Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Female Action Heroes Redefine a Genre

Female Action Heroes Redefine a Genre

from X Files Latest News by tiffany_devol@xfilesnews.com (Kylie Thomas - Staff Reporter)

The Huffington Post's recent article, Why Wonder Woman belongs on Television, discusses the upcoming Wonder Woman reboot, set to air this Fall on NBC. The article presents readers with a look at women action heroes on the big screen and the small screen.

According to the author, female characters on the big screen have yet to find much real success with audiences and have failed to have to leave a lasting mark within the genre—whereas their small screen counterparts have found great success. From Buffy, CSI, and Weeds to shows that arguably started it all like The X Files, the women of the small screen have helped carve out a piece of female action figure history and have redefined the female's role as an action hero.

On The X Files, it was Special Agent Dana Scully, played by Gillian Anderson, who "took a character originally intended (by Fox execs) for a Pamela Anderson-type and turned [Scully] into one of the most iconic characters in the science-fiction genre," a character whom the article also suggests might have become more important to the show than Mulder himself.

Whether or not every Phile would agree on Scully's individual importance to the show, it is great nonetheless for Scully and Gillian Anderson to be recognized for her great contributions to the genre and for helping to redefine what it means to be a female action hero. (This writer would argue that a little show about one man's quest, became a big show about two FBI Agents, their devotion to one another and the truth they risked everything to find...but that's a topic for another day.)

Be sure to read the full article to find out which small screen characters are keeping Scully company on the hit list, and which big screen heroines failed to keep audiences packing theaters.

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