Story highlights
Lewis Beale: The new Wonder Woman movie is out featuring hot looking, kick-butt heroine. This is what feminism looks like in 2017?
He says Jessica Chastain and others are right: Hollywood virtually ignores characterizations of strong, realistic women. That has to change
Editor’s Note: Lewis Beale writes about culture and film for the Los Angeles Times, Newsday and other publications. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) —
Oh, goody. Now that “Wonder Woman” has attained a 93% positive score on rottentomatoes.com and looks like it will become a massive hit, we can look forward to an avalanche of overblown, CGI-driven comic-book movies featuring hot-looking, kick-butt heroines.
This, supposedly, is what feminism looks like in 2017?
Yep, Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman, has long been touted as some sort of feminist icon, but in reality she’s just a bodacious fantasy figure created by a man named William Moulton Marston. And whether in her comic book incarnation or her ‘70s TV persona – played by the extremely curvy Lynda Carter – WW has always been able to take care of herself- but also has been a major sex object.
What’s wrong with this picture? Just this. At the recent Cannes Film Festival, Jessica Chastain, a juror, decried the sexism she saw in so many of the nominated movies. And Nicole Kidman pointed out that last year women directed a vanishing few of the year’s top-grossing films. According to a recent study from the Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film at San Diego State University, just 7% of 2016’s top-grossing films were directed by women, down 2% from the previous year.
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Princess Diana of Themyscira, better known as DC's Wonder Woman, made her first appearance in 1941.
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cameron stewart/dc comics
DC's Batgirl, a.k.a. Barbara Gordon, made her first appearance in 1967 and got a new look in 2014.
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jae lee/dc comics
She's been more of an antihero than a villain in recent years, and Selina Kyle (a.k.a. Catwoman) made headlines by coming out as bisexual in February.
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marvel
Marvel Comics announced it will replace all Avengers teams with a new one, composed entirely of women like She-Hulk, Medusa and Dazzler. "The A-Force" comic book hits stores in May.
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Kris Anka and Javier Rodriguez/Marvel
Spider-Woman, a.k.a. Jessica Drew, was introduced in 1977. Marvel Comics announced a makeover for 2015.
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Here's the original Spider-Woman costume.
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It's a new day for the god of thunder: Thor will now be a woman, Marvel announced July 15. "This is not She-Thor," writer Jason Aaron said in a news release. "This is not Lady Thor. This is not Thorita. This is THOR. This is the THOR of the Marvel Universe. But it's unlike any Thor we've ever seen before."
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Marvel comics/ap
Before Thor, Marvel introduced a Muslim-American teen superhero: Kamala Khan, a New Jersey teenager who transforms into Ms. Marvel.
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Mindy McCready, known as Marvel's Hit-Girl, made her first appearance in 2008.
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Dark Horse comics' Buffy the Vampire Slayer made her first appearance in 1998.
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courtesy marvel comics
May Parker, Marvel's Spider-Girl, made her first appearance in 1998.
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Marvel's Elizabeth Braddock, also known as the X-Man Psylocke, made her first appearance in 1989.
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DC's Helena Bertinelli, Huntress, made her first appearance in 1989.
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Amy Winston, DC's Amethyst, made her first appearance in 1983.
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Jean Grey-Summers, Phoenix. First appearance in 1981. Marvel Universe.
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The X-Men's Rogue, whose name was later revealed to be Anna Marie, made her first appearance in 1981.
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Marvel's Elektra Natchios made her first appearance in 1981.
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Angelica Jones, Marvel's Firestar, made her first appearance in 1981.
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Jennifer Walters, Marvel's She-Hulk, made her first appearance in 1980.
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Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran, better known as DC's Starfire, made her first appearance in 1980.
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DC's Rachel Roth, a.k.a. Raven, made her first appearance in 1980.
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Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat, made her first appearance in Marvel comics in 1979.
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Ororo Munroe, the X-Men's Storm, made her first appearance in 1976.
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Dinah Lance, the Black Canary of DC Comics, made her first appearance in 1969.
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Carol Danvers, formerly Ms. Marvel but currently Captain Marvel, made her first appearance in 1967.
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Marvel's Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, made her first appearance in 1964.
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Marvel's Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, made her first appearance in 1964.
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Janet Van Dyne, Wasp, made her first appearance in Marvel comics in 1963.
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Sue Storm, Marvel's Invisible Woman, made her first appearance in 1961.
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DC's Kara Zor-El, Supergirl, made her first appearance in 1959.
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Shiera Sanders, Hawkgirl, made her first appearance in the DC Universe in 1940.
And even though female leads were more visible onscreen in 2015, comprising 29% of the leads in the top 100 movies, the percentage of female characters in speaking roles, both major and minor, was actually down slightly.
What Chastain and Kidman and other women (and many men, like yours truly) would like are films that showcase strong women – either real or fictional, but not comic-book creations basically geared towards a teenage-boy mentality.
Chastain, for example, recently starred in “The Zookeeper’s Wife,” the true story of a Polish woman who hid Jews from the Nazis. Nicole Kidman won an Oscar for portraying author Virginia Woolf in “The Hours.”Julia Roberts won her Oscar for playing environmental crusader Erin Brockovich. Angelina Jolie won her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as a complex psychiatric patient in “Girl, Interrupted.” And so on.
It is summer, and Hollywood, no question, is particularly in thrall to comic-book adaptations, sequels, movies based on toys and games and franchise pictures, but we have a problem here that is year-round: the movie industry has practically forgotten, or willfully ignored, great female characters (and directors) who can provide realistic role models for young women.
And with young people flocking to the multiplexes, it’s beyond tragic that the worst kind of female objectification is being uploaded into the minds of another generation – boys AND girls – with few alternative film characterizations to act as an antidote.
03:14 - Source: CNN
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