic because she's what women want to BE, but we want to know how to GET there, not what to do when we've attained it. It's important to have that icon around, but unfortunately icons tend to be 2-dimensional, and not terribly interesting as the centerpoint to a story. (I think Whedon could have done something good with her, but it sounded like he wanted to rework her origin story and the producers weren't down with that. He writes female superheros really well - okay, Buffy doesn't wear a cape or a tiara, but she kicks some ass)
Not to mention, they've worked away at making WW physically perfect, too. She used to need an invisible jet, but now she can just fly. She used to have to deflect bullets with her bracelets, now they just bounce off her. Cripes, even Superman has his kryptonite.
I think a She Hulk movie would be FANTASTIC if they could do it correctly. She is one of my all-time favorite characters. And really, they could write whatever they wanted for a plot, since her origin story isn't very complicated.
And, Jessica Jones anybody? Okay, so, alcoholic potty mouth and then pregnant, not exactly a role model for little girls, but she'd kick ass.