Comments on: Why I Love Marge Gunderson

By: Earl Newton

Earl Newton — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:42:41 +0000

I just posted a comment there, and wanted to add one here as well. (Love the site, BTW, my GF pointed me here and I think the entire thing is great)

I’m not sure how popular a truly muscled heroine would be, because the largest audience for action films are men, and most men aren’t interested in a masculine-looking woman. It’s not a matter of fear (as suggested above), it’s just a matter of what is naturally appealing, and I don’t think women with large muscles (not muscle tone, but actual muscle bulk) fit that bill for a majority of men.

That said, I think there’s room for a woman who looks more like an actual woman, and not an overly-stylized, model-esque version of a woman. But for the stereotype to be broken, it demands someone unique and vibrant, to break out of the pack and exhibit a whole new model for people to follow.

The question is, where is the Hank Aaron of new female action stars?

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:33:34 +0000

PS: no Arnold Schwarzenegger pithy one-liner will ever top Geena Davis’ line to a bad guy in LKG: “Die screaming, motherfucker.”

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:29:49 +0000

Geena Davis made some terrifically cheesy and entertaining popcorn action flicks back in the mid-1990s. Check out the not-half-bad pirate yarn “Cutthroat Island” (how many movies have been made about female pirates) and the wildly entertaining “Long Kiss Goodnight” (her dialogue with Samuel L. Jackson in that film is worth the price of admission alone). Yes, she’s an ex-model, and yes, she’s still pretty trim in those films. But being an athletic, six-foot-tall woman, neither film uses any explanation on how she can kick all these male characters’ asses other than the fact that her characters are total badasses.

By: deeleigh

deeleigh — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:55:41 +0000

I’ve always thought that “Women donâ€™t really gain mass when they work out” thing was a myth, or doesn’t apply to everyone. Of course we gain mass – if we have the genetic potential and if we EAT. The thing is, many women who work out restrict their eating at the same time, because to them, it’s more about being lean than about being strong.

Obviously, women are not shaped the same way as men. We tend to have less upper body strength, and we tend to maintain a higher fat percentage, so our muscles are less visibly defined. But, last time I checked, I had 130 pounds of lean mass at 5′-4″ (I weighed 190 at the time) – and I wasn’t even working out seriously.

Women with strong, sturdy builds are fairly common in the real world but are almost completely absent from the mass media. And, yes, it would be nice to see some larger, stronger women portrayed as action heroines. My guess? Most men don’t want to see women who look like they could really, actually, beat them up. It scares them.

By: illini13

illini13 — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:30:42 +0000

I guess I never thought about it that way, but let’s be honest. How many other unrealistic things can we point out about these movies?

It’s all about living in the fantasy. And the majority of the movies credited where Sci-fi/Action/Fantasy films. In real life of course Carrie-Ann Moss could not beat up a room full of Agent Smiths (even with her martial arts training and kickass biceps). But neither could she hover in mid-air for 5 seconds…

The majority (okay making a generalization)… rather a good deal of action movies these days are based off of comics. And there’s hardly varied representation of women in comics. They were usually slim (though muscular) with wider hips, a tiny waist, and huge boobs.

I guess it’s one of those “it’s not right, but it’s okay” type of deals. It’s not really fair to criticize a movie that is clearly 100% fantasy, but at the same time a little variance with the heroine sizes couldn’t hurt.

By: Punchy

Punchy — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:37:43 +0000

Kat-
Even if Summer was a robot on the inside, I think I could beat her up. That’s what makes her unbelievable to me as an action hero. And I think it was the article that said these girls have to be strong through some magic process, wasn’t Summer’s character on Firefly some government experiment?

Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton could beat me up so they were great as kick ass female leads. (I forgot about Vasquez!)

Also, Brigitte Nielsen anyone?

By: kat

kat — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 02:45:09 +0000

Punchy,

I feel a weird need to defend Summer Glau. She was a professional ballet dancer for most of her life, so I bet she’s really strong even if she’s skinny. I do agree that her physical fragility is really played up in Serenity and Firefly (though it is consistent with her character).

By: Sun

Sun — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:21:03 +0000

LOVE Vasquez! I watch her parts on the dvd more than anything else.
“Hey Vasquez, have you ever been mistaken for a man?”
“No, have you?”
That’s one kick ass female!

By: EvilWombatQueen

EvilWombatQueen — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:28:17 +0000

I liked Ripley, but Vasquez from Aliens was the real action heroine of that series IMO. Sure, she wasn’t the main character but my sister and I utterly worshipped her when we were teens. Tough mentally and physically. Not only could she beat you up, she’d tear you apart verbally before and after the fight. She had muscles with no apologies. Not skinny muscles to avoid scaring the boys, she had MUSCLE muscles!

Damn. Now I want to watch my Aliens DVD!

By: Alyssa

Alyssa — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:00:28 +0000

Punchy, I know EXACTLY who you’re referring to, and she is SCARY!
I also love Ripley. (And, BTW, the role was originally written for a man, but Sigourney was cast and they didn’t change the character much.)
Marge Gunderson is one of the best onscreen characters ever, in one of my favorite movies.
I also wonder if we’ll see more Marges. In the recent “G.I Joe” movie, all the men had full body armor, while the women were wearing skintight leather and push-up bras. Which, as everyone knows, is VERY practical combat wear! Luckily the movie tanked. And I think continued failure of these kinds of movies will be the only thing that will put an end to this ridiculousness.