Hollywood's Women of Action

From The Perils of Pauline (1914) to Wonder Woman (2017)

Philip Caudrey

• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN:
  9781398447196
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Art General

The 'action heroine' has never been more popular than she is today, with the likes of The Hunger Games (2012), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and Wonder Woman (2017) granting her a newfound prominence in Hollywood filmmaking. When most knowledgeable action fans think of the action heroine historically, however, they tend to do so through the prism of her most iconic characters: Emma Peel in the 1960s; Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman in the 1970s; Ripley and Sarah Connor in the 1980s; Xena Warrior Princess and Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the 1990s; and, of course, the likes of Hermione Granger, Katniss Everdeen, Imperator Furiosa and Princess Diana in modern times. Yet, the action heroine's epic journey goes back much further than this. Indeed, it has its origins in the earliest days of cinema, amongst the serial-queens of the early silent-era, and the fleeting cowgirls, swordswomen, and jungle-girls of Hollywood's 'Golden Age' in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. This book is about that epic journey. It traces the action heroine's century-long struggle for legitimacy and respect, beginning with the silent-era serial, The Perils of Pauline (1914), and ending with the big-budget action-blockbusters of today. This book asks why the action heroine's path towards acceptability on mainstream film and television has proven such a long and tortuous one, why she is so hated by a vocal minority of male action fans, and how she has overcome the conservativism of the Hollywood system to at last forge a reputation for herself as a genuinely viable protagonist on both the big and small screens?

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• About the Author
• Copyright Information ©
• Acknowledgement
• Preface
• Introduction: Towards the ‘Action Heroine’ – Women and the Hollywood System
• Case Study I: The Perils of Pauline (1914)
• “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better!” I. The Western
• 1) Women in Traditional Westerns
• 2) Calamity Jane and Annie Oakley
• 3) The Cowgirl as Gender-Swap Comedy
• Case Study II: Annie Oakley (1954-57)
• “No Man Has Ever Struck Me and Lived!” II. The Swashbuckler
• 4) Women in Traditional Swashbucklers
• 5) The Swashbuckling Heroine as Male Understudy
• 6) The Swashbuckling Anti-Heroine
• Case Study III: The Jungle Girl
• “You Fought Her as A Woman, but She Has the Skill of a Man!” III. The Action Heroines of Early Television
• 7) Action Heroine Tokenism
• 8) Sixties Pioneers
• 9) The Rise of the ‘Superheroine’
• Case Study IV: ‘Action Heroine’ Ensembles
• “She’s a Whole Lotta Woman!” IV. Action Heroines and the Anti-Feminist Backlash
• 10) Hollywood and Second-Wave Feminism
• 11) The ‘Exploitation’ Action Heroine
• 12) The Birth of the Modern Action Heroine
• Case Study V: The Birth of the Modern ‘Proto-Heroine’
• “I Have Many Skills!” V. Modern Television Pioneers
• 13) Xena Warrior Princess and Buffy the Vampire Slayer I: Women and Warriors
• 14) Xena Warrior Princess and Buffy the Vampire Slayer II: Questioning Gender Norms
• 15) Xena Warrior Princess and Buffy the Vampire Slayer III: Faith, Callisto and the ‘Femme Fatale’
• Case Study VI: The Xena-Buffy Legacy
• “I’m A Soldier. I Volunteered, I’m Not Walking Away!” VI. Stumbles and Strides
• 16) ‘Action Heroine Tokenism’ and the Modern ‘Battle Buddy’
• 17) Strength and Femininity
• 18) Battered and Broken
• Case Study VII: The Action Heroine in Command
• “I’ll Drop-Kick You into a Women’s Studies Conference.” VII. Reframing the Action Heroine
• 19) Feminist Messaging
• 20) Feminism and Diversity
• 21) The Action Heroine as ‘Traditional Hollywood Hero’
• Case Study VIII: Resisting Traditional Hollywood Storytelling?
• “All Men Must Die, But We are Not Men!” VIII. Making Connections – Game of Thrones (2011-19)
• Case Study IX: The Athlete Turned ‘Action Star’
• Case Study X: The Cartoon Action Heroine
• Conclusion
• Sources
• Sources of Direct Quotes
• Endnotes