During a discussion of the sudden glut of kickass female characters on TV and in movies.
As the commenters point out, nowhere in the original article is there a mention of Starbuck. Nowhere in there, Delenn or Ivanova or River Tam or Zoe, or even Buffy who’s usually the one go-to reference for this shit. No mention of Aeryn Friggin Sun, who pretty much wrote the book on this. No mention of Arya Stark, no mention of any one of a dozen comic-book heroines. Because sci-fi and fantasy are supposed to be outliers, or they’re not mainstream enough, or the author just doesn’t care about anything other than what’s on basic cable.
FAIL.
And that’s without even getting into the idea that young ladies might think they can defend themselves if they see other women doing it. HORROR:
Is watching U.S. Marshal Annie Frost — of the startling blue eyes and
set jaw — take down a fugitive after a helluva battle empowering or
delusional, dangerous or inspiring?Should these images carry a
warning — like Cesar Millan’s “Dog Whisperer” or Johnny Knoxville’s
“Jackass” stunt outings? “Ladies, do not try these kick-butt maneuvers
in a dark alley faced with a real assailant.”“I’m concerned
about teenage girls who go and see ‘Salt’ or go and see Lisbeth in
action and then think they too have that kind of prowess,” says Merin,
an admitted “dyed-in-the- wool pacifist.”“If young girls are being
exposed to kick-ass queens and they think they can do that, there’s a
danger that they’ll just get smushed.”
Sigh. Yes, you shouldn’t try to do kung-fu if you don’t actually know kung-fu, but James Bond has been blowing shit up and jumping his car over his boat over a volcano for like 200 years and I don’t see any real concern that it’s giving young men unrealistic expectations.
A.
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