Gender and Action Films 2000 and Beyond

In this, the third volume of Emerald Publishing's Gender and Action Film series, the emphasis is placed firmly on the way that Action Cinema has transformed in the post-millennial period. Through a series of in-depth case studies, and using a mix of theoretical approaches and analysis, each chapter will offer comparative gender studies that are both evocative and interrogative of a genre that has often been lambasted for the way in which gender is portrayed. The volume covers such areas as ageing action stars and the roles they portray in geriaction movies, critical examinations of gender in Action Cinema post-9/11, and changes aspects of feminism, gender practices and metamodern narratives.

The presence of mature masculinity is slowly reshaping contemporary action cinema in the twenty-first century. It is a phenomenon that rejects the unrealistic view that action heroes are embodiments of Apollo and Ares in human flesh. Instead, action heroes are viewed as flawed characters who cannot escape the realities of their corporeality, mortality and humanity. The following chapter is an examination of a particular type of action hero archetype that combines ageing with virtuous and mature masculinity. Here I use Tom Cruise's development and portrayal of Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible series as a lens through which to highlight the presence of the virtuous and mature hero archetype in action cinema.

Cruise's representation of heroic masculinity is significant because it achieves three separate goals. First, Cruise's mature masculinity repudiates the hardbody model by showing its deficiencies as a male archetype. Second, it introduces a version of an action hero that emphasises the benefits of ageing and mature masculinity. Lastly, Cruise's onscreen presence redoubles the idea that heroic masculinity is motivated by a deep sense of morality, duty and a desire to serve the greater good. As the model of the mature and virtuous hero becomes more prevalent, as I argue, it not only reshapes action cinema but also produces cinematic representations of heroic masculinity that are more positive in terms of showing the importance of maturity, virtue, and public service.

Since the mid-2000s, there has been a marked resurgence in Hollywood action films featuring older male heroes, predominantly showcasing stars ranging from their mid-fifties into their seventies. This ‘geri-action’ cycle – a less-than-kind label that combines geriatric and action – has revitalised the careers of aged action stars such as Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. A core element of the cycle, beyond action franchise revivals and all-star ensembles featuring stars from the 1980s and 1990s, has been the emergence of late-career action turns by ageing Hollywood actors in globally successful French-produced, Hollywood-style action films. Part of a larger trend in French cinema towards the production of films in a distinctly commercial register, the ‘globalised’ aesthetic of French action film cannily mimics Hollywood action film style and aesthetics. These French-produced geri-action films are the roots of the cycle, represent some of its biggest box office successes and have transformed the career of several acclaimed recent-to-action Hollywood stars, exemplified by the prolific late action career of Oscar-nominated actor, Liam Neeson, most notably across three Taken films (2008–2014, EuropaCorp). Despite this, these French-produced geri-action films have predominantly been examined as a Hollywood and American phenomenon.

Geri-action quickly became synonymous with 1980s Hollywood action cinema's white male ‘hard bodies’, who are still widely understood to diagnose national anxieties and social ills – and violently embody their so-called “cures”. These French geri-action films similarly feature protagonists who forcefully struggle against perceived threats to the cultural position of traditional (white) masculinities and professional and paternal redundancy. Yet they also showcase deep-seated European anxieties about the threat of porous borders, immigration and social change, presaging a later shift in the cycle in Hollywood. Focusing on films that have received comparatively less scholarly attention, Taken 2 (2012), 3 Days to Kill (2014) and The Commuter (2018), this chapter examines the productive confluence of lower budget French-produced geri-action films and their ageing recent-to-action stars. These films depend on their stars to fortify their globalised Hollywood aesthetic and the stars' personae permit efficiencies such as clipped pacing. At the same time, budget constraints enhance the action performance of recent-to-action stars as unadorned, visceral and authentic-feeling. The films often stage fight sequences in confined, everyday spaces of work and tourism with ageing heroes who must creatively ‘make do’ with objects available to them. Equally, stunt coordination and choreography, editing and sound design make ageing and less experienced action performers appear to move faster and hit harder. Taken together, French-produced geri-action and its recent-to-action stars have transformed not only who stars in ‘Hollywood’ action cinema but who produces it.

When Rambo Last Blood hit the screens in 2019 to an almost unanimous thumbs down from the critics, it seemed as if Sylvester Stallone's ‘last outing’ as his iconic action hero, John Rambo was to bow out with more of a violent whimper than a spectacular bang. But action heroes never really do know when to quit. There is always one last mission to undertake. In an online interview in September 2019, Stallone indicated that Rambo 6 could well be on the cards. This chapter will discuss not only ideas about ‘Rambo’ as a character and his character arc, but posit the idea that Stallone, through the process of gerontology, has moved through the decades to become not a simplification or distillation of a cinematic action hero, but rather a much more complex one that asks questions about the politics of the era, masculinity, fragility and ageing.

This chapter analyses the pilot episode of the ABC TV series Charlie's Angels (Spelling & Goldberg, 1976–1981) and the latest film of this media franchise, Charlie's Angels (Banks, 2019). The chapter undertakes an analysis of the three main characters in the series pilot and the three starring roles in the film, applying methodologies proposed by the cinematic poetic formalism (Bordwell & Thompson, 2006) and observing specifically the roles and motivations of these six women from a feminist perspective. On the one hand, the TV pilot engages with several of the main premises of the second-wave feminism that was in full swing at the time the series was released. On the other hand, the 2019 film was launched in the contemporary era of post-feminism, reflecting a number of the concerns that shape the post-feminist agenda. However, the main argument of this chapter is that both the series pilot released in 1976 and the 2019 film construct ambivalent feminist narratives. The analysis reveals that the Charlie's Angels franchise fluctuates between characteristics that can be labelled as feminist discourses, but also as replicators of a patriarchal model. Forty-six years later, while a few things have changed for the Angels, we argue that the characters and franchise have not lived up to its potential as a transformative feminist text.

The portrayal of female superheroes is not a new phenomenon. To this day Lynda Carter's portrayal of Wonder Woman (1975–1979) is venerated (Hanley, 2014) as one of the first portrayals of a ‘super’ female character swathed in popularity and renowned in comic book lore. More recently, several superhero narratives, with women at the helm, have been adapted for the series format including Supergirl, Batwoman and Jessica Jones.

However, until the introduction of Wonder Woman (Jenkins, 2017), film narratives with a female superhero at the centre have been non-existent. In 2019, Captain Marvel was released as part of the Marvel cinematic universe (MCU). Due to its connection to the MCU and the successful Avengers film franchise, the character Captain Marvel, played by Brie Larson, has a built-in familiarity with audiences.

From its first introduction, it is evident that there is a definitive feminist slant to the character and the narrative of Captain Marvel. Therefore, this chapter analyses the comment threads of three fan-made YouTube videos on Captain Marvel. These videos specifically address the feminist overtone as depicted. Specifically, the chapter considers fan reactions to the representation of feminism. The data are analysed through discourse analysis under the guise of Jacques Lacan's mirror theory and Henry Jenkins's participatory culture. Jenkins further notes the connection between, amongst other aspects, the interpretation and the meaningful participation (2015, p. 2) in the specific fandom. The concept of ‘suspension of disbelief’ will also be used as part of the analysis, as well as Henry Jenkins' participatory culture.

In interviews, Jamie Lee Curtis positions Halloween (2018) as a #MeToo film. As merely self-serving publicity, this reading is far too simplistic. In Halloween (1978) Laurie Strode is victimised; she then assumes the role of quintessential Final Girl as described by Carol J. Clover, providing the template for the entire sub-genre of horror slasher films birthed in its wake. However, in the similarly titled 2018 film, Laurie is no longer a victim. Instead of following the role of the stereotypical Final Girl of slasher films, she falls more in line with one of Yvonne Tasker's Warrior Women.

This chapter investigates Laurie Strode's transformation throughout the Halloween franchise. Once passive and victimised, Laurie has evolved: No longer the Final Girl – or victim – her position and behaviour in this film is much more in line with the neoliberal Warrior Woman of action films. Thus, the film assigns her the role of action heroine as a vehicle for responding to the concerns of the #MeToo era – and in this era, women are no longer victims. Women can and will fight back.

The image of Mel Gibson and Hugh Jackman (as Wolverine) in the Mad Max and X-Men franchises represents traditional heroic action masculinity. This chapter explores the roles of female action heroes in defying patriarchy and subverting action film genre stereotypes in male-dominated franchises. In contrast to past characterisations of Max, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) provides both a departure to the role of Max as the male saviour seeking vengeance, by focusing on Imperator Furiosa and offering space for a portrayal of femininity characterised by inclusivity and tolerance. In Logan (2017), the decay of Wolverine is central to the narrative. Rather than the portrayal of an immortal hypermasculine hero in the previous X-Men films (with emphasis on men in X-Men), a new female mutant Laura assumes his mantle. In this context, I consider the gender roles and depiction of women in these films, and how they may be read as offering a futuristic vision of utopia in dystopian narrative worlds.

In the distant future, the social and economic systems build by the patriarchy are crumbling, causing an environmental crisis and divisive society, where people who are different (mutants) are hunted down. Mad Max: Fury Road and Logan both offer an alternative depiction of women and girls, providing new perspectives to navigate an uncertain dystopian world through fierce female warriors Furiosa, and mutant girl Laura. Ultimately this chapter demonstrates that survival in the post-apocalyptic and dystopian worlds represented in Mad Max: Fury Road and Logan may be achieved via a subversive feminist solution/utopia to the crisis of masculinity.

The vigilante subgenre represents one of the more problematic trends in American action cinema, as it inherently boasts reactionary sentiments through the promotion of violence as an adequate means of asserting one's masculinity. As will be argued in this chapter, American vigilante films can be categorised into three distinct historical waves: the 1970s, the 2000s and the 2010s. The products of each wave present themes of masculinity relevant to their respective cultural period, specifically, anti-counterculture sentiments, post-9/11 anxieties and a growing cultural awareness of toxic masculinity. The third wave of vigilante films is particularly noteworthy in that it correlates with the prospective emergence of metamodernism, a cultural movement that, in contrast to postmodernism's use of apathy as response to trauma, opts for a cautiously optimistic return to metanarratives. Consequently, third wave vigilante films provide more deconstructive portrayals of vigilante figures through metamodernism's oscillation between irony and optimism. This chapter will outline the history of these three waves of vigilante cinema and provide textual analysis of Blue Ruin (2013) and You Were Never Really Here (2017), two third wave films that demonstrate self-reflexive portrayals of vigilante violence in correlation with metamodern masculinity. The results of these analyses indicate that vigilante films, and perhaps American action cinema in its entirety, are moving towards narratives that seek to challenge the more reactionary sentiments of films from years prior.

In the introduction to Beyond Bombshells, Jeffrey A Brown lists examples of blockbuster films with leading female heroines and proclaims that they have ‘challenged the assumption that action movies are a strictly male domain’ (2015, p. 6). His examples include, but are not limited to, the Kill Bill films (2003, 2005), The Hunger Games (2012), Brave (2012) and Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), all of which demonstrate the rise in popularity of the woman-led action film. However, these films also demonstrate a reluctance of the action film to detach itself from masculinity. Despite their female leads, these action films still foreground masculinity. The films have darker colour palettes and their female leads tend to have masculine coded traits and hobbies, suggesting that women can succeed within this genre only by distancing themselves from femininity.

This chapter analyses the subversion of the genre conventions of action by exploring the use of feminine objects in director Cathy Yan's Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (2020). Written and directed by women, Birds of Prey is a notable turn in the action genre as it makes use of feminine objects (hair ties, glitter, fashion, jewellery) within action sequences that don't just allow a female presence within the action, but centre feminine power. By relocating femininity and masculinity to objects rather than bodies, new ways of understanding how genre conventions are not fixed but fluid are opened up for further exploration.

This chapter focuses on spy action as a way to answer the question: where can we find queer female action heroes? The chapter will identify three films – D.E.B.S. (Advocate, 2005), Atomic Blonde (David Leitch, 2017) and The Spy Who Dumped Me (Susanna Fogel, 2018) – worth attention to highlight the potential and problems of the queer female hero in spy action. This chapter examines how each of these spy action films contributes to the ongoing yet uneven development of the female hero as a queer figure in post-millennial action cinema. The chapter will consider to what extent these queer female-led action films may pose a challenge to some of the dominant standards and conventions associated with the action hero, gender roles and the representation of sexuality, but also reinforce others. Some comparisons will be made to James Bond in recognition that the Bond franchise has played an important role in the spy action genre.

The conclusion of this volume opens with an acknowledgement of the impact of Bruce Willis upon action film, with news of his retirement from acting in March 2022 sending shockwaves throughout the film industry, and into the hearts of fans. The retirement of Willis brings the key themes of this volume, particularly in regard to aging action heroes, and strategies employed to avoid professional redundancy, into focus. This collection also highlights the transformation of the genre, and future directions for the study of gender and action film, particularly the increasing presence of female action heroes, and potential for greater LGBTIQ+ participation in action film.