Hollywood is know for often being sexist, so it’s no surprise that they’re a bit behind when it comes to creating female roles. These 5 stars have spoken on women taking on superhero/comic book roles, saying they believe there is change happening and they believe those characters simply need to be less sexualised to be taken seriously. Here is what they’ve said on the subject.
Cara Delevingne
Cara appears in upcoming film ‘Suicide Squad’ and says her role is thankfully not sexist like many other comic book adaptations: “There are only three girls in [Suicide Squad] but in my opinion they have the best roles. Generally though, superhero movies are totally sexist. Female superheroes are normally naked or in bikinis. No one would be able to fight like that. Wonder Woman, how the hell does she fight? She would be dead in a minute.”
Chris Evans
Chris believes there is a market for female-led superhero films: “There’s no denying that people want to see female superheroes and there’s plenty of them, and I think (with) Marvel, these aren’t getting old. I think a lot of people think there’s superhero exhaustion. I tend to disagree because Marvel can’t stop making good movies, and they absolutely will bring more females to the screen. Nailed it.”
Gal Gadot
Actress Gal Gadot is set to appear as ‘Wonder Woman’ and believes her role is empowering and positive: “I told them that I wanted to be able to show the stronger side of women. I didn’t want to do the obvious role that you see in Hollywood most of the time, which is the heartbroken girl who’s waiting to be rescued by the guy, blah, blah, blah. I’m so excited about this role. I feel like I’ve been given a huge opportunity to inspire people, not only women. And not because of me but because of who WonderWoman is and what she stands for. There’s a lot of responsibility. But I have the best team and the best people to work with. It’s going to be an amazing ride, knock on wood.”
Jessica Chastain
Jessica thinks female superheroes have failed in the past because they’ve been too sexualised: ”If you look at films like ‘Elektra’ and ‘Aeonflux’, the problem that studios have is that they try to make kickass women very sexualised. They have to be in some catsuit. But if you look at the most incredible female roles, like Ripley in Alien, she is a very sexy woman but she’s not wearing a lot of make-up. She’s in a T-shirt and jeans. What’s sexy about her is how capable she is. Same with Jennifer Lawrence in ‘Hunger Games’ – she’s not wearing a catsuit, either.”
Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett has taken on the role of Black Widow and says the part has been crafted with substance: “I would never have expected this but it’s been a really pleasant experience. A lot of the superheroine films that were made in the past were not very good but Joss (Whedon) has got away from the hair-flipping, hands-on-hips kind of posing and created a very credible, professional, dangerous, and mysterious superhero in Black Widow. I’m very fortunate to be a part of these Marvel films because they have a lot of substance, actually.”
