Where The Ladies At? - The Lack of Women in Geek Media

"Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection. It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something. It's basically a license to proudly emote on a somewhat childish level rather than behave like a supposed adult. Being a geek is extremely liberating." - Simon Pegg

I am a geek. There is very little that makes me light up more than discussing The Hobbit, the latest episode of Doctor Who or Marvel's plans for any of the upcoming superhero movies with a fellow fan. Joining the geek community felt completely natural, I have met so many friends and have had so much fun at geek events. I truly can't overstate the importance of being a geek in my life, it has provided joy and comfort by helping me find a social network and by giving me stories to explore on my own.

But right now I'm going to do something that is extremely difficult for me: I am going to criticize the franchises I love. Because, as Anita Sarkeesian puts it so well in her video series Tropes vs. Women in Video Games (which everyone should watch), "It is both possible (and even necessary) to simultaneously enjoy media while also being critical of it's more problematic or pernicious aspects." The pictures at the beginning of this post are promotions for some of the most popular franchises in current geekdom: The Avengers, The Hobbit, Sherlock, Doctor Who and Star Trek: Into Darkness. What I find problematic about these movies and TV Shows is the lack of women in leading roles. According to the NPR Blog: Monkey See, last month 90% of the leading characters in movie theaters were men, and a fair chunk of that came from what are, unquestionably, geek movies (Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, etc.)

This is not to say that these franchises are devoid of strong women. In fact, I think one of the many things that draws me to Sci-Fi and Fantasy stories is that I find more strong female characters there than in other genres. Some folks might be upset at my mention of Doctor Who considering that the Doctor almost always travels with a woman, who is usually a strong and well written character. It's true that the Doctor's female companions are some of my favorite characters, they participate in the action, often committing heroic acts that are all their own, and occasionally they even get to save the Doctor. But it must be acknowledged that the Doctor is consistently the one running the show, and his companions are along for the ride. Readers may also take issue with the inclusion of The Avengers, which was written and directed by Joss Whedon, who is often praised (often by me) as the forerunner in feminist television and film. There was a lot to love about Black Widow in The Avengers (I actually wrote about it in some detail), she was a great improvement to Iron Man 2 and to past attempts at female superheroes (I'm looking at you Elektra). However the obvious must be stated, that she was the only female on the team and unlike her friends -- Thor, Captain America, the Hulk and Iron Man, she has yet to be given her own movie.

 

It is undeniable that despite the presence of strong females in some popular franchises, the vast majority of leading roles are filled by men. Some might wonder, "What's so wrong with that? So long as there are strong female characters somewhere? Does it really matter?" My simple answer is- yes. Yes, it is a problem. This year I attended my first Sci-Fi convention and I loved it, but it forced me to examine that lack of females represented in geek media and the sometimes hostile attitude toward females in the community. If you are a cosplayer, the options for female superheroes are startlingly low, even lower if you are uncomfortable in revealing or heavily sexualized clothing, and lower yet if you are a woman of color. I have found several blog posts highlighting the instances of harassment and body shaming that occurs at conventions and I don't think it's a stretch to think the lack of female driven narratives has something to do with this. Having so few females in film and television creates an illusion that geek culture is male space, and often makes women feel unwelcome. Yet there are still plenty of women and girls who identify as geeks, and I believe this is because the stories I've mentioned are good stories. You don't have to be a man to relate to the struggles and triumphs of The Doctor or Bilbo. I see reflections of myself and people I love in many of the male characters I've mentioned. But it begs the question: Shouldn't men be expected to do the same for women?

So what can be done to change this? I believe there is some progress being made, however slowly. There are steps being taken already, but I'm not sure how successful they have been...

It is becoming less common for a television show or movie to be released without at least one female character; but what we end up getting is a lot of franchises with exactly one woman meant to balance out several men. Soon, we will have the second installment of The Hobbit joining these ranks. Peter Jackson has inserted a female elf, Tauriel, into an all male story. Since I'm a huge fan of the books, I'm not sure how I will feel about Tauriel. On the one hand, I appreciate that there was some awareness that there were NO women in the original story and they felt at least one strong woman was necessary. They succeeded in inserting some girl power into The Fellowship of the Ring by expanding Arwen's role, and I enjoyed that change from the books. However, I had mixed feeling about the deviations from the book in An Unexpected Journey, I thought some slowed down the plot and weren't very well written. I fear that Tauriel is merely a bone being thrown at feminists; she'll fire a couple arrows and won't contribute to the story in an interesting or meaningful way. A major problem with there being so little female representation, is it puts a great deal of weight on the women we do see. If the lone woman is poorly written, it hits female viewers hard and often makes it more difficult to convince Hollywood to invest in strong female characters in the future. Clearly, we need more than one woman inserted into the stories dominated by men. 

There are also the attempts to gender-swap characters that are already beloved by fans. For example, there was Elementary, America's answer to BBC's Sherlock. But CBS decided to do something a little different - they turned John Watson into Joan Watson and cast Lucy Lui in the role. It was a courageous move to give such an iconic role to a woman (and a woman of color) but, if my anecdotal evidence has any truth, fans of the BBC's series and fans of original books had a hard time adjusting to the change. Although, I sorely desire more successful female characters, I don't think a smart solution is replacing the male characters who are already popular. I have similar concerns with the growing demands for a woman to play the Doctor on Doctor Who. For those of you who don't watch the show, The Doctor is an alien who doesn't die but regenerates, thus allowing for eleven (soon to be twelve) different actors to play the same character over the past fifty years. Peter Capaldi was just announced as the 12th Doctor and some have expressed anger that yet another white male was chosen. I certainly understand the disappointment and feel some of it myself. However, I don't think the show is ready for a female Doctor, because I don't trust the all male writing staff to be able to do it right. Since the show got its reboot in 2005 there have only been two serials written by a woman, none since Steven Moffat took charge. I believe part of why franchises with female leads are unsuccessful is that most are written by men, and most men aren't that great at writing women. If they were to cast a female as The Doctor, the unfortunate reality is that she would have to be better than the past Doctors (again, the lack of female characters puts them under a higher degree of scrutiny, by both feminists and misogynists.) And until we have more women behind the scenes, I think it will be hard to have exceptional characters on-screen.

I propose that changing popular male characters into women sets those female characters up for failure and when the people behind the scenes are not excited about a female lead it ends up showing in the final product. Including a woman or two in compelling supporting roles is a good start, but falls short of what we want and need. Often the female characters feel pandering, a small gesture to placate the people who desire more diversity. We need NEW STORIES, new characters, written by women and about women. There are stories out there, there are female superheroes that haven't had a movie made about them, there are new books and comics being written everyday and it's about damn time we start seeing them on the screen.

To end on a somewhat positive note, here are a couple geek projects on the horizon that I am looking forward to: 

Joss Whedon is producing a television show spinoff of The Avengers, called Agents of Shield. From the promotions, it appears that half of the main characters are women. Whedon is one of those rare men that can write women well, and there is at least one woman on the writing team, Maurissa Tancharoen, who has worked with Whedon in the past. It has also been confirmed that Maria Hill (a character who we met in Avengers, but didn't have nearly enough screen time) will appear in the pilot. If the popularity of the Avengers can introduce the geek world to some new and exciting female characters, I will be very pleased.

Not long ago, Rob Thomas and crew made Kickstarter history by asking fans of the TV Show Veronica Mars to fund a movie. This is one of several examples of a female centric show that was ended before it's time. For those of you who haven't watched the show, the title character is a PI who also happens to be a teenage girl struggling through high school. Veronica used her brains and determination to outsmart others, the show dealt with many important issues (most notably, she solves the mystery of her own sexual assault). Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much of a female presence in terms of writing and directing, but it's incredibly exciting that the character of Veronica Mars is returning. For years the cast, crew and fans have been trying to find a studio to produce this movie, but no studio was willing to bet on a female hero from a cancelled TV Show. I hope the success of the Kickstarter Project (raising over $5 million with over 90,000 backers), will demonstrate to Hollywood that these types of projects have an audience and will make money.

There is a market for female heroines. If a TV Show or movie is well-made and the character is compelling, the geeks will show their support. It is important that females are represented not just so girls and women have someone to look up to, but so that men and boys are taught the strength and humanity of women. We geeks need to be more vocal about what we want in future franchises, as Hollywood starts to plan more superhero movies and tries to start new geek fandoms. There is nothing new about female geeks, we've been around since the beginning of geek culture. It is only the misogyny of some within the community and misrepresentations in the media that have given rise to the myth that all geeks are men. We must continue to be involved and vocal about what we want and support projects that provide it for us. I have no doubt that the culture will continue to change and improve because geek women are creative, articulate and vigilant. Basically, we're awesome.

Black Widow: "Iron Man 2" vs "The Avengers"

Black Widow (aka Natasha Romanoff), played by Scarlett Johansson, made her first live action appearance in Iron Man 2, and returned this year in The Avengers. Black Widow is a stealthy spy who works for a government espionage team called SHIELD, and exhibits a fair amount of butt-kicking ability. Despite the fact that she is part of the same franchise and played by the same actress, the character changes profoundly between films (namely because in The Avengers she has one). In The Avengers she was a compelling character who plays an integral role in a team of superheros, in Iron Man 2 she may as well be a fembot.

I think most everyone can agree that Scarlett Johansson is nice to look at, I don't necessarily think there is anything offensive about accentuating this, but a problem occurs when more time is spent doing slow pans of her body and closeups on her ass than giving her a story or a personality. The protagonist, Tony Stark, is shown constantly leering at her (giving all the viewers ample time to do the same) and any contribution her character could make to the story is completely dismissed. She appears undercover as a notary taking care of some business for Tony; as soon as she leaves the room Tony turns to Pepper Pots (his secretary/love interest) and says, "I want one." And that exchange is all the explanation we are given as to how she became Tony's new secretary. Not only is the protagonist shown talking about her as if she's a toy, but what could be an interesting exchange where she is convinced to come and work for Tony is never shown. Presumably, she's there trying to get information on Tony and reporting back to SHIELD but we never see her getting this information (unless you count the pointless scene where she coyly asks Tony if his martini is "dirty enough"...which I don't).

Some people would argue, "But Black Widow is a super strong female character. She knocks out a dozen guys by herself at the end of the movie!" While I agree that it's awesome when women kick butt, it's become a common trait in today's action films to try to cover up the objectification of women by having them exhibit physical strength. When she snaps into action at the climax of the film it is cool, but it doesn't make up for her lack of humanity throughout the film; it turns her into a sexualized weapon. 

So, needless to say, before The Avengers was released I was worried about whether the Black Widow could become a compelling member of the team. Then I heard that Joss Whedon was going to write and direct the film, and was immediately hopeful. Just in case anyone is unfamiliar with Joss Whedon he is the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and Doctor Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog (watch them all) and he's widely hailed as the man to beat in terms of creating feminist film and television. However, I remained skeptical, what with there being five other Avengers (all of them male) and this being his first big budget picture where he would be getting pressure from Hollywood.

Luckily, Whedon delivered. He turned Black Widow into a character who is strong, intelligent and complex. Black Widow has a cold and calculating persona that would be expected from a government spy but she also has a past and motivations that extend beyond her orders from SHIELD (such as her affection for Hawkeye). As Iron Man 2 attempted, she is shown manipulating the men around her with "feminine wiles" but we see her using her brains rather than her sexuality to achieve her ends. Her first scene in The Avengers she is interrogated by a group of men, while tied to a chair in a sexy black dress. I distinctly remember feeling disappointed, assuming we were about to see her flirt her way out of this fix.Then Joss Whedon did something awesome; he overturned my expectations, revealing that while the mob of men thought they were interrogating her, she had actually been interrogating them. Basically, it's awesome. 

In addition to Black Widow's character improving, the male characters treated her better, which I feel is just as important. In Iron Man 2 Tony Stark stares at her, objectifies her and just generally does not treat her well. In The Avengers none of the five males batted an eye at the idea of an attractive woman fighting alongside them.

Some folks are calling The Avengers a feminist movie, but as much as I love this movie and Black Widow in it, it does still suffer from The Smurfette Principle and does not pass the Bechdel Test. So although I wouldn't call it a feminist movie I give it full credit for having a well-developed and super-cool female character, and generally being a great movie.

The differences between Black Widow's character in Iron Man 2 and The Avengers are not huge, proving that feminist's are not asking for the impossible. All I want are depictions of women who are more than just a pretty face, a slammin' body or a weapon. Whedon has shown that a movie can be a huge blockbuster without reducing the female characters to sex objects, something I hope future film makers notice.