Women in Action part 3: Just casting a strong woman doesn't fix anything....

I've been talking about how the studios are trying to figure women out and trying to put in something they want into their action/thriller movies. They see that dramas like The Notebook do well with an intense romance so they cram that into their James Bond movie and it's a hot mess.

Another thing they try to do is put a "strong woman" in the lead or supporting role and let that sit there. Just because Scarlett Johansson kicked someone in the face I don't have to see your movie.

Studios seem to think that women want to see other women doing the dirty work sometimes. Now it's a great thought and a great step forward into equality but it's usually done in such an awkward way that it doesn't give the desired effect. I would say that the few times that it does work is when the female aspect is non-issue. In The Avengers, Black Widow is on the team and nobody references for a hot second that she's a girl. She kicks ass like the guys, she talks like the guys and she gets to eat schwarma at the end with the guys.

However, for the most part, they either cast the "oh my word...what do I do with this gun!" kind of girl (a la "The Killers") or a girl that is so frighteningly bad ass that your average woman cannot relate with her at all (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Haywire, Catwoman in Dark Knight Rises).

It's the attempt to counter program with having girls on the screen. As an audience member, it is human nature to want to see yourself up there, embodying those characters. However, the "kick ass" quality is not something that is encourage in women when they were girls. That's why Disney movies with well-behaved princesses are more salient in our culture than Wonder Woman. When a woman sees another woman on the screen snapping someone's neck it's so much more shocking. We can't see ourselves in that role and a resistance to the whole endeavor usually results.

Ultimately, the step to including more women in action/thrillers is great. However, the parts that a woman plays shouldn't be relegated to either being terrifying bitchy monsters or idiots who don't know which end of the gun is up. Get a smart woman like Black Widow who knows what she's doing and isn't so unrelatable. More of those and you might be getting more women on board.


Tomorrow...hot guys are fun, but they don't make your movie good.

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Obsessed Stalker to Hot Stud: Relationships in "Man Movies"

By no means is it critical that an action hero be a sweeping romance. I mean it's not Gone with the Wind but having relationships with other people is a part of life and should not be awkward plot points in a thriller or an action movie.


Women inherently connect with some kind of relationship. The generic female stereotype is that we only will see a movie if it stars Ryan Gosling and it involves white frilly weddings and long-lost love letters that are so poetic that your head will explode.

The problem is that the stereotype does come from some sort of reality. The movies that resonate with women often are filled with handsome men who are dripping with charm and romance. They find a normal but beautiful girl and their romance is whirlwind.

Now I don't demand that The Dark Knight set aside an hour to really develop a heartbreaking romance for the ages. That's not the point of the movie and awkwardly stopping the plot to focus on Bruce Wayne's girlfriend just destroys the flow.

But the relationships are always just thrown in there to serve a point. They either are WAY too emphasized or they are just there and are quickly thrown away.

Comic book movies often veer into the WAY too emphasized category. The hero is obsessed with a girl and huge chunks of their motivation is about wooing her or getting her to like him. It boggles the mind why Bruce Wayne is spending so much time on Rachel or why Peter Parker is spending so much energy on Mary Jane. By trying to make a relationship "realistic" it often diminishes the hero and the story gets lost in the shuffle. Even in Quantam of Solace, James Bond is a basketcase, unable to

function without this girl he barely knows. The hero then borders on an obsessed pathetic stalker because his only motivation is to get and then save this soul mate.

Then there's the throwaway romances. They are there to make the hero look like a stud or, sometimes, just a normal person with normal person urges. The girl is simply a plot point. The hero goes to this building, shoots a guy, sleeps with a girl, eats lunch, etc. The girl is there to either provide a little "relaxation" in the midst of an action-packed day or to just bump the ratings up to a hearty PG-13. I'm not talking so much about the more misogynistic, in your face sexist women. I'm more talking about the girl who comes in randomly, leaves for no reason, and serves no point except to spout exposition or make the hero look like a bad ass.

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Muscly Robot Gorillas

Movies can't earn the big bucks until they get women to come and watch them. However it seems like studios have no idea what to do when it comes to getting women to see their movies. Here's what's going down:

Your average action movie

Most films star men that are unconnectable - Yes I made up a word. Let's move on.
For the most part "guy movies" (thrillers, action, horror) are populated with a lot of men. Just so many men, it's not even funny. Let's go through some of the last few big movies:

The Avengers- 3/14 major characters are women (Black Widow, Pepper Potts, Agent Hill)
Dark Knight Rises- 2/14 (Selina, Miranda)  
Star Trek into Darkness- 2/11 (Uhura, Carol)
Iron Man 3- 3/12 (Pepper Potts, Maya Hansen, Brandt)

Now, if the ratios are routinely hovering around 18% for women then about 80% of the time we're

watching men on screen. Now women have no problem watching men, especially the handsome buff  types that get to headline an action movie.

But the writing makes these men nothing more than muscly robots. Many male characters have motivations that more closely resemble an angry gorilla than a real person. They see food they eat it, they see a hot woman they sleep with it and they see a gun they shoot it. These characters have the emotional range of an interesting boulder.

Men are attracted to a woman first by their physical attributes because that's what evolution has taught them. Women, however, needed to know that their caveman husband isn't an interesting boulder. He has to be strong AND be able to bring home an antelope or two.

Therefore, evolutionary women can only look at a man, no matter how handsome they are, without wanting a little more. They need their actors to have some depth besides worrying how fast their car will drive or if their entrance to that party was bad ass enough.

Now let's not get crazy. Thor does not need to have angst. Shia LeBeouf does not need to go to the therapist and discuss what does a Transformer represent from his childhood. There's depth and then there's whatever happened in Spiderman 3. You can take it too far. Sorry Tobey, you took it too far.


TOMORROW - Romance is both way too important and useless. (I'm looking at you Quantum of Solace)

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Two Reasons I'm Excited About Man of Steel and One Reason that I'm Not

I've always been a big fan of the Superman portrayal in the movies and TV through the years. I don't read comic books but I've absorbed the Clark Kent/Superman world through Lois and Clark, Smallvile, the 70's movies and the one from 2006. Each version of Superman is just a wee bit different and it creates so many flavors of a character that, at its core, can be overwhelmingly bland.

It's like adding pepper to plain yogurt...it'll taste like something but will that something taste good.

Now Man of Steel comes out June 14 and I have mixed feelings about this movie.

Two Reasons I'm Excited

1. The lack of a huge romance plot.
What I'm getting tired of is the seemingly gratuitious romantic plotlines that get inserted into action movies that are far too complicated and distracting. Action movie romances should serve a point to the story. They either raise the stakes (a la the whole Maggie Gylenhaal gets blown up section of Dark Knight) or they add some kind of relief from the intensity of fighting (parts of Spiderman, lots of other older action movies).

What they shouldn't do is distract the main character from his own storyline. An action movie is supposed to have action, not quibbles about who is pregnant with Clark Kent's baby or who Superman has a crush on. The problem with Clark Kent is that he can easily be a dry character that needs spicing up and that's usually done with a dash of Lois Lane.

Now there is a Lois Lane in this iteration but, from the promo materials, I'm seeing her more as a support system and not a source of exhausting melodrama.

2. More about the action

That being said, the melodrama just detracts from the momentum of an action movie. Your kick ass hero should be always moving like a shark. You slow him down so he can pick out wedding linens or decide whether Lois Lane looks cute in that dress and the enemies win. I don't think Lex Luther gives two craps about whether he's got a fulfilling love life. He's got a goal and the man is going for it.

This movie has action out the wazoo in the trailer. It seems like the major plot is Clark's transition from childhood hero to adult hero and the drama that ensues with being a HERO. Being a hero involves doing amazing action stunts and I feel comfortable that if Superman is in handcuffs than he did something epic to deserve it.

My Worry

Back story problems

Doing the whole origin story thing again makes me nervous. Superman's backstory is straight-forward and easy. If you slow it down and really examine it then it starts to get cheesy. When stories get cheesy directors freak out and try to make every word that comes out of everyone's mouth mean something.

I'm worried that Kevin Costner and Diane Lane won't be able to contain themselves as Ma and Pa Kent. I really don't need an hour of "You're a winner, Clark. Everything you do is super" only to make Clark extremely dull and the Superman character just as dull. I want the origin story to zip on by and only show up to give the adult character some stakes and motivation to get a move on and save the freaking world.

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Kick Ass Compromises...just the beginning!

So I saw Iron Man 3 last weekend. I told one of my friends that I really enjoyed it and her response was...

"Really? You probably just liked it because it had hot guys in it."

Now I'm no feminist. The idea of girl power is wonderful but I don't feel a burden to herald the cause of womanhood at every possible moment. What does grind my gears is that this is the response I usually get from people both male and female when I tell them that I genuinely enjoyed a "man's movie".

Now another movie that I've loved since high school is the horror film Sleepy Hollow. Try telling a sorority house that you liked decapitations and screaming more than The Notebook and you're in for a talking to. "Is it just because Johnny Depp is in it?" I will get. Now, ladies, is Johnny Depp attractive?

Of course he is. I'm not blind, people. Does it hurt that action movies are littered with handsome men? Of course not. But is that the only reason I drag myself to the opening weekend of Star Trek or The Avengers. No. 

The title of this blog comes from a eye-rolling article from Ask Men. It's called "Top 10: Guys' Movies She'll Like" and it has great reasons like: 

25th Hour:Near the movie's conclusion, Brogan's father hatches a plan to help Monty escape his prison sentence. The only catch is that father and son will never be able to see each other ever again. The whole scene is moving and tragic and all that other stuff that makes girls cry. 

Oceans 11:Um, did we mention Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and George Clooney?  

True Lies:Curtis' strip tease for her husband is sexy and funny all at the same time. Your significant other will love it, and so will you.

So to go see these movies are so-called "kick ass compromises"...movies that you, as a man, will love for the obvious action sequences (for example guys would like Ocean's 11 because "The heist itself makes this film: it's unpredictable and memorable.")

This blog is going to be about movies and TV and a safe haven for girls that love a good Die Hard instead of...or as an appetizer to...a Nicholas Sparks film. I want this blog to be a part of a community of women who can talk about their love of Bates Motel or Walking Dead without feeling like their weird or not girly. 

Join me Facebook and let's talk!

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