In Hollywood blockbusters,
The main female characters
does not exist because of emotional relationships with other male characters,
Do not participate in the construction of romance and love,
Which films and characters do you think of?
What kind of space can these female characters without love lines get? How do they participate in the construction and reversal of the plot and leave a three-dimensional and vivid impression in the audience's mind? We may as well rediscover where the women in commercial blockbusters who were not born for "love" are – how do they appear, and what heroic and beautiful figures are left behind in the light and shadow of the screen?
In Michael Bay's new film "Outlaw Ambulance", the heroine Cam, played by actress Elsa Gonzalez, is an emergency medical worker who is kidnapped by a pair of outlaw brothers as a tool to save people on duty. As an Exotic, Extremely Romanticized and Gendered Latino Woman on screen, Gonzalez can certainly transform into a megan Fox-style hot beauty. But in this film, she has been wearing a professional uniform, not as part of the visual stimulation, haunted by the masculine set of mechs and war, but with her professionalism to resolve the crisis, with a more universal human force to bring the audience into the special situation set in the film.
"Outlaw Ambulance" heroine single character poster
Although it is also a little red in the evergreen bush, Cam is not only not an embellishment, but also able to find its own focus in the complex vine structure dominated by men. In the process of growing and gradually becoming three-dimensional, the character constantly pulls the direction of the story, she regulates the delicate and tense relationship between the outlaw brothers, and also acts as a temporary and important connection point between the two sides of the police and bandits.
Aisha Gonzalez has starred in many Hollywood blockbusters such as "Fast and Furious", "Alita", "Godzilla vs. King Kong" and so on, this time as the heroine of the beam, no longer appearing as a romanticized Latino beauty, but playing a professional medical worker who is not in danger.
"While the screen is about to show people interacting and relationships, we also need female characters who aren't entirely driven by love. We do so many things, but we don't act for love all the time." Aisha Gonzalez mentioned this in the interview. Admittedly, love has never been the whole of human feelings, and women's weakness should not be that they are more emotional than men. Putting the image of Cam into the broader hollywood blockbuster spectrum, we realize that female characters who are not troubled by the love between men and women are not common, and the actors with three-dimensional professional identity and personal standards are also precious.
When Cam first appeared, she skillfully rushed to the scene of the car accident and entered the space of the car to face the trapped little girl, and in this crisis, the affinity of women to children was revealed. Then, at the working lunch with his new colleagues, Cam seems cold, seeing work as work, and does not care whether he is cute or not. Before the pursuit journey arrived, her professionalism and professional attitude were established; after being held hostage, the ambulance became a testing ground for humanity, and her past experiences and psychological complexities were further unfolded.
SuperHero blockbuster heroine solo movies often stir up controversy, and gender first is part of its product strategy
The "professional women" in Hollywood blockbusters have always been scarce, or we have never consciously entered the analysis of female characters from a professional point of view. "Wonder Woman", "Captain Marvel" and other superhero blockbusters are mainly about female power, and the appearance of female heroes carries a clear and firm feminist label, they maintain the cosmic order on the screen, and incarnate as a symbol of female self-consciousness in the field of real public opinion. In the field of adrenaline-emphasizing action movies, the "Fast and Furious" series, as a classic, has established a stereotypical way for women to show their abilities, and they defend their belief in "family" with a cool and heroic posture that does not lose to men. Unfortunately, once they are separated from the group, they will be alone.
More often, the "working women" in blockbusters tend to be reduced to objects that need to be protected. Louise, the female reporter in "Superman: Body of Steel", and the big housekeeper Pepper in "Iron Man", even if they have specific career settings, when the real crisis comes, the skills they are good at have no room to play, and their romantic relationship with the male protagonist is the focus of care. Independent and strong women, after all, are still fragile and need love and care, and this kind of male thinking-led commercial drama logic has long been common.
In the story line of the male hero, the women protected by him have always existed
A positive and familiar example is the dream designer Eleadni, played by Alan/Elliot Peggy in Inception, who was selected and integrated into the team for her outstanding spatial structure ability, and played an important role in the subsequent collective work. Even if the most critical female character is the deceased wife of the male protagonist Cobb (her fall is more directly related to the dream boundary explored in the film), Eriadni has not become a chicken rib participant, and it is under her company and questioning that Cobb gradually reveals his past with his deceased wife. Women's search for the traumatic history of others has nothing to do with voyeurism, nor is it aggressive, and in a compassionate gesture, expecting care and mutual understanding to happen.
There are only a handful of female characters on the team who act as "brains"
Shaping a three-dimensional female image actually involves the affirmation and re-excavation of feminine characteristics. "Death Ambulance" does not deliberately de-gender Cam, as a rescuer, Cam's natural gender is also its advantage, she is the more empathetic party, and most functional officials in the police system are distinguished. She appears composed and courageous under the threat of manic gangsters, and is able to delicately capture the moral dilemmas faced by retired blacks. In this dangerous adventure, Cam has no "superpowers" other than professional skills, nor has he developed a "love line", but only to show enough professionalism, as well as the tolerance and kindness of people, a beautiful figure, but also full of concrete flesh and blood.
In an interview, Aisha Gonzalez analyzed that there are three inherent paradigms for female characters in action movies, as the lover of the main character, as a victim who needs to be rescued, and as a combination of auxiliary male protagonist narratives. Not only in action movies, but in any type of filmmaking, women are often framed in social relations before revealing their individuality. Lovers, lovers, mothers, daughters... The gender characters in these established routines allow them to exist because of their blood or emotional relationships with others, which are more likely to occupy the center of the narrative. One way to give the initiative back to women is to establish them as independent people first, rather than as a party in the relationship.
Ripley was first established as an individual who can stand alone, and with the development of the "Alien" series, she gradually has more complex social and human relations
Looking back at film history, Ripley, the heroine of the Alien series, is one of the most famous female characters in Hollywood history. Ripley, played by Sigour, encounters the infamous space monster with her cosmonaut colleagues who have wandered into space during the first installment of the series directed by Ridley Scott. When she first appeared, she was just a member of the team, an "ordinary person" who did not have more skills and specialties. Human companions are wiped out by the aliens one by one, and in the process of lonely spaceflight, Ripley constantly uses her wisdom to avoid powerful external creatures, and strives to fight against the fear within.
Ripley was originally remembered as a determined, intelligent, and unsettled individual woman, she was not yet someone, and her character and image were highlighted by the space situations and special encounters in which she lived. In the second part, her role tag added the identity of a mother, driven by motherhood, Ripley had the courage to fight the alien to the end; and later, as her ability increased, her screen image began to be heroic and superhuman, and in the constant negotiations with extraterrestrial civilizations, she carried the human encounter and began to redeem herself. Her screen image continues to evolve, she becomes a mother, a host, has richer social relations, and in the process of deep war with the alien, motherhood and divinity are progressively attached to her.
Looking closer, the rookie agent Paloma played by Anna de Armas in 007: No Time to Die is a cute example. She is sent to assist Bond in completing her task, and when she appears, she appears in a way that is extremely in line with the public's beautiful expectations of "Bond Girl", but when the task is carried out, she is "abnormally" indifferent to Bond's sexual innuendo, but instead leaves a strong mark on the film with her outstanding business ability, and then leaves the scene with a dashing look. Paloma has few scenes but a clear image, and the reason is that she jumped out of the romantic trap of the male and female partners of the secret agent film, and killed one party vigorously, regardless of the 07 who needed to maintain her manhood next to her.
The glamorous agent caters to the male gaze while defianting its authority and acting against the cliché, which is impressive.
Genre films naturally have their own laws, and Hollywood commercial productions still have to follow the logic of the market. The breaking point may lie in finding the space to release women's agency as much as possible, and in the character coordinates of the characters, gender is no longer used as a predetermined measure to cover up their individual charm. The establishment of the pluralistic image map lies in the collection of less into more. Ripley may have become an irreproducible legend, but we can expect more Cam and Paloma to appear.
Compared with the predecessors who struggled to open up the space of women's discourse,
They don't have to stand alone.
There is no need to be confined to the dispute between the main match.
When they can freely come and go on the screen,
With competence and wisdom
Actively find positioning for yourself in the network of various stories,
New currents will naturally swell.