A quick survey of science fiction films reveals a lack of meaty female roles.
In the early days of the genre, most sci-fi leading ladies were granted the role of Love Interest or Saucy Sidekick, but rarely given liberty to actually kick butt.
"Soylent Green" went so far as to refer to women as "furniture" (they came with the apartment), and the one enduring sci-fi heroine, Barbarella, still spent more time worrying about getting laid than catching villains.
The '80s changed all that, with the advent of hard-core heroines like Linda Hamilton in the "Terminator"movies or Sigourney Weaver's alien-thwarting Ripley in the "Alien" series
But a recent spate of sci-fi films has unearthed a more interesting species of heroine, who is both strong and sexy, and doesn't have to dress like a man in order to save the day .
"The Matrix," and "X-Men," we have a new type of sci-fi heroine: the Fashionable Fatale. She is smart and attractive, lethal yet approachable -- a character women might actually identify with, a character men
She's always fabulously dressed, and she's blasting the sci-fi world with an image that fuses sex appeal and power; she is redefining Superwoman.
Science fiction and fantasy action movies have always been the realm of boys, and no wonder: Movies were made for them. They flocked to films filled with muscle-bound male protagonists who could save the world with a flick of their wrist.
why would girls be interested in sci fi in the first place? the lack of believable female superheroes has reaffirmed the notion of men as saviors, women as victims, that we still haven't been able to shake from our heads.
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