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Lesbian Subtext
"Lesbian Subtext in Action Movies" That´s the title of an article by Malinda Lo, in which "Wonder Woman" is mentioned. Read an extract of it here. |
Action movies, which have long been the provenance of hyper masculinity, have only recently allowed women a place at the armory. The journey from Sigourney Weaver's desexualized Ripley in Alien to Angelina Jolie's sexually charged Lara Croft in Tomb Raider has marked something of a sea change in popular conceptions of gender.
Scholars of women in action movies have argued that women's action roles are both transgressive and maintain traditional heterosexual, gendered boundaries. Many of these heroines are based in stereotypical roles such as the dominatrix, which has long been a transgressive female identity--she both sexually dominates men and exists to satisfy them.
Similarly, the female action hero transgresses gender boundaries by occupying traditionally masculine spaces--that of the battlefield, particularly--yet maintains an appearance of hyper-femininity to draw in male viewers and underscore her identity as female.
Though this can be likened to a one-step-forward, two-steps-back situation, female action heroes do destabilize gender norms enough to provide an entry point for lesbian subtext that has increasingly spilled over into overt, campy representations of lesbian sexuality. For example, Jennifer Garner's title role in Elektra includes Elektra engaging in a same-sex kiss that, despite its undeniable part in the lesbianism-equals-death trope, is performed with something of a wink.
But with the box office successes of Charlie's Angels (2000) and Tomb Raider (2001), female action heroes began to experience a feminine sexuality charged with masculinity that has rarely before appeared on screen. In these two films, as well as subsequent ones such as Elektra, Catwoman and Aeon Flux (which are all chasing the Tomb Raider box office mirage), the sexuality of the female leads takes on an aggressive and queer edge: These women come out on top, with the result that their male sexual partners are forced to take on passive roles that can easily be read as feminine.
The next step, of course, would be to have a female action lead engage in an overtly lesbian encounter without anyone--good or evil--dying. It will be interesting to see whether Joss Whedon's long-awaited adaptation of Wonder Woman, which is still in development, will take that next step.
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