Female Action Heroes

This book offers 25 profiles of some of the most popular female action heroes throughout the history of film, television, comic books, and video games. Female action heroes, like other fictional characters, not only reveal a lot about society, but greatly influence individuals in society. It is no surprise that the gradual development and increase in the number of female action heroes coincides with societal changes and social movements, such as feminism. Nor is it a surprise that characteristics of female action heroes echo the progressive toughening of women and young girls in the media. Female Action Heroes: A Guide to Women in Comics, Video Games, Film, and Television brings to the forefront the historical representation of women and girls in film, television, comic books, and video games. The book includes profiles of 25 of the most popular female action heroes, arranged in alphabetical order for easy reference. Each chapter includes sections on the hero's origins, her power suit, weapons, abilities, and the villains with whom she grapples. Most significantly, each profile offers an analysis of the hero's story—and her impact on popular culture.

For decades, DC Super Heroes have inspired us to reach new heights, find strength in adversity, and access our inner power. This gorgeously illustrated collection tracks this progress, profiling the fiercest, strongest, and most independent female Super Heroes and Super-Villains in the DC Universe, along with the real-life women integral to their development. Featuring Wonder Woman™, Lois Lane, Batgirl, Bumblebee, Hawkgirl, Black Canary, Amanda Waller, and many more, this lush volume is a vivid celebration of the amazing, inspirational women of DC. All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC Comics. (s19)

There's an exciting new player in films and on television shows. In the last three decades the female action hero has burst forth upon our screens, liberating women from the confines of stereotypical "feminine" traits, and enabling them to embrace positive, "masculine" attributes that once were reserved for men. This book examines the way in which popular culture has revisioned the old archetype of the hero, so that all heroes now can combine the best of both masculine and feminine traits - and so that all women potentially have more freedom. Included are analyses of several popular recent films and television shows, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Alien series, Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Xena: Warrior Princess, Star Trek, Star Trek Voyager, The Long Kiss Goodnight and GI Jane. This book analyzes the contributions of popular culture from the perspective of queer theory, focusing especially on Judith (Jack) Halberstam's groundbreaking work on female masculinity, and on Judith Butler's provocative work on the construction of gender.

The Warrior Women of Television examines contemporary representations of the female action hero in three series: La Femme Nikita, Aeon Flux, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Detailed readings focus on the ways the structure and content of each series work to create specific understandings of the body that are in contrast to those of male-centered action texts. Arguing that television texts mediate larger cultural concerns, this book considers the feminist implications of the series and uses insights from critical writings on contemporary culture and the body to discuss the ways the female hero functions as a potent contemporary cultural symbol.

This book offers 25 profiles of some of the most popular female action heroes throughout the history of film, television, comic books, and video games. Female action heroes, like other fictional characters, not only reveal a lot about society, but greatly influence individuals in society. It is no surprise that the gradual development and increase in the number of female action heroes coincides with societal changes and social movements, such as feminism. Nor is it a surprise that characteristics of female action heroes echo the progressive toughening of women and young girls in the media. Female Action Heroes: A Guide to Women in Comics, Video Games, Film, and Television brings to the forefront the historical representation of women and girls in film, television, comic books, and video games. The book includes profiles of 25 of the most popular female action heroes, arranged in alphabetical order for easy reference. Each chapter includes sections on the hero's origins, her power suit, weapons, abilities, and the villains with whom she grapples. Most significantly, each profile offers an analysis of the hero's story—and her impact on popular culture.

Some may know her as hot, gutsy, gun-totin' Foxy Brown, Friday Foster, Coffy, and Jackie Brown. Others may know her from her role as Kit Porter on The L Word. But that only defines one part of the legend that is Pam Grier. Foxy is Pam's testimony of her life, past and present. In it, she reveals her relationships with Richard Pryor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Freddie Prinze Sr., among others. She unveils her experiences as a backup singer and a blaxploitation star. In particularly candid and shocking chapters, she shares-for the first time-her view of those films and the persecution that blacks, especially women, needed to endure to make a name for themselves . . . including how it felt to be labeled one of the most beautiful women alive, yet not be permitted to try on clothes in a department store because of the color of her skin. And in words sure to inspire many, she tells the story of her ongoing battle with cancer. From her disappointments to her triumphs, nothing is held back. With FOXY, Pam wishes to impart life lessons to her readers-and hopes to touch their hearts.

Dangerous Curves: Action Heroines, Gender, Fetishism, and Popular Culture addresses the conflicted meanings associated with the figure of the action heroine as she has evolved in various media forms since the late 1980s. Jeffrey A. Brown discusses this immensely popular character type as an example of, and challenge to, existing theories about gender as a performance identity. Her assumption of heroic masculine traits combined with her sexualized physical depiction demonstrates the ambiguous nature of traditional gender expectations and indicates a growing awareness of more aggressive and violent roles for women. The excessive sexual fetishism of action heroines is a central theme throughout. The topic is analyzed as an insight into the transgressive image of the dominatrix, as a refection of the shift in popular feminism from second-wave politics to third-wave and post-feminist pleasures, and as a form of patriarchal backlash that facilitates a masculine fantasy of controlling strong female characters. Brown interprets the action heroine as a representation of changing gender dynamics that balances the sexual objectification of women with progressive models of female strength. While the primary focus of this study is the action heroine as represented in Hollywood film and television, the book also includes the action heroine's emergence in contemporary popular literature, comic books, cartoons, and video games.