Sometimes the superhero and space movies are actually character-driven. Sci-fi tends to do a better job with that than just the typical big-budget action flick, but I hear what you are saying. One of the things that is helping with that is a few more female directors and female leads. It’s still not enough, but it’s a start. Both the Wonder Woman movie and the Captain Marvel one are good examples. I’ve written about both of them.
“In the recent Captain Marvel movie, the main character transforms from Vers, a soldier who is constantly being admonished to master her emotions, to Carol Danvers, a woman who learns to integrate both her instincts and her feelings as a part of her metamorphosis into a superhero — Captain Marvel.”
“The recent Wonder Woman movie was another great illustration of how a superhero doesn’t have to only be steeped in yang traits to be effective. It’s why I loved that movie and no doubt why it did so well at the box office. Sure, Diana could fight like a badass, but she also wasn’t always perfectly sure of herself all of the time. She wasn’t infallible and didn’t need to be in order to be effective. In fact, her vulnerable humanity is exactly what made her such an appealing character. She was smart and strong, with a real commitment to be of service, but she also was very much a woman and not just a man masquerading in a sexy exterior.
When she stood up out of the trenches and started crossing the no-man’s land all by herself, I cried (as did many other women I know). This was a superhero we could really identify with. She was incredibly brave, but that bravery was not just about physical or mental toughness, it was also about having so much empathy that she could not do anything less. That’s the kind of woman I aspire to be.”
