Female Action Heroes

When I think of Female Action Heroes the ones that come to mind are Lara Croft, Charlie's Angels, Catwoman, Elektra, The female cast in the X-Men movies. All of these women are women who are empowering because they are women who don't need help from men, they can take care of themselves and they are independent. All these women are also sexualized in a very big way, they are all sexualized in the movies in one way or another and I think they are all sexualized in the most obvious way: Costumes. All of these women have a uniform when they are fighting crime and these uniforms are tight and sleek, showing off every curve. I think the ones who are sexualized the most are Lara Croft and Catwoman ( the most recent movie with Halle Berry). Catwoman I think was a little more sexualized than Lara Croft. She wore less, she wore a leather top exposing her belly and leather pants. I did like that the character changed in a positive way in the movie. In the beginning she was shy and didn't have the nerve to defend herself when it came to her boss because she was treated like crap. As she became Catwoman she became more independent and gained self confidence, she tells her boss off and in the end her life becomes better for it. What I don't like is that after she became Catwoman her dialogue was complete crap when she was in her fighting scenes. She would always make references to cats and say meow all the time. It was weird and it didn't make anyone watching her want to take her seriously. Lara Croft wore her typical tank top and shorts and I think that is when she is sexualized the most, when she is wearing her outfit and when she is in the shower. There is a scene in the first movie when she is fighting intruders and she is wearing pijamas. These pijamas are pretty modest but her top is only halfway buttoned so when she is fighting she does show her belly. In both movies Lara has male protagonists but she never really ends up with any of them. That is what I liked the most. You don't have to end up with a man to be happy and in a lot of action movies where the heroe is a female they seem to need a man to fill that void. In a lot of other movies although the women are made to look like they can take care of themselves there is always a point where a man needs to save them from a sticky situation. Lara Croft may have had a few mishaps in the movies where she might have needed a man to save her in small situations but in most of the movies she does whatever she can to protect herself. She plays with the men and then disposes of them for her own gain. It helps her move forward and in the end leads her to success.