Chinese language - Female action pics need heroes of their own

ENTERTAINMENT / Movies






Female action pics need heroes of their own

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-06-01 09:11



When Robert Rodriguez signed on last week to direct Universal's
"Barbarella," it marked a rare instance of a female-led action film
getting off the ground.

Rodriguez is dipping his laser gun into a subgenre where Hollywood has
been traditionally gun-shy. Recent history has left a graveyard of
tombstones reading such names as "Elektra," "Catwoman" and "Aeon Flux,"
while mausoleums house "Tank Girl" and "Barb Wire." There are exceptions,
of course, such as the "Tomb Raider" and "Underworld" movies, but their
sequels failed to capitalize on any goodwill created by the first movies.



U.S. actress Angelina Jolie poses for photographers prior to the premiere
of the film, 'Lara Croft and the Cradle of Life:Tomb Raider 2,' in Tokyo
September 2, 2003 file photo.[Reuters]

One manager says it doesn't take X-ray vision to see studio sexism as
part of the trouble. Female-oriented action movies, he reasons, take a
hit when one fails, whereas a male-oriented action movie that misfires
bounces off a studio's back like a bullet off Superman.

"The studio translates those failures into, 'It doesn't matter if those
were bad movies, female-led superhero movies don't work," says one
manager, who has clients wanting to write those movies but says "studios
won't touch them with a 10-foot pole."

But television is another story.

On the small screen, female-starring genre stories become buzzworthy cult
hits, such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Alias" and (the just-canceled)
"Veronica Mars." The fall season will see a new crop of heroes in the
form of a new "Bionic Woman" on NBC and Fox's "The Sarah Connor
Chronicles," a spinoff of the "Terminator" movie series.

"Going back to 'Police Woman' in 1974, it's been far more accepted for a
woman to carry a show than it was for a woman to carry a movie," says DC
Comics senior vp Gregory Noveck, who is developing titles for both the
big and small screen.

Part of the problem is that most actresses dip one foot into the action
genre and then move on, especially after a flop, as Jennifer Garner did
post-"Elektra." But their male counterparts keep coming back again and
again.

The other problem, according to many writers and executives, is that
there hasn't been that knockout feature script starring a female action
hero. If "Buffy" creator Joss Whedon is let go for not being able to nail
a "Wonder Woman" script, what hope do lesser mortals have?

The issue is the writing, says David Eick, a writer-executive producer on
"Battlestar Galactica" and also a showrunner on "Bionic Woman." Feature
film screenwriters tend to allow gender to cloud character and plot
development, he says, whereas TV avoids that trap.

"The best female action stories in my opinion are the ones in which the
role isn't written for a girl, it's written for a hero," says Eick,
adding that heroes shouldn't be written any different whether male or
female. "In the television medium, the best female action characters are
written as heroes first, and female second."

Noveck isn't ready to give up on what he sees as a genre still in its
infancy. To him, studios are willing to put up with such failures as
"Hulk" and "Remo Williams" to find such genre-defining hits as "Die Hard"
and "Superman," whereas female action film aren't given enough chances.

Says Noveck, "When you only take four or five shots, you better take a
whole bunch more shots before you write off a whole genre."



















Top Entertaiment News




� Harry Potter' film to open 2 days early

� Paris Hilton's jail time countdown is on

� Film producers seek to accommodate Lohan's rehab

� Jolie applauds US increase for orphans funding

� Lohan's dad: Lindsay hooked on OxyContin





Today's Top News




� China: Panama importer 'to blame for deaths'

� China: Japan puts relations at risk

� Putin: US imperialism causes arms race

� China hit by brain drain, report says

� Smoking deaths to double without action - WHO





Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours








Learn Chinese, Chinese language, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, Beijing 2008 Olympics, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing, Travel to Tibet