Scott the Reader has an interesting post and discussion about female screenwriters and it got me to thinking. I love action scripts. I'm just not a romcom girl. Give me explosions and cool martial arts battles and swords any day and I'll be happy, as long as it has substance.
So most of my scripts are action-oriented, even my TV specs. I managed to work a fist fight into my House spec, and don't get me started on Supernatural and the ridiculous level of violence I plugged into that one. But I also gravitate toward female protagonists, and that's something seriously lacking in action scripts.
TV has plenty of hot, ass kicking-chicks with substance. Sydney Bristow, Buffy Summers, Xena. But films? Aside from Ripley, who else is worth watching?
Catwoman, Elektra, Aeon Flux, Ultraviolet - not exactly setting the world on fire.
I have a theory as to why. Men did most of the writing and directing, first of all. There is a credited woman on Catwoman and Aeon Flux was directed by a woman, but men still dominated the story construction, and they definitely own the studios. That's bound to affect how the women are written.
But I think it goes deeper than that. All the women who lead in action pics tend to have one thing in common: anger. They're all so pissed off at life and eat men for breakfast, and that's not an appealing hero for men or for women. Take Ripley, without a doubt one of the best female heroes ever. She started as a tough woman, but one with vulnerabilities. She's genuinely hurt when the doctor turns out to betray her, and she runs scared from the Alien much of the time in the first movie. In the second one, she's much badder ass, but she's only that way because she's afraid and she wants to protect those she loves. She's still a woman, after all.
And that's what's wrong with the third and fourth films, among other things. There's still a remnant of that femininity in Three, but by Four she's so angry and confused that's she's a turn-off as a character. She's just a big ball of rage and not really a woman anymore. A woman doesn't have to be enraged to be tough.
What do you think? Am I full of crap or am I a storytelling genius?
hmm - are those are only two choices? :)
ReplyDeleteactually i think that's a great point - but it's true for any character, male or female. simple badasses aren't that interesting - but give the character feelings, vulnerabilities, and conflicts, and you've got something.
so are your female action characters more than one-dimensional ass-kicking machines?
Just a theory:
ReplyDeleteI wonder if female lead action doesn't work well with US audiences because men are insecure. I watch a bunch of Hong Kong action flicks, and they often have female leads kicking butt.
In the 80s and 90s, American martial arts star Cynthia Rothrock worked in Hong Kong and Malaysia - where she was a star - but in the USA played a throw away role as fitness trainer in a Sally Fields movie. Of course, these are countries with male dominant societies where the guys may *fantasize* about strong women taking control and taking charge and taking no prisoners. In America, stuff like that just worries guys.
We're actually seeing lot more female lead action flicks these days - usually with a sci-fi or horror background.
I think you're right about the anger thing - but regardless of gender, any character who is all hard exterior with no vulnerable, emotional side will have a difficult time involving an audience. A lot of male lead action films flop... ut nobody notices.
- Bill
Thanks for the link. Your blog is fun. About the whole women and writing thing... I think part of the reason for less women is that we let ourselves believe that it's okay that we are not as active in the whole screenwriting community/networking thing. Maybe?
ReplyDeleteScribe
I think that iconic hero's - male or female - exibit a balance of war-fighting and family.
ReplyDeleteLook at "Die Hard", "Aliens", the first and second "Terminator".
The hero's fought hard - and in the B story revealed a more traditional role - the crisis of a caring parent/spouse in a warzone.
Weaving a story that explores the duality of an intelligent warrior.
"Face-Off" is another example.
Iconic hero's are hero's for a reason - they exibit the balance we all strive for in our own lives.
And please provide more pictures of what's on your bookshelves - and swimsuit photos.
mc
I think the previous posters are on the right track.
ReplyDeleteMost movies with female action leads are more characatures than well-rounded characters.
Action heroines that we remember-- Ripley, Sarah Connor-- are just plain well-written char's, w/ vulnerabilities & inner lives. You can sense their HUMANITY.
And Bill is probably right. Most Male-centered action movies fail for the same reason, but b/c there are so many of them nobody notices.
I don't like most big action movies. I esp. don't like big COMIC BOOK action movies. I think most of them fail as "art" simply b/c in showing off all that spectacle, all that TECHNOLOGY, they lose the humanity. And that's really why i watch movies.
I watch movies to see what it is to be human, emotional trevails & weaknesses & what is learned from all that. I don't watch movies to see shit blown up. But that's just me.
My husband LOOOOVES action movies where chicks kick ass. No matter how awful.He can't resist tough chicks in tight leather outfits. We have both Tomb Raider movies & both Res Evils, we have both Underworlds, we have Elektra. We'll get Ultraviolet soon, too. Oi!
Good points. Bad character development is bad character development, regardless of the gender of the protagonist.
ReplyDeleteI was trying to think of a non-sucky movie that had a protagonist whose entire goal was revenge, and all I could come up with was Carrie. But then I remembered that you could argue that the protag is that chick who tried to befriend Carrie.
And Anonymous guy, my bookshelves are indeed smokin' hot, but alas, until I know who you are you will never see them.
ReplyDeleteFirst, "romcom?" I'm glad to say I've never heard that particular abbreviation before.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, while bad ass characters with flaws and interesting character development is ideal, there are plenty of characters who lack any sort of heart or real motivation, but are still, IMHO, great to watch on screen.
The Transporter, for one. Everyone in Kill Bill, for two, three, and so on. I didn't care what their reasons for revenge were (and their reasons weren't that interesting) but I knew each character was going to give Uma a tough fight and it was great fun to watch it all.
Aeon Flux is an uber-basass character, and you can't rely on the film version to relay that.
Elecktra was just stupid, but just as stupid as Daredevil. So, "badass" male characters can make for horrible movies, too. Same for Catwoman, the movie.
Michelle Pfeiffer's catwoman was a creature to be feared and revered. Halle's was laughable, though stylish.
And please, let's never forget that men and women are intrinsinctly different animals. Not only, statistically, would a male writer be more inclined to write an action movie while a female writer would go for the Romcom, but I think it's a fact (neither good nor bad) that audiences at least expect the badass-ness to come from male characters. And I think that's exactly why Kill Bill was a success. Uma kicking ass was novel. Sam Jackson kicking ass is old news.
women kicking ass isn't novel. and in contrast to bill i think women kickass characters are ever more popular with males today.
ReplyDeletei know many of my friends are obsessed with writing female action leads. it's the best of both worlds, getting both kinds of eye-candy in one package.
and claude, you're a writer and never heard the term "rom-com,"? now that's novel. ;)
The deal with CARRIE though, is that you spend the first 75% of the movie with her as a human punching bag - between her mother and classmates, she's got a lot of good motivation for revenge. Sue Snell (the only one who shows up for the 20 year class reunion) is kind of a supporting character until the revenge kicks in (Sue isn't around in those scene with Carrie's mom - it's Carrie). I think Carrie earns our sympathy... so that we don't compltely reject that angry outburt at the end that kills everyone else.
ReplyDeleteA friend wrote a script similar to CARRIE, with one major flaw - at the end of act 1, the picked on gal was trnsformed into the hottest girl on campus (and kind of a bitch). After that, her revenge just seemed *mean*. Ruined the whole script for me, because I didn't like the lead as she was destroying everyone around her.
I think it always comes down to caring about the character.
- Bill
I agree DS. (Can I call you DS?)
ReplyDeleteAss-kicking women are great when they are hot, too. In fact, I can't think of an unattractive female ass-kicker.
BTW, is Foxy Brown the mother of that character type?
And no, never heard of romcom. And I'm sure there are a few other things out there I'm unaware of.