Film-inist

Anyone remember The Long Kiss Goodnight? For those who haven't seen it, the set-up is this: Geena Davis plays Samantha, a happy suburban teacher and mother with amnesia. She's been trying to figure out her former profession, but to no avail. As the movie unfolds, she slowly begins to remember her time as a CIA assassin. A typical action movie premise.

And, unfortunately for some feminists, it's a typical action movie execution, as well. Part of what jogs Samantha's awakening is some underwater torture- while she's wearing a see-through white dress, of course. She cuts her long red hair and dyes it blond to fully embrace her re-entry into spydom. She flashes men, smokes, talks fast and kills faster. In short, she's the quintessential male fantasy. But wait, even though she can overcome almost any obstacle, when it comes to ridding herself of her villainous ex, she's at a loss. She is totally incapable of picking him off just like everyone else, and it definitely isn't because she's having mixed feelings about it.

Some folks will think The Long Kiss Goodnight is a feminist movie, and to some degree, it is. But it follows an all-too-common pattern of female characters in mainstream action movies. Skinny, beautiful women in trendy clothing, but very little of it. Sweaty, wet, sexy eye candy. They can fight pretty good for girls, but when push really comes to shove, they need a little help from their male partner or lover.

Even though this archetype is annoying, it's heads above the old one: skinny, beautiful women in trendy clothes who get kidnapped and scream a lot and have to have their men come and save them. Action movies are obviously progressing. But how can they catch up to other genres which have been able to portray sexy and/or tough women as more than one-dimensional? (At this point, it's obligatory to mention that Geena Davis also starred in Thelma and Louise, widely recognized as an essential feminist film.) Granted, characters are usually secondary to the action in action movies. Go figure.

It doesn't have to be this way. Let's take the Kill Bill movies, for example. First, we'll set aside all the clumsy, caricatured portrayals of race, and forget about some of Tarantino's less-than-feminist moments in other films. That being said, the Bride is an action hero(ine) most women can live with. Yes, she's blond and thin, but this fact is acknowledged several times throughout the course of the movies. Yes, she stalls a bit before killing Bill, but she is always shown as a human who makes mistakes. It definitely uses elements of the female action hero stereotype, but it is progress. The film also touches briefly on a few feminist issues, such as rape and motherhood, so even though the movie is probably not attempting to be a feminist statement, it has had an impact. Here's one great example found online: “it was from that movie where i learnt that motherhood is actually a cool thing” and that there is “courage and passion in it.” Rock on.

Action movies really aren't the place to make feminist statements. And let's face it, women definitely don't have to be violent to be tough or admirable. But as long as action movies are being made, they could at least cast women in a more positive, less stereotypical light. Filmmakers, take note.