Spandex, Long flowing hair,
and plenty of cleavage… put these all together and you have the equations of
the American Female super hero. With that equation and the long awaited movie The Avengers release in 2012 in mind
let’s take a look at the femme fatale Black Widow played by the bodacious
Scarlett Johansson. It’s been argued that Black Widow is merely just a “pretty
face” is indicative that the American populace has a problem in the manner with
which actions movies are viewed. The super hero flick promotes strong women in
the plot, but still manages to objectify the female body or subside them into
the position of the love interest.
Female
characters in action actions are often deemed irrelevant. The media of this
genre has been conditioned to practically think this with so much evidence
strengthening the foundations of this belief. In The Avengers you expect nothing different, that Black Widow will
operate and contribute at a subplot at best thusly you do not really need to
pay much attention to her actions just enjoy her slow mo runs and random freeze
frames. Ultimately the viewers have this belief due to the fact that the male
protagonist in this case protagonists are going to do something way more
important and on a grander scale. Therefore, when a female character turns up
and does have a role of importance in the main story, we are
trained to ignore her contributions and only focus on the end results.
Nevertheless, this is not the case with The
Avengers, as Black Widow is very evident in the overall plot, has vital
dialogue with many other characters, and manages to overcome a plethora of
fights. Consequently, movies must still change the way they write and portray female
characters, but the viewers must also change they see female protagonists when
they watch movies.
As
long as the vast majority of female characters in the action and science
fiction genres are written as having inconsequential roles in the plot, the
rare female character that is well developed and serves a concrete story
purpose will be overlooked because we are
trained to overlook her. We need to pay attention to female characters - and
that means creating female characters worth
paying attention to. Is it too much to ask for a female lead in FULL
clothing that has dangerously witty dialogue, creative action scenes, a dark
past, and compelling goals?
Dare
I say it? We’ve been saved from the monotony of the female super hero by a sort
of spider. The lone female Avenger is Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow
(Scarlett Johansson), a highly trained spy, assassin, and martial arts master.
Haunted by a dark past, she’s a fearless warrior possessing a razor sharp mind
and an impressive knack for interrogation. Black Widow is the only Avenger
whose motivations are made clear. That motivation being that she has red in her
ledger and she wants to wipe it out. While the male protagonists in the movie
require some sort of tragedy in order to get any sort of goal accomplished, as
we know men are slow learners. Black Widow not only breaks the stereotype of
the female role in movies, but also uses them against her foes.
While
looking up the Feminist film theory, the Bechdel Test often arose. The Bechdel Test, established in 1985 by the cartoonist Alison Bechdel and her friend Liz Wallace, is
a way of examining movies for gender bias (Friend, 58). The wonderful and
tragic thing about the Bechdel Test is not, as you've doubtless
already guessed, that so few Hollywood films manage to pass. It has invoked a
standard for filmmakers to strive for whom inevitably will trip over that bar
and argue in self righteousness that it should have never been there in the
first place. The test was named after its inventor, is an exam whose rules are
simple: The film must have at least two women with names. The second rule is
that the two women must talk to each other, and rule three is that the
conversation must be about something other than a man. Rule number one can be
checked off with The Avengers as you
have Black Widow, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Cobie Smulders (How I Met
Your Mother) playing Agent Maria Hill. Rule number two is not complied with
them being as none of them ever speak to each other and never even share the
same screen simultaneously. Where The
Avengers to get weary with the rules is rule number three: the two women
must talk to one another about something other than men. Also, not even once
did any of the listed female roles converse with one another. That being said
that makes the third rule impossible to achieve. So here we stand at a
crossroads. Though the film portrays strong females, the test was still
inevitably a failure for The Avengers;
and just because a film doesn’t pass
the test doesn’t necessarily mean that the film presents women poorly. Neither
of these women speaks to each other, and yet, they still manage to be strong,
positive representations of women
In
most films and TV series, the media objectifies and belittles women’s bodies
for the male gaze, reducing a woman to her sexuality. While she dons tight
costumes, that doesn’t happen here. She’s not merely a sex object. Black Widow
is an integral part of the team. A female hero isn’t put there just to pander
to women, nor is it only acceptable for girls to look up to her. She’s a hero
and she saves the day just as much as the big guys. As most movies, superhero
or otherwise, couldn't care less about portraying complex, intelligent, strong,
dimensional women or gender equitable roles. So The Avengers is a step
in the right direction.
References
Friend,
Tad. "Funny Like A Guy." New Yorker 87.8 (2011): 52-61. Academic
Search Complete. Web. 8 Mar. 2013.
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