Starbuck mention in a fantastic article about The Avengers

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

Ian Grey has written a really insightful article over at IndieWire about the review/press coverage of The Avengers and how Black Widow and Scarlet Johansson have been widely, widely overlooked in most reviews...written by male writers.  He gives a staggering round-up of the slights and a few examples of female critics' praise and argues that the reason may be because movies haven't quite gotten us used to seeing awesome females being awesome, unlike TV. Here's the meat-and-bones of his theory (including a Stabuck reference) but I highly recommend reading the whole article:

To which I can only say—exactly! And: isn’t this remarkable? Two parallel realities! Men who see nobody at all and women who see the next Faith (without the crazy, I mean). Don’t tell Disney, or they’ll be marketing the film as 4-D.

Jokes aside, how to explain this blanket amnesia?

If I were to be optimistic, I’d say this brand of blindness is about change happening too fast. Change is weird, scary and disorienting. And TV’s a great place for incremental change because it shows slow transformations occurring over time.

At first, Buffy, the Vampire Slayer was, literally, a joke. A cheerleader fighting the undead! Hilarious! And she’s so unthreateningly cute! But over time, people came to believe in the take-charge slayer, until someone in Season Four’s “A New Man” [sic] episode could remark to Buffy that “You're, like, make the plan, execute the plan, no one giving you orders,” and instead of intimidation, there was a shrug. Because it was true.

And so over time people weren't alarmed when Alias’ Sydney Bristow nicked bits of the 007 crown. Or when a female Starbuck showed Han Solo-level energy in the new Battlestar Galactica.

But The Avengers moves so fast, with so many zingers, tiffs, explosions, turnarounds and implications that I’d like to think reviewers simply didn’t have time to process just how radically and playfully Whedon (whose mother co-founded Equality Now) cedes yards of traditionally male genre property and space to Black Widow.

Some part of the male unconscious, down there where The Hulk lives, just didn't go for it.

ETA: The premiere of Katee's new show, Longmire, is rapidly approaching. News, info, and new Katee photos (like the one in my icon) can be found at longmiretv.

Comments

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

Lol! Me too because I think every movie would be better with Katee, especially action flicks. But Johansson wasn't bad, better than some others.

[nicole-anell.livejournal.com]

Awesome article and Starbuck mention! :D Thanks for the link.

(Edit: And by "awesome" I mean super depressing too. Can I kick the stupid out of those critics?)

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

Yeah I know. :( Awesome of him to write the article, but highly depressing.

[onlyariana.livejournal.com]

Interesting that awesome women are more accepted on TV. Maybe there's a segment of the population that is willing to believe a woman is kick ass, but only after enough proof. A movie just doesn't allow the time to convince (some) people. Anyone who watched BSG couldn't doubt that Kara was a force to be reckoned with after the copious amounts of evidence we were given.

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

Considering the amazing roles for ladies on TV compared to movies...it doesn't surprise me at all.