Superheros
& Warrior Women in Modern Pop Culture
Wonder Woman (Wikipedia)
The original female
superhero had her beginnings in DC Comics in 1942. Originally Princess Diana of
the Amazons, she had a number of "super" abilities/props. These
included indestructible silver bracelets, and an indestructible lasso that
required the encircled victim to speak the truth.
|
|
|
Diana came to the
small screen as a TV movie with Cathy Lee Crosby and later television series in
1976 with Lynda Carter.
|
|
|
Cathy Lee Crosby
as Wonder Woman
|
Lynda Carter
played Diana for 3 seasons
|
Mrs. Emma Peel of The Avengers.
Created in 1960, The
Avengers television show ran for 6 seasons (with breaks) through 1969.
Throughout the last 5 seasons, John Steed (played by Patrick McNee) was
partnered successively with Cathy Gale, Emma Peel, and Tara King. Gale, played
by Honor Blackman (who left after 1 season to play Pussy Galore on the Bond
film "Goldfinger") introduced the leather outfits that later became a
hallmark wardrobe look for the early Emma Peel, played by Diana Rigg. Emma was
an expert with gun, sword, and martial arts (not to mention publishing papers
on physics!). Emmas's kick-butt ability was continued in the person of
Tara King (Linda Thorson). Returning to the small screen for 2 seasons in 1976
and a feature film in 1998 with Uma Thurman as a newer Emma Peel.
|
|
Left: Diana Rigg as
Mrs. Emma Peel. Publicity shot from the first Emma Peel season of The
Avengers television series (filmed in B&W).
Right: Uma Thurman
in the 1998 film version.
|
|
Taarna
The final segment of
the animated feature film Heavy
Metal introduced Taarna,
the last of the Tarakian race of protector warriors who comes to the aid of a
city under attack. Arriving too late to save the victims, she sets out to rid
the world (wherever that world is) of the leader of the barbaric villains.
Xena. Originally created as a villain during the first season of
television series Hercules, the
Legendary Journeys,
Xena underwent a personal transformation that was continued in a spinoff series
Xena, Warrior Princess in 1995. Dressed in leather, an
armored breastplate, and sword carried on her back (after the first few
episodes), her trademark weapon was the chakram, a sharp-edged circular
throwing weapon actually used by Sikh warriors in slightly different
form.
Xena's path in life
is to atone for her evil past, although it is evident that she will never allow
herself any real redemption. It is also revealed early in the series (and
repeated later on as a reminder) that her darker "evil" side is a
necessary part of making her who she is, and is a source of part of her
strength. (This aspect is blatantly obvious by the use of Yin-Yang imagery).
Her more violent
tendencies are tempered by her companion Gabrielle, who in many ways is her
voice of conscience (not too unlike Jiminy Cricket is to Pinocchio in the
Disney classic animation). Beginning as an "annoying" tag-along,
Gabrielle learns to fight, then renounces all violence, only to become Xena's
replacement by the end of the series.
Here are some
weblinks and filmography.
Buffy
Beginning first as a
tongue-in-cheek motion picture starring Kristy Swanson in 1992, Buffy the Vampire Slayer became
a TV series in 1997 starring Sarah Michelle Geller as the lead character
– the latest in a long line of a vampire slayers that stretches back
centuries. While the mythology surrounding Xena was based largely on
classical Greek imagery, Buffy's derives from the vampire and other
occult legends. The show's main themes revolved about the difficulties of
making the transition from being a teenager to becoming a young adult, all the
while having to fight evil in many forms.
Ellen Ripley
Introduced as the
First Officer of the Nostromo in 1979's Alien, Sigourney Weaver played Ripley in 3
sequels – Aliens, Alien3, and Alien
Resurrection.
In Alien, she attempts, unsuccessfully, so save the rest of her crew from
being slaughtered by the title character (in what is a thinly disguised
haunted house horror movie) and becomes the sole survivor. In Aliens
Ripley becomes reluctant "Rambo" while acting as the surrogate
mother to a young survivor (Newt) of an alien takeover of a human settlement on
the planet where she originally encountered the first creature. The last 2
films deal with the aftermath and are progressively darker visions of the
future.
|
|
