Wonder Women

I’ve been writing for The Stand for a while now (how time flies) so I think it’s time we get a bit more personal.  I’m not going to tell you my life story but, in terms of film taste, there are two key things about me you should know:

1. I live for the super-hero genre. As the youngest child – and the only girl- in a brood of five, I developed a taste for TMNT, Hulk-smashing, and the Batmobile from an early age. My brothers and I didn’t discriminate; we watched Batman saving Gotham and He-Man saving the entire Universe (you go, He-Man) with equal rapture. We even re-enacted key scenes. Unfortunately, Mum put a stop to all that after the Great Window Break of ’97. To this day, I suppose you could say those films are my Kryptonite; I’m utterly powerless before a super-hero epic.
2. Fact number two is this: in films, there is nothing I love more than a female who kicks butt. I own two copies of Charlie’s Angels. Seriously. Maybe it can be explained by the appeal of feminism, or maybe it’s my brothers’ influence again. With the overprotectiveness I face, I love a woman in film who doesn’t want or need a man to take care of her. In layman’s terms, Katniss Everdeen, I heart you. Jennifer Lawrence I heart you too, but we’ll save that for another article.

These facts lead me to ask just one question when I consider the super-hero genre: WHERE HAVE ALL THE WOMEN GONE? Observe:

Scarlett Johansson has featured in both Iron Man and Captain America films in her role as the Black Widow. Ergo, the bigwigs obviously like the character; more than that, they obviously have places to take her. So why hasn’t she got her own movie yet? She proved in Avengers Assemble that she’s more than capable of keeping up with the men-heroes so let’s see how she fairs on her own initiative, Marvel.

It’s the same with Wonder Woman. She is without doubt the female super-hero; the original, the most iconic, I could go on. With her first comic-book appearance in the 1940s, there’s ample material with which to make a wonder-ful (bad pun, sorry) Wonder Woman movie. Yet Diana Prince has just been revealed as a side-character in the upcoming Man of Steel sequel, rather than being given her own shot on the silver screen. So I must ask myself: why aren’t heroines getting the same airtime as their much loved male counterparts?

My guess is stereotyping. Men were the saviours in the old days; women, the distressed damsels who needed saving. It’s tradition, and admittedly some of my all-time favourites have embraced this format: Gone with the Wind is an undeniable classic; Patrick Swayze made history saving Baby from banishment to that corner.  In this new land of Disney movies sans Princes (yay for Frozen) I guess I’m hoping to see the super-hero genre embrace girl power a bit more too. Watch this space.

Images courtesy of telegraph.co.uk and marvel-movies.wikia.com