Once again, I find myself amazed at the amount of geeky news regularly hitting the Interwebs. The Super Bowl brought new TV spots for Captain America and Spider-Man, as well as our first look at Transformers 4 (Dinobots!). The first pictures of the rebooted Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have hit the news sites. And then there's the emotional roller coaster the Web was put on with two major announcements. One was the casting of Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and Jeremy Irons as Alfred in the Batman/Superman movie. The other was the death of beloved actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman, may he rest in peace.
I could spend entire rants on these two subjects alone. But what's the point, considering every other nerd site has already done it? Suffice to say Hoffman was a bright talent in Hollywood who won't easily be forgotten, while I'm sure Snyder has his reasons for casting Eisenberg and Irons in their respective roles, controversial as they are (well, less so Irons, that's just brilliant casting really). No, what this rant is about is a topic I've had on my mind for the past few weeks.
Among the list of 2013 films I didn't get a chance to see was Disney's new animated film "Frozen." It's made 800 million dollars at the international box office, just swept the Annie Awards, and is a shoe-in for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars. And after recently seeing it, I fell in love. It's not just the mind-numbingly gorgeous animation, the Broadway inspired songs, or the genre bending story. It's the depth of the characters that's endeared this film to me. Specifically, the leads Anna and Elsa. Both sisters, their story is about accepting that love comes in many forms, not always just romantic. It's a powerful character arc, and a sign of Disney's maturity in handling its animated canon.
It's made me realize that the complaints against Disney princesses don't hold up nearly as well as they seem, if only because the recent princesses are anything but pushovers. They're smart, strong, independent women who are role models to children everywhere, both girls and boys. And it's made me want to spend an entire rant focusing on the depiction of women in blockbuster films. It may seem like an odd topic to tackle, but Valentine's Day is coming up, so why not try something for the ladies? The fact is, this is a trend I've noticed in a lot of films recently.
Filmmakers nowadays want strong women who can kick ass just as much as the males. There are a lot of examples to support this, most from recent films, but some even predating them. Princess Leia from "Star Wars", Ellen Ripley from the "Alien" saga, Sarah Connor from "Terminator 2" and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are the prototypes for the modern action girl. They're proactive, willing to do anything and everything to get what they want. Men and women have reacted very strongly to them, to the point where these characters are embedded in the popular zeitgeist. But these feminist icons were only the beginning, the trailblazers for a new age of girl power.
Video games get protagonists like Samus Aran and Lara Croft. Cartoons like "The Last Airbender" and "The Clone Wars" have Katara, Korra, and Ahsoka as leads. Harry Potter wouldn't get anywhere without his best friend, Hermione Granger. The Witch King of Angmar is taken down by Eowyn in "Lord of the Rings." Danearys Targaryen, the mother of dragons, carves a bloody path on her quest to reclaim her kingdom in "Game of Thrones."
The leading ladies in modern super hero films are more than just passive love interests, often vital parts of the superheroes' lives. One need look no further than Black Widow in the Marvel films, the violent Hit-Girl in "Kick-Ass", the brilliant Gwen Stacy in "Amazing Spider-Man", the nosy Lois Lane in "Man of Steel", or Captain America's spunky Agent Peggy Carter. Not to mention the roles Pepper Potts and Catwoman played in helping Batman and Iron Man dispose of their respective archenemies. And I haven't even gotten to one Katniss Everdeen, arguably the greatest icon of feminine strength in the past few years. The immense success of the "Hunger Games" franchise can attest to that.
All of these are women that I would hate to piss off, if only because an ass whooping will surely follow. But what I find interesting is how this passion for strong female characters has affected Disney. Understand that Disney princesses are often a young girl's first role models. We guys have super heroes, Jedi, and GI Joes to idolize in our youth. Girls have princesses. And for years, people have complained how princesses are poor role models for these girls. They wait around for a man to save them, never taking charge of their destinies. And what's more, the very idea of a princess denotes a feeling of irresponsibility, coming with the perks of royalty but none of the challenges of the throne. That is, until the recent Disney films completely deconstructed this image.
Tiana from "Princess and the Frog" works her butt off to achieve her goals. Rapunzel in "Tangled" seizes the opportunity for freedom. Merida in "Brave" wants desperately to change her fate. The roots for these modern princesses obviously come from the Disney Renaissance era. Ariel. Belle. Jasmine. Mulan. All powerful women in their own right, willing to do whatever it takes to get what they want. They were experiments, Disney's first attempts to create women with personalities, who were more proactive in reaching their goals. All that hard work led to the princesses of recent years, culminating in "Frozen." Elsa, in particular, is someone I want to focus on, since I believe she is the epitome of what young girls should aspire to be.
Elsa began as a princess, but she is actually the first in Disney canon to be thrust into the role of Queen. She now leads an entire kingdom, including dealing with the political machinations of its allies. And what's more, she has enough sense to tell her sister Anna that it's ridiculous to rush into marriage with a man she barely knows. Plus, she has amazing ice powers that can be used to create lethal snow storms and icicles just as much as beautiful ice castles and talking snowmen. She definitely can handle herself, that's for sure.
But there's more to Elsa than just all this. She lives in constant fear that her powers will hurt someone, especially her sister. She isolates herself from the world for this very reason, and struggles to open up to others. Then, she ultimately embraces her powers and her identity, embodying her new self-acceptance in song. Elsa is the epitome of self-empowerment, projecting strength and vulnerability with every action she takes. I'm not knocking the effectiveness of the other Disney princesses, but out of all of them, Elsa is the perfect example of a kick-ass woman who girls should strive to be. When I see her, and people's incredibly strong reaction to her, it makes me happy to know that cinematic women are no longer confined to just passive love interests, defined solely by their relationships with men.
Unfortunately, for every step forward, Hollywood moves two steps back. There are still a lot of women in film who do meet this archetype. The damsel in distress, the dumb blonde, the hot chick. Pretty much any woman cast in a Michael Bay flick (here's looking at you, Megan Fox!). I see the progress the women in superhero films have made, and then I remember Kirsten Dunst's Mary Jane Watson from the early "Spider-Man" films, who was captured by the villains in the climax of three movies. I mention the more progressive Disney princesses, but then think of how they had to fight against the stigma created by Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty.
But of course, if we're talking of cinematic women who take a giant dump on the feminist movement, we can look no further than "Twilight"'s very own Bella Swan. Just as Elsa and Katniss Everdeen embody the strong, independent woman of modern Hollywood, Bella represents the exact opposite. She has no real personality. No motives other than getting a man. She's needy, selfish, and lets others sacrifice themselves for her. The popularity of the "Twilight" franchise sickens me, mainly because this is not who women should aspire to be like. Thank God, then, that it looks like people are finally recognizing "Twilight" as an adolescent fad instead of a legitimate work of art.
I'd like to say Bella is the only counterpoint in this rant. But the absence of "Twilight" has given birth to something possibly more sinister. For every independent woman I see in modern film, there are other women who appear strong but ultimately amount to little more than eye candy. On the surface, this doesn't seem to make sense. A strong woman is a strong woman, right? Well, in all those superhero films I've mentioned, and most of the Disney films, these women do pair up with men. You could just write them off right there as love interests and call it a day.
The books and films had built up her feelings for Ron, making her the strength and guidance Ron needed to combat his feelings of inferiority. Harry never needed that guidance, and got support from Hermione as a friend and surrogate sister. That's a much more interesting relationship, and also plays up Hermione's innate strength when Ron leaves briefly in "Deathly Hallows." Instead of moping around like Bella, she keeps searching for ways to bring down Voldemort, setting her own goals even when her true love has seemingly abandoned her. Hermione is another fantastic example of a strong woman who does find romance, but never sacrifices her inner strength in doing so. Pairing her with Harry would completely undermine this.
In contrast, a lot of Hollywood films like to present women who appear strong and tough, who apparently scoff at the idea of a man defining them. But come the film's end, all their perceived character development is thrown out the window, and they're sidelined to love interest status once again. Think of Lt. Uhura in the new "Star Trek" films, a talented xenolinguist who ends up just being Spock's main squeeze. How about Trinity in the "Matrix" trilogy, a seemingly kick-ass woman who ends up defining herself by her love for Neo?
And then there's Padme Amidala, former Queen of Naboo. It's ironic that her daughter is one of the first real action women in blockbuster film. Ironic because Padme herself goes from active Queen, to gun-wielding Senator, to pregnant, mopey wife who loses the will to live because her husband turns evil. But I haven't even gotten to the best example, one who is much more recent.
When Tauriel was introduced in the second "Hobbit" as an original character to Tolkein's lore, fans were furious. I didn't mind the idea of her, as we need more badass women in fantasy films. Truthfully, Tauriel was a great addition from an action standpoint. She provided a female voice to proceedings, and proved she's just as powerful as Legolas and the dwarves, if not more so. The problem was that the writers didn't give her a proper character arc. Since she's made up, their idea of giving her depth was to make her the center of a love triangle between Legolas and Killi. Here you have a potentially strong female protagonist, and you waste her as a simple love interest. I can only hope that "The Hobbit: There and Back Again" gives her more to do than just get mushy over Killi, especially with a giant battle coming up.
I see a lot of potential in Tauriel, and the idea behind her is definitely an indicator of a more feminist Hollywood. But her execution worries me, as it illustrates filmmakers' lack of strong female characterization. When Wonder Woman shows up in the Batman/Superman film, I hope she's more like Katniss, Hermione, and Elsa and less like Tauriel. Wonder Woman is THE feminist icon, the premiere female superhero. It's bad enough she's playing second fiddle to Bats and Supes in her feature film debut. The best we can hope for is that Diana is written well enough to stand out on her own, so she won't be defined as a love interest like in some cartoons and comics. Lynda Carter had the right idea when she donned the costume back in the '70s, and Zack Snyder would do best to draw inspiration from that.
Now, as a man, my opinion on the representation of females in Hollywood will widely differ from others. I recognize that, as well as the flak I may get just for writing this. All I'm doing with this rant is pointing out a trend I've been seeing in recent films. More and more women are actually being written as strong, smart, independent people instead of just male eye candy, and for that I'm very grateful. These women are role models for millions of young girls, and in a lot of ways embody traits that men should idolize as well. I grew up with the Disney princesses of the '90s, and then Leia and Hermione soon after. Now I have Katniss and Queen Elsa, among many other women who serve as shining examples of feminine strength in modern Hollywood. I hope these powerful icons keep coming, because they are a credit not only to the strength of women, but to us as people.
