Female action heroes are all the rage in Hollywood.
Some are super-powered such as Captain Marvel or Black Widow. Others may be ballerina-lean, but they deliver punishment like a 300 pound linebacker. Think “Atomic Blonde,” “Peppermint,” or “The 355.”
These newer heroes often have one thing in common: they’re indistinguishable from your garden variety male heroes. Their feminine traits are either ignored or airbrushed away to show true “equality.”
It wasn’t always this way.
Previous female heroines similarly saved the day and rallied audiences to their side. They were brave against impossible odds, but they maintained their femininity. Here are six stark examples, including one from a very recent film series:
Ellen Ripley, “Alien,” “Aliens”
The creative team behind 1979’s “Alien” originally had a male actor in mind for the role of Ripley, the film’s reluctant hero. The production casted a young Sigourney Weaver instead, forever changing science fiction cinema in the process.
Weaver’s Ripley vanquished the alien in the original film, but she was hardly a take-no-prisoners type. She was vulnerable and scared, but she understood eradicating the beast meant it wouldn’t arrive on Planet Earth like the corporation in charge demanded.
“Aliens,” the sublime 1986 sequel, retained Weaver as the key heroine. This time, the character’s maternal instincts received a sizable close-up. Ripley unofficially adopted young Newt, the only survivor of a brutal alien attack. Ripley set her own safety aside to save Newt over and over again.
Weaver famously battled the alien queen in the film’s finale, but it’s the way she protected Newt that registers the most with audiences.
Princess Leia, original “Star Wars” trilogy
She’s the archetypal female hero, risking it all to thwart the Empire’s evil plans. Yes, she might have been as short as Carrie Fisher, but Leia never shirked from a fight. That didn’t mean she did so sans fear. She recoiled as Grand Moff Tarkin threatened her with torture in the original 1977 “Star Wars,” and, famously, she fell for Han Solo’s brand of “toxic masculinity” in “The Empire Strikes Back.”
She told Han she loved him as the carbonite-freezing process began. “I know,” he responded, a masculine response modern scribes would never write for fear of gender inequity debates.
It’s also telling that modern action films often ignore romantic subplots for our heroines. George Lucas didn’t follow that playbook during his initial “Star Wars” trilogy, and thank goodness for that.
Hattie McAllister, “Terror on the Prairie”
The Daily Wire’s first western features one of Hollywood’s toughest action stars. Gina Carano of MMA and “The Mandalorian” fame plays Hattie, a frontier wife forced to defend her brood against a band of unsavory outlaws led by Nick Searcy.
Audiences expected Carano to go the full Rambo, or at least a partial Clint Eastwood, before the end credits rolled, but they were wrong. The film showcased Hattie’s fortitude and ability to defend her children. She didn’t transform into an unstoppable fighting machine, though. She remained a mother first and foremost, even breast-feeding her young child during one lull in the action.
No one questioned Hattie’s tenacity, nor thought she was an unworthy screen heroine. Instead, they they left the film remembering how she juggled motherhood with heroism, no doubt.
Marge Gunderson, “Fargo”
Frances McDormand won an Oscar for this Coen brothers’ classic, a small-town mystery solved by a female police chief. McDormand’s Marge wasn’t physically imposing. She didn’t rough up suspects or shake down thugs. She used her mind to crack the case and bring justice to ice-cold Brainerd, MN.
She’s visibly pregnant throughout the film, never letting her impending motherhood slow her quest for justice. Moms know how to multitask, but it’s rarely as impressive as what Marge pulled off in “Fargo.”
Clarice Starling, “The Silence of the Lambs”
The 1991 horror classic relied on a female protagonist as much more than the “Final Girl” trope. Jodie Foster’s green FBI agent is the star, full stop, but she’s plagued by insecurities consistent with her age and experience level. She’s verbally and physically assaulted during her early visits to Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins).
Can a rookie stand up to a monster? Will her male superiors even let her try?
Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) leans into Clarice’s uncertainties, exploiting them as he sees fit. She’s a quick study, though, and she uses her guile to thrive in her male-dominated field. Director Jonathan Demme illustrated this by showing Clarice surrounded by bigger, more powerful men on two distinct occasions. No lectures, just a director trusting the audience to put the pieces together.
Clarice does the rest, proving she belongs by collaring Buffalo Bill in a relentless, tense shootout.
Evelyn Abbott, “A Quiet Place,” “A Quiet Place Part II”
Few contemporary film franchises celebrate the nuclear family quite like this ongoing horror series. Emily Blunt plays Evelyn, the matriarch of a family fleeing an alien invasion. The creatures famously track their prey via sound, so the Abbotts are forced to stay whisper silent for their own survival.
Evelyn’s maternal instincts remain the franchise’s driving force. Yes, she’s tough, brave, and resourceful, but it’s all about protecting her children – especially her newborn baby.
It’s a miracle a mainstream film included the infant in this setting. Most films lean heavily toward abortion messaging, and could you blame the Abbotts for considering that option here? A newborn child cries, a lot, and that could bring doom to the clan.
The Abbotts embrace the new arrival, crafting new ways to blanket the baby’s cries. It’s one of Hollywood’s most profound pro-life messages, and Blunt’s Evelyn remains the ultimate mother figure.
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of HollywoodInToto.com. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at @HollywoodInToto.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.