Women = Men in action films?

M

Media Watch

New member
Hey, im looking into whether/how leading women in action films take on male characteristics, specificaly
Shara Connor in Terminator 2
Riply in Alien
Alice and Rain (Michelle Rodriguez) in Resident Evil

Anyone have any thoughts on the subject any good examples of this or any comments on the specific films.

thnx
 
sarah connor was like a man in T2 but ripley is completely different - she is a very maternal action woman in aliens.

the film is basically a bust up between the good mother and bad mother. she is motivated by trying to save her 'daughter'
 
You should try reading "Men, Women and Chainsaws". It argues that the protagonist of many horror films undergoes a kind of gender change. At the start they are victims, and as such feminine (it wouldn't be right for a guy to be weak, screaming in fear etc), and at the end they are victorious and hence masculine.
 
That's correct. Ripley was written as a male character, but Weaver auditioned and got the part by being the best, irrespective of gender.

Which is nice.
 
It's all dick. In reality, they would be checking their lippy every 5 minutes and busting your balls as to weather you really did set the timer for Desperate Housewives.
 
Sarah Connor did behave in a kind of masculine way, but she had to in order to survive.

Ripley was very much a female heroine, and her female characteristics remained throughout. In Aliens she doesn't really start kicking butt until she has to save Newt, and then it becomes very much about the maternal instinct.

The Resident Evil films are a total bastardisation of their source material; I'd rather discuss Jill Valentine, Ada Wong, and Claire Redfield, much more interesting characters than their movie counterparts.
 
What concerns me is that the premise of thread seems to the underlying implication that men = strong and proactive, female = weak and retiring. Therefore, if you view 'male' and 'female' in those (frankly out-dated) terms, of course you'll perceive females as behaving in a 'male' way in an action film. You've already ascribed the terms by which an action lead behaves to be "male".

I assume this is from the same teacher that keeps sending their 6th form pupils here and having them ask variations on the same questions about gender in film.

*le sigh*
 
Would that be for a sixth form course?

If it is, I suspect it's the same teacher who has sent several people before to ask variations on the same question.
 
Blame the teacher :) he told us all bout this forum and said we should come on here to get other people's opinions for our critical research project. It is just a section of the year in which in a few months time we shall have an exam. In that exam we define our hypothesis and then using our research (internet, focus groups, questionnaie, books, forums etc) we conclude if our hypothesis is true or not. So none of us are in any way cheating.

Ok Pine here's my answer:

I think that women do take on male characteristics in action films, though there are still female traits to them. The fact that Weaver was given the role of Ripley despite that it was written for a man, is a good example of how must take on male characteristics to lead in an action film. I also feel that in Resident evil, Rain has a very definate Masculine role, wherein she is the leader of the males but there is nothing femine about her, unlike Alice who wears the red dress and is seen as a sex symbol. Sorry hun, I haven't seen Terminator two except for that small clip sir showed us last year. :( Anyways hope this helps you.

See you later :)
 
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