![\"jeangrey\"](\"http:\/\/alertnerd.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/jeangrey.jpg\" "\\"jeangrey\\"")
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When Iron Man<\/em> came out last year, I overheard this exchange between two women:<\/p>\n “The Gwyneth Paltrow part was particularly…blah.” The thing is, it doesn’t have to be. There’s a reason why so many people were thrilled about Karen Allen returning to the Indiana Jones franchise: she’s the only co-star who presented Indy with an equal<\/em>, a fully fleshed-out partner in crime. There’s something to be said for taking “that part” — and let’s be real, we mean “the girl part” — and making it whole and interesting and something more than a collection of sighs and looks and pretty hair. There’s something to be said for making it matter.<\/p>\n But really, this is but a small piece of a more hulking issue in geek moviedom that’s been frustrating the hell out of me for a while now. Simply put, I thought we’d be beyond “the girl part” at this point. I thought that, you know, by the year 2009 we’d be seeing some legit superhero\/big-time genre movies with female headliners.<\/p>\n Or, hey…scratch “some.” How about one<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There was a lot of geekgasming earlier today when Marvel announced their upcoming movie roll-out. Iron Man 2<\/em> in 2010. Thor<\/em>, Spider-Man 4<\/em> and Captain America<\/em> in 2011. And then, holy balls, The Avengers<\/em> in 2012!<\/p>\n Yes, I think it’s cool that there’s a strategic build-up to The Avengers<\/em>. Yes, I think it’s cool that they’re attempting something as ambitious as The Avengers<\/em> at all. But couldn’t we attempt to build one<\/em> of those movies around a superheroine?<\/p>\n Here’s where the standard arguments come in. “There are no recognizable\/bankable superheroines.” I suppose you could say the mainstream public only knows, like, Wonder Woman, but did that same mainstream public have a clue about who Iron Man was before last year? It’s up to the filmmakers\/studios\/powers-that-be to make that superhero recognizable. Maybe start with, you know, making a good movie. Cause here’s where standard argument #2 comes in: “People don’t want to see superhero movies with women in the lead. Just look at how those flicks have tanked in the past!” Right, because the examples we have to point to are Catwoman<\/em> and Elektra<\/em>. You know what people really don’t want to see? Bad movies<\/em>. What about the mighty blast of lady cooties pulsating through the X-Men films? Those did more than okay and I think girls<\/em> might have even gone to see them! What about something like Underworld<\/em>, which didn’t have recognizable characters or well-known stars (Kate Beckinsale was mostly known as a delicate British indie chick at the time) and still managed to spawn two sequels?<\/p>\n It’s not even just superhero movies — it’s big-ass geek event movies in general. Look: I’m as excited as anyone for the new Star Trek<\/em>. I was raised on TOS and I adore the classic characters, but I have to admit: part of me is weirded out that J.J. Abrams chose to reimagine that particular cast, because right now, in the future that is 2009, it looks dated. There is one<\/em> woman. One of the exciting things about watching the evolution of Trek<\/em> — for me, anyway — is that every cast breakdown (well, at least through Voyager<\/em>) inched a little closer to something truly diverse, to an actual representation of IDIC. I realize Abrams and Co. are probably sort of stuck here — you can’t exactly add in a Poochie character just for the sake of amping up the lady count because that would look even worse — but it’s still frustrating.<\/p>\n And here’s what makes it even more frustrating: there’s been actual progress in other genre mediums and in movies past. Ass-kicking leading ladies have abounded on geek television for the past decade or so — Buffy, Sydney Bristow, Starbuck and Athena and Co. And they were in vogue on the big screen at some point in time, back when Ellen Ripley played extremo-basketball and Sarah Connor made goggle-shades instantly cool. In terms of moviedom, we’ve actually regressed<\/em>.<\/p>\n This is depressing, people. Much as the fanboy stereotype persists, I don’t think it’s even possible to deny that fangirls are a huge part of geekdom at this point. Look at the internet, look at the convention crowds…hell, my audience at Watchmen<\/em> was probably 50-50. Am I insane to think that those fangirls — and oh, hey, maybe even the guys — would flock to well-made, female-fronted geek event movies if only there were more of them?<\/p>\n Because I’m tired of sidekicks and love interests. I’m tired of tokens. I’m tired of “that part.”<\/p>\n Give us a movie with a big damn heroine — a woman who gets to play the<\/em> part.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Iron Man came out last year, I overheard this exchange between two women: “The Gwyneth Paltrow part was particularly…blah.” “Yeah, but that part always is. In those movies.” The thing is, it doesn’t have to be. There’s a reason why so many people were thrilled about Karen Allen returning to the Indiana Jones franchise: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,69,27],"tags":[147,413,148,58,416,38,35,149,150],"class_list":["post-1671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comics","category-fandom","category-movies","tag-avengers","tag-comics","tag-fangirl","tag-iron-man","tag-movies","tag-spider-man","tag-star-trek","tag-thor","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alertnerd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alertnerd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alertnerd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alertnerd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alertnerd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.alertnerd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1671\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alertnerd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alertnerd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alertnerd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n“Yeah, but that part always<\/em> is. In those movies.”<\/p>\n