So we watched a group of films all of which were created by female animators. These films all expressed various emotions and ways women feel and are treated in the world, They also tell stories in which men kind of can't. Which kind of made me think of female action heroes and why in a way is why I love female action heroes over male action heroes.
I love that in these films most of the time females express various roles and emotions unlike males. In the film series Aliens Sigourney Weaver plays a space traveler named Ellen Ripley that comes in contact with a hostile specie in space. Throughout the film she expresses fear and desperation as she tries to escape the spaceship she is on as her crew members are attacked one by one. Now in most movies if a guy was in this role he would just be like I can take it and have this showdown that would never happen in real life. Not to say that I don't like that in films but sometimes you like to have a rational character. Then in the second film she takes up the role of motherhood as she watches over a little girl named Newt who survived an attack by the aliens. In this film Ripley picks up both a sensitive and maternal role plus the will to kick butt. She isn't just the person who takes name but also watches and relates to children who are in need of a parental figure.
Another great female action hero is Sarah Conner from the Terminator series. As it is she essentially the main character of the first two films and usually is focused on for TV series. She is shown as a normal human who reacts to all of her surroundings as a normal person would who just got told they are going to give birth to the future leader of mankind. The first film she is fairly normal as she is exposed to what she will have to teach her future child to save the world. The second film is just totally awesome as she has the strength to kick butt and take names. She even just about breaks out of an institution on her own to only be interrupted and messed up by Arnold and her son. It is also nice that as the audience we get to follow her thought process and know what she is thinking.
For what I hope in the future before I get to what I don't want happening to female action heroes is that more subjects of females and emotions are explored. Most female heroes have some connection with children or they get hindered by lack of screen time(Black widow) or daddy issues. Also to not make them as sexual as possible(Lara Croft, Catwoman etc.). I hope that more guy action heroes take up similar development. Right the only guy in comic, movie and shows that is willing to cry is Spider-Man. As it is most superheroes use their loved ones death to go into isolation(Batman) or vow revenge(mostly everyone else).
Now what I don't want happening to females is to follow the guy pattern of not having emotions or caring. This was my big problem with the movie Lucy. Not only did they have a false premise with the whole 10% of the brain but they made Lucy less interesting throughout the film. She starts out as a student in Russia who is forced into doing a drug delivery and is then kidnapped. This could of been a cool premise where she led herself and the others kidnapped to freedom or something or became a superhero from the mind altering drug. Instead when the drug enters her she acts like Sheldon Cooper without personality. I hated this!! There are parts where she gets shot and cut open and doesn't react. She has moved past the realm of being a human and to Godhood and isn't interesting like the Greek ones.
So I would like to say that I think there should be more women animators and stars in Hollywood so that things can change. I think that when this happens there will be more thought and creative mix to add to our entertainment.
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