Comments on: Wonder Woman vs. Atomic Blonde–What Truly Makes a Powerful Female Character?

By: Fight Scenes: Deep Cover & How to Write the Good Fight

Fight Scenes: Deep Cover & How to Write the Good Fight — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 13:19:37 +0000

[…] Even the WAY our characters fight can mean the difference between making them likable or unlikable. […]

By: Charity Rau

Charity Rau — Thu, 16 May 2019 02:33:19 +0000

Yes! I love Wonder Woman, and totally agree that a strong woman should be more than “a man with girl parts.” Thanks for sharing! 🙂

By: Resa Haile

Resa Haile — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 12:17:09 +0000

In reply to sjhigbee. It's very similar to the outfits worn by the Amazons on Diana's island and to battle skirts worn by men. I really appreciated her not being in the usual Wonder Woman swimsuit-type outfit. She looks wonderful—strong and powerful and not objectified. I just saw the movie on Labor Day weekend and saw "Atomic Blonde" the next day. I was happy to see the variety. And yes, I did cry during the incredible "No Man's Land" scene.

By: Dieter Bünger

Dieter Bünger — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 08:32:37 +0000

In reply to kamas716.

Actually, female action heroes are much older than most people are aware of but this is usually forgotten as we have no access anymore to older movies and TV shows.

For the interested the action heroine already started in the silent age (here a very informative link):

https://www.tor.com/2013/12/13/the-first-female-action-heroes/

Before Emma Peel there was Cathy Gale (played by later-Bond girl Honor Blackman), almost at the same time there was “Honey West” (Anne Francis)in the US. and I personally remember from my childhood quite a number of heroines in Westerns and pirate movies such as “Anne of the Indies” (Jean Peters), “Against all flags” (Maureen O’Hara, who played strong females in quite some movies),Yellow Sky (Anne Baxter)or the assembled women of “Westward the women” (a Western entirely with women and one sole male protagonist).

Of course not necessarily what we would call “action movies” but as close as it gets considering the pre-dominant genres of the time, as “real” action movies didn’t start until the 60s with the James Bond movies (I also recommend “Fathom” with Raquel Welch from that era).

My feeling is that strong female (action) heroes have always been there but some of the older ones have simply been forgotten.

By: JGuenther5

JGuenther5 — Sun, 13 Aug 2017 22:08:51 +0000

In 21st Century Hollywood, tiresome tropes are our most important product.

By: Mandibelle16

Mandibelle16 — Sun, 13 Aug 2017 17:29:07 +0000

This was an interesting piece and I largely agree with you that feminine super woman are often one simensiak, hard, and lack that emotional and caring aspect many or most woman ghabe to some degree. I think that these and other characteristics that would flesh out a woman superhero are important.

I very much liked Wonderwomqn the movie was very well done. If you’ve watched the X-men movies featuring Jennifer Lawrence as mystic I very much liked her character at first b/c it showed us mystic was not just some feelingless villain, thee were reasons she became who she was. I did think in Age of Furyres past she lost some of that character.

As well, the X-men character Rogue was well done as she becomes an essential X-men character, and not a bad guy such as Mystic but a super hero of sorts.

Another I can think of is a show on TV (if it hasn’t been cut) on Supergirl and a character named Kara. They show, being a show and not just a movie, Ithibk is better able to show depth to Kara’s character and what she goes through to become supergirl. Ishe’s not emotionless and life isn’t just a walk in the park for her.

By: Kerry Gans

Kerry Gans — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 18:20:45 +0000

One of the most powerful female scenes I remember happened on a TV show. It was many years ago now, and I don’t remember what show it was–one of the cop/EMT shows that was popular at the time. A female police officer–also wife and mother–was in an elevator with her husband. It was 9/11, and when the disaster happened, they got trapped in the elevator. Then the husband had a heart attack. And the police woman started to cry. If that was where they’d left it, I wouldn’t remember it. BUT the woman broke out of the elevator, dragged her unconscious husband through the doors (she was a large enough woman that this was plausible), and then humped him to the closest hospital. All the while crying. It was such a poignant mix of fear and competence that it stuck with me. She was absolutely terrified and devastated, yet she did what she had to do to save him (he lived). That was powerful to me.

By: David Anderson

David Anderson — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 15:07:50 +0000

I loved WW too. I agree she was great because she was both strong and feminine. I’m still trying to understand how they did that. It did not feel at all like they had written a male superhero and then said, Let’s cast a woman for this. I think you’re right that her love and compassion had a lot to do with that. And they got the perfect actress for it. Gal Gadot is not only drop dead gorgeous but she was able to embody the full complexity of the character.
I’m not sure I agree that Sarah Connor in T2 was unfeminine. She had moments where she showed her femininity, especially in her devotion to her son and how she changed her views and expressed some hope for humanity at the end. I do agree, though, that WW succeeded in giving us a true super-heroine in ways I’ve never seen in any other movie, comic book or novel.

By: Kristy Perkins

Kristy Perkins — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 01:26:31 +0000

Wow! This is fantastic! This is everything I’ve struggled to put into words about what bugs me about “strong” female protagonists. And also why I loved Wonder Woman so much.

By: Karen Gordon

Karen Gordon — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 22:52:06 +0000

In reply to Cheryl Ammeter. Agreed, her compassion was beautiful and celebrated instead of being seen as a weakness