Home Opinion Midweek Mouth-off: Warrior Women of the Silver Screen

Midweek Mouth-off: Warrior Women of the Silver Screen

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Seeing as smash hit novel adaptation The Hunger Games releases in South Africa this Friday, and seeing as the film features one tough young woman – bow-wielding braided survivalist Katniss Everdeen – it seems like the perfect time to discuss your favourite action heroines of the Silver Screen.

Uma Thurman’s The Bride, Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor, Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley, Geena Davis’s Amazonians in The Long Kiss Goodnight and Cutthroat Island, Scarlett Johansson’s bootylicious Black Widow, Gina Carano in Haywire… the list is endless. Who is your favourite embodiment of “Girl Power.” Which heroines (or anti-heroines for that matter) would you want on your side during a fight? Do they make them like they used to? And who have I forgotten?

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Critical Hit as an organisation.

Last Updated: April 11, 2012

21 Comments

  1. Kervyn Cloete

    April 11, 2012 at 10:27

    Although not strictly an “action” women, my favourite strong female character in all of cinemadom has to be Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

    Next up, you simply have to give it up for Ripley. Never before in the history of cinema has one female calling another (well, it is an alien QUEEN) a “bitch” been so damn badass.

    Reply

  2. Justin Hess

    April 11, 2012 at 10:49

    It’s interesting this. For the most part, I always look at female action heroes as a bit of a joke. Which isn’t to say that their male counterparts are any less ludicrous. It’s just that with male action heroes, I’m just watching the movie and not even thinking about it

    With female action heroes, I always feel conscious of how contrived it all feels. Whether that’s a commentary on the norm of the male action hero, my own perspective or the fact that we live in a patriarchal society is anyone’s guess. The fact is that when I see a female action hero (Beckinsale in Underworld, Jolie in Tomb Raider, Jovovich in Resident Evil, which is odd given that her acting barely suggests humanity nevermind gender) I can never get into the film as much as with say a Bruce Willis or a film of that ilk. 

    That said, that is probably as much to do with the script, direction and performance as it has to do with my own opinion.

    I will say this. Anyone, ANYONE, looking to make a film with a female action hero needs to look at Joss Whedon and James Cameron’s work, both filmmakers who have made regular use of the female action hero. In both cases, the characters are shown to struggle on more than one level and it’s this that makes the characters feel less contrived than lesser examples like Tomb Raider and Underworld. 

    For my part, Sarah Connor and Ellen Ripley. Both good characters in their own right before they’re female action heroes

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      April 11, 2012 at 11:51

      This is true. When faced with a female lead, too many writers/directors concentrate on making them kickass females before making them great characters. In essence (and wardrobe malfunctions notwithstanding) you should be able to swop out that female actress for a male one and the character should still work.

      Reply

      • Justin Hess

        April 11, 2012 at 17:55

        One thing though. I’m not sure if you should just be able to swop them out. If it works for the story and the character, make the person a wife and a mother. Those aren’t the kinds of things that make them easy to swop with male characters and they make the character definitively female.

        Why shouldn’t someone who is a mom and a wife be capable of being an action hero. Sarah Connor was a mom. In fact, it was the fact that she was a mom that gave her character its motivation.

        I just think that when making a female action hero, you shouldn’t shy away from the feminine aspects. Being tough doesn’t necessarily mean relinquishing your femininity. 

        Making a character both tough, capable of violence AND nurturing and caring gives your character depth and an interesting bit of contrast to play with in the story

        Reply

        • Noelle Adams

          April 12, 2012 at 09:21

          There was a time when the only thing action heroines did was rescue children (their own or not). Hell, even Ripley did the pseudo-mom thing.

          P.S. Justin, your last paragraph there makes an excellent case for a Wonder Woman film!

          Reply

          • Justin Hess

            April 12, 2012 at 10:25

            Thank you. I’ve no idea why filmmakers, when making an action movie with a female lead, almost willfully avoid the obviously feminine aspects of the characters. Unless you’re intimidated by them, you’re just being lazy avoiding by them. 

            The gender of a female action hero shouldn’t be seen as a liability. It’s actually another tool to be used for the story. The agression required for the character coupled with the character’s innate nurturing side gives you another layer of conflict. That’s drama handed to you on a silver platter.

  3. James Francis

    April 11, 2012 at 15:14

    Nikita, played by Anne Parillaud in the titular film and Bridget Fonda in the remake Point Of No Return. Also, Julie from Heavy Metal 2000 and a new inductee is Hanna (Saoirse Ronan), showing just how dangerous a sixteen-year old can be.

    Also, despite the downward slide of films, Milla Jovovich’s Alice in Resident Evil. And while on that note, I think Rose from the nearly all-women Silent Hill deserves a nod for going where pretty much no sane person ever would.

    Ah, and Michelle Yeoh in Die another Day – she is quite possibly the best and most accomplished female sidekick Bond has ever had. 

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      April 11, 2012 at 16:07

      Completely agreed on Michelle Yeoh. Totally forgot about that one.

      Reply

  4. Gavin Mannion

    April 11, 2012 at 16:14

    What no love for Kristen Stewart?

    In all seriousness though I can’t move past Sigourney Weaver from the original Alien, she was seriously kick ass.

    Reply

  5. Carla Du Toit

    April 11, 2012 at 17:07

    Katniss Everdeen. She pretty much epitomizes a strong female hero (saw Hunger Games on Monday) and it’s so refreshing to see a modern heroine that is A) the main character and B) doesn’t rely on a man AT ALL, in fact the guy ended up seeming like the damsel in distress. Also Jennifer Lawrence is outstanding in the role. I went in expecting a twilight-ish tween drama and was blown away. Suck it Bella Swan.

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      April 12, 2012 at 06:52

      The saddest thing about that is as much as I agree with you about Katniss in The Hunger Games, by the time you reach book 3, she is nothing but a Bella Swan copy.

      Reply

      • Carla Du Toit

        April 17, 2012 at 17:20

        I agree- to a certain extent. I loved the first book, hated the second one (did anything actually happen until the last few chapters?) and enjoyed the third one, though no where near as much as the first. I disagree that she turns out as Bella Swan. Yes, she is ( MAJOR SPOILER ALERT) very depressed at the end like the 2nd twilight movie. But the girl had the right to be. She survived a war and lost her sister, who was her whole reason for fighting in the first place. I found this ending to be more realistic than other stories, like Harry Potter, where everyone pretty much forgot about the people they lost and the horrors they saw and just lived on happily. So I felt her sadness/loss of badass-ery (word? it should be.) was justified, unlike bella, who couldn’t even make it through a break up, let alone a struggle for freedom, without curling up in a ball and just about dying (if only she had. It would have saved a lot of valuable screen time)
        wow, long comment :/ if you actually made it through that, I do see where you’re coming from. I miss the days when you could read the end of the book and not worry about what nonsense the writer was going to come up with to spoil what had been a very good story.

        Reply

  6. Gavin Mannion

    April 12, 2012 at 11:06

    I just saw that Channel24 has a very similar feature up, I wonder who copied who 😉

    Either way they are listing Buffy the Vampire Slayer as one of theirs and I have to admit it’s a good call. She was always the kick ass lead in that series and I don’t ever remember the fact that she was female being that big a deal in the whole thing. She was just a kick ass warrior woman

    Reply

    • James Francis

      April 12, 2012 at 11:35

      I’m surprised that you haven’t mentioned Underworld yet…

      Reply

      • Gavin Mannion

        April 12, 2012 at 11:50

        Well just because I enjoy some braindead films doesn’t mean I’ve lost all sense of reality here 😉

        Reply

  7. Noelle Adams

    April 12, 2012 at 11:51

    For me, I “buy” some action heroines more easily than others.

    Admittedly a lot of it is physical presence. I have to believe that these women could kick ass / carry allies out of trouble (this doesn’t mean they have to be buff but they have to get the attitude right). I never felt that about Kate Beckinsale! Abbie Cornish, by contrast, who was the secondary character in Sucker Punch (Sweet Pea, the big sister), really looked the part.

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      April 12, 2012 at 13:49

      I cringed every at every action sequence in Salt where Angelina “Brad uses me as a hat rack” Jolie was superman-punching guys out cold.

      At least when you look at Gina Carano, you know she can mess your shit up.

      Reply

      • Justin Hess

        April 12, 2012 at 15:45

        See, the problem with that role was that Jolie and the director thought that just by wearing a grim look on her face, everything else would just fall into place. 

        The story itself lacked any decent heft and for a female action hero to be taken seriously, the story does need some heft on it. Which isn’t to say that it can’t be fun.

        The Long Kiss Goodnight is an enormously fun film but not at the expense of its lead character. 
        You’re never in any doubt that Geena Davis could really kick ass in that film. Admittedly, it was written by Shane Black so that could have some part to play in the end result

        Reply

  8. Noelle Adams

    April 12, 2012 at 16:14

    Just out of interest, if my memory’s not playing tricks on me, Ripley was originally going to be a man in Alien. And they didn’t do much, if ANY, rewriting to make the character female in Scott’s film. And it totally worked.

    That said, Salt was also written first for a male star.

    Reply

  9. Justin Hess

    April 12, 2012 at 17:00

    Yeah, apparently, the original writers wrote it in such a way that allowed for any castings in the roles. But then Ridley Scott chose to have Ripley be female and the last survivor because it added more tension to the end of the film, Sigourney Weaver says that, ironically, it wasn’t some kind of huge leap for feminism so much as a very commercial choice.

    But it works, just like it does for Jodie Foster in the Silence of The Lambs, cos you feel genuinely terrified for her when she’s in that basement at the end

    And Salt originally had Tom Cruise in the lead until he baled for that kak film with Cameron Diaz

    Reply

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