Lights, Camera...Action!

“Usually when you see females in movies, they feel like they have these metallic structures around them, they are caged by male energy.” 

                                                     ― Björk

Filmbug.com describes the action genre as one where "action sequences, such as fighting, stunts, car chases, or explosions, take precedence over elements like characterization or complex plotting," current trends include "development towards more elaborate fight scenes is Western film". The genre is predominantly dominated by males, not only behind the scenes where they tend to be the leads and directors but the targeted audience as well.
While I began to research the genre the first thing I encountered where a series of essays dealing with female representation in action films. Due to the fact that when I thought about doing action I always pictured having a female lead I decided to focus my research on gender representation within this genre.

The first essay I encountered was written by Naamah Hill, a teacher at Thurston Community College, and it mentioned Laura Mulvey, a film theorist who helped establish feminist film theory as a legitimate field of study (Burke). Mulvey introduced the theory of "Male Gaze" which argues that Hollywood tends to take a heterosexual male perspective in movies and images of women in films are presented simply for the gratification of male viewers (you can read Mulvey's full essay on "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" here). Hill argues that since action is a male dominated genre it tends to portray females as sex objects; however, the definition of attractiveness has changed over the years and now males are more attracted to intelligent and empowered women rather than perfect housewives.

Hill talks about the 2001 movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, an action movie based on a video game with a female lead, portrayed by Angelina Jolie. The author mentions how throughout the film a lot of shots focus on Jolie's body and how there is even a scene of her in the shower that is completely unnecessary to the plot and just serves to sexualize the character. Even in the opening of the film Hill states that the variety of shots are of Jolie's body. I tried to find a clip of the opening scene to understand what Hill was talking about but unfortunately I was unable to find it, however, just by taking a glance at the movie poster (located left) I could already see the emphasis on the female figure. Jolie is wearing tight clothing that hugs her figures and teeny tiny shorts.
A lot of the marketing for the movie was geared towards men as can be seen by the movie poster. The billboards and posters for the sequel Lara Croft: Tomb Raider The Cradle of Life are no exception. They depict Jolie in a skintight suit with the tagline 'Come and Get It' which, like Hill states, "has strong sexual connotations." Seeing as the concept for the film was initially a video game, I can understand why the film was targeting a male audience, using the image of Lara Croft to sell the movie.
Hill does point out however that in the action movie genre the narrative tends to contain a hero, a dispatcher, a treasure, and princess or damsel in distress. Tomb Raider features a hero, Lara Croft, a treasure and dispatcher, but no damsel in distress breaking the typical conventions of the genre.

The author also mentions other female empowering action films such as Kill Bill: Vol. 1 directed by Quentin Tarantino and the Resident Evil series (also inspired by a video game). Looking at the posters for these two films (located above) I noticed that the women are also sexualized by posing in skin tight suits and short shorts (although the Kill Bill poster isn't as bad). Taking a look at the Kill Bill trailer however one of the very first shots shown is a close-up on Uma Thurman's butt. In the essay Hill does make a point to mention that both of these films sexualize women less than Tomb Raider and Kill Bill is "refreshing" as it includes the female character in a role conventionally given to men, with her femininity never really becoming an issue.

Given that I've never seen any of the movies previously mentioned I did want to talk about one that I was familiar with. The 2010 movie Salt directed by Phillip Noyce and starring Angelina Jolie (again) is about a CIA agent named Evelyn Salt (Jolie) who goes on the run after she is accused of being a Russian spy. This is one of the films I can remember shaping the image of what a strong, independent woman is supposed to be like when I was younger and I still remember my family and I gathered around the television to watch it 10 years ago. Salt was intelligent, quit witted, and agile and everything that a powerful female lead should be. I remember I was amazed by Salt's endurance and skill and when I asked how was that even possible I recall my cousin explaining to me that when humans are faced with dire situations adrenaline kicks in making us ten times more capable of handling pain. Now, don't quote me on this since I never checked but from that moment on I always liked to believe that when in danger adrenaline made women fierce and capable of handling anything.
I don't remember the film heavily sexualizing Jolie at any point and upon watching the trailer to refresh my memory there were really no shots sexualizing her with the exception of one where a couple is seductively kissing, this is probably due to the fact that the film was marketed towards both males and females rather than mostly males. Taking a look at the poster (left) it is immediately different from the other three, granted she looks beautiful but if anything it is highlighting her facial features rather than her body and curves (side note: does it not bother anyone else that her face isn't centered?!?). The movie does portray the her as emotional which is conventional for females in action films but someone took her husband... I think it's safe to say she's not overreacting.

Going back to Hill's essay in the conclusion she poses the question "why can't women be portrayed as strong, intelligent, and empowered as well as being sexually attractive?" If I chose to make an action film I'd like to be able to answer this as yes, women can be portrayed this way. I would come up with a plot line where the female lead is still able to be portrayed as attractive but like Salt and unlike Tomb Raider, that wouldn't be an such important attribute for the movie.

P.s - I would like to point out that yes, men are also sexualized in film all the time (um Magic Mike anyone?) it isn't just directed towards women but focusing on the action genre it does tend to happen a lot more to women.

Sources:

"Action Movies." Filmbug. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2016. <http://www.filmbug.com/dictionary/action-movies.php>.

Burke, Eleanor. "Mulvey, Laura (1941-) Biography." BFI Screenonline. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2016. <http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/566978/>.

Hill, Naamah. "How Are Women Represented in the Action Movie Genre." Slideshare. N.p., 14 Apr. 2014. Web. 12 Mar. 2016. <http://www.slideshare.net/naamah/how-are-women-represented-in-the-action-movie-genre>.


 IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2016. <http://www.imdb.com/>.