Girl Power (Where are the Female Super Heroes?)

Jezebel outlines a little tet-a-tet between one movie site, claiming there needs to be more female super hero movies and another site, claiming we don't need them but I think that both sites are kind of missing the point.

The guy at cinemablend is an asshole. Women watch superhero movies and they read comic books. Period. So his sex in the city argument is pretty rank.

The lady at ropesofsilicon has a bit of a point, but is blaming the wrong things: female super hero movies are, in fact, being made and they suck. Sorry. (she also criticizes Mary Jane Watson from Spiderman for being de-sexed while ignoring the fact that the problem with most female heroes's is that they are frequently over-sexed and given less personality and background than written into Mary Jane).

The problem is not the quantity of female hero-- there isn't enough because there never have been many in the first place-- but the quality. And that, until recently, has been the problem with all super hero movies.

Perhaps we've already been spoiled by The Dark Knight and Iron Man, but did everyone somehow forget the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Puninsher 1, Superman Returns, Ghost Rider or X3?

There are only so many super hero movies, only so many super hero movies of quality and even fewer super heroines for whom there might be a quality film made.



Ladies, your hope, essentially, lies with Wonder Woman and She-Hulk (I especially like She-Hulk, as she's been recently re-conned into some kind of super Nympho lawyer). Sure, there's others out there but they are the equivalent to Aquaman. Unless the film itself takes liberties with the material, no audience is going to flock to see Zantana on the big screen. They might flock to see a Power Girl movie but, trust me, it'll be for all the wrong reasons....

In comic books, women are generally supporting characters or are on a team. When they aren't, we try to make them into movies (hello Electra and Catwoman) and those movies suck.

By why not embrace the options?

For one, why does the female hero have to be either a) super or b) the titular star? Y, the Last Man is a comic book going to be made into a movie about a world where men are killed off in a plague-- and the main character, Yorrick, is largely a hapless dolt surrounded by stronger and fiercer women who have to save his ass all the time. Do you need this film to be "about" women when it's filled out by nothing but strong female characters?

And why do people always focus on super heroes? What, is Strangers In Paradice no longer a comic book? Wasn't Persepolis a graphic novel? Or Ghost World? Women, as characters, are often better explored (and less exploited) in non-super hero comics, why not use that for inspiration?

Are women really so eager to indulge in power fantasies?

And anyway, with Battle Angel Akira on it's way to being adapted, it's pretty clear that if you want some "female heroes" you're best bet is manga, not American comics. Check out the Borders aisles and you'll probably start to notice the difference....