Remember the Super Ladies
On Wednesday Matt and I went out and saw Batman: The Dark Night since every other person in the country had already done so. I am a wimp, and so thanks to the wonders of the internet I was able to identify and prepare for every single violent scene in the whole entire film before I saw it. Well done me. I liked the movie okay (Iron Man was better and I will SO beat you in a debate on that subject) and my husband loathed it, so that was interesting. Interestingly enough, as I watched the film I flashed back to an interesting point I’d read earlier regarding the violence. As I’d be searching for descriptions of the film’s violence I read an objection to how the women were dealt with in the movie. Indeed, there are a heckuva lotta ladies getting thrown about, punched in the face, shot down, and generally terrorized. There are a heckuva lotta men too, but since it’s men doing it to men it’s not as off-putting.
So no kick ass ladies. Fine. Whatever. Even incipient Batgirl hardly gets any screen time (to say nothing of her toddler status). But then I started trying to think of some great female superhero movies out there and I slowly came to the realization that there aren’t any. At all. Oh, there are female superhero television shows, sure. Buffy, Xena, that Million Dollar Woman thing, the Terminator gal, etc. On television superwomen are a dime a dozen. But walk into your nearest multiplex and think of the ladies who’ve commanded the screen en seul. Elektra? Ew. Catwoman? Floptastic. Supergirl? Be serious. Uma Thurman in Kill Bill? Getting warmer. Uma Thurman in My Super Ex-Girlfriend? Augh! Colder, colder!
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Generally superwomen are in ensemble pieces like X-Men where they tend to go evil or stand back and let their male compatriots get all the good lines. My husband is a screenwriter himself so when we got home from Batman I informed him in no uncertain terms that it was now his job to write a good superhero movie starring a lady. Chop chop. Not just any lady either. I know that there’s been perpetual talk about a Wonder Woman film, but ugh. Talk about a humorless character. I want a funny lady superhero. A female equivalent to Spider Man (or, more recently, Iron Man). A fan of the comic book genre, Matt pointed out that funny femmes are few and far between. Men mostly write comic books and those men don’t do funny women all that often. That means that someone has to go and make a whole new character.
Unless you know of someone, of course. Tank Girl is the closest thing I can think of, and she did get her own movie (which I have not seen). And there was Tomb Raider‘s Lara Croft but that was a whole lotta nuthin’ right there.
I ask of you, the clever readership, this question: Are there some great children’s or YA novels out there starring fantastic female superheroes? I’m not talking ensemble pieces either (though if needs be a person could pluck a gal from the ranks). Anything? Preferably someone with a sense of humor?
This shouldn’t be that hard.
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About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.
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I went to “Dark Knight” with a friend with whom I have seen all the latest super hero/sf/fantasy movies with. And her husband. They are on the St Andrews university faculty.
We all hated the movie, though for different reasons I think. For me (I talk about this on my journal) the three things I disliked were first the lingering sadism (I can deal with violence on film, this was a
further step.) I also disliked the fact that its ratings encouraged children to go with their parents. We had 6-12 year olds in the audience around us.
And really, I had problems dealing with
Heath Ledger who seemed to be telegraphing his upcoming death with every lick of his lips and the popping of his scary eyes. There’s more, but they are SPOILERS.
Jane
PS SO bring XENA to the big screen.
The kids in my theater shocked me as well. Very young children were watching a movie that for all intents and purposes really should have been R. Then again, when I was a kid the ratings system was far looser than it was today. On the other other hand, that meant that a lot of kids ended up seeing boobs and swearing. Not too many people getting burned alive.
So I guess I’m the last person in the world not to have seen it. My Batman is Michael Keaton. I hate violence in movies unless there is something else in it that makes me bear it. Nothing I’ve heard about this one makes me think I could bear it.
Yep, you need to see Tank Girl! Not only does it prove that a female superhero can rock’em sock’em, but also that Gershwin is kung-fu, too.
Also, I think Bif Naked meets most of your criteria – except for not being fictional.
Thanks for writing about this Betsy! Gratuitous violence, females who are second class citizens who keep their place and play roles instead of relating as strong individual are just plain tired. What are we teaching kids? A TV show with a strong woman secret agent like Emma Peel in the Avengers was created in the 60’s when the women’s lib movement started. But it feels regressive instead of progressive these days. A new superhero(ine) character who fights injustice with brains instead of cleavage sounds like a breath of fresh air. PS not interested in seeing Dark Knight.
How ’bout Punzie from Rapunzel’s Revenge!
Punzie! Punzie would be perfect. And a filmed version of that, though difficult, would fit the bill to a tee. You win, Miss Erin. Also, why is it that Uma Thurman keeps ending up in these superheroine roles. She played Emma Peel in that terrible filmed adaptation of The Avengers too, did she not? Where’s our modern day equivalent of Diana Rigg. If it has to be Tina Fey, so be it.
@ mhg in la: Even if Rachel Dawes does [SPOILER] come to a bad end in the Dark Knight, she is nothing like the two-dimensional characters you describe. You might even say that she fights injustice with brains instead of cleavage.
Sorta. But what does she actually do? She has one scene in an interrogation room and another standing up to the Joker. Other than that she gets rescued. Someone pointed out that the Rachel Dawes in the first Batman film was less sympathetic because she was played by Katie Holmes but as a character she got to do a lot more. I do like the rumor circulating that Maggie G. will be back in the next Batman film as Catwoman, though. Doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I like it.
True that she doesn’t rappel down the sides of buildings or anything, but she’s an edjicated and accomplished professional with a strong sense of herself. Remember, she’s not sitting around waiting for Bruce/Batman to get his act together so that she can find her role in life via the hero. In fact, it’s one of the more genre-bending moments in the movie that the hero’s love interest is not sticking around for him, because he’s so hung up on his, what should we call it? Work? Hobby? And don’t forget that Harvey Dent gets rescued, too, and at another point so does Batman and, well, even the Joker. There’s a lot of peril and rescuing in the movie.
I’m not saying they’re going to screen this thing at NOW. But the character is no mere Perils of Pauline type.
In terms of film, crossing international lines I think it’s prudent to include the women from “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” who were basically super heroes of their era. I can’t imagine any ladies more empowering then that in film. Funny lady superheroes? “Red Sonja” was a hilarious film in retrospect as was “Aeon Flux” but I don’t think you could call them funny in character.
In books, I don’t know if we can include comics but “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer” would definitely fit the bill as would maybe the four volume graphic novel “Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind” by Hayao Miyazaki which is outstanding. My two cents, I always imagined Amy Sedaris would be an incredibly funny superhero gal. Batman was great! Iron Man was great as well but to me Iron Man’s strength was more about how well Robert Downey Jr. played Tony Stark than it was the action scenes which I felt Batman did a much better job of. Though neither will do a better storytelling job than the upcoming Watchmen if they do it right.
I loved Iron Man as well, but as for weak female characters–I felt that Gwyneth Paltrow (character name escaping me this moment) took the cake. What was up with that scene near the end, where she’s tottering around in heels, crying for Tony Stark to save her? The rest of the movie, she was a smart, fairly confident woman. Suddenly, faced with danger, she wasn’t able to do anything for herself. So, that disappointed me.
Well, that scene was just ridiculous, I agree. I was completely into the movie until the moment you mention. Then suddenly this woman is teetering through glass attempting to run in 4-inch heels? WHAM! Took me out of the film completely.
This had to remind me of the kick-ass ladies of the revolution… one of whom coined the phrase “remember the ladies” which you used!
Note Monday’s review. It’s no coincidence, I assure you.