Sadi Doyle at The Atlantic thinks Baby Doll, the main character in Zach Snyder's new movie Sucker Punch, is the sucessor to Pam Grier, Ellen Ripley and Buffy. Because when it comes to Strong Female Characters "misogyny—as always—crept back in."
And it's not like Salt is an aberration. The action movies of 2011 are Y-chromosome heavy, with Thor, Captain America, Captain Jack and the Green Lantern being the most heavily-funded heroes. But none of those movies are likely to have female characters as helpless as the ones in Sucker Punch. Natalie Portman is in Thor; Penelope Cruz is in the new Pirates; Blake Lively's in Green Lantern; Hayley Atwell's in Captain America. Sidekicks and love interests, sure, but are any of those actresses likely to play characters who are anything less than formidable?
Then check out Cate Blanchett's CIA agent and newcomer Saoirse Ronan's undeniably ass-kicking, precociously butt-stomping female lead in Hanna. And the adaptation of Atlas Shrugged features, if not a viable economic or political philosophy, at least a strong and independent female lead. Hermoine Granger, who has saved the day more often than Ron and Harry put together, not to mention given little girls a role model who is interested in school and reading, is back in the final part of Deathly Hollows.
Finally, Sucker Punch's opening weekend took in less than a third what Battle: Los Angeles managed. That movie features Michelle Rodriguez kicking just as much whatever-the-alien-equivalent-of-an-ass-is as anyone else. This weekend alone, Sucker Punch was beaten at the box office by a movie so wimpy it's title is Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Sucker Punch is Zach Snyder's first big-budget movie that's not based on an incredibly popular comic book with a built-in audience. With these kind of ticket sales, he won't get a chance to make a second.
Doyle says Sucker Punch is "what we've earned by not demanding better movies for women." A look at every other movie coming out this year reveals that we've earned a pat on the back from the feminists of the world.
Slap-dash, sexist, loud, and stupid—and as "sexy" as a bright red nylon teddy. [Sucker Punch] might just be the only action movie this year which focuses on a female ensemble. The question isn't why it's so misogynist, but whether any action movie about women would be allowed to exist (let alone get an $82 million budget) if it didnʼt promise to objectify its female characters and appeal to the "teenage boys" for whom Snyder made the film. Whether or not Sucker Punch is what we want, it's what we've earned, by not demanding better movies for women.Shoehorning Sucker Punch into this neat feminist narrative requires a very selective memory. The same studio executives have failed to "demand better movies for women" gave Salt a $110 million dollar budget, twenty-five percent more money than Sucker Punch had. In Salt, Angelina Jolie's Russian-sleeper-agent-turned-action-heroine manages to do everything James Bond ever did, from saving the love interest from the bad guys to going on the run to beating the shit out of Liev Schreiber. (Seriously, they duke it out.) Surely Jolie is a better heir to Grier and Weaver.
And it's not like Salt is an aberration. The action movies of 2011 are Y-chromosome heavy, with Thor, Captain America, Captain Jack and the Green Lantern being the most heavily-funded heroes. But none of those movies are likely to have female characters as helpless as the ones in Sucker Punch. Natalie Portman is in Thor; Penelope Cruz is in the new Pirates; Blake Lively's in Green Lantern; Hayley Atwell's in Captain America. Sidekicks and love interests, sure, but are any of those actresses likely to play characters who are anything less than formidable?
Then check out Cate Blanchett's CIA agent and newcomer Saoirse Ronan's undeniably ass-kicking, precociously butt-stomping female lead in Hanna. And the adaptation of Atlas Shrugged features, if not a viable economic or political philosophy, at least a strong and independent female lead. Hermoine Granger, who has saved the day more often than Ron and Harry put together, not to mention given little girls a role model who is interested in school and reading, is back in the final part of Deathly Hollows.
Finally, Sucker Punch's opening weekend took in less than a third what Battle: Los Angeles managed. That movie features Michelle Rodriguez kicking just as much whatever-the-alien-equivalent-of-an-ass-is as anyone else. This weekend alone, Sucker Punch was beaten at the box office by a movie so wimpy it's title is Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Sucker Punch is Zach Snyder's first big-budget movie that's not based on an incredibly popular comic book with a built-in audience. With these kind of ticket sales, he won't get a chance to make a second.
Doyle says Sucker Punch is "what we've earned by not demanding better movies for women." A look at every other movie coming out this year reveals that we've earned a pat on the back from the feminists of the world.