Representation and Stereotypes

Women have had many representations in the media over the years. The genre I chose to focus on was action. I chose to focus on female stars from big action movie series: Torchy Blane (Glenda Farrell) from the Torchy Blane series; Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) from the Alien film series and Alice (Mila Jovovich) from the Resident Evil film series.

Torchy Blane Film Series: Torchy Blane is a somewhat relatively well known character from the 1930s. Glenda Farrell plays Torchy Blane, a newspaper reporter who uses her sweet-talking way to solve a murder. Torchy Blane is influential for she inspired Jerry Siegel to create the iconic DC Comics character Lois Lane.

Torchy Blane in Smart Blonde (1937)

I will focus on Torchy Blane in Smart Blonde (1937) as this was the introduction to the character. She is smart and beautiful and she does not use her sexuality to get what she wants. She has a police officer as her boyfriend, Police Detective Steve McBride and Blane is always one step ahead of her boyfriend in a mystery murder case. What is even more interesting is in this film, Torchy witnesses a murder in front of her eyes and instead of being hysterical, she seems unfazed and immediately goes to a phone booth to call the police. This shows Torchy to be a strong female character as she is able to face violence with out flinching.

Alien Film Series: The Alien series was a hit horror/action/sci-fi franchise that is beloved by many. It has a total of five films and a sixth one in production. The main character, Ellen Ripley is well known to most people as she received high rankings like 5th on Entertainment Weekly's list of The 20 All Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture. What is unique about her is that she represents the image of what female action characters are meant to be.

Ellen Ripley in Aliens (1986)

I will focus on Ellen Ripley in Aliens (1986) because this is where we really got to see a big development of the character of Ripley. In Alien, Ripley was a somewhat strong character as she becomes the remaining survivor of the cargo flight: The Nostromo. Aliens however expanded on her character and manner making her a unique strong character. Ripley was a strong independent woman who knew what she was doing.

Ripley was able to fight off the Alien with the use of a flamethrower. In the final scene, Ripley fights with the Xenomorph in a exosuit cargo holder. This was an iconic scene to many people and this showed that Ellen Ripley is the future of action female stars. Originally Ellen Ripley was meant to be a male hero actor however the production company, Fox had other films with main female stars so Fox decided to have the main character be a female. Aliens defied gender roles in the action/sci-fi/horror genre and this was good because the 80s was almost a time in which females were emerging to be equal.

Resident Evil Film Series: Many people will recognise Resident Evil as this film series is loosely based on a video game series of the same name. Although the main Character Alice does not exist in the Resident Evil game universe, she interacts with many characters linked in to the Resident Evil game universe like Jill Valentine. Mila Jovovich stars as the main Character Alice, who strives to take down the Umbrella Corporation: This corporation planned to unleash a zombie T-virus on humanity.

Alice in Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2017)

I will focus on Alice from Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2017). Although the film is not out, the teaser trailer has high hopes for presenting a powerful female character. Alice takes on the role of a leader in this movie and in the trailer she is seen not afraid to back down from a fight. Alice is shows that she has a mind of her own and that she does not need anyone to baby her every step of the way. Alice continues on the chain of strong female characters like Sarah Connor (Terminator) and Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). She, along with the other characters, prove that females don't need to use their sexuality to achieve something.