Sexy Women — Strong Heroines?
Sgt. Angle reporting for duty!
This weekend, most everyone in the USA and the world got to see Robert Downey, Jr. and Don Cheadle whip some ass in Iron Man 2. But what also graced the screen was the eyeful of deliciousness Scarlett Johansson in a skin-tight black uniform as she twirled and drop-kicked a hallway full of bad guys.
She is watching you watching her…
The sexy action girl is nothing new to cinema — Halle Barry did tried it a few years back with Catwoman; Angelina Jolie nailed it with Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and Ann Perillaud perhaps started it all (thanks to Luc Besson’s imagination) in Le Femme Nikita. Since the early ‘90s, sexy women with big boots, big guns, and the flexibility of Gumby’s younger self have taken cinematic screens by storm. One needs only to think of Catherine Zeta Jones (whatever happened to her?) easing her tight body through the red laser sensors in Entrapment…where was I? Are these “strong” characters, or simply sexy women who can maneuver their bodies to seduce you into falling in front of their bullets?
For a strong female role, one would look most naturally towards a Katherine Hepburn character (Bringing Up Baby, Adam’s Rib) or Meryl Streep or Ellen Burstyn or Diane Keaton. A woman who is as smart as the man, a woman who is even in control of every event unfolding whether we know it or not. Strong women know what they want, or if they don’t, they have a strong motivation for remaining unsure. Oh, and they can control the hell out of a scene.
For the action-oriented women, a strong role one should always refer to is Ellen Ripley, of the Alien franchise. For a role originally written for a man, Sigourney Weaver took the depth of the character to new heights. She is a woman in a man’s world, she doesn’t emanate sexuality, and she can kick ass while getting the job done. She doesn’t need skin tight dresses, high heels, or nudity to show that she is a strong woman. She uses her smarts and her skills, NOT her sexuality.
Not that there’s a problem with women who use sexuality as a means to an end. But it is becoming too large of a crutch.
Sarah Connor, of the Terminator franchise (hmm, yet another written by James Cameron…) is also an example of a strong woman, a bad-ass who doesn’t thrust sexuality in our faces as a means to get what she wants. Sarah is a pawn in her own fate, and the fate of the world, and rather than succumb to the helpless situation of defeating a machine that will not stop, she fights, sometimes brutally.
A woman who fights is not necessarily a strong female, but a woman who fights with a greater purpose, an honorable purpose, is much more powerful.
And then you have women like Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) in The Fifth Element, who runs around in the movie mostly in little to no clothing. But her innocence as a character, as a being who rarely exists, is enough to overthrow the overt sexuality in the character and bring her to a new level, a respectable level of a person lost in a conflict, unaware of her surroundings.
In The Matrix, Carrie Ann Moss opens the entire series in a skintight black leather suit, kicks ass using back flips and forward flips, shot in cool matrix-cam slow-mo, then casually leaves the room. The rest of her time in the overall story is spent looking cool within the matrix, and appearing to be innocent and “just” sexy on the ship. As a character, she is a freedom fighter, but as a movie presence, she is eye candy. Just like Monica Belluci was in her few seconds of screen time.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. The female Indiana Jones, some might say. Tight shirts, highlighted curves, oozing with sexuality as she climbs a rope or flips into a secret passageway. Like her character in Wanted, Jolie simply overflows with sexuality, such that any hope of character development or interation is entirely lost. Look at her in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, yet again, for evidence that her own sexuality is her only weapon. Again, it’s not necessarily a weak thing for a woman to use sex to get past obstacles. It’s just a crutch, one used far too often these days.
In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Lisbeth does, at one point, use sex as a defense mechanism, as a weird way of putting up a wall between her and a guy that she likes. But it works, only because we see her use sex in a much more cruel way as a defense against abuse. Her motivations are set up, and her experiences — as we’ve seen them — make the use of sex understandable and a part of her character, not just eye candy on the silver screen.
She will not sex you up. Only mess you up.
And what do all these lovely ladies bring us to? I would say the hybrid, the woman we saw this weekend. ScarJo played the Black Widow, and fights in the ultra sexy body suit, using moves that would make a gymnast cringe. And she does it all without seducing, without thrusting cleavage in our faces (make no mistake, there is cleavage, there is an amazing body, but her body is not the weapon, nor is she trying to seduce anyone). One could chalk this up to Scarlet’s screen presence, or lack thereof, but I think she’s smarter than that.
I guess I’m just making the case that we don’t need a woman who looks good and uses herself just because she looks good. I’d rather a woman be a fighting machine and oh, by the way, she looks great, too, rather than “let’s try to bang her and hope that she can fight, too”.
A woman with a gun is a powerful woman, and can give you a sexy look, but a woman with only her fists who doesn’t waste time looking you up and down is a much more confident, stronger, and powerful woman.
What do you think? What makes a strong female character to you, either in action films or in other films? Sound back below, privates!
You are dismissed!
Sgt. Angle
