This article discusses the issue of race in movies. Specifically, it analyzes how white and black characters are portrayed differently in the movie, Be Cool, written by Peter Stienfield and directed by F. Gary Gray. Be Cool is a comedy sequel of the movie Get Shorty. The movie stars four white actors: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Danny DeVito, Vince Vaughn, and three black, or non-white actors: The Rock, Christina Milian, and Cedric the Entertainer.

Chili Palmer (John Travolta), with his ever so poised attitude and strong build, is the star of this movie. Chili decides to leave the movie industry to pursue the music business. In the first ten minutes of the movie, Chili's friend is killed by the Russian Mafia. Chili heads to his friend's wife, Edie Athens (Uma Thurman), to offer his services in assisting her run the record label. Throughout the movie, Chili and Edie eventually become romantically involved. The romance has to wait however. Their time is occupied by the young pop star that will be the savior of the record label, Linda Moon (Christina Milian), dealing with her pretentious manager, the manager's gay, aspiring actor bodyguard, Russian mobsters and an Ivy League gangster music producer and his entourage.

“Hollywood has arguably done more to integrate Blacks into productions than any other mass medium. Yet exclusion of minority actors from certain roles and actions persists”. This movie is a confirmation of this fact.

This movie depicts three of the four white characters as poised and in control of their immediate situations. For example, Chili Palmer is the essence of a well rounded man. He speaks confidently, is not afraid of the opposition, and in the end, he gets the girl. Chili is in control of every situation he encounters. As Robert Entman and Andrew Rojecki argue, “Black-white conversations almost all involve hierarchical relationships with the white in charge of critical decisions and the direction of the plot”. This movie is a true depiction of this fact in most every scene.

Edie Athens loses her husband in the first ten minutes of the movie and with Chili's help, immediately regains her footing in the music industry without shedding a tear. She is depicted as a stereotypical all-American white woman. She is blond, sexy, warm, and non-confrontational, and a lovable woman. Edie and Chili, the two leading white characters, become romantically involved.

Raji (Vince Vaughn) is a white man playing a character that, as the other characters proclaim, “Thinks he is black.” Raji's character is an obvious attempt by the writer to create humor in the movie. Raji's character, however, is a reminder of the depictions in the movie Ethnic Notions by Marlon Riggs, where white people adorned exaggerated costumes and language in order to portray black people. In Raji's effort to be black, he speaks in slang, barely completing a coherent sentence without using profanity. His attire consists of suits, hats, and he dresses, as Chili Palmer says, “Like a Pimp.” He has no respect for women, particularly his client, Linda Moon, and is out to get what he wants by any means necessary.

All of the black characters in this movie are in supporting roles. Sinclair "Sin" Russell (Cedric the Entertainer) is a black rapper with an entourage of gangsters. The fact that Sin has an Ivy League education is certainly not the stereotypical black man; however, his positive traits seem to be overshadowed by the fact that he is a gang banger. Several scenes almost make a mockery of the fact that he is an intelligent black man.

In one scene the Russian Mafia uses racial epithets towards Sin. The head member of the Russian says, “Be Cool, N****r!” to Sin. As Joe R. Feagin noted in The Continuing Significance of Race: Anti-Black Discrimination in Public Places, “The most common black responses to racial hostility . . . are withdrawal or a verbal reply” . Sin chose the verbal reply,

”How is it that you can disrespect a man's ethnicity when you know we (black people) have influenced nearly every facet of white America; from our music, to our style of dress, not to mention, your basic imitation of our sense of cool . . .walk, talk, dress, mannerisms. We enrich your very existence, all the while contributing to the gross national product through our achievements in corporate America. It's these conceits that comfort me when I'm faced with the ignorant cowardly, bitter and bigoted who have no talent, no guts; people like you who desecrate things you don't understand, when the truth is you should say, thank you man and go on about your way . . . “.

During this verbal retort, the camera zooms in on Sin's face, possibly an effort to get the audience to absorb the words. Although a valiant effort on the part of the producers to get this message across, “Creating a color-blind society on a foundation saturated with racism requires something more than simply proclaiming that the age of brotherhood has arrived”. After shooting the Russian, Sin comments, “Racial Epithets, why does it always have to come down to that? Makes me sad for my daughter.”

Dabu, Sin's right-hand man, is another attempt by the writer to add humor to the movie. Dabu has a strong desire to kill someone; however, when he holds a gun, often times it discharges without any intent of his own. He tends to display cross-cultural attributes, from drinking tea with a pinky finger in the air to wearing a bullet proof vest with his pants barely above his thighs. In one scene Sin and his group of friends are outside of a club talking to Chili Palmer after going to get Mongolian Barbecue. Dabu is so smitten by the character, Linda Moon (Cristina Milian), that he is completely focused on her while eating his food and begins slurping as if in a sexual manner. In that scene, Dabu displays the stereotypical sex-crazed black man.

In addition to Dabu, Sin's entourage is a group of black men portraying the stereotypical gun-toting gang bangers who threaten people in order to get what they want. Their wardrobe consists of bandanas, pants worn well below the waist in order to show their boxers, plenty of jewelry on their necks and wrists, and their mouths full of slang.

In the beginning of the movie Linda Moon is an aspiring singer who has grown to hate the music business because of her experiences with her current manager, Raji. Linda Moon comes across not as a black or a white character, but more of a neutral role. Although a minority, she plays a role that may have been portrayed by a white female as well, without much change to the dialogue, wardrobe or scenes.

The Rock is a gay bodyguard who is searching for his big break in the movie industry. His appearance alone tends to be threatening until he shows his only significant feature, the raised eyebrow. Although “The Rock” and “Gay” in one sentence alone seem to be an oxymoron, he portrays the stereotypical black gay man with ease.

White and black characters are treated similar in respect to the names they are given. Chili, Sin, Raji, Dabu, are all slang names and all of which you would associate with black characters.

Some of the roles and situations in this movie, when seen by the typical white American, are likely to reinforce anti-Black stereotypes. The black characters, outside of the black police officer, are essentially framed as lazy, careless and cold gang bangers. This is the common view of all black men that the media portrays to the typical white American.

In one scene, Sin's entourage drives up to his house in three black hummers with expensive rims, with the music playing extremely loud. Annoyed, Sin dismisses this behavior by saying, “. . .must you live up to the stereotypes?” Sin's white neighbor shakes her head and hurries into her house shortly after the cars arrive. Inside of one of the cars is a kidnapped program director who the audience assumes is in charge of the music that is played on radio stations. Sin proceeds to threaten the man into playing his records. As this occurs, Sin's daughter walks out on the porch. While the men, under the order of Sin, greets Sin's daughter, the camera moves to the back of the men to show low waisted pants, boxers showing, all have weapons stuck in the back of their pants.

Entman and Rojecki argued that “White racial thinking now spans a spectrum that runs from racial comity and understanding to ambivalence, then to animosity, and finally to outright racism”. “The bulk of whites exhibit ambivalence that may be tipped toward comity or hostility depending on the interaction of political climate, personal experience, and mediated communications”. “At one end of the spectrum are white people who believe it is not possible to generalize about African American individuals any more than about whites. At the other end of the spectrum are full blown racists who believe blacks and whites are fundamentally different”.

How would seeing the movie, Be Cool, likely affect the sentiments and schemas of a typical, racially ambivalent White American? The characters and scenes in this movie are heavily stereotypical of black people. This movie may bring a since of confirmation of what a typical white American might think about black people, based on what they have seen in the media. For many white Americans, the media is the only way many white Americans see black people so their schemas are influenced by these images. According to Travis L. Dixon, Cristina L. Azocar, and Michael Casas, “African Americans are typically relegated to a depiction as perpetrators while being underrepresented as officers and victims on local television news”.

One may argue that the character Raji is a negative depiction of a white man and may influence whites to believe that it isn't just blacks. However, “Whites already know that members of their group come in all moral and intellectual shapes and sizes.”. So a character like Raji is not likely to have a real affect on their current thinking about their own group.

Given that the stereotypical black man is heavily portrayed in the movie, Be Cool, a typical white American seeing this movie could either remain as ambivalent or be moved from ambivalence to animosity. “Racial animosity occupies an important step short of racism. Although those exhibiting animosity often get labeled as racist, they do not see their stereotyped anti-black generalizations as adding up to a natural racial order that places whites on top and legitimizes discrimination“.

Although the movie industry has made great strides in reaching comity between white and black roles, the efforts are still lacking. Society still tends to instinctively provide white actors with highly coveted roles and black actors in highly stereotypical or supporting roles.

Do the Right Thing - Few Hollywood movies ever captured the truth about racism in America as Do the Right Thing. Fierce and uncompromising, director Spike Lee refused to soften his film with the usual feel-good bromides dished out by Hollywood and delivered an incendiary vision of a small Brooklyn neighborhood caught in the grips of racism. Theater owners feared the film's ending, in which Lee's character Mookie tosses a garbage can through the window of the local pizzeria, would set off a wave of riots throughout America's urban cities. The riots didn't happen, but Do the Right Thing anticipated the fire that did happen next time when a Simi Valley jury exonerated the police officers involved in the Rodney King beating. The truth that so many Americans were willing to deny could no longer be ignored. Spike Lee's movie set the way with a dire warning that is still true to this day.

Malcolm X - the release of Lee's 1992 biopic on the life of Malcolm X became an event as Hollywood finally gave voice to the controversial Muslim. Finally a film about an important figure in Black America who wasn't demonized. An epic in grand scale, the film covered Malcolm's exploits as a street hood, his imprisonment for burglary (and for sleeping with a white woman), to his spiritual conversion to the Nation of Islam and finally his break from Elijah Muhammad, his spiritual mentor, to become a vocal figure against racism in the United States and across the globe. Malcolm X showed the breadth of its subject's life, his intellect, and his righteous anger toward injustice.

Waiting to Exhale - the ultimate chick flick, Waiting to Exhale, based on the bestselling novel by Terry McMillan, opened the way for Black actresses to finally strut their stuff on the silver screen. Starring Loretta Devine, Whitney Houston, Lela Rochon, and Angela Bassett, Waiting to Exhale also presented the rare depiction of four Black women whose friendships get them through bad marriages, relationships and break ups as they try to find that perfect love and discover it in themselves and each other.

Soul Food - Family and food. What more can you ask for? Writer and director George Tillman, Jr. mined his own family memories, particularly of his big mama, for this film about three sisters, their lives, loves, and fights in this film drama. Soul Food was one of the few Black films about family that captured the complex emotions involved in familial relationships. These sisters love each other, but they also get on each other's nerves. And what can be more realistic than that? But what makes this movie a classic is how food plays a role in bringing families together. A lovely movie that also has the distinction of introducing the magnificent Irma P. Hall to film audiences.

Boyz In the Hood - John Singleton's screen debut as a director was a punch in the gut. Telling the story of three young boys growing up in South Central L.A., Boyz In the Hood details how violence and poverty can cut short the promise of African American men. A post-civil rights nightmare, Boyz In the Hood did more than entertain, but shined a light on the problems of Black America under the Reagan/Bush administrations. Boyz In The Hood also introduced rapper Ice Cube to the silver screen in his screen acting debut.

Carmen Jones - This classic groundbreaking movie opened the way for all-Black casts in Hollywood. Granted, it would take another decade or so for a serious film treatment featuring an African American cast, but Carmen Jones set the stage. Starring the incandescent Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, Pearl Bailey, and a young Diahann Carroll, and directed by Otto Preminger, Carmen Jones was a remake of the classic Bizet opera, told during WWII in the deep south. Dandridge lights up the screen and makes her Carmen both vivacious, sultry, and deeply empathetic. A true classic Hollywood musical all the way around.

Sparkle - Improbably written by Joel Schumacher, Sparkle features a young Irene Cara in the title role as one-third of a singing group of sisters (including the wonderful Lonette McKee), whose dreams of stardom is challenged by racism, poverty, and crime of 1950s Harlem. But what makes this 1970s classic a hit are the sublime tunes by Curtis Mayfield. The signature tune "Giving Him Something He Can Feel," became a hit with Aretha Franklin, and was later covered by En Vogue in the 1990s.

Cooley High - Directed by Michael Schultz, Cooley High does for Black teen movies what American Graffiti did for whites. Deeply nostalgic, with a killer Motown soundtrack, Cooley High tells the story of two high school friends in the Chicago projects as they mature from boyhood to manhood on the city's mean streets. Cooley High also features the song "It's so Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday," which later became a hit for Boyz II Men in the 1990s.

Dream Girls - Destined to become a modern classic, Dream Girls, based on the hit Broadway play, is the barely disguised tale based on the Motown sensations The Supremes about three girls whose dreams of fame are undermined by jealousy and clashing egos. Starring Beyonce Knowles, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, and Jennifer Hudson, who won an Oscar for her thrilling performance, Dream Girls is elevated by the performances all around by the talented cast, making up for unmemorable songs (with the exception of the awesome showstopper "And I'm Telling You, I'm Not Going"). But Hudson's performance alone makes this version of the stage musical a classic in its own right.

What's Love Got To Do With It - A biopic on the tempestuous but extremely talented married duo, Ike and Tina Turner, What's Love Got to Do With It, showcased a fine cast with the also incredible Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett in the leads. While the movie is all about Tina's life with Ike, the fame they both achieved, and the horrific violence she suffered under an abusive Turner, the film also does justice to Ike Turner by portraying him as a complex man whose demons developed by the poverty and racism of his childhood comes to overshadow his incomparable talent.

1. Caligula (1980)

   Back in college I once did a term paper on Caligula. My friend suggested to me I watch this film, jokingly telling me that it was a wonderful historical piece. Needless to say, I now think that he is a jerk for having ever told me about this big heaping pile of human excrement. Not even in my worst nightmares could I even imagine some of the horrors depicted in this movie. I cried for my mommy, literally. The film all together didn't jive, and it seemed discombobulated. It made me think about what kind of perv would make such a film, and question my friend's normality. I can't even begin to describe the repulsiveness of this movie without wanting to vomit. While I've probably stirred your curiosity into seeing this film, trust me, it's horrible and filthy to the core. It will make your soul rot.

2. Showgirls (1999)

   Thank you Elizabeth Berkley. Because of you, I can no longer watch re-runs of Saved By the Bell without thinking of you sliding down a pole. Ugh, this movie was so bad, I actually walked out of the theater. And stupid me watched it with some friends on DVD. This time around, I was inebriated enough to sit still long enough to ponder why I was watching it again. Movies about strippers who make it big should never be made. They're not artistic. They're just movies about naked chicks shaking what their momma gave them. Elizabeth Berkley was bad as an actress, and the amount of make-up on her face made her look like a clown. I wanted to gouge my eyes out after watching this film.

3. Alexander (2005)

   All I ask is why? Why was this movie made? This movie reeked of feces. God only knows how much it cost to produce it, but it should have never been made. How can Oliver Stone expect me to believe that Angelina Jolie is Colin Farrell's mother, and she never ages through the movie with the exception of a splash of grey to her hair. And Colin Farrell is supposed to be the warrior Macedonian king of Greece, yet he speaks with an Irish dialect. Wah? Did I miss something? This movie was not only a waste of time, but also a waste of human brain cells.

4. Cutting Class (1989)

   When I was younger, I had a thing for Brad Pitt, so I'd pretty much watch any of his films, like Cool World. But this movie is definitely at the bottom of his acting repertoire. This movie was full of bad acting and it was just God-awful. Another teen-slasher film of who did it, but you already know before the movie is over, so why even bother.

5. Elektra (2005)

   I like Jennifer Garner, at least in Alias. As far as movies, no. I figured this would be a good flick, and hopefully be a good adaptation from the comic book. I mean, X-Men was at least decent. And Sin City was fricking fabtaboulous. But no, this movie was too long even at 96 minutes, and it sucked. Elektra, the freelance killer is only happy when she kills. She comes back from the dead only to end up with a conscience. She protects her targets, and there are lots of fight scenes that were just a little banal for my taste. Of course, I was starting to dose by then. This movie made me want to cry for humanity. Why do filmmakers always have to butcher comic adaptations?

6. Godsend (2004)

   Okay, this was the year I first became a parent. So this stupid movie pulled me in with the idea of what I would do if I ever lost my babe. I figured with Robert De Niro and Greg Kinnear playing in the film, it'd be at least interesting. But then I remembered Rebecca Romijn was in it. So, parents lose child, doctor offers to resurrect child through cloning, and creepy crap happens. The movie is sometimes confusing, and the director actually made 7 alternate endings to this film, as if the theater one wasn't bad enough.

7. From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

   I know a lot of guys love this one, my husband included, and I'll admit that Salma Hayek dancing with the snake kind of made me question my sexuality, but seriously, this movie stunk. This movie almost made me lose my faith in Tarrentino's artistic capabilities. Four Rooms and Reservoir Dogs are all time favorites of mine when it comes to his films. But this, I wanted to wipe my tush with. I mean, bank robbers on the lose, they take a family hostage, only to end up in a bar in Mexico where vampires run amok? The only amusing part was a short appearance by Cheech Marin, because who can't love this guy? Perhaps if you're really bored and have nothing better to do, then yeah go ahead and kill some brain cells. Otherwise, just say no.

Sixteen Candles(1984)

Actors: Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall

One of the many genius collaborations with John Hughes and Molly Ringwald, “Sixteen Candles” shows the less glamorous side to turning sixteen. As opposed to MTV's “Sweet Sixteen,” “Sixteen Candles” is the realistic and disappointing side of being a teenager.

The Breakfast Club (1985)

Actors: Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson

Who else but John Hughes could make high school detention so interesting? A group of teenagers from different social groups are stuck in school on a Saturday for detention and end up having the time of their lives. Ridiculous antics, pranks, laughs, deep conversations, and goals are discussed on a day that should be dull and frustrating.

Cruel Intentions (1999)

Actors: Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillipe, Selma Blair, Joshua Jackson, Tara Reid.

Dark and disturbing but every bit entertaining! Sometimes difficult to watch, “Cruel Intentions” is an amazing film that draws you in so that you cannot turn away. Kathryn and Sebastian are two stepsiblings with a strange attraction to each other. They make bets on who can sleep with certain classmates and challenge each other. When Sebastian falls in love with one of his “conquests,” Kathryn is angry and bitter. Anything can happen when two uber-rich stepsiblings become worst enemies.

Pretty in Pink (1986)

Actors: Jon Cryer, Molly Ringwald

Yes, another John Hughes pic. The King of teen movies strikes again with “Pretty in Pink” and, of course, Molly Ringwald stars. A poor teenage girl falls for the rich high-school hottie, but money divides them from really feeling comfortable around each other.

Drive Me Crazy (1999)

Actors: Melissa Joan Hart, Adrien Grenier, Stephen Collins,

It's cute, it's fun, and it's cheesy; but the movie named after a Britney Spears song is worth watching. The teenage witch herself, Melissa Joan Hart, stars alongside Entourage's Adrien Grenier, which makes for great chemistry. When the popular girl can't find a suitable date, she enlists her slob neighbor and gives him a makeover.

Charlie Bartlett (2007)

Actors: Robert Downey Jr., Anton Yelchin, Kat Dennings

Heard of it? This overlooked movie is a must- rent! When the oddball new kid becomes an underground psychiatrist for his high school peers the truth about teens is revealed. Those at the bottom become more important than those at the top: the failing rich kid is helping everyone whereas the high school principle is a depressed alcoholic hoping to win back the love students had for him when he was a teacher.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)

Actors: Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, Blake Lively

The story line sounds kind of lame, but the movie is actually very touching and sweet. Four friends find a “magical” pair of jeans that fit each of their body types perfectly and decide to share them and each take them on their summer adventures. From Greece to a grocery store, the jeans are a connection between the girls who all have the greatest summer of their lives.

Mean Girls (2004)

Actors: Lindsay Lohan, Tina Fey, Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried

Yes, one of the few Lindsay Lohan movies that is worth watching. “Mean Girls” is witty, clever, and hilarious. When the new girl from Africa makes friends with two social outcasts, they encourage her to make friends with the “plastics” or popular girls and sabotage them. But, before she knows it the new girl is sucked into their life of beauty and parties.

10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

Actors: Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik,

Heath Ledger…need I say more? Even as a teen, Ledger picked great movies. “10 Things I Hate About You” is an teen adaptation of Shakespeare's “The Taming of the Shrew.” A dork wants to date the high school cutie, but she can only date if her older sister (a.k.a. the Shrew) dates, so the dork hunts for a man willing (and brave enough) to date her.

Juno (2007)

Actors: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman

A great teen comedy movie about a pregnant teenager? Yes! This hilarious movie is about a young girl in a weird family who gets pregnant and puts the baby up for adoption. Throw in a hamburger phone and a stepmother obsessed with dogs and you've got yourself a hit indie-flick!

6

If you saw the first "HULK" forget about it, this movie is better made and it goes back to the basic story of the TV series. The acting is good and it describes a lot better who really Hulk is as it will also give you a better villain than the past movie. Don't miss the ending there is a little surprise there.

5

This is a great futuristic movie that I enjoyed. There are a lot of good things on it as the little robot shows more sensitivity than humans. This movie kids will love. It's fun for all of you if you leave your grown up ego at the door.

4

At first I had my doubts about this movie. I finally convinced myself to watch it and I was surprised. It was not the same type of romantic-comedy movie that we see every year, at least this one, had more surprises and different content to make it a fun movie.

3

This was a great movie. I love martial arts and laughing watching a movie. This movie delivered it. It has so many funny things and situations. It was almost impossible to resist his kicks and his wacky moves.

2

Iron Man has a punch to be an every guy's superhero, and the man every lady wants to meet. This is one of the best superheroe movies of all time. It delivers any request die-hard fans would have, so don't miss it.

1

I loved the idea of this movie. A different kind of superhero and there was no one better for the roll than Will Smith. Ladies and gentlemen he delivers, I would like to say more, but I don't want to spoil the fun.

The movie, starring a long list of actors including Robert Downey Jr., Anton Yelchin, Hope Davis and Kat Dennings, begins with seventeen-year-old Charlie Bartlett being expelled from yet another private school. As a last resort, his somewhat neurotic mother brings him home to live and enrolls him in public school. His public school experience is not going so well, until he discovers that his new Ritalin prescription brings with it an opportunity for popularity and entrepreneurship. He soon appoints himself the high school psychiatrist and starts prescribing medication and holding regular sessions in the boy's washroom.

Overall, the movie seems to effectively capture the chaos of the teenage life, with a few exaggerations. Most of the teenagers in the movie are, as Charlie Bartlett so eloquently puts it, "screwed up", and the parents all have issues of their own. Charlie seems to be trying to rescue the other teens in an attempt to avoid dealing with his own problems. The writer has tried to take most of the major and somewhat traumatic issues that teenagers and their parents experience during a five or six year period, and wrap them up into about an hour and a half.

Not a bad film to take in while relaxing at home on your couch. Genuine comedy combined with realistic and somewhat heart wrenching events make the movie worth investing your time into.

As we all know, without director, movies would never be made. What a lot of people keep forgetting is that without writers, movies couldn't get made either. I still find it hard to believe that writers aren't getting enough recognition.

Movie bosses buy the scripts. They buy the scripts pretty cheap too. I remember that writer Shane Black, who wrote movies like the lethal weapon series, sold his scripts for the last Boy Scout for 1.75 million dollar back in 1990. That movie made over 150 million dollars at the box office. When it comes to famous directors, they can make as much as 10-20 million per picture not including box office percentages.

When I see a director win an academy award for best picture, I assume that the writer will win best screen play no? It doesn't seem to be like that. I don't understand how a director who made a movie out of a screenplay can get more honours than the writer himself.

One question that deserves an answer is does directing a story deserve more credit than writing one? When I write a story I can already see images of what is happening as I write. I am pretty sure that it is the same way for other writers too. Directors on the other hand, already have the story in hand. They just need to shoot it. Often this happens without the director consulting with the writer to see how he envisioned the story. When no consulting is done, when the movies comes out you usually hear the writer saying that this wasn't his vision or certain scenes he didn't like and so on.

In closing, writers deserve our respect as much as directors or actors. Utopia will come when I will see a writer being on the same pedestal as others in the movie business.

What occurs in Hollywood's film industry is that it is always looking for something new. There is a time for everything and the time for the old male action heroes has passed. The new trend now is the female action heroes and it is still strong; however, it will also have its culmination eventually like it has happened to the former type of heroes and many other types of movies that have existed. Like Bou and Pérez explain in El tiempo del Héroe [The Time of the Hero] so clearly, “Hollywood's movie industry, as the producer of myths for people's consumption, needs to renovate its product in harmony with the times. Heroes become deteriorated with repetition [...] and their image has to be updated or refreshed.” Interestingly enough, these qualities are the ones that women are usually associated with, these are the characteristics that we can see in Lara Croft (Tomb Raider), Sidney Bristow (Alias) and Charlie's Angels, among others: they are smaller, slimmer, intelligent and do not look threatening if you do not know them.

These slimmer bodies, like Mencimer says, only make old big male action heroes with all their muscles “look like lumps of heavy, slow-moving steel.” Hence we have now female action heroes, who are the new updated or refreshed heroes (like "new Tarzans"). There seems to have been an indication of the rise of a new type of hero in the movie “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.” Here, the new evil terminator played by Robert Patrick was visually the complete opposite to what the terminator that Arnold Schwarzenegger played in this movie and its prequel. The latter was a very big and muscular guy who at first sight gave the impression of a very strong person and looked even scary, whereas the former was a small, thin man who did not look threatening. However, he was indeed threatening and dangerous plus he was smarter and faster that Schwarzenegger's terminator.

Ever since the beginning of the female action hero rebirth, which according to Stephanie Mencimer took place in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” with the character played by Linda Hamilton, Sarah Connor, we could see how some of those characters have undergone some sort of transformation. To Sarah Connor the transformation took place in the second installment of the Terminator trilogy. In the first part she was, as Susan Jeffords explains so well in her book mentioned before, “uncertain, frightened, and weak; in her rebirth she is toughminded, fearless, and strong [...]. She wears fatigues, totes heavy weapons, and has a mission to perform.” We can also see transformations in “Catwoman,” where Patience goes through a drastic change after she is revived. Before that happened she was a pushover, she did not stand up for herself and was very insecure; however, when she is revived by the cat she becomes the complete opposite. In “Charlie's Angels” we are told about the girls' transformations: Natalie is shown taking a driving course wearing braces and with a silly hairdo, Alex used to ride horses apparently professionally and Dylan is shown as having been a “bad” girl at school. When they became Charlie's Angels their appearance and self assurance changed, plus they became specialized crime fighters.

This change was the recipe of success for Hollywood especially as regards the female audience. Seeing a woman in control, a woman who can defy gravity and/or overpower men, is like a fantasy for many women nowadays when male chauvinism is still strong. However, no woman likes to see a heroine complaining about irrelevant things such as a mid-life career crisis. In other words, women like female action heroes because they represent all they would like to be: they are strong, fearless and do not let anyone step over them, and at the same time they accomplish incredible missions. Moreover, practically all of the movies and television shows that portray an aggressive or strong female character provide the viewers with an answer or an explanation as to why the character acts that way. Sometimes it is the death of a loved one, something that has been done to her like a betrayal, or an attack on her life, or something stolen from her, etc.

Finally, there is yet another reason why female action heroes came about and received such recognition at this specific time in history in the United States. As Gina Arnold explains in “Badass Girls on Film - Is it a Good Thing When Women Beat the Crap Out of Men at the Movies?,” the roles women played in movies in the late twentieth century were mostly about the woman “terrorized, menaced, raped and sometimes even killed for viewing pleasure.” A theory would explain this as a result to what was known as the “angry white male” phenomenon that took place at that time. This phenomenon was apparently a direct result of feminism, sexual liberation, closed factories and farms in the country, and the stricter penalties imposed on sexual harassment and domestic violence, all of which seemed to have made many men angry. This anger was portrayed in movies by putting men taking their anger out on women. Therefore, the emergence of female action heroes in movies and television series in the last few years is also a response to a social situation, this being exactly what the movies just mentioned were doing with women not so long ago. Moreover, the fact that women in real life have been occupying positions of power in many different areas such as sports, business, politics, and even in Hollywood, has also acted as an influence in the creation of the female action hero figure, since, as we have seen, movies reflect society. But there is more to that, because society also reacts to what it sees happening in movies and it is the one that decides trough acceptance or rejection what movies will and will not be successful. In other words, society is the real ruler of the movie and television industries.

The secret of the fascination for heroes that Hollywood has been able to create lies in a secret: the stories in those movies have the power to take us to another place where we are both ourselves and at the same time we are somebody else, somebody stronger, since heroes possess all of the human attributes only amplified. This characteristic is what turns them into role models and archetypes, in which the values of intelligence, loyalty, courage, beauty and goodness reach their highest point. Umberto Eco, an Italian semiologist, once wrote that “the positive hero must embody, besides all of the imaginable limits, the strength exigencies that the regular citizen feeds on and cannot satisfy” This would be the simplest explanation, or maybe just one, of why people like action heroes. But what we must find out is why people like female action heroes.

Let us then examine Wittmier's lines and what movies have fulfilled them, which ones did not, and finally what seems to be the ultimate result. The lines that Wittmier proposes are mentioned below, each one followed by a possible explanation as to how they apply to a few movies and television shows featuring female action heroes:

1. The hero usually suffers a great loss, which makes him [or her] set off on a quest.

In “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” we learn that her father had died several years ago, which is an episode that deeply affects Lara. He had died in the battlefield and she never had a chance to say goodbye, which is what makes her feel worse. So when she learns about the Triangle of Light, she goes on the quest of trying to acquire it before anybody else can, namely Manfred Powell, so that she can get her chance of seeing her father one more time and saying good bye.

In “Charlie's Angels” the loss and/or the knowledge of a future loss is what sets them off on their quest. Eric Knox and Vivian Wood had teamed up to find Charlie and kill him. Even though the Angels had never seen Charlie, he was like a father to them. Besides, the former two had kidnapped Bosley, the girls' friend and “boss,” to use him as bait to find Charlie, so that was a loss they had already experienced. These two losses triggered their going after the bad guys and stop them.

Sidney Bristow, the main character from the television show “Alias,” suffered several losses in the duration of the series: the first one was her fiancé's murder, then came her friend Francie's murder, her friend Will Tippin's having to go to witness protection program, her mother's betrayal, Dixon's wife's murder, and many more. All of these losses led to her trying to find the ones responsible for all of that and either take them in custody or kill them. Moreover, when she finds out that she had a sister, which was in a way also a loss because she had lost the opportunity of sharing her life with her, she sets on a quest to go and find her.

If we take a look at “Catwoman,” for example, her quest differs from the previous three. She was killed by order of Laurel Hedare, the owner of the company she was designing for. After a cat mysteriously revives her, she sets on a quest to try and find who killed her, and take revenge. However, she did not really lose anything because after all she is alive now. They did take her life however, but she came back much stronger than before and in the end she likes it, so she gained more than she lost.

2. The hero generally has a mentor or helper who helps him [or her] on his quest.

Lara Croft requires the help of Mr. Wilson, a friend of the family and archaeologist, so that he can explain to her what the clock that she had found was for. Moreover, she has Bryce, the computer and technological expert, to provide her with gadgets of all kinds to both help her train and to make her quests easier.

The Angels have Bosley who helps them whenever they need him. He does so by communicating then with Charlie, working undercover with them, and basically helping them however he can, like he did for example at the end of the movie when he found the means of transport.

Sidney Bristow counts on Marshall's help, the software experts of the CIA. He is also in charge of inventing state-of-the-art devices that help her in her missions. Moreover, her father, who works with her at the agency, functions as a mentor to her.

Patience Phillips discovers a sort of mentor after she becomes Catwoman. This person is the woman who owns Midnight, the cat that revived and converted Patience. The woman gives her information about what exactly happened to her and what the story behind catwomen really is. After Patience collected all this knowledge she decides how to go on with her new life.

3. The hero must face a set of trials, which allow him [or her] to overcome “evil”.

Lara Croft faces, among other obstacles, stone monkey soldiers, a giant stone goddess, and most of all Manfred Powell who, she learns, had killed her father. After she fights him especially, she overcomes evil, that is to say, she is relieved of that calamity that surrounded her, and moves on triumphant.

Dylan, Natalie and Alex faced a bombing terrorist, men who were hired to kill them, and Knox and Wood whom they had to defeat. They had success in every one of these tasks, and in this way they not only faced but also vanquish the malevolence of their enemies.

Sidney Bristow had to face her fiancé's death, her mother's betrayal, and having to work undercover for an organization the CIA was investigating, among other tasks. Despite of those calamitous experiences, she could work out the situation victoriously.

Catwoman does not seem to undergo any trials. We could say that when she was acting as Patience she had to lie to the man she liked, police officer Tom Lone, not to reveal her other identity, since there was an order issued by the force to catch Catwoman. In the end, he finds out who she is and then understands that she was not guilty of what she had been accused. However, this trial does not seem to be on the same level and the previous three.

4. The hero narrowly escapes death, usually more than once.

Lara escapes from death many times: from the robot at the beginning of the movie, from the men that break into her house to steal the clock, from the stone creatures in Cambodia, and from Manfred Powell.

The Angels evade death from two bombs, a shoot out, many different men that intended to kill them, and of course from Eric Knox and Vivian Wood.

Sidney Bristow is probably the one who faced death the most. She was even once captured by the North Koreans and was about to be executed when someone saved her. Moreover, she faced many shoot-outs, had to dismantle bombs with Marshall's help, engaged in serious physical combat repeatedly, besides the fact that she is constantly working undercover and that alone puts her in considerable danger if she is ever to be caught.

In “Catwoman,” the hero-to-be Patience actually dies before she transforms from the regular woman into Catwoman. After that episode, even though she is under attack in several occasions she does not seem to think she is in any danger, she became fearless so she does not believe she is facing death. However, she does become frightened once at the end of the movie after Laurel Hedare stabs her, but she quickly recovers from it and wins the fight.

5. The hero escapes the “evil villain's” stronghold or destroys him [or her].

When Lara is fighting Manfred Powell, the evil villain, she ends up killing him.

All of the Angels escape the attacks of the villains, included the attacks by the main villain, Knox, who dies due to the Angels' intelligence and expertise.

Sidney Bristow, even though sometimes she is kept hostage or caught by the villains, always ends up being rescued or escapes by her own means. Furthermore, she sometimes also destroys the villains, like she did with Lauren, one of the most evil villains in the show.

Catwoman fights the movie's evil villain Laurel Hedare at the end of the movie, which concludes with the latter's accidental death.

6. The hero is then reintegrated into society with a new status, wealth, or marriage to the princess.

This point, even though it seems more to apply to a medieval novel, may apply on these movies as well if we take the basic meaning of the line, which is that after the hero has finished his or her quest there is a change or a reward for them.

In the case of Lara Croft, after she undergoes her quest and returns home, she seems happier and satisfied. So much so that she decides to put on a dress to visit her father's grave, like a sort of homage to him since she had flatly refused to wear that same dress before when Hillary the buttler offered - which, judging by the way she answered him when he did, it made us believe that she always refuses because that is not her style.

The Angels, after escaping death, rescuing Bosley and saving Charlie seem to be more appreciated by him and they are given well deserved vacations, therefore enjoying some kind of new status.

As for Sidney Bristow, one of her many quests, one of the most significant ones for her, was to save her love interest Michael Vaughn from his wife's clutches, Lauren, who was a traitor. She pretended to be a CIA agent when she actually worked for a criminal organization. She married Vaughn to obtain extra information from the agency that was of great importance for the organization she worked for. When Sidney finally defeats her and saves Vaughn, she gains him back (they used to be a couple) and starts a new chapter in her life as regards her relationship with him.

In “Catwoman,” after Patience dies and is revived she returns to society with a completely new status: as a catwoman.

7. There has to be a happy ending.

In “Tomb Raider,” Lara achieves her goal of seeing her father one more time and she also destroys the man who killed him, to then return to her normal life.

In “Charlie's Angels,” the girls save Charlie and they go on well-deserved vacations.

In “Alias” Sydney and Vaughn live happily ever after.

In “Catwoman,” Patience takes revenge on the woman who tried to kill her, and her reputation is cleared. She decides to go on saving other people who may need her help, although by doing so she leaves her boyfriend because she prefers to focus on saving other people. That ending is not so happy for him.

As we can see, “Catwoman” did not fulfill all of these rules established by Wittmier, and incidentally it is the one of the movies that did not receive a good acceptance neither by the critics nor the audience. Wittmier adds that “heroes must strictly follow the pattern of hero archetype in order to receive acceptance. Any deviation from this pattern leads to undermining the character's familiarity and acceptability.” This is exactly what happened to “Catwoman:” since the main character did not follow the archetype she was not accepted too well.

However, this list is not the only one that has been created or researchers have come up with; Christina Larson presented her own list in her article “Seven Mistakes Superheroines Make: Why the Latest Action-babe Flicks Flopped.” According to her, every female action hero that has broken at least one of the rules she mentions has failed to receive a positive reception by the audience. Those rules are:

• Do fight demons. Don't fight only inner demons.
• Do play well with others. Don't shun human society.
• Do exhibit self-control. Don't exhibit mental disorders.
• Do wear trendy clothes. Don't wear fetish clothes.
• Do embrace girl power. Don't cling to man hatred.
• Do help hapless men. Don't try to kill your boyfriend.
• Do toss off witty remarks. Don't look perpetually sullen.

Let us analyze two of the movies featuring female action heroes that have failed to be accepted by the majority of society, and check if what Larson claims is true. In “Catwoman,” Patience Phillips ends up shunning human society when she decides to leave all of her life behind, including her boyfriend, to save people in danger. Moreover, she does wear fetish clothes. “Elektra” also wears fetish clothes, she does exhibit mental disorders and is sullen rather than witty. Moreover, she seems to struggle too much with her inner demons, and at least at the beginning she did shun human society. We do not see any of these rules broken neither in “Tomb Raider” nor in “Charlie's Angels,” or even in “Alias,” even when Alex from “Charlie's Angels” and Sidney from “Alias” have been shown wearing fetish clothes, but that was only as a cover in a mission, not because that is what they had chosen to wear emblematically. We can conclude, then, that Larson was indeed right: if a female action hero breaks any of the rules mentioned above, the audience, that is to say society, will not accept them or the movie or television show will flop.

Moreover, there is also a key to a good action movie, as Stephanie Mencimer states in her article “Violent Femmes.” She assures that there should be “an inverse relationship between the amount of special effects and the amount of dialogue. Talk too much and the heroine loses her mystique and starts to remind men of their ex-wives.” Here lies another mistake that “Catwoman” made. Patience talks too much in comparison to Lara Croft or Charlie's Angels. In addition, the movie puts a lot of emphasis on the sentimental relationship between Patience and Tom Lone, and also on what happens within Patience herself as she undergoes and tries to cope with the changes that turned her into Catwoman.After including this entire dilemma there is not a lot of action in the movie, not as much as in other action movies which have been successful.

We can find a correlation to the latter fact to what we see in the opening images of the Charlie's Angels DVD version. The first thing we see is the dark figure of a man walking towards the screen and from that man three women are formed: the Angels. Moreover, the fact that Minerva was both a fighter and a searcher of peace also reminds us of female action heroes. These women do not use violence unless absolutely necessary, which shows a contrast to what male action heroes do in practically every movie, and is also in connection to what the god Neptune did when he chose to create the horse. Moreover, she was also smart and handled different skills; we can also see these same attributes in female action heroes. Besides being extremely skilled in combat and martial arts, the three “Charlie's Angels” speak Japanese, German, know how to dismantle a bomb, can drive a race car, know how to scuba dive, and Natalie even knows how to recognize a bird from its singing, what helped them find the location where Bosley was being kept hostage. In “Alias,” Sidney Bristow has multiple skills; she also is remarkably skilled in hand to hand combat, she speaks several languages, knows how to operate multiple state-of-the-art technological gadgets, etc. Lara Croft from “Tomb Raider” can also fight anyone skillfully regardless the weapon of choice or chance, or even with her bare hands; she also speaks different languages, escapes from her enemies time and time again, even by falling down a waterfall and emerging unharmed, and much more.

Another goddess, Venus, was the goddess of beauty and love and was born full of charms, so much so that all the gods were fascinated with her and they all wanted her as their wife; another goddess yet, Diana, was the queen of hunting and therefore she was of a savage nature. The best example of this nature was how she caused the "death" of Actaeon: one day when Diana was bathing in a creek Actaeon was unfortunate enough to accidentally come close that place, what angered Diana so much so that she turned him into a deer.

We can see then two more attributes that these goddesses had and were passed on to female action heroes and, why not, to many women in general nowadays. In the case of Venus, she was so beautiful that men were captivated by her, which is reminiscent of how the public today accepts pretty action heroes (which constitutes the majority of them) much more than they do the ones that are not so. However, beauty is not the only thing that the public wants to see, although it certainly does not hurt. In movies like “Elektra” and “Catwoman” that star Jennifer Garner and Halle Berry respectively, both very beautiful women, the earnings and reviews for them were not good at all and so those movies were big flunks. However, if more attributes are added to beauty then the formula for success could be reached. What we find in the goddess Diana is one of the attributes: she is aggressive, and if a man crosses the line with her then she will make sure it will cost him dearly, which is a feature that we also find in female action heroes.

We could dare say that the female action hero icon did not enter the protagonist world of Hollywood and did not become so widely accepted simply over night, but it actually did so in steps. What seems to have been one of the steps was the introduction of women with secondary roles bearing female action hero characteristics in male action heroes' movies. This is the case, for example, of one of James Bond's movie, “Tomorrow Never Dies.” In this movie, the traditionally strong, solitary and famous for his many sexual conquests hero James Bond, in this instance played by Pierce Brosnan, ends up accomplishing his mission with the help of no one else but a woman named Wai Lin, played by Michelle Yeoh. Ironically enough, he could not have done it all by himself, like he had always done so in the past, and he needed the help of a woman. Another man in the same situation was Jackie Chan who is recognized for always portraying characters that are extremely skilled in martial arts, always works alone and always succeeds. However, in one of his latest movies he teamed up with a strong woman played by Claire Forlani, as was the case of “The Medallion.” Now women have moved on from the shadow of the male action hero and are doing the work all by themselves, having become the protagonists of their own adventures.

Humbert, Juan. 1984: 41, 42, 44.

Ibid. 45.

Ibid. 62, 63.

Elektra is a woman who was revived from a fatal wound by a master called Stick. He then becomes her trainer until it is time for her to leave; when she does she becomes an assassin. A criminal organization called The Order of The Hand hires her to seize a father and his daughter, Mark and Abby Miller. However, she becomes attached to them and decides to team up with them against the ones who hired her.