Everyone knows that men do better at the box office. It might even be true. Of course, men typically get bigger budgets, and budget is the single biggest predictor of success. But what if part of the problem is that female characters aren’t being taken seriously enough?
Last year Jennifer Kesler suggested that female action heroes do very well indeed when they’re dressed modestly and for action, instead of, you know, slutted up.
Is this true? Let’s find out!
The following is a list of female action heroes from 1992 to the present. (If I missed any let me know!)
To get on this list, the character must be:
• Female
• The main character (so no Sarah Connor)
• Not in an ensemble cast (so no Charlie’s Angels or Sucker Punch)
• In a film released wide in North America since 1992, so that it’s been reviewed by Kids In Mind for content (so no Aliens)
• In a film released in English (so no La Femme Nikita)
• In a film that is primarily an action film (so no Miss Congeniality, and, surprisingly, no Kill Bill Vol. 2 either) – when in doubt check the genre list on IMDb: the first genre listed should be “action”
Alien 3 (1992) – Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver)
Point of No Return/The Assasin (1993) – Maggie Hayward-Claudia Anne Doran-Nina (Bridget Fonda)
Cutthroat Island (1995) – Morgan (Geena Davis)
Tank Girl (1995) – Tank Girl (Lori Petty)
Barb Wire (1996) – Barb Wire (Pamela Anderson)
Alien: Resurrection (1997) – Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver)
G.I. Jane (1997) – Jordan O’Neill (Demi Moore)
Lara Croft 1 (2001) – Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie)
Resident Evil 1 (2002) – Alice (Milla Jovovich)
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) – The Bride (Uma Thurman)
Lara Croft 2 (2003) – Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie)
Underworld (2003) – Selene (Kate Beckinsale)
Catwoman (2004) – Catwoman (Halle Berry)
Resident Evil 2 (2004) – Alice (Milla Jovovich)
Aeon Flux (2005) – Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron)
Domino (2005) – Domino Harvey (Keira Knightley)
Elektra (2005) – Elektra (Jennifer Garner)
Underworld Evolution (2006) – Selene (Kate Beckinsale)
Ultraviolet (2006) – Ultraviolet (Milla Jovovich)
Resident Evil 3 (2007) – Alice (Milla Jovovich)
Resident Evil 4 (2010) – Alice (Milla Jovovich)
Salt (2010) – Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie)
Hanna (2011) – Hanna (Saoirse Ronan)
Colombiana (2011) – Cataleya (Zoe Saldana)
The idea is that I will post this list, with representative pics of each, at www.filmcontentdatabase.com (a website I just set up using my Sex Doesn’t Sell database), and people can rate them on how professionally and practically they are dressed, then when there are enough votes that the scores are stable, I can post the mean scores, plus run them against box office, controlling for inflation, budget, and anything else that might matter, and we can see if how they are dressed makes any difference in how popular they are at the box office. I can also post links to other people’s analyses and discussions if they like.
I’ve got it set up to ask how *professionally* and *practically* they are dressed, but after gathering a bunch of pics off IMDb, I’m wondering whether it would be better to ask about *modesty* and *practicality* instead, since some of these women are a little too grubby to be professional. They would have looked office casual before getting down and dirty, but they sure don’t now.
So, my questions:
1. Did I miss anyone? Am I being too exclusive in the criteria? (You can search for films I’ve missed at Kids in Mind or at www.filmcontentdatabase.com in the list raw data section, if you’re keen.)
2. What should people be voting on? Professional and practical or modest and practical? Anything else?
3. Pics. I have very few pics from a few films, and lots from others (what was on IMDb). If you have pics of any of these characters you want included, you can send them to me at admin[at]filmcontentdatabase[dot]com.
4. Do people want a chance to see and comment on the pics before voting opens? I haven’t seen all these films, so I’m not always sure if the pics I have are representative. (It’s so much easier when they wear the same outfit for the entire film.)
I’m really hoping this could be a lot of fun, plus also ammunition for people in the industry. And if we wanted and it worked out, we could do one for male action heroes too (I’m pretty sure they should be keeping their shirts on), or for women in other genres.
{ 39 comments… read them below or add one }
← Previous Comments
Anemone,
I’m sorry, I don’t understand what the “like” question is supposed to accomplish. From the viewpoint of Hollywood’s target audience, that answer will be exactly flipped – 10 for skin-baring catsuits, and 0 for army fatigues. It’s so subjective, your audience could be judging on any number of factors.
Also, in your intro you say “no Miss Congeniality“, yet it is one of the movies being judged.
I still feel like “professionally” is a difficult question because I’m judging all occupations against how well they match the “business casual” standard. Demi Moore’s outfit would be terrible in an office but is perfect for the army, where she works.
Sylvia Sybil(Quote) (Reply)
Anemone, I have to agree with Sylvia. I appreciate that you made an effort to avoid the stigma issues we talked about, but then you describe in such detail what “professional” means to you that there’s no point having a survey.
I think you just need something very simple, like, “Do you think her outfit is designed to look professional or practical? 1 means ‘sexy with no thought for practicality’ and 10 means ‘practical with no thought for sexiness’.”
Something like that?
I also don’t see the point in asking what people “like”, because that won’t necessarily reflect on how they see the character (a woman might be thinking, “God, I want that outfit”, for example, even though it’s a perfectly silly outfit for an action hero). Maybe something more like, “Do you think the outfit is suitable for this character?” Or leave it out altogether.
Sorry for all the criticism – fwiw, we’re just trying to be constructive and helpful.
And I also think more people will respond if the questions are quick and simple.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
Yikes! Fixed. Sorry, I meant to fix that a long time ago. I originally misread the imdb genre categories for that film.
As I said already, I believe that sexed up/not sexed up and practical are two different variables, and that combining them may obscure things somewhat. So I am keeping them separate. As for the rest, what’s the worst that can happen? No one participates? Another person here thinks ze can do better? (You need mysql and php, which you can get for free at xampp and elsewhere, and if you’re nice to me, I’ll give you my code, but give me credit for it please.) Or perhaps some academic will come along, say “I can do better” and do so? It’s an experiment. Maybe it will work, maybe it won’t. Only one way to find out.
Enjoy your holidays. I’m going offline for a couple of days, so hopefully there aren’t any more bugs.
Anemone(Quote) (Reply)
Anemone,
Uh, you asked what we thought people should be voting on, and that’s what we were responding to. We weren’t commanding you to do it a certain way. We were just giving feedback that you requested in the initial article.
Believe me, I know how overwhelming it can be to get requested feedback on this site, because we have a lot of smart opinionated people. But no one was putting down the effort you’ve made. We’re only trying to help make it successful.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
I appreciate that.
Anemone(Quote) (Reply)
Couldn’t find a way to send a message on the site, so I’m posting here.
Anemone, is the order of presentation randomised (is it even possible to randomise)? It’s just that after seeing a few of the picture sets, I find myself judging them differently (e.g. I thought that Weaver in Alien 3 had an unnecessarily low neckline, but after Tank Girl that outfit seems incredibly tame).
Heath Cowled(Quote) (Reply)
Heath Cowled,
I let the comment through because it was reasonably relevant, but fyi the contact link is at the bottom of the page, just like it is on pretty much all websites. Not that hard to find.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
Jennifer Kesler,
Ah, sorry, I meant at the film content database. I just found an address on the home page of that site. Feel free to delete, I’ll email my question(s) now.
Heath Cowled(Quote) (Reply)
Heath Cowled,
Oh, gotcha! Sorry, never mind.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
← Previous Comments