Fallen Angels and Bionic Women The contemporary voice of women on screen has recently gone from a faint whisper to a bellowing scream. Instead of the archaic formula of the man rescuing the girl in distress, women now not only play the heroes but the villains as well. Consider Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, cuing its own preemptive eye roll and condescending laugh from any pretentious film student or independent video store clerk. Directed by McG and of course starring Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, and Lucy Liu, Full Throttle was the second installment in the re-creation of the popular 70’s television series.
Women taking on the typically male role in the action genre seems disconcerting to its demographic, at least based on box office numbers. Females breaking the mold of the submissive wife or girlfriend appear to be somewhat intimidating to the consumer, or possibly even uninteresting – so we’re looking forward to the reception of the new Bionic Woman. Full Throttle was a bold attempt at allowing the movie to think for its’ audience; complete with explosions, fleeting character development, homage to Cape Fear, and cameos by the Olsen twins. With thirteen different writers and script docs, (yes, thirteen) it reads more like a John Waters acid trip than writer John August’s love child. It’s cinematic Taoism, with the ability to simply exist without any defined purpose or plot.
No one seemed to notice that despite its’ Barbie doll merchandising and appeal to twelve year olds all over the world, this movie is about three female assassins hired by an anonymous millionaire to kill whoever gets in their way. They are forced to use their bare hands (or heels) because weapons are only glorified by the bad guys. Not only does it have a satirical and humorous look at the art of contract killing, but empowers females to believe that they are as capable as a man to be the hero and to still be beautiful, not compromising their femininity to take on an ordinarily male element. Numbers at the box office seemed promising the first time around. Yet this time around our favorite guardian angels seem to have lost their draw. The speaker box at Colombia Pictures hasn’t yet optioned a third, and no new Bosley replacements have been auditioned.
It seems contradictory that women were more offended by this movie than anyone - considering it an insult to feminism. But just how is women owning their sexuality and transforming it into power and control not advancing the pursuit of female equality? The films that do constrain that struggle are the cliché romantic comedies with functionally deficient couples, composed of runaway brides, internet love affairs and a predictably formulaic script where the woman is always neurotic and the man can’t seem to settle down. Our popular notions of feminism have been allotted to blazers and pumps instead of miniskirts and stilettos - considering displays of sexuality to be exploitative instead of utilizing our own prejudgment for power. Full Throttle feminism is looked down upon when the sobriety of the female voice in film has misguided us into believing that we are no longer victims of immediate objectification. Men objectifying women is inevitable; it's all in how we use it to our advantage that can allow our capabilities to shine through our stereotypes. So, Gloria Steinem probably doesn't own a copy of the directors cut. But wasn't it Steinem herself that said: "Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself."?
This brings us to the remake of another 70’s cult classic, The Stepford Wives. While the original film focused on a woman’s struggle to find her proper role in society - fighting a war of genders to be an individual and seeing that there is more to life than simply pleasing a husband or raising children - Frank Oz’s remake completely removed any of the feminist ideals Ira Levin’s book so beautifully articulated. The idea that women can have emotions and feeling yet still be powerful and individual was a moral totally lost in this disaster of a Nicole Kidman movie about mind control. In the end (we’re not spoiling much) it is a woman behind the plot of Stepford, personifying the men as victims themselves. All involved call this an “update” of a struggle they feel no longer exists. What world are they living in? Yes, there has been progress but this by no means is the playing field level. All is not equal. But is liberal Hollywood really to blame, or are the masses at fault? The first cut of the new Stepford Wives was deemed unacceptable at test screenings, forcing all involved to re-shoot key moments and completely remove all mention of robots or power struggles contained in the plot. To top it all off, I actually tuned in to a morning show that explained how the film had sparked a fashion trend. The remake of the 1970’s television series The Bionic Woman purports to have feminist undertones. Michelle Ryan will play Jaime Sommers as a professional woman trying to make her way through contemporary society – shifting the focus away from just terrorism and militarism. Creator David Eick was quoted in Variety as saying, “It’s using the idea of artificial technology as a metaphor for what contemporary women sometimes feel is necessary to do everything that needs to be done.” Only time will tell if the Bionic Woman series will hold up to the original plan or if the network will steer the show in a different direction (assuming it survives the sweeps). Jay Leno recently commented on the new series in his Tonight Show monologue by saying, “Why did the network decide to create a new series based on the Bionic Woman instead of a Man? Because they only have to pay her 80 cents for every dollar they would have had to pay the Bionic Man." The audience booed and Leno responded by saying; “You tell them the truth and they don‘t like it.” While the remakes of The Stepford Wives and Charlie’s Angles perfectly contradict each other, they expose one common fact based on public opinion and box office: America is ready for powerful female roles in film but there may not be enough to go around. Of course they do exist, but when it comes to the masses, romantic comedies rule and codependence prevails. The fact that original versions made in the 1970’s were widely accepted leads us to the question: What has happened to feminism in the past thirty years? Hopefully the remake of the NBC’s The Bionic Woman will survive and prosper. Personally I was looking forward to the shelved Flower Film’s remake of Barbarella to take on this pursuit once again. But I would of course settle for the third Angels installment with David LaChappelle-like imagery giving a bright up-beat look to a perfect world where heroes always land on their feet and even the antagonist wears a bikini. If that’s not Full Throttle I don’t know what is. – Theresa Bennett
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