Superheroines on the Big Screen, Or: Why Do Studios Hate Women?

This post is an elaboration of a tweet storm I wrote the day it occurred. Recent events have inspired me to expand on the idea. Contains some salty language. Consider yourself warned.

A few weeks ago at the end of our weekly comic discussion group, we ended up talking about female-led [live action] comic book movies. We ticked off the films we could recall: Supergirl (1984), Red Sonja (1985), Tank Girl (1995), Barb Wire (1996), Catwoman (2004), and Elektra (2005). We forgot Sheena (1984) and Josie and the Pussycats (2001).

Eight. We remembered six of eight films in more than 30 years. 

Just to put that in perspective, Batman has had NINE movies, not counting direct to video or animated, since 1966. Counting the direct to vid and/or animated, Batman has 32. Superman also has nine, since 1951, but only 18 counting animated and DtV. Spider-Man? five since 1977, eight counting TV movies.

There are also made for television movies, and a direct-to-video movie: Wonder Woman (1974, TV movie/failed pilot starring Cathy Lee Crosby), Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996, TV movie/pilot, other TV movies: '98, '99), Vampirella (1996, direct to video), Witchblade (2000, TV movie/pilot), and Painkiller Jane (2005, TV movie/pilot). Now, to be clear, there are other female-led movies based on comics/graphic novels. I'm being a little arbitrary in how I'm looking at "comic book movies." I'm looking at superheroes, here, for the purpose of keeping this reasonably tight.

So here are the Eight (live action, big screen):

Supergirl (1984) Starring Helen Slater
Budget: $35M, box office: $14.3M, loss: $20.7M
It was produced, directed, and the screenplay written, by dudes. (Shocking, right?) I've been trying to get my hands on a used DVD of this to revisit it. Oddly, if it's such an awful film, you'd think it'd be easy to find a used copy. You'd be wrong.

Sheena (1984) Starring Tanya Roberts
Budget: $25M, box office: $5.8M, loss: $19.2M
This screenplay was also written by a couple of dudes. I haven't seen this in years so I can't really comment on its specific terribleness. Ebert apparently thought it was more suited for the Playboy channel. I believe my husband recalls this movie with some adolescent fondness...

Red Sonja (1985) Starring Brigitte Nielsen
Budget: $17.9M, box office: $6.9M, loss: $11M
All dudes, again. But one of the things that sunk this ship was that Nielsen was a model, not an actress, picked up only weeks before shooting began. Naturally, she wasn't much of an actress in the film, because she wasn't an actress in the first place. (Also, the script sucked, guys. No amount of good acting could have saved it.)

Tank Girl (1995) Starring Lori Petty and Naomi Watts
Budget: $25M, box office: $6M, loss: $19M
A woman (Rachel Talalay) directed this, but it was written and produced by dudes. I have to assume that the world wasn't ready for Lori Petty in 1995, because this movie rocks, and I have no idea why it didn't do any better than that. Ms Talalay: Thank you for this gift you gave the world.

Barb Wire (1996) Starring Pamela Anderson
Budget: $9M, box office: $3.8M, loss: $5.2M
Directed and produced by dudes, story by Ilene Chaiken, who co-wrote the screenplay. Can't comment personally, as I haven't seen it other than snips and pieces. Enough to see Pam can't act. (Ugh.)

Josie and the Pussycats (2001) Starring Rachael Lee Cook, Tara Reid and Rosario Dawson
Budget: $39M, box office: $14.9M, loss: $24.1M
The writers Harry Effont (who has a cameo) and Deborah Kaplan also directed this film, produced by dudes. I have not seen it, but wow does it sound stupid. (Not as stupid as the Jem movie, but we're not going there...)

Catwoman (2004) Starring Halle Barry
Budget: $100M, box office: $82.1M, loss: $17.9M
Theresa Rebeck wrote the story with John Brancato and Michael Ferris, and those dudes wrote the screenplay with John Rogers (no idea what happened to Rebeck on the screenplay, why she wrote the story but not that). Denise De Novi produced it with Edward L. McDonnell, and it was directed by a dude. (Natch -- this movie was so male-gazy, could it have been anything other than a man directing it?) The story was bad, the script was bad, the fact that the Catwoman origin was so stupid was bad. And that fucking costume...

Elektra (2005) Starring Jennifer Garner
Budget: $43M, box office: $56.7M, on paper this made $13.7M (commercial failure)
Written, produced and directed by dudes. Now, of the 8 movies this one did the "least bad." It made money, or at least made back the budget, but that's gross, so it's probably still a net loss in the books. It's been a while since I've seen this one, too, I don't remember being that impressed with Garner. (Wikipedia is kinder, but it's been a very long time.)

Why did these movies fail? 

1. Poorly written scripts.
Write a better script, and you'll get a better movie. It's AMAZING! Invest some time into those characters, maybe hire a woman, since many of the men in Hollywood don't seem to understand how women think/act in real life. Can only women right female characters? Nope! Talk to Greg Rucka, who writes some of the best female characters in comics, it can be done. Sadly, he's not a scriptwriter... that I know of.
2. Poorly-chosen actors. (Or not actors at all, coughNielsencough.)
Not every actor is the right person for the job. Sometimes you get someone who turns out to be so damned perfect, you can't imagine anyone else, ever again, in that role. Who else other than Ryan Reynolds could be Deadpool? Who else other than Chris Evans could be Captain America (even though he was not-quite-right for Johnny Storm)? And yeah, I'm going there: who else other than Chris Reeve can be Superman? And Lynda Carter was an amazing Wonder Woman; that's a tough torch to pass. (I don't envy Gadot.)
3. Poorly designed wardrobe.
If you want women to come to your movies, maybe don't turn your female heroes into sexpots. Honest to god, Red Sonja looked less sexualized than Catwoman did, and she was wearing less. Male Gaze is a thing, y'all, and it's killing the movies for us women! So much about that Catwoman movie screamed "this movie is not for you, it's for the fanboys" while I watched it. Michelle Pfeiffer in her vinyl getup was less fetishizing than Berry was. Pfeiffer made me want to go find people to punch; Berry made me want to go wash. Is that really what you want your moviegoers to come away with? an urge to get clean?
4. Poorly promoted features.
If you don't promote your movie, how will people get excited about it? How will people know you have faith in your film? This is especially true today with social media. Who's promoting the movie? Anyone, actors, studio heads, directors? Are there toys? Cereal tie-ins? Trailers? Bus stand ads? Ads in the comics themselves? If we don't see these things, we will think you don't believe in your project, and if you don't believe in it, why should we?

Which brings me to my segue...

Why haven't we seen any Wonder Woman promotion?

This is Wonder Woman's 75th anniversary. Why is DC not hyping the shit out of this movie? Why am I not seeing Gal Gadot's face everywhere? This is the first major superheroine on the big screen since 1984. It's been 33 years since DC gave us Supergirl (when they were capitalizing on Superman's fame and success, or trying to). Thirty-three years. We haven't had Wonder Woman since Lynda Carter's television series ran from 1975-1979.

Am I concerned about the lack of visibility of Wonder Woman in the media right now? You betcha! If this movie flops, the way those eight up there flopped, the studios will all say, "See, superheroine movies don't work, even WONDER WOMAN can't make box office cash, so we're never doing it again!" and pull the plug on any super lady projects for every and ever, amen. Never mind the fact that Snyder has his dark and gritty fingers messing up the hope and light that is Diana... Never mind the fact that I'm already hearing that Pine is taking a forward role when Steve Trevor should be in the background... Never mind the fact that they aren't promoting this film...

And if it's that they don't know how to market to women..? I dunno, maybe hire some fucking women to your marketing staff and ask them?? Here's a hint: it doesn't need to be pink to sell it to us. In fact, if it's pink with a Wonder Woman logo on it, I won't buy it. 

And this has significant ramifications for future films. What about Captain Marvel, that's been pushed back, what? twice now? If Wonder Woman fails, I bet you they pull the plug on Captain Marvel so fast... And we can kiss Batgirl goodbye, too, even if "make 'em suffer" Whedon is writing it. You know execs are watching to see what happens with Wonder Woman, to see whether or not to go forward with their stuff.

Anyway... I'm looking at a list of "upcoming" comic book films and I'm seeing so many more superdudes... and I am so done with superdudes. One more fucking remake of one more fucking dude movie and I swear I will scream. But here's the thing: because the comics don't bother to develop their superheroines, they're hard to turn into movies. They're not much more than two-dimensional characters (if you'll pardon the expression) because so much more time and attention has been given to all the dudes. Goddamn ANT-MAN got a movie before Captain Marvel. Before She-Hulk. Before Spider-Woman. Before A-Force (I would watch the shit out of A-Force, man, oh please someone give me an A-Force movie). Give more life to those female characters on the page, and give them life on the screen. Make them people the same way the male characters are people. It's really that simple. Then the comics will sell better (they really will! honest!) and then you have material to make a movie from, which you can then promote, and make more money.

Look, the whole point of comics is to make money, and it's not sustainable if you don't bring in new readers. Well, there won't be any new readers if the publisher keep pandering to the middle-aged white guys by saying shit like "diversity doesn't sell." No. You don't sell diversity because you won't promote it. Big diff, my dudes. But if you want to keep on with the same old white guy BS that you're shilling, and the male gazy crap in the movies, then I can take my dollars and spend it somewhere else... Lumberjanes is friggin awesome. Too bad a dude is writing the screenplay for that film... (/facepalm)

Nope: Why I Refuse to Buy the Supergirl Abomination

Look, I know that I have plenty of action figures that are problematic. Some are just plain ugly, others are so over-the-top sexualized it's ridiculous. I have a small Supergirl figure from the animated series. She's cute. Small, but cute. Adorable, even.

I would like to have a larger figure more on the same scale as the other figures, but this New 52 Supergirl... ugh.

I hate it. I hate everything about it. Others have commented that the cape is ok, but honestly... that red bit over her crotch... it's like a sign: Hey! Look at my pubes! Who thought that was a good idea?? The boots are asinine too. Why are there cutouts at the knee? You can see them better in the product shot:

Duuuuummmmmb.

So, nope. Won't be buying it, DC. I hate the redesign, think the red pubic triangle looks idiotic; you can keep your plastic and I'll keep my $25. Give me something that doesn't look so freakin' stupid, and we'll talk.

The Thrill of the Hunt

On November 28th, Thanksgiving Day, a friend of mine emailed me a link reviewing Walgreens-exclusive DC Super Hero Dolls, and asked me if I could get my hands on them for his daughter. (This was in the middle of me cooking the family feast and trying to get a book published. Hey, no big. I am Mighty.) What with one thing and another, I wasn't able to get out to look for them until Sunday evening. Six Walgreens stores later... I have two complete sets; one for my friend's daughter, one for me. It's been ages since I went on a hunt like this, and I had honestly forgotten how much fun it was.

The box says Series 1, but I don't hold out much hope that there will be a Series 2. (However, if anyone at The Marketing Store is listening, I would love to see Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Huntress and Black Canary. For starters.) The box also says these are "posable" dolls, but that's a bit of a stretch.

 
The 5-inch dolls have enormously oversized heads and tiny little bodies. Different costumes are molded for each doll, with a fair amount of detail, particularly for such small bodies. The arms are articulated at the shoulders, their heads move at the neck, and their eyes open and shut -- that's it for articulation. The forearms are a little "Popeye." Oddly, they are also bow-legged and pigeon-toed. They will stand up on their own, despite being top-heavy. They're a little creepy, to be frank. They're rated for children 4 and up.

 
• Wonder Woman's cape and tiara are removable, and she has a molded lasso. Her eyes are bright blue.
• Batgirl's cape and mask are removable. Her eyes are bright blue.

• Catwoman's mask and goggles are removable, and she has a belt molded to look like a whip that is a separate piece. Her eyes are lime green. 
• Supergirl's cape is removable. Her eyes are bright blue.

Catwoman has serious hat-hair.

The heads, being hollow, have seams that are a little too obvious. But these are $5 dolls ($4.79, to be exact), so a little imprecision is expected. The hair only covers the tops of their heads, making it really thin on the back. Since they all have long hair, it doesn't really show. The accessories are interchangeable since the heads are all the same.  I am amused by the painted eyebrows, which give each doll a slightly different expression. Batgirl has the mildest expression, with no cocked brow. The plastic eyelids don't match the plastic faces on any of my dolls but Catwoman, but since I don't plan to display them lying down, it won't matter.

For scale, that's Mortal Kombat Sonya Blade (1994), 3-3/4" tall.

Would I buy more of these, if given the opportunity? Yes. Hell, yes. At this price? They're weird and creepy, but still my ladies, so yes. Rather than display them with the rest of the collection, I might need to make a shadowbox vignette for them all to be in, comic book style. (But after the holidays... I still have to make 13 Sesame Street dolls, decorate the house, bake cookies, plus all the other housewifey stuff.)

The Skirt of Awesome

There's not a lot to choose from if you want to make stuff with superheroine-themed fabric. Princesses, sure, but strong and kick-ass women, not so much. (You're spoiled for choice if you like your heroes to be male.) *sigh* HOWEVER, fear not, lovers of Batgirl, Wonder Woman or Supergirl! Camelot Fabrics (based in Quebec, formerly Camelot Cottons) has your back!

http://camelotfabrics.com/girl-power-main.html

There are 10 different designs in the line, I bought 4 of them in sufficient quantity to make a skirt. (I review the pattern here.) This weekend I made it, and a matching beret. 



I also sent feedback to Camelot. 

I have fabric I believe you designed, featuring Wonder Woman, Supergirl and Batgirl. And that's awesome - except it's too girly (in my opinion) and doesn't seem to be available anymore. There's a ton of fabric with superheroes, and there's a lot of geeky women out here who'd love to see MORE superheroines; She-Hulk, Storm, Spider-Woman from Marvel to name a few. You have the licenses from the 2 biggies - what do you say? How about some more heroines? Merci Beaucoup!

And received this awesome reply (I <3 Canadians):

Thank you very much for your feedback.  We are very happy to hear that you like what we have done thus far with our designs, and we are always trying to improve.

I have forwarded your comments to our design team…ya never know what they might come out with next!  Stay tuned!!

Also wanted to make sure you are aware that our “Girl Power” line is still very much available in many quilt shops, online, or in major fabric retailers.   Let us know if you are having trouble locating some.

This was awesome on a couple of levels. First, that the fabric is still available, even if it's hard for me to find. I can get it online, even if I can't find it locally. Second, that they let the designers know that at least one person wants more. I'm hoping to pick up more of this fabric when I'm in Ontario in a couple of weeks. 

I also found some Wonder Woman fleece at Joann's, and made a beret out of it, too (cozy warm!) Actually, I made two; one for the daughter of a friend.

The round rainbow motif was just about perfect for the beret top.
I bought a yard, and from that, was only able to get 2 beret tops that
were not on a cut or on the selvages.

Showing scale. Manufactured by Camelot Cottons (on the selvage).

I bought it at my local Joann's, but I see Hancock Fabrics has it on their website as on sale/discontinued. Get it while you can, even if it IS pink! The Joann's website shows the same fabric on white (which I had not seen or I probably would have gotten that instead). Camelot Fabric's website shows the same design in flannel but no fleece. Anywho, if you're lucky enough to find it, grab it while you can.

Bottom line: when you see something like this, heroines depicted through one license or another, I feel it's important to send a message to the manufacturers and licensors that this is something marketable. If we as consumers buy these products, they will make more (in theory, anyway). Vote with your wallet!