Action Heroes, Female

Scholars have long debated if female action heroes-represented in comics, genre literature, cinema, television series, cartoons, and videogames as strong women, expert fighters, muscular, and independent, [Page 19]but often emotionally fragile-are empowering for women or not. “Tough girls,” inspired by the classical portrayal of the Amazons, were already part of the imagination of modern culture when, in 1941, Wonder Woman, the Amazon super-heroine, made her appearance in comics strips. The introduction of this female action hero, as Mitra C. Emad has pointed out, was related to the social situation created by World War II, when U.S. women took jobs outside of the home and held responsibilities traditionally reserved for men. Subsequent shifts in the representation of action heroines have also been produced or influenced by economic, social and cultural changes.

Films in the popular action genre proposed action heroines in the 1970s (such as those played by Pam Grier). Nonetheless, the most famous female action heros are those portrayed in Hollywood's science fiction action blockbusters produced from the 1980s, as if, as some have noted, characters such as Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) in Alien (1979), Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) in Terminator 2 (1991), or Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) in the Matrix (1999) could only exist in imaginary settings. American cartoon films have also presented outstanding female action heroes, who also act in fantasy settings, such as Mulan (1998), inspired by a traditional Chinese story, or the independent princess Fiona in Shrek (2001).

Female heroines have long been present in Asian popular action films, especially in Hong Kong, but also in films such as the House of Flying Daggers (2004) by Ang Lee, where actress Zhang Ziyi plays a blind, skillful swordswoman. Japanese cartoon television series also introduced several female characters who fight as hard as men, for example, in The Rose of Versailles (1979-80).

Many recent TV series have centered on female action heroes. These characters support, rather than challenge, the established structures of society, as they are often police women, as in Cagney and Lacey (1982-88), private investigators (the Charlie's Angels trio in the late 1970s), or members of governmental agencies, as in The Bionic Woman (1976-78), Dana Scully in The X-Files (1993-2002), or Sidney Bristow in Alias (2001-06).