Film has tried to even the odds in action and thrillers with female characters, but it seems that we have a double standard at work. Can we writers put a female character through the wringer physically, like John McClane in Die Hard, without hearing cries of misogyny? At what point do we as writers...
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Don't focus on her being "sexy" the whole time and you can do whatever you want to her...as you have to be hard on your protagonist. But if you make her strong, creative, and capable as you would a ma...
Expand commentDon't focus on her being "sexy" the whole time and you can do whatever you want to her...as you have to be hard on your protagonist. But if you make her strong, creative, and capable as you would a man, of course you have to challenge her. I'm not sure what double standard you're speaking of, if you're referring to studios, yes, they rarely make films with female action heroes (unless it's a comic book film and even then they are rarely the protagonist). But studio films are clearly in flux because the old model is so often NOT working anymore.
Some good points being made here (I discounted the mother angle of Kill Bill, for example), but I noticed something with the others. The Long Kiss Goodnight and Hanna were box office disappointments w...
Expand commentSome good points being made here (I discounted the mother angle of Kill Bill, for example), but I noticed something with the others. The Long Kiss Goodnight and Hanna were box office disappointments while Cutthroat Island was an outright bomb (but probably not because of the female lead angle - just a bad film angle). Is the audience for these films, outside of, say, Jodie Foster vehicles (and she really makes thrillers, not action films) so limited? Ripley was established as a character as a result of the success of the genre success of Alien, not because she was the main draw in the first film. And as for Katniss Everdeen, she is largely desexualized for two reasons 1) the source material demanded it and 2) she's playing a teen character. The film's success, however, was due to the monster following of the books (we'll see if the new film is as good as advance word says, and hopefully expand the audience for such pictures). Can we conclude anything from all this? It seems that unless it's an adaptation with a built-in audience, that writers who pulled off action films that succeeded wrote the roles gender-neutral, and added the female details later. Does that sound right?
Some really good points there EC, I was going to add "untraceable" here. Aren't there a lot more female action stories that come out through YA literature (like hunger games?) i did a quick search and...
Expand commentSome really good points there EC, I was going to add "untraceable" here. Aren't there a lot more female action stories that come out through YA literature (like hunger games?) i did a quick search and found a link to this blogpost (http://www.freethoughtblogs.com/ashleymiller/2013/07/23/women-protagonis...). please note that i dont have any affiliation with said blog so I'm not adverting it, just providing it as a quick reference. anhoots, YA stories will probably be riding high for a while which should lead to more opps female led action stories...
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That's a fair question, although comedy as a genre gets away with bending rules by definition. So The Heat, while groundbreaking in a lot of ways, did it through a genre that is better suited for such...
Expand commentThat's a fair question, although comedy as a genre gets away with bending rules by definition. So The Heat, while groundbreaking in a lot of ways, did it through a genre that is better suited for such stretching. It's when I hear talk of an all-female expansion of the Expendables is going to be titled "The Expend-a-Belles" that I slap my forehead and think we really haven't progressed very much at all.
I recently saw The Heat and although I find both of them generally very funny, I though they were constantly trying too hard in this movie, trying to be their characters and trying too hard to get a l...
Expand commentI recently saw The Heat and although I find both of them generally very funny, I though they were constantly trying too hard in this movie, trying to be their characters and trying too hard to get a laugh. Many of the comedy elements were way too sophomoric. Also the chemistry between them didn't work well I kept waiting for the gag in the "bonding moments". I didn't hate it I just think both of them have done much better work.