You get to say things like this:
“There has been no final and conclusive research to support this particular idea of ‘media effects’ – there are no definitive studies showing that watching violence on TV does turn you into a serial killer (which is kind of unfortunate because I like the idea that watching Alien and Terminator 2 will make me a superhero).”
Accompanied by these two lovely Ladeez on a giant screen.
I guess the interesting part of this particular segue involves some sort of discussion about the point of diversity in representation – if effects theory is crap (and that’s a bit of a long bow I know, but I’m making a dramatic point here), what’s the point of agitating for, well, female action heroes?
Teaching this semester I noticed (putting together a lecture on cowboys) that there really haven’t been any seriously arse kicking mainstream action film chicks since the 1990s. Where are the Linda Hamiltons, the Sigourney Weavers of the 21st century?
Are we, like totally over that now?
Please don’t tell me that all we’re left with are (literally) Invisible Women who really only seem up for defensive tactics and getting really really upset.
And hey, why the fuck isn’t Sue Storm the boss of the F4 anyway? She has the best name, she has the most versatile superpowers, she’s totally the boss of annoying people like her brother Johnny… Maybe if she had some sort of serious responsibilities she’d quit obsessing about her wedding and actually have something challenging to occupy her (supposed) super-scientist brain.
Do I need to talk about superhero costumes? I’m as much a fan of the hawt body action as the next red blooded sistah, but I’d kind of like to see some overalls like Siggy’s or perhaps some mucho extremo body armour c/o Aliens.
[deep breath] But, as I was saying, it is way neat to be able to actually talk about this stuff with students. And preparing all this lecture material is really reminding me of the pretty radical roots of media and cultural studies. I’ve been hanging out with swing dancers so long I’ve forgotten that it’s actually way uncool to just accept bullshit gender stereotypes and perpetuate that whole ‘boys look after girls, girls look pretty and shut their mouths‘ crap.
Today I choose to wear full body armour and decimate the patriarchy.
(Hand over that phallus to someone who knows how to use it, motherfucker – the sistah has some multi-tasking to do).
Don’t forget the Geena Davis character in _The Long Kiss Goodnight_. She changes from the mousy librarian Samantha (:-)) to the knife-wielding kick-arse CIA assassin Charly, before internalising both characters (it’s a bit Jungian) and proving that you can be both a mother and a super-human killing machine at the same time. I was always going to write a paper about that…
I actually did my hons thesis on women in action film – on ‘The Long Kiss Goodnight’ , ‘La Femme Nikita’ and the american remake ‘The Assassin’.
There are quite a few 90s action chicks: ‘Cutthroat Island’ (Davis again), ‘The Quick and the Dead’…
We thought of a couple of more recent ones the other day – the Bride from ‘Kill Bill’ (though all her kick arseness gets carefully packaged away into motherhood in the second film >:( )…
There’s also a couple of comic remakes and gamer films (‘Resident Evil’, ‘Ultra Violet’, Aeon Flux) but they’re a bit tits and arse and less on the righteous sistah action.