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ARTS ARTS OF OF MASTER MASTER
of: of: degree degree the the for for submitted submitted thesis thesis A A
CULLEN CULLEN LYNDA LYNDA
ZEALAND ZEALAND NEW NEW -WAR -WAR POST POST IN IN
FEMININITY FEMININITY AND AND FEMINISM FEMINISM HEROES, HEROES, WOMEN WOMEN
FLUX: FLUX: AEON AEON TO TO WOMAN WOMAN WONDER WONDER FROM FROM
ii ii
sisters. sisters.
heroic heroic their their and and Flux Flux Aeon Aeon Buffy, Buffy, Xena, Xena, culture: culture: popular popular century century first first twenty- women women in in
warrior warrior including including and and to to up up II II War War World World since since form form book book comic comic in in Woman Woman Wonder Wonder
of of emergence emergence the the from from Zealand Zealand New New in in culture culture popular popular in in heroes heroes female female of of influence influence the the
investigates investigates study study This This object). object). (sex (sex bimbo bimbo a a or or pseudo-male pseudo-male a a be be to to appearing appearing without without
toughness toughness and and femininity femininity negotiates negotiates that that subjectivity subjectivity coherent coherent a a perform perform must must she she
legitimated legitimated be be to to identity identity woman's woman's warrior warrior the the For For threatened. threatened. is is order order gender gender the the culture, culture,
popular popular in in woman woman tough tough or or warrior warrior a a as as hero, hero, a a as as foothold foothold a a gains gains woman woman a a When When ABSTRACT ABSTRACT
111 111
research. research. my my of of up up
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opinions, opinions, their their and and suggestions, suggestions, their their for for friends friends my my all all to to thanks thanks warmest warmest my my Finally, Finally,
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my my throughout throughout critique critique positive positive and and cheerful cheerful their their for for and and perception perception their their for for Thornley, Thornley,
Davinia Davinia Dr Dr and and Stringer Stringer Rebecca Rebecca Dr Dr supervisors, supervisors, my my both both to to grateful grateful extremely extremely am am I I
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and and support support their their for for Otago Otago of of University University the the at at Department Department Gender Gender the the in in staff staff the the all all to to
and and Otago, Otago, of of University University the the at at Department Department Anthropology Anthropology the the in in staff staff administrative administrative the the
to to thanks thanks special special Very Very mother. mother. my my including including women, women, warrior warrior all all to to thesis thesis this this dedicate dedicate I I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
IV IV
67 67 ...... Identity Identity Gendered Gendered of of Performance Performance The The
63 63 ...... Angels Angels 's 's Charlie Charlie in in Femininity Femininity and and Feminism Feminism
60 60 ...... 1970s 1970s the the and and Zealand, Zealand, New New Liberation, Liberation, Women's Women's
58 58 ...... ofFeminism? ofFeminism? Representatives Representatives Angels: Angels: Charlie's Charlie's
55 55 ...... Television Television on on Woman Woman Wonder Wonder Rights: Rights: Our Our For For Fighting Fighting
53 53 ...... Reinstated Reinstated Identity Identity Book Book Comic Comic Woman's Woman's Wonder Wonder Sappho! Sappho! Suffering Suffering
53 53 ...... 1970s 1970s THE THE
IN IN FEMININITY FEMININITY AND AND FEMINISM FEMINISM LIBERATION: LIBERATION: WOMEN'S WOMEN'S
THREE. THREE. CHAPTER CHAPTER
49 49 ...... Tradition Tradition and and Revolution Revolution Sexual Sexual Sixties, Sixties, Swinging Swinging The The
7 7 4 4 ...... Rationality Rationality and and Hairpins Hairpins Lipstick, Lipstick,
43 43 ...... Cool Cool and and Toughness Toughness Fashion, Fashion, Peel: Peel: Mrs Mrs
40 40 ...... Order Order Old Old the the and and Bricolage Bricolage Boomers, Boomers, Baby Baby
36 36 ...... Modernity Modernity and and Avengers Avengers The The Television, Television,
36 36 ...... COOL COOL AND AND TOUGHNESS TOUGHNESS FASHION, FASHION, PEEL: PEEL: MRS MRS
TWO. TWO. CHAPTER CHAPTER
32 32 ...... Management Management Appearance Appearance and and Gender Gender Woman, Woman, Wonder Wonder
26 26 ...... Femininity Femininity and and Equality Equality Woman, Woman, Wonder Wonder
24 24 ...... Marriage Marriage and and Movies Movies the the Teenagers, Teenagers,
22 22 ...... Backlash Backlash Post-war Post-war the the and and Delinquency Delinquency Juvenile Juvenile Comics, Comics,
18 18 ...... Unfolds Unfolds Story Story Amazing Amazing The The Woman: Woman: Wonder Wonder
18 18 ...... FEMINITY FEMINITY AND AND EQUALITY EQUALITY WOMAN, WOMAN, WONDER WONDER
ONE. ONE. CHAPTER CHAPTER
14 14 ...... Thesis Thesis of of Outline Outline Chapter Chapter
11 11 ...... Research Research Future Future Possible Possible for for Areas Areas Subject Subject
7 7 ...... femininity femininity and and feminism feminism of of concepts concepts Culture: Culture: Popular Popular in in Woman Woman Warrior Warrior The The
3 3 ...... Culture Culture Popular Popular in in Women Women Warrior Warrior on on Literature Literature
2 2 ...... Method Method
I I ...... Culture Culture Popular Popular in in Woman Woman Warrior Warrior the the of of Autonomy Autonomy the the Concerning Concerning Questions Questions Central Central
1 1 ...... INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION CONTENTS CONTENTS
V V
138 138 ...... APPENDIX APPENDIX
137 137 ...... Comics Comics
136 136 ...... Series Series Television Television
135 135 ...... Filmography Filmography
122 122 ...... BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY
115 115 ...... CONCLUSION CONCLUSION
110 110 ...... engineering engineering genetic genetic and and CIA CIA the the witches, witches, family: family: the the in in All All
104 104 ...... nostalgia nostalgia and and conservatives conservatives new new the the technology, technology, new new Millennium: Millennium: New New The The
104 104 ...... MILLENNIUM MILLENNIUM NEW NEW THE THE
SIX. SIX. CHAPTER CHAPTER
103 103 ...... Subversive Subversive and and Sensational Sensational Identity: Identity: Gendered Gendered and and Women Women Warrior Warrior
102 102 ...... crisis crisis identity identity and and image image body body 1990s: 1990s: the the in in Management Management Appearance Appearance and and Woman Woman Wonder Wonder
97 97 ...... pseudo-male pseudo-male the the and and
princess princess warrior warrior the the playmate, playmate, sexual sexual the the Xena: Xena: Unforseen Unforseen an an with with Backlash Backlash
93 93 ...... bedtime bedtime before before world world the the saving saving to to Cher, Cher, clueless clueless from from 'Tweens: 'Tweens: the the and and Power Power Girl Girl
90 90 ...... Punk Punk the the and and Assassin Assassin the the Control: Control: in in Women Women
87 87 ...... Louise Louise and and Thelma Thelma vs vs Nikita Nikita Femme Femme La La Empowerment: Empowerment: Women's Women's and and Anxieties Anxieties Men's Men's
87 87 ...... SUBVERSIVE SUBVERSIVE AND AND SENSATIONAL SENSATIONAL WOMEN: WOMEN: WARRIOR WARRIOR
FIVE. FIVE. CHAPTER CHAPTER
84 84 ...... At? At? Looking Looking You You are are What What And And Anyway? Anyway? it it is is Gaze Gaze Whose Whose
80 80 ...... ofFemininity ofFemininity Negotiation Negotiation the the and and Madonna Madonna
78 78 ...... Connor) Connor) (Sarah (Sarah Terminator Terminator and and Ripley) Ripley) (Ellen (Ellen Alien Alien
7 6 6 7 ...... Backlash Backlash the the and and Women Women Warrior Warrior
73 73 ...... Empowerment Empowerment Women's Women's and and Power Power Girl Girl Culture, Culture, Pop Pop
70 70 ...... Post-feminism Post-feminism and and Politics Politics Dressing, Dressing, Power Power
70 70 ...... POSTFEMINISM POSTFEMINISM AND AND POLITICS POLITICS DRESSING, DRESSING, POWER POWER
FOUR. FOUR. CHAPTER CHAPTER
1 1
174. 174. 1992) 1992)
Press, Press, California California
of of University University London: London: Angeles, Angeles, Los Los (Berkeley, (Berkeley, Weight Weight Unbearable Unbearable Bordo, Bordo, Susan Susan
4 4
3. 3. 2003) 2003) Press, Press, University University Syracuse Syracuse
York: York: (New (New
warriors warriors women women
new new television's television's Daughters: Daughters: Athena's Athena's eds., eds., Kennedy, Kennedy, Kathleen Kathleen and and Early, Early, Francis Francis
3 3
72. 72. 1994) 1994)
Press, Press, University University
Manchester Manchester York: York: New New (Manchester, (Manchester,
Culture Culture Popular Popular and and Postmodernism Postmodernism McRobbie, McRobbie, Angela Angela
2 2
Appendix Appendix See See
1 1
dilemma. dilemma. feminisms' feminisms' is is this this and and beauty), beauty), dress, dress, (body, (body, eroticized eroticized is is warrior warrior woman woman
the the However, However, Slayer). Slayer). Vampire Vampire the the Buffy Buffy or or Woman Woman Wonder Wonder of of case case the the in in (as (as powers powers hereditary hereditary
or or example), example), for for Charmed, Charmed, series series television television (the (the magic magic or or (muscles) (muscles) development development bodily bodily
through through either either warrior, warrior, male male the the of of attributes attributes the the of of many many given given is is hero hero woman woman the the role: role: passive passive
a a
not not is is Hers Hers pseudo-male? a a parody, parody, a a become become simply simply she she does does Bordo, Bordo, Susan Susan by by suggested suggested
4 4
as as
Or, Or, subjectivity"? and and agency agency female female conceptualise conceptualise we we way way the the in in alterations alterations "effect "effect
3 3
to to capacity capacity the the have have she she does does but but tradition, tradition, narrative narrative the the disrupts disrupts hero hero female female (white) (white) The The
speaking? speaking? it it is is whom whom to to
and and
spaces spaces these these in in found found
is is ofjemininity ofjemininity sort sort what what ask: ask: also also could could one one and and McRobbie, Angela Angela
2 2
asks asks speaking?" speaking?" it it is is whom whom to to and and spaces spaces these these in in found found is is feminism feminism of of sort sort "What "What theorists: theorists:
feminist feminist of of focus focus the the be be should should texts texts the the
interpret interpret readers readers that that ways ways complex complex the the but but male, male,
1 1
been been have have and and are are protagonists protagonists main main the the as as women women tough tough have have which which series series television television and and films films
popular popular of of writers writers Many Many world? world? western western the the in in autonomy autonomy of of sense sense women's women's of of demoralizing demoralizing
the the abet abet she she does does or or subjectivity, subjectivity, space-taking space-taking and and grounded grounded autonomous autonomous women's women's aid aid
culture culture popular popular in in warrior warrior woman woman the the does does ask: ask: I I thesis, thesis, this this of of aim aim the the of of consideration consideration In In
Culture Culture Popular Popular
in in Woman Woman Warrior Warrior the the of of Autonomy Autonomy the the Concerning Concerning Questions Questions Central Central
1980s. 1980s. the the after after culture culture popular popular in in emerged emerged
that that heroes heroes female female myriad myriad the the to to through through Woman) Woman) (Wonder (Wonder 1950s 1950s the the in in feminism feminism second-wave second-wave
pre from from hero, hero, action action female female the the of of position position the the but but culture, culture, popular popular in in hero hero action action male male the the of of
position position the the not not study study to to aims aims project project This This prowess. prowess. masculine masculine his his in in revels revels he he as as overlooked overlooked be be
cannot cannot presence presence His His screen. screen. television television or or film film the the or or frame frame book book comic comic the the fill fill to to expands expands body body
muscled muscled and and taut taut hero's hero's The The good. good. of of name name the the in in mastery mastery achieve achieve and and evil evil overcome overcome to to order order in in
emotions emotions and and body body his his disciplined disciplined has has culture culture popular popular in in hero hero action action male male the the Historically, Historically, Introduction Introduction
2 2
2. 2. Chapter Chapter See See
7 7
2006). 2006). November November 28 28 Library, Library, ofOtago ofOtago University University ProQuest, ProQuest, through through (accessed (accessed
B.Ol.01 B.Ol.01
1998) 1998) 17, 17, (Aug (Aug
Constitution Constitution Atlanta Atlanta The The Peel', Peel', a a on on slip slip "Avengers" "Avengers" Emma, Emma, 'Uma's 'Uma's Murray, Murray, Steve Steve
6 6
2006). 2006). November November 28 28 Library, Library, Otago Otago of of University University ProQuest, ProQuest,
through through (accessed (accessed 2.11 2.11 1998) 1998) 9, 9, (Aug (Aug Times Times York York New New Emma', Emma', One One Only Only There's There's Uma, Uma, 'Sorry 'Sorry Lidz, Lidz, Franz Franz
5 5
Wonder Wonder 1960s, 1960s, the the career. career. In In feminine feminine ultimate ultimate the the was was housewife housewife a a being being because because family family and and
marriage marriage surrounding surrounding anxieties anxieties suffered suffered Woman Woman Wonder Wonder example, example, for for 1950s, 1950s, the the In In time. time. the the at at
concerns concerns the the on on depending depending focus, focus, different different slightly slightly a a has has thesis thesis the the in in chapters chapters the the of of Each Each
attributes. Peel's Peel's Mrs Mrs desired desired Woman Wonder Wonder even even easily: easily: so so replaced replaced be be to to not not is is she she and and
7 7
warriors, warriors, contemporary contemporary of of forerunner forerunner tough tough and and a sophisticated sophisticated a as as reaffirmed reaffirmed and and remembered remembered
was was Peel Peel Emma Emma original original the the movie, movie, the the Avengers, Avengers, The The of of case case the the hero. hero. In In the the of of rejection rejection or or
acceptance acceptance the the to to pertinent pertinent is is text text a a of of Reception Reception 1960s. 1960s. the the in in baby-boomers baby-boomers of of understanding understanding
temporal temporal and and cultural cultural good good a a of of sign sign the the be be would would recreation recreation recognizable recognizable a a time: time: the the of of attitudes attitudes
and and
beliefs beliefs the the
framed framed that that discourses discourses address address to to needed needed also also remake remake The The role". the the originated originated
6 6
who who Rigg, Rigg, Diana Diana of of memory memory feline feline cool, cool, the the by by "trumped "trumped is is Peel Peel Mrs Mrs as as Thurman Thurman Uma Uma
that that
suggests suggests Journal Journal Atlanta Atlanta The The Peel. Peel. Emma Emma re-present re-present to to attempt attempt her her in in failed failed also also Thurmin Thurmin
5 5
Uma Uma irony. irony. British British translate translate to to directors directors and and producers producers the the of of inability inability the the to to attributable attributable
possibly possibly series, series, original original the the of of mood mood the the capture capture to to failed failed 1998, 1998, in in produced produced and and Avengers Avengers
The The titled titled also also series, series, the the of of film film The The today. today. is is she she than than 1960s 1960s the the in in light light different different very very a a in in
seen seen was was Avengers Avengers The The of of Peel Peel Emma Emma example, example, For For received. received. is is it it how how and and from from emerges emerges media) media)
other other or or film film programme, programme, television television case, case, this this (in (in text text the the that that period period historical historical the the and and context context
cultural cultural a a in in fits fits text text the the how how of of understanding understanding the the requires requires material material the the of of analysis analysis An An
attributes. attributes. feminine feminine
traditional traditional other other and and to-be-looked-at-ness to-be-looked-at-ness reinforcing reinforcing by by cause cause patriarchal patriarchal the the promoting promoting are are they they
whether whether or or 'pseudo-male' 'pseudo-male' labeled labeled be be to to consideration, consideration, after after are, are, or or autonomy autonomy of of sense sense women's women's
aid aid culture culture popular popular in in women women warrior warrior whether whether and and femininity femininity and and feminism feminism of of representations representations
with with concerned concerned are are thesis thesis this this to to apply apply they they as as questions questions central central The The film. film. and and television television
predominantly predominantly media, media, popular popular from from women women warrior warrior of of representations representations with with along along particularly, particularly,
women women Zealand Zealand New New and and Zealanders Zealanders New New to to pertinent pertinent events events historical historical revealing revealing unfold, unfold,
will will decades decades the the manner, manner, linear linear a a 1950s. 1950s. In In and and 1940s 1940s the the in in Woman Woman Wonder Wonder with with beginning beginning
historically, historically, women women warrior warrior particular particular examine examine will will I I approach, approach, case-study case-study of of kind kind a a Using Using Method Method Woman abandoned her super powers and became a 'wannabe' Mrs Peel of The Avengers. Mrs Peel was a fashion icon, and lived a life of sophisticated hedonism and adventure. She lived alone without being 'on the shelf and was able to do so because she was widowed, and there were limited expectations placed upon her. Wonder Woman has spent her whole life on earth in an ambivalent stasis, and her adventures and identity crises are mapped out as an underlying theme in all of the following chapters. In the 1980s the scarcity of women warriors was reflected in Wonder Woman's abandonment of earth, and in the 1990s her body was toned and muscled, quite a different look to Wonder Woman's soft curves of the 1940s. In the early years of the twenty-first century Wonder Woman emulated the male hero and killed a man (to protect Superman, but it is still a violence that she had never resorted to in the past). These incidents give an indication of the shifting focus within and across chapters, depending on the cultural mores and social attitudes at the time.
Literature on Warrior Women in Popular Culture From the 1990s up until the present there has been an increase in popular media (films, television series and so on) that feature heroic female characters as the main protagonist, and consequently much of the theory applicable to the rise of the woman warrior has been written during the last ten or so years. Authored books and anthologies written and edited by gender and women's studies theorists, and historians, have evaluated discourses that depict women action heroes as positive role models. Interest in the issues of female agency and subjectivity has been expressed through an examination of the female action hero, in various media (mostly television), from Wonder Woman to Aeon Flux. 8
A key theorist, Dawn Heinecken, is particularly interested in analyzing this new female body as what Anne Balsamo defines as a "product and a process".9 Heinecken studies body boundaries, bodily control, anxiety over the body, bodily pleasure and the ways in which the female hero operates within current social mores and cultural beliefs. Her material has been
8 Sherrie A. Inness, Tough Girls: Women Warriors and Wonder Women in Popular Culture (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999); Susan Hopkins, Girl Heroes: The New Force in Popular Culture (Christchurch: Hazard Press, 2002); Francis Early, and Kathleen Kennedy, eds., Athena 's Daughters: television's new women r;::sJ41·riors (New York: Syracuse University Press, 2003); Dawn Heinecken, Warrior Women of Television (New York: Peter Lang, 2003); Sherrie A. Inness, Ed. Action Chicks: New Images of Tough Women in Popular Culture (Basingstoke, Hampshire and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004); Lillian S. Robinson, Wonder Women: Feminisms and Superheroes (New York, London: Routledge, 2004). 9 Anne Balsamo, cited in Heinecken (2003) 6. 3 influential in my writings on the female body in space, and notions of body boundaries. Lillian S. Robinson in her book Wonder Women: Feminisms and Superheroes writes on various comic book characters and she examines Wonder Woman from a feminist perspective - committed to a "worldview directed at understanding and remaking society". 10 Her material on Wonder Woman was invaluable for my analysis of feminism and femininity in the particular texts I reference in my research. Robinson is Principal of the Simone de Beauvoir Institute at Concordia University in Montreal, and rightly or wrongly, I associate her writings on Wonder Woman with de Beauvoir's words, "One does not acquire virile attributes by rejecting feminine attributes".n I took a special interest in Robinson's observations concerning conventions of beauty and how these applied to Wonder Woman and, also, how they applied to other women warriors who had captured my attention. Athena 's Daughter/2 is an edited volume that addresses such second wave feminist issues as feminist subtext in television series, concrete relationships among women, and a belief in changing power relations. The most useful references in this edited book are those relating to Xena, the warrior princess; to Buffy the Vampire Slayer; and to the French film, La Femme Nildta, all of which I discuss further on in my thesis.
The woman action hero is also addressed in the writings of Sherrie A. Inness. Inness has written one book, and edited another, on the woman hero. 13 In her book Tough Girls: Women Warriors and Wonder Women in Popular Cultur/4 she examines tough women in American popular culture since the 1960s and concludes that toughness is used both to reinforce and to undermine gender stereotypes: cultural ambivalence appears to accompany notions of changing gender roles according to Inness. In the introduction to her edited text15 this concept is reiterated: ambivalence still attends the figure of the 'action chick' and she can inhabit a stereotyped female role while challenging the stereotype. 16 As opposed to the warrior 'woman', Susan Hopkins' approach concentrates on 'girl power'. In Girl Heroes: The New Force in Popular Culture Hopkins takes an approach that is post-feminist (post-feminism is discussed further on in this introduction), and she states that Madonna and the Spice Girls influenced the girl culture of contemporary times. This text is Australian, unlike those above which are written from a United
10 Robinson (2004) 7. 11 Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (London: Vintage,l997) 692. 12 Early & Kennedy (2003). 13 Inness (1999), (2004). 14 Inness (1999). 15 Inness (2004). 16 Inness (2004) 6. 4 States perspective. All of the above literature informs my evaluation of the female heroic figure. I have also relied on primary material - New Zealand Listener and New Zealand Woman's Weekly - to flesh out pertinent issues and responses to the texts I examine throughout the decades of this study, and to emphasise particular New Zealand cultural moments or trends.
Definitions of femininity and feminism as attributes of the warrior woman are debated in much of the literature that follows. Feminism and/in popular culture is examined in reference to issues concerned with second-wave feminism, girl power, post-feminism, and third-wave feminism. Some of this terminology creates confusion, and clarity of the meaning of these terms is important. Feminisms' engagement with the media, and in particular, with popular culture is evaluated within the abovementioned texts, but has been a central focus of writers such as Joanne Hollows, Rachel Moseley, Angela McRobbie, Susan Faludi, Ann Brooks, Elizabeth Wilson, and Lorraine Gamman and Margaret Marshment. 17
In her book Feminism, Femininity and Popular Culture, Hollows inspects the ideas of Gamman and Marshment in order to bring the reader's attention to the question of whether feminism "is a presence at all, or whether, in order to enter the mainstream, feminism is eo-opted by being harnessed to other discourses which neutralize its radical potential". 18 This has been and still is the cause of many second-wave feminists' anxieties concerning feminism within popular culture. Gamman and Marshment reject the eo-option model and suggest as an alternative that "feminist ideas are negotiated within the popular ... with results that might not be free of contradictions, but which do signify shifts in regimes of representation". 19 This can be noted in the reception of Charlie's Angels in the 1970s. The Angels were the object of the male gaze, but they furthered the cause of the tough woman in popular culture through the roles they enacted. Also, importantly, they encouraged and protected each other through a supportive 'sisterhood'.
17 Joanne Hollows, Feminism, Femininity and Popular Culture (Manchester, New York: Manchester University Press, 2000); Joanne Hollows and Rache1 Mose1ey, eds., Feminism in Popular Culture (Oxford, New York: Berg, 2006); Ange1a McRobbie (1994); Susan Fa1udi, Backlash: The Undeclared War Against Women (London: Chatto and Windus, 1991 ); Ann Brooks, Postfeminisms: feminism, cultural theory and cultural forms (London, New York: Routledge, 1997); Elizabeth Wi1son, Adorned in Dreams: Fashion and Modernity (London: Virago Press, 1985); Lorraine Gamman and Margaret Marshment, 'Introduction'. The Female Gaze: women as viewers ofpopular culture, eds. Lorraine Gamman and Margaret Marshment (London: The Women's Press, 1988) 1-7. 18 Gamman and Marshment cited in Hollows (2000) 194. 19 Ibid. 5 Post-feminism has opposing meanings. It is associated negatively with the backlash for certain theorists, and yet others consider post-feminism as a positive development from second wave feminism. The New Woman of third-wave feminism, who developed from such popular heroes as Wonder Woman and Mrs Peel in New Zealand, reflects a certain ambivalence as regards feminism and traditional notions of femininity. Joanne Hollows cites Angela McRobbie's research wherein young women negotiate feminism and femininity, yet do not consider themselves feminist. 2° Feminism represented in popular culture requires feminist theorists to negotiate texts, to recognize the position of young women and their reluctance to name themselves feminist, and to ''think very carefully about the power relations that sustain feminisms' legitimacy''.21 Angela McRobbie says that "the old binary opposition which put feminism at one end of the political spectrum and femininity at the other is no longer an accurate way of conceptualizing young female experience".22 In popular texts there is very little or no reference to feminism, per se, yet, in fact, some writers such as Joss Whedon (Bziffy the Vampire Slayer) write their scripts specifically in order to empower young women.Z3
Joanne Hollows believes that feminist scholarship has separated itself out from the 'ordinary woman' in society and so the understanding of the connections between feminism and popular culture has been clouded. She is concerned that the "feminine 'other woman' was a necessary fiction in order to produce an 'appositional' feminist identity":24 the feminine anti heroine is opposed to the feminist heroine. 25 In simplistic terms, young women who benefited from the politics of second-wave feminism recognize this ambivalence between the feminist and the ordinary woman and in true postmodem style, have created a montage - a juncture of two points of view (feminism and femininity) to create the beginnings of new concepts within the popular.Z6 Hollows suggests in her conclusion in Feminism, Femininity and Popular Culture that
20 Hollows (2000) 203. 21 Ibid., 203. 22 McRobbie (1994) 158. 23 Michele Byers, 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Next Generation of Television', eds. Rory Dicker and Alison Piepmeier, Catching a Wave: reclaiming feminism for the 21'1 century (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2003) 173-187. 24 Hollows (2002) 17. 25 Ibid. 26 In third-wave style, the debates between second and third wave feminists (generational disputes) often take place on the internet: www.msmagazine.com/winter2004/thirdwave.asp; www.gwu.edu/medusa!thirdwave.html; www.bitchmagazine.com; www.manifesta.net/manabout.html; wv.'W.thirdwavefoundation.org/about/histOJy.html Riot Grrrl online (retrieved 15 August, 2006). However, two texts are of particular interest: Rory Dicker and Alison Piepmeier, eds., Catching a Wave (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2003) and Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000). 6 "instead of popular culture being the object of a feminist 'makeover', analyzing 'the popular' could teach feminists how to 'make-over' feminism".27 This comment is made in the spirit of third-wave feminism - recognition of and respect for the history of feminism combined with a recognition that women take pleasure in the feminine and particularly within popular culture.
Joanne Hollows teamed up with Rachel Moseley to continue the debate on feminism and femininity within popular culture in their edited 2006 publication Feminism in Popular Culture.Z8 Hollows and Moseley state that "apart from women actively involved in the second wave of feminism in the 1960s and 1970s, most people's initial knowledge and understanding of feminism has been formed within the popular and through representation".Z9 This, they suggest, is also one reason for inter-generational disagreements (second-wave, post- and third-wave feminisms). 30 The process whereby feminism has been incorporated into popular culture has not been a smooth, linear and 'osmotic' movement, but one that has been fraught with complexities, not least of which has been the backlash against feminism of the 1980s. The notion of the binary - inside/outside, feminism/femininity, theoretical/popular - is one that postmodern/post structuralist feminist theories have attempted to deconstruct or destabilize, hence a more ready acceptance from the 1980s onwards of both feminism and femininity within the popular.
The Warrior Woman in Popular Culture: Concepts of Feminism and Femininity Within popular culture, the definitions of feminism and femininity are hotly debated and contested. These two highly charged areas influence the reception of the woman warrior. The female hero disrupts the narrative tradition of the male warrior, creating an imbalance in the normative power relations. This impacts on our sense of self, our subjectivity, and causes us to think about why this should be so. When investigating the relationship between feminism, femininity (subject positions) and popular culture, the history of feminism (second-wave feminism) also needs to be taken into account.31 In the 1960s and 1970s both radical feminisms and liberal feminisms rejected certain feminine practices, often in opposition to each other. Radical feminisms mostly rejected and condemned cultural reproduction of the 'violent' and 'pornographic' - a sense that sexism and femininity were conflated to create negative images of
27 Hollows (2000) 203. 28 Hollows and Moseley (2006). 29 Ibid., 2. 30 Hollows and Moseley (2006) 2. 31 Hollows (2000). 7 women. Liberal feminisms (and I use the plural in a contemporary acknowledgement of the range of approaches taken by second-wave feminist groups) avoided 'elitist' criticism of femininity in ways which included women's involvement in fashion, reading pulp culture, or being sexually liberated. 32 It is often these same debates that inform the issues concerning representations of women in popular culture today. The warrior woman in popular culture is a complex and ambivalent subject, performing as "both 'eye candy' and a figure ofpower".33
Beauty and power are exemplified in Wonder Woman, the Amazonian Princess Diana, who was written by her creator William Moulton Marston in terms of what we may consider to be a feminist character, a kind of eroticized essentialist feminist.34 Her character expressed the autonomy one would associate with Amazons. That is, women who lived without male companions, yet her body was soft which was an indication that she retained the desirable quality of a feminine, malleable body in spite of the fact that she was a warrior. Her alter-ego, Diana Prince, showed deference to (American) men and negated many of her feminist possibilities through enacting stereotypical 1940s feminine norms. However, for Marston, her belief in peace and love placed her above her male counterpart, who was caught up in beliefs of war and violence as methods to create peaceful societies: Wonder Woman was, as Marston believed of women in general, superior to men. Alternatively, and moving forward into the 1990s, Xena: Warrior Princess was never considered by its producers and actors to promote a feminist reading of the text, yet the character Xena offers a combination of femininity and feminism that many writers fmd optimistic and refreshing. 35 It becomes apparent that the notion of a female warrior as a legitimate feminist performance is one that is still being debated many decades since the inception of Wonder Woman.
Although each chapter in this research tends to have a particular area of focus subject to the social concerns of the time, the central argument concerns concepts of feminism and femininity. Representations of femininity prior to second-wave feminism place "high value on artifice, nurturing, performing the role of care-giver. .. that firmly endorses the link between romantic love and sexual monogamy, and view[ed] this as the site of a woman's fulfillment". 36
32 Elizabeth Wilson, 'Feminism and Fashion' in Adorned in Dreams (London: Virago, 1985) 228-247. 33Heinecken (2003) 29. 34 See Chapter One. 35 See Chapter Five. 36 Dee Amy-Chin, 'Tis Pity She's A Whore', Feminist Media Studies 6:2 (2006) 181. 8 In other words, woman's role was defined in society, and any radical departure from this performance was considered deviant. Rebecca Arnold37 suggests that discarding concepts of femininity in the 1970s was liberating for many second-wave feminists. It was a way for women to compete equally with men. Behaviours other than those purported to be of a feminine persuasion were encouraged, such as sensible clothes, especially trousers; minimal cosmetics; short hair styles and other appearance management behaviours; in order for women to avoid being considered sex objects. Of course, in hindsight, it can be seen that these appearance modifications caused women to look 'like men'. For women to be treated as equals, normative masculine attributes were adopted, rather than men moving towards the adoption of normative feminine attributes.
In post-feminist terms, Susan Hopkins writes that the "girl hero embodies the contradictions of the post-feminist era: she is both radical and conservative, real and unreal, feminist and feminine". 38 The female hero is young, beautiful, aggressive, strong and sexual. What is less certain is whether the conflation of feminism with the new femininity is of women's making, that is, as the thesis develops, I suggest that the notion of female autonomy will become fraught with complexity and the warrior woman in popular culture will be seen to be an extremely ambivalent character. The performativity of the heroic woman must be undertaken with an awareness that causes the hegemonic hero to be displaced and also causes the female hero to radically recontextualise or rearticulate the 'doing' of hero, otherwise the warrior woman will fall into the trap of self-objectification- that is, create a self that appears to be bold, brave and savvy, but is inevitably for the consumption of men. The performativity that is enacted by warrior women in popular culture may offer some realistic and empowering roles as well as the more fantastic stuff of dreams, or perhaps the mimicry invites suspicion in that she may be for male pleasure: a failed performance in feminist terms.
In terms of real women in the real world of contemporary New Zealand gender relations, empowering roles such as those offered by the warrior woman appear to be the 'more fantastic stuff of dreams'. Violence against women by men is extremely prevalent, and mostly in domestic situations - and the practice is not abating. During December 2005 and January 2006, New
37 Rebecca Arnold, Fashion, Desire and Anxiety (Rutgers University Press: New Brunswick, New Jersey, 2001) 104. 38 H~;>pkins (2002) 2. 9 Zealand Police attended nearly 11,000 instances of family violence,39 and from October to December 2005, Women's Refuge provided 29,230 bed-nights - 15,562 women and 13,668 children. Between November 2005 and January 2006, six women were killed by a partner or previous partner, and it is a fact that 50 per cent of all homicides of New Zealand women are committed by the woman's partner or ex-partner. 15 per cent of residents in women's refuges have a permanent disability as the result of battering, and in the 2002 Cedaw Report 40 statistics include the fact that 15 per cent of women are hit or raped in marriage at least once in their lifetime; 15 to 21 per cent report having experienced physical or sexual abuse and 44 to 53 per cent report having experienced psychological abuse in the previous twelve months.
The 2006 Cedaw report also printed sexual violence statistics, which indicated that the rate of victimization of young women (26 per cent) and Maori women (23 per cent) was also higher than for other population groups. These statistics tells us that women are still considered to be second-class citizens, open to bullying and abuse by men, and it is important to realize that the performance of the warrior woman, the tough girl, or the female hero does not appear to be translating into the real world and real lives of women in New Zealand.
In the conclusion to their text Gender, Culture and Power from 1989, Bev James and Kay Saville Smith state that "the gendered culture must be a primary target for those committed to building a more equitable society, for it is the structure in which the inequalities of class, race, and sex flourish".41 They also say that the vast majority of New Zealanders are either "Maori, unpropertied, or women",42 and our common interest is "in the creation of new forms of masculinity and femininity".43 If the image of the warrior woman changes women's beliefs about themselves, or their abilities, or their relationships with men, even the slightest amount, then she has the makings of a positive role model in popular culture. This matter will be investigated and reported on in the Conclusion.
39 All the statistics listed here are from the Statistics New Zealand website: www.stat.<;.govt.nz (retrieved February 24, 2006); the Cedaw Report 2002 and 2006 found on the Ministry of Women's Affairs website: www.mwa.govt.nz (retrieved January 4, 2007); the Amnesty website 'Stop Violence Against Women': www.amnesty.org.nz (retrieved January 4, 2007); the Preventing Violence in the Home website: www.preventingviolence.org.nz (retrieved January 4, 2007); the New Zealand Women's Refuge website: www.womensrefuge.org.nz/FACTUPLOAD/ (retrieved January 25, 2007); as well as the Suffrage Day Resource Kit 2006 put out by the New Zealand Union of Student's Associations to be used by The Tertiary Women's Focus Group. 4°Cedaw Report, 2002. 41 James and Saville Smith (1989) 108. 42 Ibid., 109. These comments are still relevant in contemporary New Zealand society. 43 Ibid., 109. 10 Subject Areas for Possible Future Research Issues that are not developed within this thesis that could be developed in future research, particularly in New Zealand culture, are those concerned with race and ethnicity. The warrior women in popular culture in the west that have most currency are white and curvaceous: they tend to conform to classical Greek norms of desirability and ideal beauty - even Tank Girl is attractive within her punk character.44 Maori women have remained out of the equation in this thesis simply by not being mentioned in the history. Maori, like many ethnic minorities worldwide in lands that were colonized by westerners - Dutch, French, British, and so on- were discouraged by the dominant colonial presence from developing and maintaining their own culture. The urban drift in the 1960s in New Zealand when Maori moved into cities in order to gain employment and earn money created a cultural shock for many Maori, who were required to renegotiate their way of acting in the world, from dress to manners and other negotiations that ensured appropriate performances in the pakeha urban environment. Concepts of wahine toa, or strong Maori women, influenced through the iconic images of white women heroes in popular culture may be found lacking. Strong Maori women warriors have not been common in popular culture in New Zealand, but 'blaxploitation'45 in the form of American black women heroes has also not been included in this research due to a lack of space.
It is interesting to realise that the white female hero in popular culture is somewhat of a stereotyped generalization, although this is no reason not to explore orientalist attitudes. One exemplar is the Wonder Woman of 1970s television fame, Lynda Carter, who was Mexican, and she, and, by default, Wonder Woman, is claimed as a hero by Mexican women and the Mexican media.46 Complexities and complicated relations may both negate and affirm the subject positions of warrior women and those who see them as role models. Wonder Woman may have had an emphatic and defining role to play in the life of many differing ethnicities in New Zealand, but we are most aware of her primary role as a white, middleclass heterosexual
44 See Chapter Six. 45 Movies made by and for blacks. The term 'blaxploitation' is a reference to the continued genre of trashy films from the 1960s rather than the use of black actors by white studios. Shaft is the most well-known blaxploitation film, and a black American woman heroic figure can be found in Foxy Brown (the film).A useful website reference can be found at www.blaxploitation.com (retrieved 19 March, 2006) . 46 www.latina.com/articles/408.do (accessed 27 February, 2006). 11 construct of a beautiful and curvaceous warrior who has both feminine and, in her 1940s incarnation particularly, feminist attributes.
Another area that is given only token attention in this project due to lack of space, is sexuality, particularly queer theory.47 Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick says that 'queer' turns towards "the open mesh of possibilities, gaps, overlaps, dissonances, and resonances, lapses and excesses of meaning when the constituent elements of anyone's gender, of anyone's sexuality aren't made (or can't be made) to signify monolithically",48 and Judith Butler confirms this, stating that gender is one of the means of regulating sexual preference.49 Homosexuality becomes a threat to normative concepts of masculinity and femininity, and the sexuality of the woman warrior is required to be mapped onto a body gendered feminine. 'Deviant' sexuality (non-heterosexual) is discussed only briefly and particularly with reference to Xena: Warrior Princess. It is hoped that eventually certain elements that emerge from general discourse will enter popular culture, creating ambivalences that will lead to an acceptance of the 'queer', that is, all conceivable sexualities. Meanwhile, the woman hero in popular culture in the western world remains white, middle-class and heterosexual, even although she appears to disrupt master narratives.
It is beyond the scope of this thesis to study audience reception, but such studies involving New Zealand audiences would enable theorists to recognize resistance or acceptance as well as ambivalence towards the warrior woman created within popular cultural media. 50 I will, however, overview some notions concerning the pleasures involved in postmodem viewing as put forward by John Storey in his essay 'The sixties in the nineties: pastiche or hyperconsciousness?' .51 Storey discusses postmodem popular entertainment as being more complex than a simple pastiche or nostalgic recycling - he sees it as a kind of parody on ways of understanding historical eras. He cites various cultural theorists as saying that popular films borrow from each other; that there is an intertextual recognition as the narrative conventions and cultural stereotypes are subverted in a playful manner. He also describes how reception takes
47See Lynne Alice and Lynne Star, eds., Queer in Aotearoa New Zealand (Palmerston North: Dunmore Press, 2004), particularly the chapters: Rosemary Du Plessis, 'Queer, Queerer, Queerest? Feminisms, Heterosexualities and Queer Theory', 103-114; and Chris Brickell and Ben Taylor, 'What it Means to Be a Gay Man', 145-164. 48 Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Tendencies (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1993) 18. 49 Judith Butler, 'Against Proper Objects', differences 6 (1994) 2-3. 50 See Tiina Vares' conclusions from her focus group discussions with women in Christchurch, New Zealand, who viewed films with action heroines as main protagonists: Tina Vares, 'Framing "Killer Women" Films: Audience Use of Genre', Feminist Media Studies 2:2 (2002) 213-229. 51 John Storey, 'The sixties in the nineties: pastiche or hyperconsciousness?' eds. Bill Osgerby and Anna Gough Yates, Action TV: Tough Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks (London, New York: Routledge, 2001) 236-250. 12 part in the making of meanings, and the production of a television series or an episode from a television series becomes a form of reception as it rearticulates representation. 52
As audiences have become more media savvy and sophisticated, so, too, does the screen become a site of conflicting cultural messages, and it is the role of the viewer to articulate these, always mindful of what is at stake, and for whom. 53 Although Storey is discussing the postmodem as it applies to the 1990s, this particular 'post' was already recognized in the 1960s. Michael O'Shaughnessey in the introduction to his text on media and society highlights the fact that classification into genres has become almost impossible in contemporary life: "fiction, fact, high culture, low culture, Westerns, musicals, documentaries, plays, films, operas, pop music
54 ••• " all of these genres blur and boundaries are challenged. Documentaries, too, contain soap opera, as 'real people' act their 'part'. Theorist Judith Butler suggests that we are constantly acting a part, are performing our 'selves'. She suggests that our identities are developed through particular discourses; that we are influenced by family, media and institutions.
The world we inhabit has culturally specific boundaries, which makes it difficult for us to change the way we have conditioned our bodies to function. For example, heterosexuality is a compulsory system, and as a strategy of survival, gender performance is required to be believable. 55 The resistance of normative performativity of gender is exemplified in the warrior woman, and the ambivalences associated with the performativity of this heroic figure in popular culture will be investigated and addressed throughout this research project. I utilize television, film, comic book and video game heroes in order to explore the role of the warrior woman in popular culture. In this way my approach is similar to that of Sherrie A. lnness56 and, like Inness, I have concentrated on 'breadth' rather than 'depth' in my study, given the array of texts and genres in which warrior women appear. This is, I believe, necessary in order to emphasise the
52 Ibid., 245-247. 53 Television, as a medium is easier to experiment with when creating different roles for women than mainstream films: it is less costly to experiment with one television episode than to spend millions of dollars to create a major film that may have a negative reception. (Sherrie A. Inness (2004)). 54 Michael O'Shaughnessy, Media and Society: an introduction (Victoria, Australia: Oxford University Press, 1999) 264. 55 Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion ofIdentity (London: Routledge, 1990); and Judith Butler, Bodies that Matter (New York: Routledge, 1993). 56 Inness (1999).
13
14 14
Butler Butler (1990). (1990).
61 61
° °
Frederic Frederic Wertham, Wertham, M.D., M.D., Seduction Seduction of of the the Innocent Innocent (New (New York York and and Toronto: Toronto: Rinehart Rinehart and and Co, Co, 1953). 1953).
6
Allen Allen Unwin Unwin 1999) 1999) & & 53-58. 53-58.
A A good good description description of of radical radical feminism feminism can can be be found found in: in: Chris Chris Beasley, Beasley, What What Is Is Feminism, Feminism, Anyway? Anyway? (Sydney: (Sydney:
59 59
who who is is discussed discussed only only briefly briefly in in the the body body of of my my thesis. thesis.
For For example, example, Sydney Sydney from from the the television television series series Alias Alias (2001) (2001) is is one one of of many many warriors warriors listed listed in in the the appendix, appendix, but but
58 58
Ibid., Ibid., 7. 7.
57 57
investigation investigation of of bodily bodily practices practices that that encourage encourage women women to to act act in in a a 'feminine' 'feminine' manner manner which which are are
notions notions of of performativity performativity of of self are are also also introduced introduced in in Chapter Chapter One, One, along along with with the the
1 1
Woman Woman and and other other comics comics that that may may have have a a negative negative effect effect on on New New Zealand Zealand youth. youth. Judith Judith Butler's Butler's
United United States, States, and and in in New New Zealand, Zealand, too, too, the the moral moral majority majority expressed expressed concern concern regarding regarding Wonder Wonder
New New Zealand Zealand women's women's identity identity was was also also mapped mapped out out along along similar similar gendered gendered lines lines as as those those of of the the
the the antithesis antithesis of of the the normal normal American American woman woman and and therefore therefore considered considered suspect suspect by by Dr Dr Wertham. Wertham.
powers powers and and being being rejected rejected by by the the Amazons, Amazons, had had and no no children. children. All All of of these these characteristics characteristics were were
was, was, of of course, course, created created through through parthenogenesis, parthenogenesis, could could not not marry marry a a human human without without losing losing her her
vilified vilified by by commentator commentator Dr Dr Frederic Frederic Wertham as as an an unhealthy unhealthy ideal ideal for for girls. girls. Wonder Wonder Woman Woman
60 60
nurturer nurturer of of the the family family was was promoted promoted as as a a traditional traditional gender gender identity, identity, and and Wonder Wonder Woman Woman was was
radical, radical, or or difference, difference, feminist. the the post-war post-war United United In In States States a a woman's woman's role role as as mother mother and and
59 59
Moulton Moulton Marston, Marston, believed believed that that women women were were superior superior to to men. men. Wonder Wonder Woman Woman was was an an early early
Chapter Chapter One One the the In In reader reader is is introduced introduced to to Wonder Wonder Woman Woman whose whose creator, creator, William William
defense defense for for women, women, or or an an encouragement encouragement of of the the warrior warrior woman woman in in popular popular culture. culture.
beauty beauty or or etiquette, etiquette, but but on on another another there there could could be be a a critique critique on on equal equal pay, pay, or or instruction instruction on on self
their their subversive subversive and and oppositional oppositional tone. tone. For For example, example, on on one one page page there there may may be be an an article article on on
reaffirm reaffirm aspects aspects of of appropriate appropriate norms norms of of gendered gendered behaviour, behaviour, yet yet these these articles articles often often surprise surprise in in
on on articles articles from from New New Zealand Zealand the the Woman's Woman's Weekly Weekly New New and and Zealand Zealand the the Listener Listener is is used used to to
dependant dependant on on the the relative relative status status of of women women at at the the time. time. accompanying accompanying cultural cultural An An narrative narrative based based
has has been been observed, observed, will will form form a a connective connective thread thread throughout throughout the the chapters, chapters, her her fortunes fortunes wavering wavering
temporal temporal framework framework and and relative relative to to New New Zealand Zealand cultural cultural and and social social mores. mores. Wonder Wonder Woman, Woman, as as
Each Each of of the the chapters chapters in in this this thesis thesis evaluates evaluates the the role role of of the the woman woman hero hero in in a a particular particular
Chapter Chapter Outline Outline of of Thesis Thesis
chosen chosen to to focus focus my my attention attention on on certain certain tough tough women women in in media media and and not not on on others. others.
58 58
"pervasive "pervasive nature nature of of the the tough tough girl girl in in popular popular media media in in general". general". I I also also acknowledge acknowledge that that I I have have 57 57 found in Iris Marion Young's essay on comportment.62 Wonder Woman's dress and appearance management are also critiqued in consideration of western ideals.
Chapter Two moves on into the 1960s and the revolutionary 'flower power' movement which characterizes the coming of age of the baby-boom children, post World War 11. This was the age of television, and the heroic Mrs Peel from The Avengers was introduced to New Zealand television channels in 1965. Mrs Peel was a sophisticated 'new woman' and she dispelled the notion of what women 'ought' to be and do. Her appearance coincided with the rejection of marriage as the only alternative for young women. Mrs Peel was a fashion guru, adventurer, and a free agent. As a widow, it was permissible for her to live a particular lifestyle, but many young women challenged social mores and began to realize that to live life outside of the dream of marriage did not necessarily result in being stigmatized, but had exciting potential. 63 In the 1960s Wonder Woman rejected her costume, began to wear 'mod' gear and adopted the alias Diana Prince as a permanent identity. She chose to become mortal and gave up her super powers because she was infatuated with Mrs Peel and her lifestyle.
Chapter Three introduces television programmes in the 1970s that place women in the position of protagonists and action heroes. Charlie's Angels is a programme that is discussed at length for its ambivalent representation of warrior women, as is the use of disguise as a liberating agent for the Angels. Disguise is also pertinent for the televised Wonder Woman programme of the 1970s that starred Lynda Carter. She is remembered for her 'twirl' as she changed from her Women's Air Corp identity, Diana Prince, into her Wonder Woman costume and her true self, Princess Diana. Interestingly, as Diana Prince, she is madly in love with Steve Trevor, her boss, yet as Wonder Woman aka Princess Diana, it is Steve Trevor who swoons over the super hero. 64 It is in the 1970s that feminism and femininity begin to be conflated, where notions of identity outside of that of home-maker become reality: Charlie's Angels can be racing car drivers or beauty queens, nurses or sporting stars.
Chapter Four concerns the decade of the 1980s, when women entered the workforce en masse as men's equals. There is reference to the backlash against feminism, and a detailed
62 Iris Marion Young, Throwing Like a Girl (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1990). 63 See Hilary Radner and Moya Lucket, eds., Swinging single: representing sexuality in the 1960s (Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1999) for a good overview of attitudes of young women in the United States in the 1960s. 64 Wonder Woman does find Steve Trevor attractive, however, and this often causes her to question her purpose. 15 account of the various uses of the term post-feminism, some positive for feminism, others negative, and an introduction to third-wave feminism which is also fraught with ambiguous definitions. Madonna, the pop star, entered the world's field of vision in the 1980s and instigated girl power. Tough film characters Ellen Ripley from Alien and Sarah Connor from Terminator continued to reinforce new ways of 'doing' femininity, and Wonder Woman's ongoing adventures are chronicled. Extracts from J ane U ssher' s book65 on femininity and performance are evaluated, too, and her theory of 'being, doing, resisting or subverting "girl"' is mapped on to the performances of the warrior women included in the chapter.
Chapter Five evaluates new technologies and new warriors such as Aeon Flux. Backlash phenomena include the film La Femme Nildta, a Pygmalion tale, and Thelma and Louise offered a heroic double suicide drama. Girl power and the Spice Girls are essential ingredients of third wave feminism, and the heroes for the younger girl, Sailor Moon and the Powerpuff Girls take their place alongside Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Xena Warrior Princess. The 1990s saw the creation of myriad warrior women, all of whom asserted themselves by operating forcefully in public spaces, yet it appears that their performances are conflated with femininities that allay any fears of subversion of the gender order.
Chapter Six is the final chapter. The twenty-first century warrior women are but a shadow of their former selves. Some have been party to nostalgic remakes which have had some success (Charlie's Angels) or have 'bombed' at the box office (Charlie's Angels Full Throttle, The Avengers, Aeon Flux) and some have committed suicide (Xena Warrior Princess, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Max from Dark Angel). It appears that the backlash against women's autonomy is still active and that the performance of the warrior woman is punishable by either physical or box office death. Or is it that, further to Thelma and Louise's resisting of incorporation by driving off a cliff to their deaths, contemporary warrior women have died as "an imaginative feminist move forward dedicated to mythic if not immediately realizable altematives"?66 The questions raised by this more optimistic notion are whether it can be realised in a post-feminist and third-wave feminist world, and where girl power would fit in this equation. These ruminations will be expanded upon in my Conclusion.
65 Jane M. Ussher, Fantasies ofFemininity: Reframing the Boundaries ofSex (London: Penguin, 1997). 66 Boozer, cited in Sarah Crosby, 'The Cruelest Season: Female Heroes Snapped into Sacrificial Heroines', ed. Sherrie A. Inness, Action Chicks: New Images of Touch Women in Popular Culture (Basingstoke, Hampshire and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004)155. 16 Feminism recognizes that it is through the visual that gender is written onto bodies, particularly in the west. Feminism has been most productive of theories concerning the visual since the 1970s, influenced primarily by John Berger's text Ways ofSeeinl 7 and secondarily by Laura Mulvey's 1975 essay 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema'.68 Contemporary feminist scholarship also encourages an examination not only of the text, but the processes of its reproduction. 69 This naturally leads to a consideration of absence (within the text and of texts that are not produced) as well as presence. If a woman claims visibility in the public sphere, is being seen or visible, she may be able to renegotiate visual power. By becoming visible, or creating the spectacle usually associated with masculine visibility and establishing an acceptable and successful performativity of the hero, she may dissolve current discourses of to-be-looked at-ness.70 The reception of the female hero as legitimate warrior in her own right or stereotypically as object of male desire may depend not only on her believable performance but also on changing cultural attitudes to women's (and men's) bodies.
67 John Berger, Ways ofSeeing (London: BBC and Penguin Books, 1972). 68 Laura Mulvey, 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema', Screen Vol16 No 3 (1975) 6-18. 69 Mulvey (1975). 70 Ibid. 17 1 Wonder Woman, Equality and Femininity
In the introduction, it was made apparent that the warrior woman in popular culture was seen to be subverting notions of 'normative' femininity. In this regard, New Zealand society in the 1950s held attitudes that are no different to those in the twenty-first century, particularly concerning the performativity of gender (although notions of feminine and masculine performance per se have evolved since then). In post-war New Zealand a woman's role was that ofnurturer and home-maker. There was a need to create a certain order and comfort as a reaction to the chaos and discomfort brought about during the war. Women left their war-time jobs and moved into the home as men replaced them in the public arena of paid labour. Wonder Woman came from a land where women lived in harmony without men, and reproduction was through parthenogenesis- a direct contrast to normative 1950s beliefs in New Zealand, Britain and the United States.
In this chapter, Wonder Woman in comic book form is studied in relation to a woman's place in 1950s New Zealand popular culture. She is castigated for her subversive role by the moral right for inciting juvenile delinquency while, simultaneously, offering many of her readers an alternative to the 'norms' of femininity. Her ability to commit herself fully to adventure, her assertiveness and her bodily and vocal (her voice was the voice of authority) command of space are juxtaposed to her ambivalence concerning her love for a man and the pressure to 'fit in'. None of these issues were lost on her young New Zealand readers.
Wonder Woman: The Amazing Story Unfolds Wonder Woman is one of the longest-lived female heroes in western popular culture and the only one to have a totally female lineage. 71 Wonder Woman has been in print in comics since 1941 (there was a short hiatus in 1986-87, but comics featuring Wonder Woman are still being produced).72 Wonder Woman had many of the characteristics applauded by first wave feminism she was nurturing and caring, peace loving, and promoted truth and justice for all - she stood on
71 Wonder Woman aka Princess Diana was conceived through parthenogenesis. See Les Daniels, Wonder Woman: The Complete History (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2000). 72 Richard Reynolds, Superheroes: A Modern Mythology (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1992). 18 high moral ground and is based extremely loosely on Greek myth: the Amazons (the tribe to which Wonder Woman belongs) were a powerful nation of women until Hercules tricked Queen Hippolyte into giving him her magic girdle73 and he then enslaved her people. With help from the Goddess Aphrodite, the magic girdle was returned, but Aphrodite insisted that all Amazonians wear the bracelets as a reminder of their former slavery and a warning to "keep aloof from men".74 The tribe settled on an island they named Paradise (which was seated in the Bermuda triangle) and the author saw fit to create a second, younger generation (Wonder Woman, aka Princess Diana, is Queen Hippolyte's daughter). Similar to the text written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1915, Herland, there are no males with which to procreate.
However, heterosexual desire overwhelms the princess when a crashed World War II pilot washes up on Paradise Island and she nurses him back to health. In the process, she falls in love with him. Wonder Woman flies him back to the United States in her invisible plane after she has healed him, and she then takes on a Women's Air Corp identity, Diana Prince, in order to not only be close to her love, but also to fight the good fight of democracy against Germany in order to end the war. Queen Hyppolite had been concerned about the turn of events outside of Paradise Island, and she was advised by the goddesses Athena and Aphrodite to send an Amazon champion with the pilot (Steve Trevor) to fight for "America, the last citadel of democracy, and of equal rights for women". 75
Queen Hyppolite provided the snazzy red, white and blue costume that Wonder Woman would wear, along with the magic girdle. She wore her bracelets of amazonium (although this was renamed 'feminum' in the television series)76 and a magic lasso which forced those it encircled to tell the truth. Armed thus, she was ready to fight, and to protect the man she loved, of course.
Parthenogenesis, or the 'wonder' of reproduction without males, fades into oblivion in the 1950s after Marston's death, when the "theme of heterosexual romance was insistently fore
73 The magic girdle may signify virginity, but it has also been referenced as the source of both strength and of youth, as different writers at different times were extremely liberal in their reading of the symbolism attached to Wonder Woman's accessories. 74Daniels (2000) 29. 75 All Star Comics December 1941-Jan 1942 cited in Daniels (2000) 25. 76 Wonder Woman. Dir. Douglas S. Cramer. Lynda Carter, Lyle Waggoner. 'The Ferninum Mystique Part I and Part II' (Warner Bros. and DC Comics 1975). 19 grounded"77 in Wonder Woman comics. Not only did Wonder Woman learn to fly in this period78 but a new origin story was created whereby the Amazonian background was eliminated and "hence the non-reproductive creation of the Amazons themselves and of the queen's daughter'\79 Her powers become gifts from the gods and her parents are now human. Wonder Girl also appears at this point - a teenager.
Wonder Woman is encapsulated in Lillian S. Robinson's book Wonder Women: Feminism and Superheroes. 80 In this text, Robinson examines a large selection of heroes from comics, but the chapters of interest are those that specifically relate to the heroic figure of Wonder Woman - her creation, and the female collective (the Holliday College Girls) who helped Wonder Woman when required. This notion of a collective rather than an autonomous stand-alone hero is a theme that will be examined further in my thesis. The chapter 'Genesis' in Robinson's book discusses the originator of Wonder Woman, William Moulton Marston, a psychologist who used the pseudonym Charles Moulton, and his belief that women are superior to men and that in order to achieve worldwide peace, men must bow down to woman- submit.81 Wonder Woman's readers have been predominantly male, and Marston believed that it was males that needed his message most. In his book Wonder Woman: the Complete History, Les Daniels suggests that Marston may have exposed millions of boys - the young men of the 1960s - to the ideals of feminism. This notion of a male author promoting feminism is visited further on in my thesis, with such writers as Joss Whedon (BuffY the Vampire Slayer).
Lillian S. Robinson states that the author "devised his kick-ass heroine as an activist who could force evil to destroy itself 'unless Wonder Woman can bind it for constructive use"'.82 Marston's stance could be considered similar to radical, or difference, feminism in that he believed that women were peace-loving and nurturing.83 In his scientific life he contributed heavily to research which resulted in the development of the lie detector, and Wonder Woman's
77 Robinson (2004) 65. 78 Wonder Woman No. 105, April1959 cited in Robinson (2004) 79. 79 Robinson (2004) 79. 80 Robinson (2004). 81 Ximena Gallardo, 'Gallardo reviews Wonder Women: Feminism and Superheroes by Lillian S. Robinson', Journal ofPopular Culture, 38:6 (November 2005) 1009-1112. 82 Daniels (2000). 83 See Katha Pollitt, 'Marooned on Gilligan's Island: Are Women Morally Superior to Men?', The Nation (December 28, 1992), which references various radical feminist texts, among them: Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982). 20 lasso serves a similar purpose in the comic: as soon as she traps a victim with her golden lasso they cannot help but tell the truth. Marston was also extremely interested in power relationships - "dominance, compliance, submission and inducement".84 Many of the studies he conducted in his professional life became fodder for Wonder Woman plots. For example, as a psychologist he studied undergraduate sorority rituals, which became integrated into Wonder Woman comics in the form of Etta Candy and the "one hundred beautiful, athletic girls"85 (the aforementioned Holliday College Girls): a band of 'sisters' to help Wonder Woman in her quest for peace (and democracy) in the world.
Marston's personal life was somewhat unusual for the times. He married young and later, the student who assisted him in much of his work on power relations and truth experiments began living harmoniously with him and his wife. Each of the women had two children. The relationship is reflected in the triangular relationship between Wonder Woman, Diana Prince and Steve Trevor, although this theme also occurs in Superman comics between Superman, Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Marston died in 194 7, and under the new creative regime, Wonder Woman lost many of her feminist characteristics. Lillian S. Robinson comments: "Wonder Woman did pioneer a kind of feminist questioning, however commercially packaged and conceptually limited, at a time when few other voices in American society were raising such questions", 86 and from a personal point of view it is true that she was instrumental in changing attitudes, however slowly, to how girls could and should act.
When America joined the allies in 1942 in the fight against Hitler and Japan, Wonder Woman was sent to help win the war and although the other Superheroes also helped in the war effort, Wonder Woman was the only comic character consistently operating within this narrative. However, her warrior stance was soon diluted by a post-War backlash:
As a 40s bombshell, Wonder Woman struggled not to swoon over Steve, brushing him aside, putting her mission first ... After Marston died of cancer in 1947, the idealism began to weaken. She constantly fretted about her secret identity (a powerful McCarthyism vibe runs through these issues) and whether she should chuck it all and marry Steve. A standard scenario had Wonder Woman walking
84 Daniels (2000) 13. 85 Ibid., 35. 86 Robinson (2004) 23. 21 down the wedding aisle only to be interrupted before vows by would-be world dominators. 87
War propaganda played on two themes in encouraging women's support. Firstly, womanly support of male loved ones; and secondly, the theme of fascism as a destroyer ofwomen's rights. Wonder Woman, however, belonged to a tribe/community which rejected male authority. New Amazons were created through parthenogenesis, 88 therefore, in post-war ideas about family, there was ambivalence concerning the notion that a warrior woman could bear and nurture children in a heterosexual relationship.
Comics, Juvenile Delinquency and the Post-war Backlash The dilemma that faced Wonder Woman was the lot of women in post-war allied countries: propaganda promoted the normalization of American women's domestic role and traditional gender identities. Heterosexuality and consumerist notions of femininity worked together to promote the right way to be a post-war woman, and these concepts were intimated and spelled out in mass media, advertising, popular psychology, mainstream religion, schools, and all cultural institutions. Perhaps it was Wonder Woman's Amazonian past that caused Frederic Wertham to comment at the time that Wonder Woman is a "frightening image for boys and a morbid ideal for girls".89
The comic was considered by many to be a corrupting and corrupt "form of discourse"90 and Frederic Wertham considered comics as "an invitation to illiteracy"91 and a means of encouraging criminal and delinquent behaviour. Psychologically, they "stimulate unwholesome fantasies"92 according to Wertham. He also believed that Batman and Robin were homosexual and Wonder Woman was lesbian:
She is physically very powerful, tortures men, has her own female following, is the cruel 'phallic' woman. While she is a frightening figure for boys, she is an
87 Hank Stuever, 'Wonder Woman's Powers: As the Superheroine Turns 60, She Maintains Her Grip on the Psyche', Washington Post (Wednesday April18, 2001) COl. 88 A later expansion by Marston on the origin story was that Queen Hippolyte sculpted a statue and induced Aphrodite to grant it life. 89 Wertham (1953) 193 90 Reynolds (1992) 7. For a local and less rigid comment, see Rev. William Heerdegen (Vicar ofRangiora), 'What About Comics?', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (December 13, 1951) 60. 91 Wertham (1953) 118 92 Ibid. 22 undesirable ideal for girls, being the exact opposite of what girls are supposed to want to be. 93
The 1954 Congressional hearings on juvenile delinquency and comics led to the concept of a self-censoring code by the writers and publishers of comics. The ideological message contained within this code is that crime does not pay. Reynolds indicates that by the mid-1980s this code had been rescinded, with comics being promoted for a "mature audience".94 In New Zealand, the _Mazengarb report (The Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents) of 1954, also investigated moral delinquency in children and adolescents.95 There was a Government inquiry into vice in the United Kingdom in the same year too, as the 'problem' of unhealthy sexual practice and delinquency in teens was fore-grounded in these post war allied countries. 96 Page seven of the Mazengarb Report concerns itself with sexual wrong doings in Lower Hutt by adolescents, resulting in the belief for a need for sex education and an investigation of community morality. Particularly concerning was the precocity of girls. It was recognized in the report that comics have a strong influence on children, and similarly to the American Congressional hearings, it was strongly recommended that comics be registered and that "printed matter injurious to children" (that is, printed matter that places undue emphasis on sex, crime or horror)97 be banned.
In Standing in the Sunshine, Sandra Coney points out that: "Between 1945 and 1954 more than 5000 homes had been erected in Wellington's Hutt Valley"98 (the initial area concerned in the moral panic which led to the Inquiry) and "42 per cent of that population was under 24 years old. Elbe's Milk Bar was the gathering place for the local youth". 99 Coney indicates, too, that milk bar culture was a new phenomenon in New Zealand society and "a legacy of the American
93 Ibid., 33, 34. 94 Reynolds (1992) 9. 95 Post-war, the question of sex education by parents, and behaviour of teens, was included as part of the general cultural discourse contained in the New Zealand Woman's Weekly: Mary Miller, 'Daughters in their Teens', New Zealand Woman's Weekly(June 19, 1952) 54-55; Mary Miller, 'It's Different for Young Folks Today', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (Feb 14, 1952) 50-51; Mary Miller, 'Should a Girl be Shy or Forward?' New Zealand Woman's Weekly (May 15, 1952) 60-61; and Bemard L. Calmus (The Psychologist's Consulting Room), 'Practical Interests For Adolescents', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (May 8, 1952) 52-53. 96 New Zealand Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents, Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents (Wellington: Government Printer, 1954). 97 Ibid., 23. 98 Sandra Coney, Standing in the Sunshine: A History ofNew Zealand Women Since They Won the Vote (Auckland: Penguin, 1993). 99 Ibid. 23 servicemen who visited during the Second World War"100 The post-war backlash in New Zealand also promoted a normalized, heterosexual, domestic and nurturing role for women and encouraged marriage and reproduction. 101 As part of the moral panic associated with delinquent youth and the Mazengarb enquiry, the role of mothers was put under the spotlight, and many were found to be 'irresponsible' - working, and therefore not creating positive domestic role models for their daughters (although of the teenagers involved in the inquiry, only 24 per cent of mothers worked, and of these, all but three had made alternative arrangements for their children). 102
Teenagers, the Movies and Marriage A direct result of the Mazengarb Report was the Police Offences Amendment Act 1954 which resulted in the banning of contraceptives or contraceptive information to under 16-year olds. This legislation only served to indicate to those outside the culture that New Zealand was a prudish and narrow society. 'Teenager' was a word that entered New Zealand's vocabulary and a concept that entered consciousness in the 1950s, and consistent with Kelly Schrum's arguments 103 in Some Wore Bobby Sox , the term became synonymous with male teenage culture rather than female. For example, the New Zealand and Australian 'bodgie' derives from the British Teddy Boy. He rides a motorbike, wears greased hair, listens to rock n' roll and has a 'widgie' girl on the back of his motorbike, as a kind of appendage to his identity: "In the public imagination, teenagers first appeared in the 1950s, complete with distinct dress, habits, music, and culture. And they were primarily white and male."104 Schrum suggests that the female teenager began to emerge in the United States in the 1920s. The teenage awareness of 'cultural cool' in the 1930s particularly - through reading, listening to the radio, and observing the behaviour of older girls such as wearing stylish dress and accessorizing, as well as what was 'in' and what was 'out' is documented in Schrum's introduction. 105 Seventeen magazine, the first teenage magazine, 106 appeared in 1944 , and the first edition, published in the United States, sold out its print run of
100 Dunedin Evening Star cited in Coney (1993) 175. 101 In Wonder Woman, most of the women who are employed, even in wartime, are unmarried, and Wonder Woman expresses envy of the wife and mother. See Robinson (2004). 102 Coney (1993) 174. 103 Kelly Schrum, Some Wore Bobby Sox: The Emergence of Teenage Girls' Culture 1920-1945 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004). 104 Ibid., 2. 105 Ibid., 1-10. 106 The first New Zealand teenage or 'young woman's' magazine was Thursday which appeared in 1968 although overseas teen magazines including Seventeen had been available for some years before this at booksellers. 24 400,000 copies m six days. 107 Schrum states that "before World War II, manufacturers, marketers, and retailers in some industries, such as fashion, were among the first to recognize high school girls as a discrete social group with purchasing power". 108
During World War II, the American troops who were stationed in New Zealand109 had a strong influence on the culture. 110 They were paid well and "carried the ersatz sophistication of Hollywood movies". 111 Hollywood movies had impressed themselves on the romantic imagination of many New Zealand women, and this was reflected in the fact that over 1,000 young New Zealand women married American servicemen once the war was over. 112
Danielle Sprecher, in her thesis on appearance and gender in interwar New Zealand cites various statements which indicate that American films had begun to influence public taste between the wars both in Britain and in New Zealand. 113 However, New Zealand's continued attachment to British culture was reflected in radio programmes, the content of which was mainly derived from the BBC. Ruth Butterworth states that:
During the post-war reconstruction of a narrowly materialistic and male dominated and narrow-minded society, radio provided in one sense an alternative voice. If only in the kitchen, it placed a seal of approval on the despised activities of mind and spirit and reinforced the intellectual activities ofnonconformers. 114
Conforming, for women, in post-war New Zealand consisted of a career as nurturer. The 1950s was the Golden Age for New Zealand society, with a British market for dairy products and high prices for wool. There was little unemployment, and the 'baby boom' of the post-war years raised the population to two million people by 1952; there was a massive housing boom from
107 Schrum (2004) 2. 108 Schrum (2004) 3. 109 Between 1942 and 1944 more than 100,000 Unites States servicemen spent various periods in New Zealand: Hamish Keith, New Zealand Yesterdays: A Look at Our Recent Past (Surrey Hills, NSW: Reader's Digest, 1984) 278. 110 The New Zealand government saw the U.S. as a major ally after World War II, and joined the Australia, New Zealand and United States (ANZUS) as well as the South East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) and fought with the U.S. during the Korean and Vietnam wars. 111 Keith (1984) 279 112 Ibid., 278 113 Danielle Sprecher, "The Right Appearance: representations of fashion, gender and modernity in inter-war New Zealand, 1918-1939" (Unpublished MA Thesis, University of Auckland, 1997) 99. 114 Ruth Butterworth, 'The Media', Culture and Identity in New Zealand, eds. David Novitz and Bill Willmott (Wellington: GP Books, 1990) 142-159. 25 1954 until the early 1960s; and consumption levels guaranteed to make up for the rationed war years. 115 A woman's role was that ofnurturer, housewife and consumer. 116
Prosperity post-war and the new home appliances that "lessened the housewives' physical burden"117 meant assumedly, that there would be less domestic labour required and that wives and mothers would have more freedoms. However, the ideology of the time encouraged women to look to their family and ignore their own needs. A domestic media emerged in New Zealand Aunt Daisy on the radio along with a noticeable change in the New Zealand Woman's Weekly magazine which pointedly focused on the importance of housekeeping. Young women's fantasies, fed by Hollywood movies, were channeled into practical ways of keeping one's husband 'interested', or expectations that one would conform to the norm of marriage and 118 motherhood. For example, in an Editorial entitled 'The Age of Chivalry- Dead?' , the woman under discussion, the woman secretary, recognizes that particular forms of chivalry are out of place in the office "But ... she frequently carries her 'equality' over into her private life and so often robs her escort of the opportunity to be gallant ... ". 119 Women were expected to conform to a particular behavioural style or sense of 'femininity'. While the New Zealand Woman's Weekly also published articles debating women's role in society, it mostly reinforced 'feminine' behavioural norms.
Wonder Woman, Equality and Femininity Gloria Steinem, in her introduction to Wonder Woman 120 states that she read Wonder Woman comics from the age of seven. As a woman of a similar age, yet living in a country town in New Zealand, I can verify that I also read Wonder Woman comics from the age of seven. This was in 1957, and any copies of DC Comics121 or Sensation Comics, which also featured Wonder Woman, which arrived in New Zealand prior to the 1960s, would have been odd shipments with no continuity, as DC Comics did not become regular imports into New Zealand until the 1980s. 122 The other Superheroes were very readable, but Wonder Woman was particularly
115 Laurie Barber, New Zealand: A Short History (Auckland: Century Hutchinson New Zealand, 1989). 116 See Helen Cook, 'The Art of Marriage as A Career for the 1950's', New Zealand Women's Studies Journal (August 1985) 43-60. 117 Coney (1993) 80. 118 Jean Wishart, 'The Age of Chivalry- Dead?', N.Z. Woman's Weekly (June 25, 1953) 2. 119 Ibid. 120 Gloria Steinem, 'Introduction' in Wonder Woman: A Tiny Folio™. (New York: Abbeville Press, 1995). 121 DC Comics is a trademark name. 122 Jeremy Bishop, Manager, Gotham Comics, Auckland. (E-mail communication 29 March, 2006). 26 special. She converted her enemies to a belief in equality, and a respect for the rights of others, and her magical/scientific accoutrements were desirable. She had to be more stoic than Superman because she did not have the ability to fly (not yet, anyway), and nor did she have his strength. As I entered high school, television culture came to New Zealand, but Wonder Woman was one of the few positive female super heroes for New Zealand girls to relate to in the comic world. Steinem asks "How many mothers ... tamed their daughters instead of encouraging their wildness and strength?"123 This question is pertinent to the accepted performance of femininity, and the role of the Warrior Woman in popular culture since Wonder Woman appeared.
The comic book Wonder Woman offers a subversive role model in many ways, and stimulates possibilities for acting outside of the norms of femininity. In the early comics, this notion was reinforced by a continuing series within the comic's pages, 'Wonder Women of History', which told the story of heroic role models (for example, Amelia Earhart). 124 However, always already containing ambivalences that are only too human, Wonder Woman's need to protect the man she loves allows the reader to identify with her dilemma: normative behaviours versus subversive behaviours. Wonder Woman's reliance on the Holliday girls also offers a sense of collectivity, a notion which was a moving force in the early women's movement. Although Wonder Woman's creator believed that women would achieve equality worldwide by the end of the Second World War, this, unsurprisingly, did not eventuate.
However, woman as peacemaker was foremost in the mind of at least one New Zealand journalist in the wake of the violence and devastation of World War II. Dorothea G. Bremner asks in 1953, "Will Women Rule the World?" in a review of Sir Julius Vogel's predictions from his book Anno Domini 2000 (written in the late nineteenth century). 125 Vogel predicted that the British Empire and the United States would be ruled by women, and the article in itself was timely, as Princess Elizabeth (a woman) had been crowned Queen of England on June 2, 1953. Dorothea Bremner was forward thinking, because her contributions to the New Zealand Woman's Weekly tended to promote women as the equal of men in the public sphere. For example, an earlier article in July 1952 titled: 'Woman's True Place in a New World' provides the reader with a history of women's inequality. She asks: "Why can't they [women] compete in a modern world
123 Steinem (1995) 13-14. 124 Daniels (2000) 40. 125 Dorothea G. Bremner, 'Will Women Rule the World?' in New Zealand Woman's Weekly (July 2 1953) 64-65. 27 on an equal footing with men and receive a fair deal?"126 William Moulton Marston, creator of Wonder Woman, would have agreed emphatically with Bremner's criticisms of women's inequality and the undervaluing of women's virtues: "intelligence, honesty, courage, business acumen ... " 127
Continuing this trend of women and equality in the early 1950s, the New Zealand Woman's Weekly published a "candid comment on women's wages"128 by a woman reader who believed that women should fight for "man-sized wages". 129 Captions under the photographs in this article indicate that women can do men's work and can also handle heavy machinery on farms. 130 This transgressive femininity is at odds with the traditional domestic role of women. The 'learned helplessness' associated with 'a man to the rescue' had to be eliminated during the war years when women were required to either be self-reliant or rely on each other. This spirit opened women to new considerations about their ''true place"131 in peace time. The New Zealand Woman 's Weekly was also responsible for a 1952 article demonstrating jiu-jitsu holds in order that a woman could handle herself in a threatening situation with a man. The article is entitled 'Hold that Man!' 132 which is a tongue-in-cheek reference to romance (and the ultimate dream of 'catching' a husband). 133
The sub-heading accompanying this article reads: "A woman can be more than a match for a man - if she knows how". 134 The article may have been considered quite novel or unusual to the reader of the New Zealand Woman's Weekly in the 1950s. Very few women would have considered learning jiu jitsu (and self-defence is still, today, not taken up by women as a matter of course), yet the appeal was similar to the fantasy associated with a heroic figure such as Wonder Woman. When World War 11 ended, New Zealand women sought to reconfigure their lives to include socializing with men again, as most of the men left 'at home' were the old, the
126 Dorothea Bremner, 'Woman's True Place In a New World', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (July 31 1952) 15, 54. 127 Ibid. 128 0. V. Rock, 'Equal Pay for Equal Work', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (August 28 1952) 13. 129 Ibid. 130 Ibid. 131 Bremner (1952) 15. 132 New Zealand Woman's Weekly 'Hold that Man!' (May 8, 1952) 32-33. 133 As early as 1908 The Girl Peace Scouts, as well as giving badges for ftrst aid and caring for a baby, introduced girls to self defence in the form of jiu jitsu, and Sue Lytolis continued this trend of women's and girls' self-defence in the late 1970s. 134 'Hold That Man!' (1952) 32. 28 young, and the infirm. Also, many women had lost their husbands in the war, and vulnerability to unscrupulous men was a reality.
As Sherrie Inness points out in her book on tough girls, ours is "a culture where women are often considered the 'natural' victims of men", 135 therefore the fantasy of being able not only to defend oneself, but to change the dynamics and the outcome, would be energizing, to say the least. However, for the majority of women, learning jiu jitsu was considered to be as fantastic as the adventures of Wonder Woman. In this age (1950s), a woman married her husband (was 'given away' by her father to another man) and then adopted his full name (for example, Mrs George Smith), relinquishing her identity. Being independent and ignoring social mores was a sign of deviance (madness, hysteria, man-hating, attention seeking) and almost never considered to be 'lady-like'. A grown woman was feminine, and learned to hold her body in a confining way in a confined space: "Men act and women appear". 136 In other words, men are active and dynamic and women are passive and to be looked at. John Berger suggests that a man's presence is indicative of ''what he is capable of doing to you or for you ... power which he exercised on others. By contrast, a woman's presence expresses her own attitude to herself, and defmes what can and cannot be done to her". 137
The authority of the husband or father was upheld in law in the 1950s, and women were required to be under the protection of a man for their own safety and wellbeing. "Men have strength, and women don't, and need the protection of a man" was a belief that Colette Dowling grew up with in the 1950s.138 Dowling also informs the reader that the myth that exercising could compromise a woman's ability to conceive was still valid well into the twentieth century. 139 In her introductory chapter, Dowling offers the theory of the frailty myth: In the nineteenth century women were restricted physically and mentally because reproduction required all of their 140 energies, and fertility was the 'cult of true womanhood' • Victorian men believed that if women were not defined through a particular lens of 'femininity' which involved "an appropriate
135 Inness (1999) 8. Although Inness is talking about the United States, New Zealand women are vulnerable to the same beliefs. 136 Berger (1972) 47. 137 Ibid., 45-46. 138 Colette Dowling, The Frailty Myth (New York: Random House, 2000). 139 At High School in the 1960s there were many girls at my school in Auckland who were excused from physical education when they were menstruating. 140 Dowling (2000) 4. Of course, this discourse is one of middle and upperclass Victorian womanhood, as lower class women had few options regarding hard physical work. 29 'character', and an appropriate 'look"'141 which emphasized frailty and fragility (emotional and physical), then the whole of the race would be threatened. That is, if women did not concentrate on their fertility and their children, the generations would be lost. This notion of femininity, the frailty myth, was reproduced in a new guise in the 1950s. Women were discouraged from recognizing "their physical strength and spirit": 142 discourses of frailty encouraged women and girls to believe that their physical development was limited or that it was in their best interests to limit their physicality in order to preserve notions of 'femininity'. Discourses of frailty encouraged women and girls (as well as men and boys) to believe the myth of women as frail, "turning them into physical victims"143 and a paradigm of victimhood was created and was 'naturally' associated with femininity.
Iris Marion Young's essay Throwing Like A Girl144 explores aspects of 'femininity' such as bodily comportment and use of space and movement. She notes that women confine their bodies in space by such things as taking small steps, keeping their arms close to their sides, hugging a load to their body, and so on. She notes that "women often do not perceive themselves as capable of lifting ... women tend not to put their whole bodies into engagement in a physical task with the same ease and naturalness as men"145 and she goes on " ... a space surrounds us in imagination that we are not free to move beyond". 146 As women, we are uncertain of the capabilities of our bodies. We are inhibited, and Young suggests that the feminine body is experienced as fragile - 147 as a 'thing' that "exists as looked at and acted upon " - women are distanced from themselves and self-imposed restrictions on embodiment (comportment, motility and spatiality) are directly related to women's position in society, that is, "physically inhibited, confmed, positioned and objectified". 148 Also, a woman lives with the threat of invasion of her body space (inappropriate touching, rape) directly related to her 'belief in her frailty, and creating a confined space in which to operate is a way of distancing any threat. 149 Voice is another area that has been controlled in women. Women collude with notions of propriety and 'femininity' by not speaking out and this same silence accompanies women's fear. Speaking out is a challenge to women's
141 Ibid., 4. 142 Ibid., 4. 143 Ibid., 6. 144 Young (1990). 145 Ibid., 145. 146 Ibid., 146. 147 Ibid., 150. 148 Ibid.,153. 149 Ibid. 30 sense of powerlessness in social situations. Ros Comins reminds her readers that men take up airspace in various ways, from grabbing attention in the classroom as boys to constantly interrupting women's conversation as men, to verbal abuse of each other and women in public spaces.150
Naturally, in the 1950s these second-wave feminist issues were not spelled out, but in retrospect, the expected performances of normative femininity were contrasted to the 'rational unified subject' of the white European male. Judith Butler's later theory of performativity and her emphasis on performative speech acts - those that bring into being that which they name such 151 as the birth of the child and the cry "It's a girl" - indicate that Marston was attempting to destabilize traditional concepts of identity. Butler, in Bodies that Matter points out that the production of an identity comes about through discourses concerned with expectations of what male bodies are and do, and what female bodies are and do. The cry 'it's a girl' compels particular discourses about what 'girl' means, and the "girling"152 of the girl begins at birth. Butler says that "Femininity is thus not the product of choice, but the forcible citation of a norm, one whose complex historicity is indissociable from relations of discipline, regulation, punishment". 153
Few bodies conform to the ideal feminine female (or masculine male) and so 'passing' depends on a performativity that has been honed (often painfully) through practice. Butler states that:
Gender is the repeated stylization of the body, a set of repeated acts within a highly rigid regulatory frame that congeal over time to produce the appearance of substance, of a natural sort ofbeing.154
Acts, gestures, body and voice all contribute to a normative feminine or masculine identity. These normative identities are mapped onto heterosexual bodies, and masculine performance has
150 Ros Comins, 'The Voice of the Teacher', eds. Frankie Armstrong and Jenny Pearson, Well-Tuned Women: Growing Strong Through Voicework (London: The Women's Press, 2001). 151 That which Butler calls the 'girling of the girl': Judith Butler (1993) 232. 152 Ibid., 232. 153 Ibid. 154 Butler (1990) 43-44. 31 been valued over feminine performance. Misperformance is often punished.155 For instance, when one inspects Wonder Woman's tough performance, although she was criticised by Frederic Wertham in the 1950s, it was mediated by her adherence to feminine beauty and her sense of ethics, or the belief that women are more moral than men.
Wonder Woman was the ideal of femininity in so many ways, yet in others she destabilized traditional notions surrounding the performance of normative femininity. She was powerful and did not 'throw like a girl' and she said exactly what she thought. It was as Diana Prince, her secret identity, that her 'femininity' expressed itself. As secretary to Steve Trevor she took direction from him and as such, she was powerless and obeyed the 'feminine' laws of comportment, motility and spatiality, as well as being vocally agreeable. It may be through her Diana Prince character that she became acceptable as Wonder Woman, as a woman warrior who did not threaten the gender order, 156 because in her human disguise she recognized and followed the 'heterosexual norm' of the time.
Wonder Woman, Gender and Appearance Management As well as the heterosexual norm operating during the 1940s and 1950s, early twentieth century advertising created a critical attitude towards bodies, and encouraged self-monitoring in this arena too, offering a variety of products and solutions from which to create the 'ideal' body (for both men and women). 157 The 'ideal' of femininity in the 1940s was emulated by Wonder Woman- smallish breasts, tiny waist and hands and feet, big hips and solid arms and legs. By 1950 she had become more curvaceous with larger breasts, slimmer legs and arms and bigger feet and hands (although in the 1950s, it was still a sign of femininity to have a small shoe size). The pin-up queen, calendar girl and beauty queen were all popular objectifying representations of women in the post-war era, and were images that many women in the western world attempted to copy, encouraged by advertising within popular media, or movie stars on the big screen. Wonder Woman fulfilled all the requirements of the ideal body in the 1950s - thanks to her new
155 In the film The Long Kiss Goodnight, Geena Davis's tough character uses her hands to snap a deer's neck out of mercy in the opening sequence, and this may have contributed to the film's lack of success. Her toughness, although humane, was a misperformance of femininity. That is, although it was a humane gesture, it was too radical for a contemporary audience to accept because women's performance in connection to animals has always been one of nurturing and kindness and helplessness in the face of such tragedy- a man would necessarily be called upon to kill the poor creature. 156 See Bev James and Kay Saville-Smith, 'Creating a Gendered Culture', Gender, Culture and Power (Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1994) 32-48. 157 See for example, 'Become Beautiful in a Week', an advertisement for Creme Tokalon White Colour from New Zealand Woman's Weekly (4 January, 1940) which promises youth and beauty for women. 32
33 33
Joanne Joanne Entwistle, Entwistle, The The Fashioned Fashioned Body Body (Cambridge: (Cambridge: Polity Polity Press, Press, 2000). 2000).
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world, world, but but was was 'born' 'born' in in one one of of those those mysterious mysterious islands islands in in the the Bermuda Bermuda Triangle. Triangle. She She is is from from
considered considered subversive subversive and and unsettling. Luckily Luckily for for Wonder Wonder Woman, Woman, she she is is not not from from the the western western
158 158
bodies bodies are are received received in in society, society, and and that that certain certain bodies bodies such such as as the the female female body-builder, body-builder, are are
the the public public sphere. sphere. Joanne Joanne Entwistle Entwistle is is a a dress dress theorist theorist who who is is aware aware of of the the way way in in which which particular particular
management management involves involves personal personal notions notions of of the the self self or or selves, selves, and and acceptance acceptance of of this this appearance appearance in in
Dress Dress is is one one of of the the means means by by which which bodies bodies are are given given meaning meaning and and identity identity socially. socially. Appearance Appearance
body body in in some some way way - through through clothing, clothing, tattooing, tattooing, cosmetics, cosmetics, perfume perfume and and body body other enhancers. enhancers.
Dress Dress is is a a bodily bodily practice practice and and bodies bodies are are always always situated situated culture. culture. in All All cultures cultures 'dress' 'dress' the the
the the most most approved approved and and most most popular popular styles. styles.
numerous numerous 'stiff 'stiff petticoats) petticoats) and and woman woman as as fetish fetish (pencil-slim (pencil-slim skirt skirt and and four four inch inch stilettos) stilettos) were were
waister waister dress, dress, that that is, is, belted belted at at the the waist waist and and gathered gathered with with fullness fullness - often often accentuated accentuated through through
were were acceptable acceptable wear wear for for sports sports and and by by teenagers. teenagers. Woman Woman as as flower flower ready ready for for pollination, pollination, (shirt
as as barbeques barbeques and and 'lounging' 'lounging' were were appropriate appropriate venues venues for for women women in in trousers) trousers) and and 'pedal 'pedal pushers' pushers'
of of women women as as fertile. fertile. For For example, example, 'slacks' 'slacks' were were frowned frowned on on as as street street wear wear (casual (casual activities activities such such
women's women's ability ability to to act act in in ways ways that that were were considered considered unfeminine, unfeminine, as as well well as as promoting promoting an an image image
must must be be remembered remembered It It that that in in the the 1950s 1950s (and (and late late 1940s) 1940s) women's women's dress dress compromised compromised
things things held held dear dear by by patriotic patriotic Americans. Americans.
'inner' 'inner' self: self: her her dress dress was was symbolic symbolic of of the the United United States. States. Her Her star star spangled spangled outfit outfit embodied embodied all all
dress dress was was that that of of the the beauty beauty pageant pageant or or calendar calendar girl, girl, she she could could be be related related to to more more as as a a fantasy fantasy
potions potions and and products products available available in in the the marketplace. marketplace. However, However, because because Wonder Wonder Woman's Woman's everyday everyday
illustrators illustrators - a a - body body that that was was beyond beyond the the abilities abilities of of most most women women to to 'achieve' 'achieve' regardless regardless of of penned look gave way to a softer style, longer and wavy like a brunette Rita Hayworth. Her tiara widened to compensate for the missing penned curls above her forehead, and her facial appearance completely changed: her 1940s small round face with high arched brows, exposed eyelids and dark red lipstick on cupid lips was transformed into a 1950s longer face with different shaped brows, no obvious lid on the eyes and full lips painted pale pink with nail polish to match. Harry G. Peter illustrated Wonder Woman comics until just after the death of Marston, and from 1949 onwards, there were various artists involved in both cover work and the story illustrations, each with their own individual interpretation of Wonder Woman and their own take on current notions of femininity.
Wonder Woman's appeal is that her dress and appearance practices are far removed from western norms in certain ways (her strength, her 'magic' accessories, her costume and her body appears to be both flawless and hairless), and approach the 'ideal' of western norms in other ways (her beauty and her 'perfect' body). Wonder Woman's weakness is in her bracelets. The bracelets are a reminder for Amazons not to succumb to the seductive power of the opposite sex. It is therefore only when a man chains or welds them together that she loses her super strength. Because she will never submit willingly, it is only through blackmail (being forced to protect others) or through being drugged that this can happen: that she will allow the bracelets to be connected, resulting in a loss of her super strength. If the bracelets are removed completely, Wonder Woman reverts to savagery: irrational, lacking strategic thought and allowing for dangerous and destructive possibilities. The bracelets allow her to take part in culture by engaging both mind and body. On a physical level, the bracelets are useful bullet-deflectors.159 Marston may be suggesting that the enslavement of women was not nice, but that without the remnants of the shackles (the bracelets) women could not take part in culture. This is not a feminist concept, but neither is a 'Paradise' Island inhabited by women only wearing what appear to be orientalised harem costumes (and these evolve into shortie-nightie negligees in the television series in the 1970s). Children use clothing in order to relegate people to gender categories from a very early age. 160 There are only two gender categories (only two 'normative' categories), and social expectations are such that females have traditionally been assumed to have an interest in feminine pursuits such as appearance management and beauty culture, and men are
159 Robinson (2004) 60-61. 160 Susan Kaiser, The Social Psychology of Clothing: Symbolic Appearances in Context (New York: Macmillan, 1990) 65. 34 expected to show little interest in such things. Even when cultural realities change, individual perceptions often take some time to change. Fashion often expresses tensions between new ways of performing gender and paradigmatic stereotypes. This becomes clearer throughout the following chapters in relation to Wonder Woman's appearance management throughout the decades into the twenty-first century.
However, even in the 1940s and 1950s, Wonder Woman was a complex and ambivalent subject. Her body shape and costume changed to suit the conventions and fashions of the times, and her heterosexual love for Steve Trevor was in direct conflict with Amazonian lore. Her secret identity, Diana Prince, caused her even more confusion as she attempted to find happiness in a world where successful performance of self was gauged in terms of the white European male. Issues of importance socially in the post-war era such as marriage, heterosexuality, femininity, motherhood, nurturing and home-making were all played out in the comics, constantly threatening Wonder Woman's identity as an Amazon. These 'problems' were also the site of ambivalence in the 1950s housewife.
Betty Friedan's 1957 assertion that: "there was a strange discrepancy between the reality of our lives as women and the image to which we were trying to conform, the image that I came to call the feminine mystique"161 was made in her home country, the United States, but was echoed in a 1959 article in the New Zealand Listener which criticized the boredom of the domestic role for women and the lack of "educational opportunities"162 for women. Sandra Coney states that:
It wasn't until the 1960s- when the daughters of those post-war mothers were spear-heading the modem women's movement- that the psychological hazards of the 'traditional' lifestyle began to be publicly uncovered ... Suburban neurosis was soon to become the buzzword ofthe decade. 163
The 'daughters of those post-war mothers' included among them, those who, like myself, read Wonder Woman comics and wanted to have our freedom, but also hoped for marriage. Our ambivalence was echoed in the dilemma faced by our comic book hero concerning the air force pilot she had rescued.
161 Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (New York, London: W.W. Norton, 1983, first published 1963) 11. 162 Roth cited in Coney (1993) 80. 163 Coney (1993) 80. 35 2 Mrs Peel: Fashion, Toughness and Cool
In Chapter One, Wonder Woman faced the dilemma of being a warrior woman with feminist tendencies in post-war America. This is because in the 1950s, marriage and the family were promoted as the ultimate career for women. In the 1960s, marriage was still a desirable career, but these were the years of discontent, the rise of youth culture and challenges to conventional ways of thinking and questioning of cultural mores.
This chapter will evaluate the tough character Mrs Peel, her influence in the 'swinging' sixties, and the continuing ambivalence concerning femininity and gender relations. Much of this chapter is devoted to fashion and dress, because of the upheaval created by boutiques and their effect on fashion houses. The boutique was synonymous with individuality, and Emma Peel wore only the very latest of fashions, all originals. She was the first to wear a mini skirt, purchased from the designer Courreges three months before the style appeared in boutiques. 164 Mrs Peel represented the New Woman who rejected the Old Order of British propriety. The storylines of The Avengers redefined roles available to women in television, and Mrs Peel, as a single woman, offered an alternative to marriage as a career.
Television, The Avengers and Modernity In hindsight, Britain and the United States were rival cultural influences in New Zealand in the 1950s and early 1960s. As a former colony, New Zealand adapted the British model for Government administration and education and although New Zealanders considered themselves, unlike the British, to have no class system, British cultural mores and popular culture influenced New Zealand media and society in general. However, New Zealand was influenced by United States popular culture, particularly films. This influence was mainly due to the presence of American soldiers in New Zealand during the war years. In the 1960s, television became the predominant medium through which the cultural rivalry was played out.
In 1960, television entered the New Zealand cultural equation and by 1963 most homes or neighborhoods in the main cities had a television set. Each centre had its own local programmes,
164 To by Miller, The Avengers (London: bfi Publishing, 1997) 47. 36 as the overseas shows had to be flown from centre to centre, similar to the processes of the Film Society in New Zealand today, and it was not until 1969 that the first national news broadcast simultaneously in all main centres. 165 Paul Smith writes that the entertainment provided was "wholesome, generally innocuous ... clearly had families in mind". 166 However, Susan J. Douglas points out that the entertainment offered generally presented women as dependent on men, from Mr Ed through to The Wonderful World of Disney and, therefore, not at all wholesome and innocuous. 167 One of the new frontiers in the 1960s, was space exploration, which provided huge scope for television programme themes: Lost in Space, My Favourite Martian, Star Trek and Thunderbirds were all United States programmes that screened during the 1960s, yet "seventeen of the top twenty-one programmes from 1966 to 1971 were British" according to Paul Smith, 168 which reflected New Zealand's continued colonial ties.
One British programme from the late 1960s that had a significant impact on viewers was The Avengers with the lead characters John Steed and Emma Peel. The Avengers had begun life in 1961 on British television and Patrick Macnee (the actor who plays John Steed) said that the series concerned "two men in dirty macs going around looking macho and being buddies". 169 In the second series, 1962-3, John Steed exchanged his trench coat for dapper suits, bowler and umbrella - a dandy yet recognizably tough. He now had an aristocratic class identity. He had various male, then female partners. Marc O'Day states that "as pop assemblages, Steed and his partners had lots of fun, demonstrating their superiority through the exercise of good taste and refinement based on a combination of traditional and modem elements - especially in the Peel years ... " 170 Of the early female partners, the actress Honor Blackman as the widow Mrs Catherine Gale was the most memorable and she was retained for the third series in 1963-4. Honor Blackman's black leather costumes began to influence fashion, and the series eventuated into a pop culture phenomenon. Chapman states that "One of the claims frequently made on behalf of The Avengers is that it was the first popular television series to provide roles for women
165 A.H. McLintock, ed., 'Broadcasting and Television'. An Encyclopaedia ofNew Zealand, cited on website www.teara.govt.nz (retrieved 8 April, 2006). 166 Paul Smith, Twist and Shout: New Zealand in the 1960s (Auckland: Random Century, 1991) 56. 167 Susan J. Douglas, Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media (New York: Three Rivers Press, 1994) 21-42. 168 Smith (1991) 58. 169 James Chapman, Saints and Avengers (London, New York: I.B. Taurus, 2002) 59. 170 Marc O'Day, 'Ofleather suits and kinky boots: The Avengers, style and popular culture', eds. Bill Osgerby and Anna Gough-Yates, Action TV: Tough Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks (London, New York: Routledge, 2001) 221-235. 37 who were portrayed as being equal to men. In particular, Blackman's character of Catherine Gale has been claimed as a feminist heroine". 171 She had intelligence, having earned a PhD in Anthropology and she had technical skill, as evidenced by her judo expertise. She also had sex appeal and she appeared to be Steed's equal. The Avengers' parodies of the thriller genre; the attention to style rather than content; the themes concerning discourses of technology; and modernity teamed with the conflicting interests of traditionalists, created a cult following. In 1964 Honor Blackman left the series to play the part of Pussy Galore in the James Bond film Goldfinger, and Steed makes playful reference to this in their last episode together.
In the fourth series, the Shakespearian actress Diana Rigg was cast as Emma Peel, and this was the series bought for New Zealand television. The New Zealand Listener from November 26, 1965 carried a front page image of Emma Peel172 and an inside article which overviewed the series and noted that the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) viewing committee had picked up the newer series starring Emma Peel because the film quality was much better than in the earlier series. The first Peel/Steed series was black and white, and the second was in colour. New Zealand viewers were lucky enough to be watching each episode only weeks after they had been screened in Britain. The series began screening on Auckland television (AKTV2) and Wellington television (WNTV1) in December, 1965.173 According to Chapman, Emma's name was a pun- the heroine was to have 'man-appeal' or 'M-appeal', thus 'Emma Peel' .174 Peel was an intelligent and sophisticated widow who preferred karate to judo, and her wardrobe rejected the leather of Honor Blackman and adopted the notion of fashion leadership. John Bates, London fashion designer was asked to create Emma Peel's wardrobe specifically for the series.175 Mrs Gale (Blackman) and Steed had a certain camaraderie, but Steed and Mrs Peel created an onscreen sexual tension that left the viewer unsure of their relationship. This fourth and a fifth series which also starred Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee are considered the classic period of The Avengers. The narratives border on the fantastic and parody the notions of chaos versus order- a constant theme is the notion that traditionalists found it hard to accept modernity.
171 Chapman (2002) 63. 172 The caption reads: 'Shakespearean actress Diana Rigg is the gun-toting, judo-throwing heroine of the Avengers", coming on television'. New Zealand Listener (November 26, 1965) (front cover). 173 New Zealand Listener (December 10, 1965) 38. 174 Chapman (2002) 75. 175 Marnie Fogg, Boutique: A '60s Cultural Phenomenon (London: Mitchell Beasley, 2003). 38
39 39
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was was character character her her style, style, 1960s 1960s true true in in but but supposedly, supposedly, equal, equal, Steed's Steed's John John was was Peel Peel Emma Emma featured Emma Peel- were watched by millions. Chapman states that in the late 1960s the series earned millions of pounds and was screened in over seventy countries - an estimated 30 million viewers. 180 Emma Peel allowed for those New Zealand women and girls 'tuned to the frequency' to see a deconstruction of the stereotype of women's role as breeder and keeper of the home. She lived alone without anxiety about 'being on the shelf, and dispelled myths about what good girls 'ought' to do.
Mrs Peel was no 'dolly bird' 181 but a sophisticated 'new woman', leading the way for teenage baby boomers such as myself. Diana Rigg, who plays the character, is quoted as saying: "I identify with the new woman in our society who is evolving. Emma is totally equal to Steed. The fighting is the most obvious quality''. 182 Yet she is also quoted as saying quite the opposite: "Emma isn't fully emancipated". 183 Her ambivalence mirrors the confused sexual politics of the 1960s which is also reflected in a male journalist's comment concerning Diana Rigg after an interview with her regarding her role in The Avengers: "A delightful girl, but I wish she hadn't felt it necessary to help me on with my coat". 184 This statement is emulated in the narrative contained in The Avengers: tradition versus modernity and paradigmatic attitudes confronted by the sexual revolution.
Baby Roomers, Bricolage and the Old Order The 'swinging sixties' was truly a time of revolution in the western world: in music (Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles); the space race between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.; the building of the Berlin Wall; the Vietnam conflict; the death of Marilyn Monroe; the Cuban missile crisis; the Cold War; the assassination of President Kennedy; the invention of the contraceptive pill; student riots in Europe; the assassination of Martin Luther King; and Woodstock music festival in New York. In New Zealand, Laurie Barber writes from the point of view of an opinionated observer: "In the 1960s kaftan-wearing, woolly-bearded alternative life stylers and their beaded, bra-less mates staged 'love-ins' and summoned the world to 'ban the bomb' and 'legalise marijuana"'. 185 With the advent of television, New Zealand was in more
18° Chapman (2002) 52. 181 A term used to refer to 15+ United Kingdom teen girls who were fashionable and up with the latest trends. Diana Rigg who played Mrs Peel was 28 years old. 182 Miller (1997) 73. 183 Ibid. 184lbid. 185 Barber (1989) 175. 40 immediate contact with the rest of the world, and New Zealand baby boomers became even more aware of the gap in thinking between the generations. Their parents had accepted authority and the law without question, but the new generation questioned all authority and this was reflected in music, social relations, and examination of cultural mores. Young women, too, began to question women's role in society as the feminist movement gained momentum. The Feminine Mystique was published in the United States in 1963 and in 1966 the author, Betty Friedan, helped found the National Organization for Women, which coined the phrases 'Women's Lib' and the 'glass ceiling'. 'Suburban neurosis', or a feeling ofbeing trapped in the home and separated from other women in the community, was experienced by women in New Zealand as more and more women needed psychiatric treatment for illnesses related to restricted housewife and mother roles and, others, according to Christine Dann, vented their dissatisfaction by publicly demanding societal changes. 186 For example, in opposition to doctors, most of whom were male, and as early as 1954, a family planning clinic opened, offering advice and practical help to women, as many New Zealand women had little knowledge about contraception. Dann makes it clear that feminism was finding new forms in that it was channeling women's discontent into "efforts to raise the status of women" .187
Women's discontent was not deliberated in a radical manner in the popular women's magazine NZ Woman's Weekly which had, since the end of World War II, mostly reinforced stereotypical attitudes to femininity. In 1968 the need for a public forum for women's voices was filled by an alternative magazine called Thursday, founded in order to cater to young New Zealand women. The question of woman's role was hotly debated in the magazine. Young women tended to disassociate themselves from the old order, and the 'generation gap' was a very real phenomenon, so although women of all ages read Thursday, opinions expressed by older women were ignored or discounted by the young.
Young women demanded change in the uniformity of fashion, too. In the 1950s, the little shop or 'boutique' came into vogue, propelled by the need for change from the middle-of-the road styles contained in the department store and in most magazines. Mary Quant started her
186 Christine Dann, Up From Under: Women and Liberation in New Zealand 1970-1985 (Wellington: Alien and Unwin, 1985) 3. 187 Ibid., 3. 41 boutique Bazaar in 1955 in London188 and the beginnings of street style, a personal approach to appearance management, began to influence fashion. 189 Nova magazine appeared on the London scene in 1965 and was also shipped to the antipodean magazine stores in Auckland, New Zealand. The magazine advertised itself as "a new kind of magazine for the new kind of woman". 190 It encouraged individuality and a personal approach to appearance management such as visiting the haberdashery department or the opshop in order to create a personal fashion statement. Bricolage was a very prominent aspect of Nova magazine which set it apart from other contemporary magazines. Nova did not even offer prices or stockist information in its fashion features. In a similar vein to The Avengers, style took precedence over content. The magazine appealed to the new woman who wanted to distance herself from her mother's generation in every way.
The generation gap may not have been a new phenomenon, but it received more attention worldwide with the advent of the new tele-visual communication network. From The Avengers to Bewitched (Samantha was continually disrupting Darren's notions of what a good wife should be) to the eruptive emotions of screaming female Beatles' fans, young women were increasingly questioning the expectation that they were required to marry and be 'tied to the kitchen sink' with large families. In fact, both young men and young women had taken the threat of nuclear war to heart: the Cold War between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. was also an 'arms race' whereby each tried to outdo the other in the amassing of nuclear armaments, and many, not just in New Zealand, but within the western world, felt strongly about bringing new life into such a depressing and nihilistic society.
Many of these anxieties, insecurities and a questioning of the old order were addressed or satisfied to an extent in pop cultural themes: The Avengers represented all of the ambiguities of the new modernity or post-modernity in the fantastic and surreal chaos versus order episodes that many New Zealanders looked forward to every week. As a plus, women got to experience, vicariously, a way of being which spoke of freedom and adventure yet was still strikingly feminine, in the form of the awesome Mrs Peel. To me, as a young woman about to enter the
188 Fogg, (2003) 21. 189 Fashion had always been dictated by the fashion houses before this, and there were really only one or two fashionable 'looks' and versions thereof. 190 Alice Beard, "'Put in Just for Pictures": Fashion Editorial and the Composite Image in Nova 1965-1975'. Fashion Theory Vol. 6 Issue 1 (February 2002) 25. 42 working world, Mrs Peel spoke of freedom and sophistication, yet autonomy was not a long-term option because I was still caught up in the ultimate dream of marriage and 'being taken care of. As it eventuated, Mrs Peel disappeared from public life into the home when her long-lost husband reappeared: as a widow she had freedoms that were denied her in marriage. The married woman had a different position in society than the young single working woman or girl in the 1960s. Wives often had to rely on the generosity of their husband for their allowance, and articles such as that written by New Zealand Woman's Weekly staff writer Patricia Hill introduce some practical statements made by the New Zealand Marriage Guidance Council on what an allowance is, and its importance to a wife as an "independent person". 191 The 'Teen View' in the same issue of the magazine concerns etiquette: "Nothing makes a girl feel better than to have doors opened for her, a helping hand offered when she is teetering down steps in high-heeled sling backs ... " 192 More so than in the 1950s, articles in the New Zealand Woman's Weekly swung between notions of stereotyped femininity and notions of individualism and autonomy. The latter concepts were mostly mapped onto the teenager or 'new woman': the baby-boom generation coming of age, stepping out into the workforce in the post-war economic boom, when businesses were growing in New Zealand. Many young women such as myself were employed in 'supportive' roles such as receptionist or telephonist or secretary.
Mrs Peel: Fashion, Toughness and Cool Sherrie A. Inness notes that the 'new woman' in the form of Mrs Peel in The Avengers was quite revolutionary, and qualifies this statement by saying that: "The Avengers played an important role in demonstrating that women could be just as tough as men yet also helped support stereotypes about women."193 Inness believes that Mrs Peel was a warrior, or tough, but also notes that The Avengers emphasized her femininity and sex appeal. However, in the 1960s her character represented a radical departure from 1950s considerations of acceptable femininity. Like Wonder Woman in comics, Emma Peel was subverting notions of 'normative' femininity in the new medium of television. Some of Inness' s discomfort with Mrs Peel's performance dwells in the use of disguise. Emma Peel disguises herself variously as a nurse, 194 a salesgirl, 195 a
191 Patricia Hill, 'What Percentage of a Man's Wage Should be a Wife's Allowance?' New Zealand Woman's Weekly (October 11, 1965) 4, 5, 47, 52. 192 Beth, 'Teen View', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (October 11, 1965) 47. 193 Inness, Sherrie A. 'Semi-Tough. Emma Peel, Charlie's Angels, the Bionic Woman, and Other Wanna-Bes'. Tough Girls: Women Warriors and Warrior Women in Popular Culture. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999) 33. 194 The Avengers television episodes: 'The Masterminds' and 'The Gravediggers' 43 dancing girl in a harem, 196 and a sin queen. 197 However, she also impersonates a journalist198 and is an anthropologist with an extensive knowledge in many areas: her male counterpart, John Steed, relies on her brainpower in many situations.
In a panel discussion on empowered women, Julie D 'Acci and Ronald Smith say: "the 1960s had a trend of empowered women on TV ... these women were still constrained by stereotypes of femininity, they were part of an expansion out of more limited roles". 199 Like Wonder Woman before her, Mrs Peel was a positive role model for young women but also an object of desire. Disguise, suggests Inness, undermines Mrs Peel's toughness: " ... her toughness can be seen as only another example of her play with disguises; we need not fear her if we can believe that underneath the tough exterior a 'true' woman resides".200
This negative reading of disguise could also be considered in a more positive light. That is, although most women perform a 'self' at some time in their life that ensures protection in a dangerous or undermining situation, such as agreeing with a masculine view or carrying out a task not in keeping with their worldview, the ability to read another's body language can also be used in an empowering manner - and this latter approach is adopted by Mrs Peel. Her ability to 'pass' has similar implications to those of Diana Prince, Wonder Woman's secret identity: it is within the performed persona that stereotypes of femininity are enacted. 'Diana Prince' and whatever disguise Mrs Peel happens to don enables the discovery of that which would not be revealed to the tough, empowered, intelligent, cool, witty and beautiful woman that is Mrs Peel (or Wonder Woman). Performing the 'feminine' in a knowing manner can, therefore, be a useful tool if it is used as a positive means to a productive feminist end.
195 The Avengers television episode: 'Death at Bargain Prices' 196 The Avengers television episode: 'Honey for the Prince' 197 The Avengers television episode: 'A Touch of Brimstone' 198 The Avengers television episode: 'Honey for the Prince'. It should be noted that women had formerly been men's helpers on television programmes, and yet the audacious Mrs Peel had the capacity to be both a harem dancer and a sharp witted journalist in the same episode. 199 Julie D' Acci and Ronald Smith, 'Feminine Wiles: empowered women, heroic and evil. (Images of Women) (Panel Discussion)'. Television Quarterly Vol. 27 No. 2 (Spring 1994) 20-23. Julie D'Acci has also written an essay on Honey West, the United States equivalent ofMrs Peel: Julie D' Acci, 'Nobody's Woman? Honey west and the new sexuality', eds. Lynn Spigel and Michael Curtin, The Revolution Wasn't Televised: Sixties Television and Social Conflict (New York: Routledge, 1997) 74-93. 200 Inness (1999) 35. 44 Inness also takes issue with the emphasis on Mrs Peel's sexuality which undermined her toughness: "She frequently wore clothing that revealed her every curve"?01 In the 1960s Emma Peel was the definition of 'cool' and epitomized the new woman, and her taste in clothes was one of her main draw cards. In every episode she would adopt four or more different outfits, and in hindsight, her harem costume or bondage gear can be seen as part of her disguise. The Avengers is concerned with conflict between tradition and modernity, therefore wearing the costume of desire such as veil or corset, under protest - being drugged and dressed in bondage gear202 or disguise such as harem-wear203 to uncover plots- is yet another aspect of this conflict. In contrast to the tradition of woman's place (concubine or sex mistress), as preferred costume Mrs Peel unhesitatingly adopts the modem, the pop art, the op art.
Mrs Peel began her partnership with John Steed encased in the black leather favoured by her predecessor Mrs Gale (Honor Blackman) but soon began to prefer exclusive designer fashions. As stated when discussing Wonder Woman, fashion is often a visual expression of the tension between new concepts of gender performance and old stereotypes. John Bates was the designer who introduced the mini skirt and the 'emmapeeler' catsuits. Marnie Fogg states that " ... Bates' agenda was to show Rigg as an entirely new sort of heroine: modem, sexy and provocative".204 His trademark features were cutaway armholes that exaggerated the shoulders and seductive circular cutouts, particularly in the 'emmapeelers' to reveal the skin beneath.
Bates was, himself, a bricoleur, having created his first mini-dress from oilskin found in some obscure and grubby retail premises?05 He was also influenced by such designers as Mary Quant and Courreges (the op-art influence) and he, in turn, became well known when his fashions were modeled by icons like the model Twiggy. The designer ofEmma Peel's clothes for the later episodes was Alun Hughes. Mrs Peel's clothing was often used to offset the patriarchal dress and attitudes of the 'traditional' in 1960s Britain. Toby Miller, in describing an excerpt from the episode 'Castle De'ath', states: "She arrives in her Lotus (convertible car) wearing a tartan catsuit and a tweed oatmeal jacket. At a candlelit dinner she contrasts with the men, who are dressed in lace and velvet, by entering with bare midriff, bra-top, modesty jacket, hipster trousers and ankle
201 Ibid., 36. 202 The Avengers television episode: 'A Touch of Brimstone' 203 The Avengers television episode: 'Honey for the Prince' 204 Fogg (2003) 38. 205 Ibid., 38. 45 boots all under the sign of lame".206 One can imagine the intake of breath of the older males in traditional dinner dress, and their mixed emotions of outrage and admiration. Emma Peel would have been well aware of her impact, but mostly took everything in her stride. The change in costumes in 'Escape in Time' include "red evening gown for a hunt ball; emmapeeler pantsuit, black leather gloves, and a sky-blue coat; wide, short black jacket; an 18th Century lady's court gown complete with a beauty spot on the cheek; and a car mechanic's overalls"?07 Costume was an integral part of the series, and imperative in juxtaposing the traditional to the modem and traditional notions of 'feminine' with the feminine new woman.
Mrs Peel was, it appears, luxuriating in her challenges to convention. According to Kaja Silverman, clothing makes our bodies culturally visible?08 Fashion is a site which allows women self-expression and is a way to constitute notions of the feminine, which reflect attitudes to social and cultural constructions. Of course fashion is also influenced by technological developments. Richard Wolfe notes: "The development of pantyhose in the early 1960s made possible ... the miniskirt"209 and with the miniskirt came the rejection of the panty-girdle and a more natural shape in underwear. W olfe describes these changes as "liberation from the constraints of the past".210 He also notes that trousers for women were in a transitional stage in the early 1960s, and it took some time for employers to accept women wearing trouser suits to work. I distinctly remember sewing a navy blue linen trouser suit with red inset bands on flared cuffs and sleeves. Fashionable items were only stocked in high fashion boutiques in Auckland, and the emphasis was on originality, so home sewing was often the only option. I worked in government offices where the trouser suit was accepted by 1966. Emma Peel had no qualms about wearing trousers. The emmapeeler catsuit was an action uniform, so did not count in the scheme of bifurcation. However, hipster trousers and trouser suits were common fare for this sophisticated yet tough warrior woman, and the following quote indicates how serious this subversive appearance management was considered to be:
In the 1960s the majority of women could not wear trousers to work at all ... One young woman was refused entrance to an exclusive London restaurant because
206 Miller (1997) 48. 207 Ibid., 50. Miller appended this description with: "Suck on this, Madonna." He truly is a fan ofMrs Peel! 208 Kaja Silverman, 'Fragments of a Fashionable Discourse'. Tania Modleski (ed), Studies in Entertainment (B1oomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1986) 145. 209 Richard Wolfe, The Way We Wore: Clothes New Zealanders Have Loved. (Auckland: Penguin, 2001) 28. 210 Ibid., 28. 46 she was wearing a trouser suit; having removed the trousers she was allowed in wearing the tunic top only, which passed muster as a mini-dress. Semi-nudity was more acceptable than bifurcated garb.Zll
It was the Parisian designer Courreges who introduced the trouser suit, and Elizabeth Wilson believes that this fashion prefigured the greater acceptability today of trousers.Z 12 But Courreges also designed op art and space age minis, which tended to operate in opposition to that which trousers stood for: that is, the mini skirt created a 'little girl' look contrasted to the 'business-like' appearance of the trouser suit. The mini also restricted movement- one needed to be cautious of bending and reaching actions while the trouser suit allowed for freedom in movement with no threat of exposed underwear. Mrs Peel cheerfully took on the challenges attached to both forms of dress - social and practical - with a total lack of self-consciousness. Male desire is aroused when Emma Peel is zipped, cut away, encased in a catsuit and throws her victims with graceful martial arts moves, but most males I have spoken to who are old enough to remember the series also admired her for her cool and her witty banter. Her persona was certainly one that impressed young women such as myself who, to this day, associate her beauty and style with those zany plots and her tough, brave attitude was influential for young women about to go out on their own.
Lipstick, Hairpins and Rationality The final criticism that Inness makes concerning the reinscribing of gender conventions or concepts of normative femininity in relation to Mrs Peel is that Mrs Peel was rescued on a regular basis by her partner, John Steed. Inness says: "As tough as she was, she was not tough enough to be equal to him or other men. Thus she did not threaten the masculinity of the male viewer ..." 213 Mrs Peel did, often, rescue Steed, and he, being a gentleman, recognized her efforts. For example, in 'The Living Dead', Emma machine-guns Steed's would-be executioners and he thanks her with a kiss on each cheek. Unlike most female characters in dire circumstances Emma Peel always kept her cool. She was feminine in her sense of style and deportment. She used kung fu and tai chi as preferred methods of fighting, and took up a great deal of space with the least amount of effort - her makeup was never smudged and her voice never rose above a sharp
211 Elizabeth Wilson and Lou Taylor, 'Fashion for al11950-1970', Through the Looking Glass: A History ofDress From 1860 to the Present Day. (London:BBC books, 1989) 188. 212 Wilson (1985). 213 Inness (1997) 36. 47 warning cry to her partner. She never screamed, never sweated, and rarely lost her breath. Even Wonder Woman thought she was fabulous and wanted to be her.
In 1968 Princess Diana, also known as Wonder Woman, appeared on the cover of the September-October 1968 issue of Wonder Woman in a mini-dress as her alter ego Diana Prince but looking hip rather than her usual mousy. The story line was that she was required to fit in with a crowd at a hippie club in order to free Steve Trevor of criminal charges. In the next issue of the comic, Paradise Island, Wonder Woman's home, had been transported to another dimension, and Wonder Woman chose to abandon her powers to stay on earth. She chose this option because she was jealous of her alter ego (yet again) for attracting the attention of Steve Trevor with her new clothes. One of the scriptwriters at the time said that making Princess Diana earthbound and a high achiever "according to my mind, was very much in keeping with the feminist agenda"214 but feminists complained that DC Comics had weakened an important symbol.215 Another writer stated: "We were all in love with Diana Rigg and that show she was on".216 Diana Prince wore clothes that could have been created for Emma Peel: her favourite outfit was a white jumpsuit with a large white hipster belt and white boots - very like an emmapeeler. She trained with a martial arts expert (remember that she is no longer Princess Diana and has no powers) and learned to defend herself. The new Diana Prince would not - could not - be a victim.
The notion of woman as victim is considered by Toby Miller with respect to The Avengers: " ... horror-film methods of demeaning woman ... the idea of disfigurement as a gendered punishment, taking away women's principal currency in a patriarchal cultural economy, is referenced in unknown men cutting up pictures of... Mrs Gale and Mrs Peel".217 The 'woman as victim' plot in The Avengers takes place in isolated rural dwellings involving some kind of mental cruelty which results in a sense of powerlessness. However, Mrs Peel comes out on top, sometimes through her own resources, sometimes helped by Steed. In 'The House that Jack Built', Mrs Peel has to deal with a man who is obsessed with her and she has to slash a giant photograph of herself in order to escape. By mutilating her own image she rejects the passive or
214 Daniels (2000) 126. Second-wave feminism was in its infancy in 1968. 215 Ibid., 126. 216 Ibid., 129 217 Miller (1997) 71. 48 victim role, taking charge and disrupting the male gaze through her actions.218 However, always beautiful, she paradoxically invites the gaze as she "peers back out through the cutup portrait of her face"?19 Steed arrives but is not needed because Mrs Peel has saved herself through "lipstick, hairpins and rationality"?20 Mrs Peel's role did not threaten the 'masculinity of the male viewer' because her clothing and accessories both signified male action - catsuits, guns - that male viewers would identify with, and revealed the female body and feminine practices - lipstick, hairpins - that male viewers would delight in. One could say that Mrs Peel's approach was subversive in that she rejected the norms of what a woman should be, yet she did not threaten the gender order with any outrageous unruly behaviour. She understood the fine line that she was required to tread in order to be an acceptable new woman.
The Swinging Sixties, Sexual Revolution and Tradition Mrs Peel captured the 1960s Zeitgeist- the demise of the grand narrative and the rise of the individual - from boutique shops to sexual revolution to the questioning of authority. Hilary Fawcett writes ofher youth in Newcastfe and London in the 1960s:
The changing fashion system allowed young people like myself to reinvent ourselves in terms of social status through the ever-changing subtleties of fashion ... However confused I may have been about my role in the world, on the outside I looked in control, totally of the moment.221
Fawcett had the ability to be a fashion leader, and this allowed her to feel powerful in at least one area of her life. Young women needed only to tune in to The Avengers on television to see Mrs Peel in the very latest fashions, avenging crimes of the most outrageous sort in the most surreal surrounds, ironic quip on her lips and martial arts at the ready. In his review of Toby Miller's book on The Avengers, Chad A. Martin states that "Gale and particularly Peel represent women of the future, overflowing with ability, confidence and sexuality. They were women who could write a paper on thermodynamics, then slip into a black leather catsuit to toss thugs around like rag dolls without ever disturbing their makeup."?22 However, although Mrs Gale and Mrs
218 Ibid. 219 Ibid., 113-114. 220 Ibid., 116. 221 Hilary Fawcett, "Doon the Toon': Young Women, Fashion and Sexuality', Fashioning the Feminine: Representation and Women's Fashion from the Fin de Siecle to the Present, eds. Cheryl Buckley and Hilary Fawcett (London, New York: LB. Tauris, 2002) 123. 222 Chad A. Martin, 'The Avengers', Historical Journal ofFilm, Radio and Television Vol. 18 No. 3 (August 1998) 458-459. 49 Peel may have been full of confidence and self-esteem, many dedicated followers of fashion were desperately trying to slim down to the new lithe 1960s body. A close look at the new Diana Prince body in her wanna be Mrs Peel style reveals a much slimmer and unmuscled body than that of Wonder Woman pre-1968. Emma Peel had a slim body with broad shoulders and narrow hips, perfect for displaying fashion, but impossible for a lot of her fans to achieve.
Mrs Peel was a tough woman engaged in individual empowerment rather than demanding social change for women, but her actions were seen as empowering for those of us who saw her as a role model. The world of The Avengers while recognizing change, was concerned with controlling chaos and restoring or maintaining order. In the 1960s societal order basically benefited white males, yet Mrs Peel offered a new role for women on television which disrupted the stereotype of the housewife or 'helper'. The female viewer in New Zealand such as myself modelled her ideal on Mrs Peel. In the mid to late 1960s, still attached umbilically to the United Kingdom, young New Zealand women were less aware of the normative prescription Mrs Peel filled - white, pretty, thin, heterosexual, unmuscled, classist and racist - and were more aware of her warrior or tough woman status combined with her sense of style.
The 'sexual revolution' had created a sense of ambivalence in women - notions of propriety jostled alongside concepts of 'hip' coolness. In other words, 'good girls' and 'bad girls' became less distinctive stereotypes, but only in particular contexts and still within particular parameters of femininity. 'Unruly' women- loud, large or lesbian- were still social outcasts, and normative concepts of femininity were rewarded, whereas subversive femininities were monitored and often punished.
The final appearance of Mrs Peel in The Avengers (20 March 1968 in Britain) contained the narrative whereby she was reunited with a husband who had been presumed dead. She became wifely, and the subtext in the script was that a single woman, or widow, could become a secret agent, or adventurer, but that this was not tolerated in married women. 223 In 1997, Geena Davis appears to reverse this notion of femininity and women's roles in The Long Kiss Goodnight as a government agent who, having lost her memory becomes a domestic nurturer and 'mom'. However, as her parenthood was unplanned, when she does regain her memory, her
223 Inness (1999) note 34. 50 sense of emotional attachment 'kicks in' and the audience breathes a sigh of relief as she fulfils her parental role rather than rejects it. The 'swinging sixties' was a time of complex ambiguities. Notions of femininity changed dramatically in some instances, and yet did not change at all in others. Diana Rigg, like Honor Blackman, left The Avengers to become a 'Bond' girl in a James Bond film (much to my chagrin), and in the 1960s Wonder Woman in comic book form had relinquished her lasso, her bracelets, the invisible plane, cast off her belt and cast off her identity to become plain 'Diana Prince'. She was an Emma Peel 'wanna be' who wore fashionable clothes, practiced karate and owned a boutique. Such was the 'appeal' of Emma Peel. However, unlike Emma Peel, she had an adviser mastermind who went by the esoteric sounding name 'I Ching'224 and it was he who taught Diana Prince martial arts. This was probably the most profound identity crisis that Wonder Woman had experienced so far in her comic book life and this because her creators were implicitly under the spell of the television persona of Emma Peel.225
Revolution and experimentation were synonymous with the 1960s and the text of The Avengers redefined the roles and options available for women in television and opened the door to programmes such as The Bionic Woman and Charlie 's Angels which were produced in the 1970s. Wonder Woman, too, was given a new lease on her old life in 1972 when Gloria Steinem and the other founding editors of Ms Magazine got permission to put her image on the cover of the first issue and to reprint the 1940s 'Golden Age' episodes inside the magazine.Z26 The tough Mrs Peel offered a positive role model for young women and yet the patriarchal backlash was already active in the 1960s: just as Mrs Peel was finding her feet, so to speak, her husband symbolically appeared on the scene and her career was terminated.
In New Zealand, Mrs Peel was remembered mainly for her portrayal of a single woman living a life of adventure, and this added to the hotly debated issue of career versus marriage and full-time homemaker. In many instances, once a woman had married, she was expected to leave the workforce and become a housewife. This is, of course, exactly the action taken by Mrs Peel when her husband was found alive- she became a homemaker. The producers of The Avengers
224 Steinem (1995) 15. Also Daniels (2000) 123-133. The following website states that "Wonder Woman only stole from the best" in reference to Emma Peel: http://hometown.aol.com/linastrick/dpindexl.html (retrieved June 21, 2006). 225 Daniels (2000) 129. 226 Steinem (1995) 15. 51 were obviously sensitive to issues which related to gender norms, and although the series was groundbreaking and had enormous influence internationally on popular culture, Mrs Peel bowed to pressure and literally became invisible (the series retired her character). She no longer belonged in the public sphere, and one can only imagine how bored stiff she must have been. Thank goodness for second-wave feminism, which was just around the corner.
52 3 Women's Liberation: feminism and femininity in the 1970s
Chapter Two evaluated the influence of the sophisticated tough new woman, Mrs Peel from The Avengers, on young women in the 'swinging sixties'. While simultaneously challenging traditional attitudes to women in relation to individualism, the series adhered to particular beliefs about women's role in society. In the following chapter, Wonder Woman on television and in DC comics is examined, along with a more in depth investigation of the tough personas put forward by the three protagonists in Char lie's Angels. Sherrie A. Inness227 and Anna Gough-Yates228 have written extensively on Charlie 's Angels, and their writings on feminism and femininity within the series have been influential in the structuring of this chapter.
Suffering Sappho!229 Wonder Woman's Comic Book Identity Reinstated During the 1970s there was recognition of the woman's movement and the notion of autonomous female power in both film and television. Yvonne Tasker notes that Jane Fonda led the way in this representation of female protagonists firstly in Barbarella (1968) and then in Klute (1970), and a tough Sigoumey Weaver starred in Alien in 1979.230 Television programmes such as Charlie 's Angels, Policewoman, The Bionic Woman, and Wonder Woman all "placed women at the centre of the action narrative".231 Tasker states that "the cult British television series of the 1960s, The Avengers, had mobilized ... fantasy traditions, out of pop art in the leather-clad, tough, fighting heroines".232 The Avengers series which starred Mrs Peel was extremely influential: in fact, the Wonder Woman of comic book fame ditched her identity in the 1960s to become a wanna-be Mrs Peel. As Diana Prince, Wonder Woman's alter ego continues to have identity problems into the 1980s when, as Robinson observes, she eventually abandons "Man's world forever"?33 Robinson also suggests that the writers of Wonder Woman comics in
227 Sherrie A. Inness, 'Semi-Tough: EmmaPeel, Charlie's Angels, the Bionic Woman, and OtherWanna-Bes', Tough Girls: Women Warriors and Wonder Women in Popular Culture (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999) 31-49. 228 Anna Gough-Yates, 'Angels in Chains? Feminism, femininity and consumer culture in Charlie's Angels', Action TV: Tough Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks, eds. Bill Osgerby and Anna Gough-Yates (London, New York: Routledge, 2001) 83-99. 229 An expletive commonly used by Wonder Woman when taken by surprise 230 Yvonne Tasker, Spectacular Bodies: Gender, genre and the action cinema (London, New York: Routledge, 1993). The movie Alien will be referenced in the next chapter, the 1980s, even though it was produced in 1979. 231 Ibid., 19. 232 Ibid. 233 Robinson (2004): 85-86. 53 1968 were aware that Abbie Hoffman had been arrested for wearing a shirt representing the American flag while engaged in a protest against the Vietnam War. By relinquishing her patriotic uniform and adopting Mrs Peel's mod gear, any ambivalence concerning Wonder Woman's patriotism was avoided.234 Whether this was true or not, Wonder Woman was not seen in her red, white and blue costume again until 1973.235
Mrs Peel's final appearance in The Avengers was in 1968 in Britain, and it must be remembered that she was reunited with a husband who had been presumed dead, so in some ways this new image of domesticity impacted on the writers of Wonder Woman comics in conjunction with the symbolism of Wonder Woman's costume and notions of patriotism. The result was a Wonder Woman, as Diana Prince, who expressed her anxiety through wearing symbolic white, and facing emotive situations such as her mother's death or capture by her arch-enemy and even being forced into marriage. It seemed as though there was no possibility of her return as Wonder Woman. However, in July 1972, the founding editors of Ms magazine, including Gloria Steinem, who had "been rescued by Wonder Woman in their childhoods ... decided to rescue Wonder Woman in return".236 Steinem states that it was difficult to persuade the publishers of Wonder Woman comics to put Wonder Woman on the front of a new feminist magazine but they agreed, and also agreed to reprint her 1940s episodes within Ms. The cover headlines read: 'New Feminist: Simone de Beauvoir'; 'Body Hair: The Last Frontier'; Gloria Steinem on How Women Vote; 'Money for Housework'; and on a lighter note, 'Wonder Woman for President'. Wonder Woman is depicted on the cover as a colossus striding through a city. A billboard on a building reads 'Peace and Justice in '72'. She protects what appears to be an Asian city with her magic lasso of truth, and on her right is a scene of devastation referencing the Vietnam War. Lillian S. Robinson notes that Wonder Woman "is not, in fact, able to stop the attack, but she presents a clear alternative to this representation of war and injustice".237
When producing the next series of Wonder Woman in 1973, DC comics, aware of the rise of feminism, "hired its first woman editor for the series and restored Wonder Woman's original
234 Ibid., 80-81. 235 Ibid., 81. 236 Gloria Steinem, Wonder Woman: A Tiny Folio (New York, London, Paris: Abbeville Press, 1995) 15. 237 Robinson (2004) 83. Ms Magazine published a hardcover issue in 1972 of comics written by Marston which also gave Wonder Woman a higher profile: Daniels (2000) 132. 54 costume, paraphernalia and abilities. "238 Yet one can see from the covers that Wonder Woman still wrestled with her identity. In fact, there is a Wonder Woman on a parallel or alternate world, Earth 2, who came to light during the Diana Prince 1960s era, as well as this restored Wonder Woman who, to confuse issues, has a twin, Nubia, who believes she should be the true Wonder Woman.239 Lillian S. Robinson writes that ''the new narratives do emphasize female power and female solidarity, but they continue for some time, to be illustrated so as to send the old, sexist message to anyone experiencing comic books chiefly on the level of the visual".Z40 Wonder Woman's body appears to be more sexualized in her new incarnation: she wears shorter shorts and has bigger breasts, and her body language is self-aware, almost posed. She appears to be fully aware of the male gaze.
Les Daniels indicates that the media coverage of Ms magazine and the visibility of Gloria Steinem's advocacy of Wonder Woman as a feminist hero brought her to the attention of television, and she joined Superman and Batman in the animated cartoon Super Friends in 1973?41 A new young audience of television viewers was created, and this expanded to include most family members when Lynda Carter portrayed Wonder Woman in the 1975 television series of The New, Original Wonder Woman.
Fighting For Our Rights: Wonder Woman on Television In 1974 John D.F. Black242 developed a made-for-television movie on Wonder Woman starring a blonde, Cathy Lee Crosby. Les Daniels, a Wonder Woman historian, indicates that there was an attempt at humour, but that the movie was not liked by the audience. 243 A year later The New, Original Wonder Woman screened as a pilot on television, and starred Lynda Carter. Wonder Woman's 'twirl' in which she changes from Diana Prince to the superhero was a television invention. In the comic she encircled herself with her lasso. Her twirl is pivotal to her identity: from Diana Prince, prim and proper, she spins around and around and "explode[ es] into such inexplicable gloriousness".244 The process became too costly, however, and it was replaced
238 Robinson (2004) 83. The woman editor was replaced after about four months. 239 Steinem (1995) 15. The alter ego, Diana Prince, is a meek and mild secretary-type. 240 Robinson (2004) 84. 241 Daniels (2000) 139. 242 Possibly the same John D.F. Black who later wrote scripts for Charlie's Angels. 243 Danie1s (2000) 136-137. 244 Hank Stuever, 'Wonder Woman's Powers: As the Superheroine Turns 60, She Maintains Her Grip on the Psyche', Washington Post (Wednesday April18, 2001) COl. 55 by an explosion and a puff of smoke, yet it is that liminal moment, that in-between-ness of selves that is most exciting, and the place that many of her admirers find to be most fascinating.Z45
Carter wore her outrageous outfit which consisted of strapless bustier with extremely pointed breasts combined with satin pants cut across the top of the thigh, and boots high up to the knee. Lynda Carter states that the bustier she wore was quite restrictive in that although she could be active while wearing it, she need to place herself on a slanting plank to rest while in uniform because Wonder Woman's girdle and bustier were quite inflexible.246 With an irony not unfamiliar to Wonder Woman, in The Action Heroine's Handbook, the recommendations for bustier as costume reads that the bustier:
should be tight but should not constrict breathing. A tight-lacing acts as a brace and will ensure that your breasts will receive maximum support. Since your ribs are constricted, you must take care not to hyperventilate. Take slow controlled breaths. If the bustier is not giving sufficient support, alter your arm action to restrict breast movement. 247
Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman wore her costume with confidence on screen, and was a symbol of women's reclamation of public space, 248 although this may not have been what the producers had in mind. Her approach to the humour within the script was "in a very human way, and it's sort of a dry way. I tried to play her like a regular woman who just happened to have superhuman powers".Z49 The televised version of Wonder Woman was extremely successful and made Carter into a worldwide star, as can be attested to by the websites that are dedicated entirely to Wonder Woman aka Lynda Carter.Z50 Lynda Carter, today, is synonymous with a particular visual image of the warrior woman. Little girls (and boys, who have confessed to me) dressed up as Wonder Woman in her star-spangled costume, wearing the belt, headdress, bracelets and
245 This sense of liminality or suspended identity, when superheroes change from their alter ego, is emulated in Sailor Moon, a contemporary children's animated cartoon starring the Sailor Scouts including 'mighty Sailor Moon'. 246 Wonder Woman: The First Complete Season (2004). 247 Jennifer Worick and Joe Borgenicht, The Action Heroine's Handbook (Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2003) 17. 248 The iconic figure of Wonder Woman appearing on heavily congested city streets was a sort of coded message to me that 'sisters were doing it for themselves'. 249 Lynda Carter, cited in Daniels (2000) 138. This humour was very different to that of the 1970s televised Batman and Robin series, which was camp and full of irony. 250http://www. wonderwomanmuseum.conll; http://images.google.co.nz/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sufferingsappho.com/wrap/wall/lvnda3wall.jpg&imgrefurl=ht tp://www.sufferingsappho.conllwrap/wall/lynda.html&h=768&w= 1024&sz= 184&tbnid=YNkNciiQ5cJ:&tbnh= 112 &tbnw= 150&prev=/images%3Fg%3Dlynda%2Bcarter%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D&oi=imagesr&start=2; http://www.wonderwoman-online.com/ (retrieved 11 October, 2006). 56 sporting the lasso of truth which were available as part of the merchandise attached to the identity of the super hero.
In the comic book world, Wonder Woman had to have her bracelets welded together by a man in order to lose her powers, but in the television version, if her belt was removed she would lose her powers. Perhaps the political fervour surrounding equal rights for blacks was too recent to make reference to the Amazonian women as slaves, or perhaps it was just a little too feminist to reflect the notion of women as domestic slaves. However, one concession that is very charming is that in the comic book the material the bracelets were made from was known as 'amazonium' and in the television show it was named 'feminum', and was used in the title of one of the 1975 episodes (two parts) entitled 'The Feminum Mystique',251 a pun on Betty Friedan's book The Feminine Mystique, a founding text of second-wave feminism.
In the pilot programme for the television series with Lynda Carter, when Wonder Woman defeats the German spy, Marsha, she says to her:
The Nazi's don't care about their women. They let you fend for yourselves, and any civilization that does not recognize the female, is doomed to destruction. Women are the wave of the future, and sisterhood is stronger than anything.252
Lynda Carter indicates in an interview from 2005 which is included in 'The Complete First Season' on DVD, that some people felt that the programme was too feminist, particularly with speeches such as that above, but she states that it was necessary to be oppositional to a degree in order to fmd a middle ground. She believes that Wonder Woman led the way for such actors as Roseanne Barr to be on television, and notes that there were few roles for women on television at that time other than those of secretary, mother, or hooker. Carter, as Wonder Woman, wanted to make a statement for women, because that was what was inherent in the concept of Wonder Woman the comic strip.253 One senses that she is talking about the original 1940s comic strip here, as the later Wonder Woman of the 1960s and 1970s was foundering and looked more like a 1960s Emma Peel than her original self created by Marston. However, in the television series, the
251 Wonder Woman. Dir. Douglas S. Cramer. Lynda Carter, Lyle Waggoner. 'The Feminum Mystique Part I and Part II' (Warner Bros. and DC Comics 1975). 252 Wonder Woman: The Complete First Season, Produced by Douglas S. Cramer, starring Lynda Carter, Warner Brothers Entertainment, 2004. 253 Ibid. 57 Amazons of Paradise Island are dressed in 'shortie-nighties' made of semi-transparent layers of nylon similar to that worn by Hugh Heffner's 'bunnies' even today, which would make any feminist slightly uneasy. Although theoretically these women would not ever be seen by men, the television audience became voyeur, and the Amazonian women were subject to the male gaze. Paradise Island was depicted as the ideal pleasure garden of every red-blooded heterosexual western male and reinforced, for women, how important it was to have a particular kind of beauty and a sexy body in order to fulfill all the gender requirements of perfection.
Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman had a certain attitude that endeared her character to all, 254 and although her heritage as a movie star was Irish-Mexican , as Wonder Woman she completed to perfection the role of white, heterosexual, privileged and beautiful superior being.255 Wonder Woman's quest every week involved helping or saving Steve Trevor, whom she desired in a very non-Amazonian way, yet the trick was to let him believe that he was the hero, in order to preserve his 'male ego'. In effect the series was far less feminist in its leanings than Charlie 's Angels in certain ways- the 'girls' in Charlie's Angels did not have constant boyfriends and worked collectively - and more feminist in other ways - Wonder Woman was fearless and straightforward (coming from another civilization and all) and the Angels were more likely initially to squeal in fear in the face of danger, or flirt in a highly sexualized manner in order to glean information (from men, naturally).
Charlie's Angels: Representatives of Feminism? The producers of Charlie 's Angels acknowledged both femininity and feminism in the series: they required that the 'girls' get out of difficulties by themselves, and this often resulted in them using their sexuality to secure their safety. The character Bosley, contact for the Angels and middleman between Charlie and the Angels, often inadvertently caused the Angels to become further immersed in difficulties rather than being of help to them, and more than once they had to rescue him?56 Bosley was not very adept at performing masculinity, however, being somewhat of a bumbling 'cuddly bear' rather than a protector. Charlie 's Angels, according to Cherrie Inness, "depicted pseudo-tough women to imply that their toughness was less effectual than men's. In
254 'Wonder Woman's Lynda Carter', Latina.com February 2006. www.latina.com/articles/408.do (retrieved February 27, 2006). Lynda Carter was part-Mexican. 255 In 1978 The International Academy of Beauty awarded her the title 'Most Beautiful Woman in the World'. New Zealand Women's Weekly (April17, 1978) 126. 256 Jack Condon and David Hofstede, Charlie's Angels' Casebook (Beverly Hills, London: Pomegranate Press Ltd., 2000) 40. 58 this fashion, the show addressed the very real societal unease about second-wave feminism".257Created, produced, written and directed by men, Charlie's Angels was an instant success. The writer's guidelines stated that Charlie 's Angels was Angie Dickinson times three, a reference to the sexy female star of a detective series, Policewoman, and that the show was based on The Rocliford Files, a realistic private eye series, but with humour. The writers insisted that the three most beautiful girls on television would be required to display their assets each week, although disguise was an important element too (the mousy secretary, and so on), in order that the contrast would enhance the notion of just how beautiful they were. Cast as former police officers, the Angels were capable of doing everything a man could do and more. 258
One episode that aired in the US on September 28, 1977, was titled Pretty Angels All in a Row. Written by John D.F. Black, it concerned sabotage of a beauty pageant. Black stated that he enjoyed writing the story and said: "The only reason to do a beauty pageant story is to send it up. Nobody else was writing Charlie 's Angels like a comedy, and I thought that is what it should be".Z59 Could it be that Black had been influenced by feminist attitudes to women's bodies being paraded as 'meat' in these contests? There were certainly many who considered a beauty pageant to be worthy of support and to be taken seriously. By 'sending it up', and highlighting the fact that women were rewarded financially for having a beautiful body, Black was being supportive of feminist concerns. However, the use of comedy did not impinge on the effectiveness of the Angels. Scantily clad, yet puritan; Janet and John story lines, yet wry humour; apparently vacuous, yet able to overcome the bad guy without masculine help - Char lie's Angels was about watching "women working together to solve a problem and capture, and sometimes kill, really awful, sadistic men, while having great hairdos and clothes".260
However, on the offensive, a Time magazine report in 1976 attacked the Angels, stating that although 59 per cent of television viewers in the United States tune in to the programme each week, the dialogue is borrowed from Batman cartoons (and this notion of the comic book shallow intellect and shallow emotion - is extended to Wonder Woman and Bionic Woman and, most probably Police Woman, as there is a photograph of Angie Dickinson included in the article's image gallery) and the show "is a kind of 'heavy-lidded, soft-core porn. Typically, in
257 Sherrie A. Inness (1999) 38. 258 Ibid., 34-35. 259 Ibid. (1999) 179. 260Susan J. Douglas, cited in Inness (1999) 41. 59 each Angel episode, at least one of the eo-stars strips down to a bikini in the first ten minutes"?61 Time magazine calls the programme "a mild erotic fantasy that strikes an unashamed responsive chord among the most respectable men and women"262 and one suspects that it was the humour within the plots combined with such an unlikely trio 'kicking butt' that caused the programme to be so popular not only in the United States, but also when it aired on New Zealand television in the mid 1970s. Charlie's Angels was a programme in which the three female protagonists were definitely representatives of feminism: acting collectively and supportively and taking a 'girls can do anything' approach. However, the characters expressed ambivalence: their feminism was softened by their inability to deal directly with the sexism of Charlie; their own biases against other women; and their inability to confront many of the patriarchal beliefs of the 1970s.
Women's Liberation, New Zealand, and the 1970s In New Zealand in 1972, before either of these programmes aired, Germaine Greer had undertaken her controversial tour of New Zealand to promote her book The Female Eunuch?63 These were what Sue Kedgley called the "early, heady days of women's liberation". 264 One of the warnings contained in both Greer' s lectures and her books was for women to avoid seeking equality of opportunity within the existing, male status quo. Kedgley cites Greer as saying that ' .. .it is not a sign of revolution ... when the oppressed adopt the manners of the oppressors and practice oppression on their own behalf. Nor is it a sign of revolution when women ape men or compete ... for a man's distinction in a man's world ... as good as a man and much more decorative'.265 In popular culture in the 1970s the warrior woman's role sat uneasily between a legitimate and subversive gender performance, and television producers were careful in their depictions of feminism and femininity.
Journalist Cherry Raymond reports in the New Zealand Women's Weekly on Greer's lecture in Auckland 1972 which promoted the book and also marked International Woman's Day. She cites Greer on many issues concerned with women's identity. For example, Greer on marriage: "It certainly isn't in women's interests today. Nobody should have proprietary rights
261 Time magazine, 'Charlie's Trio of Sexy Angels, Time (Nov. 22, 1976) 53. 262 Ibid., 53. 263 Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch (New York: Bantam Books) 1971. 264 Sue Kedgley, 'Heading Nowhere in a Navy Blue Suit', Heading Nowhere in a Navy Blue Suit, eds. Sue Kedgley and Mary Varnham (Wellington: Daphne Bras ell Associates, 1993) 13. See also Barbara Brookes, 'A Germaine Moment: style, language and audience', Disputed Histories: Imagining New Zealand's Fasts, eds. A. Ballantyne and B. Moloughney (Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2006) 191-213. 265 Ibid. (1993) 13-14. 60 over another person ... "266 Greer had been invited to New Zealand by Auckland Women's Liberation, which had formed in 1971, and she was an instant media sensation - issues addressed by women's liberation were reported in the media and reached many New Zealand women. These ranged from equal rights in public bars, to beauty contest protests, to information on abortion and contraception, to equal rights for equal pay, to reclaiming women's history, to the creation of a Working Women's Charter.Z67
The New Zealand Women's Weekly was one media source that reported on the topics concerned with women's liberation: in 1971 the magazine published an article written by Margaret Mead in which she states: "The movement has verve, excitement and drama. But has it the potentialities for revolutionary change? I think no." 268 Mead's consideration of the women's movement was but one aspect of the debate concerning the status of women in New Zealand. The New Zealand Women's Weekly and the New Zealand Listener published articles on women's independence, 269 on equal pay,270 on working wives,271 and on role reversal by both men272 and women.273 Groups in opposition to women's liberation are also given space.274
Social topics of concern to women's liberation that were visited and revisited during the decade by these two publications were rape,275 family violence and battered wives,276 abortion,277
266 Ed. Janet Blackwell. New Zealand Women's Weekly: The First Sixty Years: 1932-1992 (Auckland: Moa Beckett, 1992) 87. 267 Dann (1985). 268 Dr Margaret Mead, 'Women's Lib: An Anthropologists' View', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (November 22, 1971) 34-39. 269 DrHelenDe Rosis and Victoria Y. Pellegrino, 'Your Declaration oflndependence', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (October 10, 1977) 36-39. 270 New Zealand Woman's Weekly, 'You CANhave ... EQUALPAY for the Working Woman', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (October 3, 1977) 20-26. 271 New Zealand Woman's Weekly, 'Working Wife Now the Rule- Not the Exception', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (May 16, 1977) 8-11. 272 Virginia Smith, 'Househusbands ... the new breed', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (April24 1978) 4-5 and New Zealand Woman's Weekly, 'Bearded "Angel" beats the system: District Nurse David finding his fulfillment in once female preserve', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (Feb 5, 1979) 22-23. 273 Judy Bradwell, 'Lee paints her way into a male domain: she's proving sign-writing isn't "too tough" for women', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (January 1, 1979) 18-19; Ruth Shapiro, 'Should You Work for a Woman?' New Zealand Woman's Weekly (March 13, 1978) 12-13; andKatherine Findlay, 'Feminism: the wave rolls on' New Zealand Listener (September 18, 1976) 16-17. 274 New Zealand Woman's Weekly. 'A ringing challenge to Women', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (May 2, 1977) 30. This article concerns women who believe women's liberation is out to destroy the home. 275 New Zealand Woman's Weekly, 'The Horror of Rape: A Special Report', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (June 13, 1977) 28-30; New Zealand Woman's Weekly, 'Stripping the Myths from Rape' (a report from the National Organisation for Women), New Zealand Woman's Weekly (March 28, 1977) 28-29; New Zealand Woman's Weekly, 'The rapist-he's usually someone his victim knows' New Zealand Woman's Weekly (August 15, 1977) 11; and 61 de facto relationships,278 natural childbirth,279 sexuality/80 and the Domestic Purposes Benefit.281 Revolutionary attitudes to the body that were reported on included women taking part in karate to the highest levels, 282 women wearing trousers for all occasions,283 and cosmetic surgery for 'Mrs Average'.Z84 In September 1977 there was also a documentary series entitled 'Women' on Auckland's TV1 on a Monday evening285 which investigated, in consecutive weekly episodes, the representations of women in popular media; marital depression as a major problem affecting New Zealand women; Maori women in a Pakeha world; childcare; and sexual relationships.
The 1970s was a time of re-evaluation of women's position in New Zealand society, and Charlie 's Angels echoed many of the social anxieties which accompanied this new identity - it placed women at the centre of the action, but reinforced their femininity through fashion and sexuality. These very issues are addressed by Christine Dann in her history of women's liberation in New Zealand. Firstly, one of the most powerful symbols associated with the women's liberation movement is the burning bra. Dann states:
In 1968 American women's liberationists protesting outside the Miss America pageant dumped bras, girdles, curlers, false eyelashes, wigs and women's magazines, which endorsed these things, into a Freedom Trash Can. They
Myrtle Hinds, 'Finance is tight, but Rape Crisis Centre has proved invaluable', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (April 10,1978) 6. 276 Jenny Wheeler, 'Family Violence is Ignored in New Zealand', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (December4, 1978) 50-51; New Zealand Woman's Weekly, 'New Zealand Needs to Know its Battered Wives', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (June 5, 1978) 11, 24-26- includes a questionnaire. 277 New Zealand Woman's Weekly, 'Flight to Sydney Ends Abortion Nightmare', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (February 20, 1978) 6-7. An average often women per day travel from Auckland to Sydney for abortions; Pauline Ray, 'Abortion and the Law', New Zealand Listener (September 17, 1977) 14-15. Ray backgrounds the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Bill before the House. 278 Lesley Lundy, 'Love contracts instead of conventional vows', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (January 30, 1978) 11. 279 Prances Parkin, 'Giving birth back to the Mothers', New Zealand Listener (April16, 1977) 18. 280 Prances Levy, 'Shere Rite Stirs Sexual Revolution: attitudes are changing, thanks to study of female sexuality', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (May 15, 1978) 38-39; Lesley Lundy, 'Few women should really be frigid', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (September4, 1978) 30-31; David Young, 'What were you taught about sex?', New Zealand Listener (December 10, 1977) 17; Lesley Lundy, 'Is this the legacy of our permissive society? Burnt out 20- year-olds!', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (June 20, 1977) 4-5. 281 Brian Easton, 'Solo Trials', New Zealand Listener (August 14, 1976) 22-23. 282 Marie Mihajlovic, 'Discipline, sport, philosophy- karate covers them all. .. ', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (October30, 1978) 16-17. 283 Rosemary Foster, 'When You Want to Wear the Trousers', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (August 22, 1977) 20- 22. 284 Judy Byme, 'Faces lifted and bosoms reshaped- the easy pay way', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (January 15, 1979) 12-14. 285 New Zealand Listener (September 3, 1977) 80. 62 intended to emphasise the artificiality of modem concepts of beauty and to express their belief that women should be valued for their real qualities ... 286
The media reported that bras had been burnt and this action is still (wrongly) associated with Women's Liberation throughout the western world?87 However, in relation to Charlie 's Angels, the 'freed' body is an integral aspect of the series. The Angels have thrown out their corsets and they never squeeze into tight fitting clothes except when in disguise, and Farrah Fawcett (Jill) rarely wears a bra. The fact that her breasts are free and her nipples are easily 'seen' through her clothing fits well with feminist notions of 'the natural', but because her body is white and slim and her breasts are full and round, she also becomes an invitation for the male gaze - an object to be looked at. Dann also writes that women's liberationists objected to media reporting, particularly the news, "which describe men in terms of their actions and opinions and women in terms of their appearance, marital and maternal status."288 By 1972 the use of 'Ms' rather than 'Miss' or 'Mrs' had become popular with feminists, although this usage was considered to be a 'fad'. This new more ambiguous title allowed women to be recognized for themselves, outside of their marital status, and an attempt was also made to rid New Zealand language of the generic term 'man' and replace it with a less loaded term such as 'person' or 'human'. New Zealand Women's Weekly articles which report on the actors in Charlie 's Angels refer to their age, marital status, height and weight,289 but gone is the bust-waist-hip measurement that was reported in describing Emma Peel in the New Zealand Listener in 1965.290
Feminism and Femininity in Charlie's Angels Each episode of Charlie 's Angels begins with the phrase "Once Upon a Time, There Were Three Little Girls Who Went to the Police Academy ... "291 and images of the 'girls' pre-Angels show them in the more passive roles of police work - clerical duties and the like. The producer, Bamey Rosenweiz, is cited in an article on Farrah Fawcett as saying that "the show has great appeal to women because of the buddy system. There are three dynamite ladies in charge, and
286 Dann (1985) 103. 287 Faludi (1991) 75. 288 Dann (1985) 105. 289 New Zealand Woman's Weekly, 'Long Tall Texan is the Gentlest Angel', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (October 24, 1977) 6-7; New Zealand Woman's Weekly, 'She's Charlie's Top Paid Angel', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (August 8, 1977) 6-7; and Harry Altshuler, 'Charlie's New Angel is a Ladd called Cheryl', New Zealand Woman's Weekly (October 17, 1977) 19-22. 290 New Zealand Listener (November 26, 1965) 7. 291 Charlie's Angels, Produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg, Starring Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett Majors and Jaclyn Smith, in association with Columbia Pictures, 1977. 63 they like each other. Their relationship does not grow out of the traditional male view of women. The Angels were unique in that they don't need any help."292 However, although the Angels may have added to the trend of incorporating feminism into popular culture, Charlie's disembodied voice was the voice of patriarchy, and the Angels were fulfilling the role of moral watchdog. Charlie' s offscreen dalliances were tolerated by the Angels: his behaviour reflected the rise of the 'playboy' as a 'harmless' masculine occupation (influenced by James Bond films), but the 'real' baddies were dealt with in a serious manner. In their discussion of male and female culture in New Zealand, James and Saville-Smith state:
While women's dependence underpins their real subordination to and exploitation by men, the motif of woman as Moral Redemptress portrays women as powerful beings able to save men, and indeed society, from male anarchic tendencies. 293
The Angels may have acted in concert when they frowned on Charlie's antics and when they dealt swiftly with the serious criminals, but they were less magnanimous and often dismissive in their interactions with other women. I am reminded of Germaine Greer's speech at the International Woman's Day luncheon in Auckland in 1972, where there was a placard protest outside by women who couldn't afford to attend the luncheon. Greer defended the venue and costs, saying that the money should come from "rich bitches", 294 and later she said:
Middle-class women, who are freer than most, can make moves that other women can't. They can take risks, they can go to jail, they can press for ... all kinds oflegal reforms for women. We must be pre~ared to go in and bat for women who aren't in a position to do it for themselves.2 5
It is this attitude that is reflected in Charlie's Angels' feminism. The Angels are fulfilled (not lacking) "because they have found the balance between women's lib and traditional forms of 296 femininity" - but to do this they have separated themselves from 'ordinary' women, defeating the concept of a collective consciousness raising for women's liberation. 297 Gough-Y ates states that, like Greer's notion of 'women' outside of the middle class, other females in the programme were lacking in some way- not able to fight for feminist values through a lack of awareness (and
292 Chadwick Roberts, 'The Politics ofFarrah's Body: the female icon as cultural embodiment', Journal ofPopular Culture Vol37 Issue 1 (August 2003) 86 293 James Saville-Smith (1994) 55. 294 B1ackwell (1992) 87. 295 Ibid. 296 Gough-Yates (2001) 91. 297 Ibid., 91. 64
65 65
93. 93. Ibid., Ibid.,
300 300
91. 91. Ibid., Ibid.,
299 299
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298 298
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299 299
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298 298
or or 'ugliness' 'ugliness' as as such such qualities qualities non-normative non-normative by by accompanied accompanied often often was was awareness awareness of of lack lack that that 'wrapping' await a few surprises for those who judge the detectives solely on their outward appearance.". 301
Charlie 's Angels did, however, concern glamour and consumption - there are often six to eight costume changes (times three) throughout each episode. The fashion designer was Nolan Miller, and daywear was casual; evening wear was glamorous; and disguise allowed for even more variation. When writing a script, the writers operated within particular guidelines, and one guideline read: "Insofar as our Angels are concerned ... we must afford them an opportunity to display their assets each week",302 and although this was a reference to costume, it also referenced the notion that was prevalent in the 1970s that it was a legitimate performance of femininity if women used sexual allure to gain information. The equation went something like this: the Angels needed information. To get the information they would dress up in disguise. The information was almost invariably held by men. Men succumb to feminine wiles in one of two forms - either they sense the promise of sexual tryst if they hand over the information, or the Angel wears so little clothing that the sexual tryst is pretty much a given. The series was engaged with what Gough-Y ates describes as shifting discourses around femininity and the lifestyle of the single woman. Charlie 's Angels was created at a time of revolutionary changes in attitude to femininity. Gough-Y ates suggests that the:
'liberated', action-glamour femininity . . . three single, sexy, curvaceous, dedicatedly careerist ex-policewomen turned private eyes- paralleled a dramatic shift in attitudes towards women, and particularly single women, in America during the 1960s and 1970s.303
The pop cultural notion of the single girl as a positive character and the focus of young women on career rather than marriage was affirmed by feminism and, as Gough-Y ates points out, the 'star' quality of feminists such as Gloria Steinem signaled a sense of safety rather than some disruptive change through a feminism "in which it became possible to evade the confines of marriage and domesticity while retaining ... sexual attractiveness"304 Susan J. Douglas notes that Steinem's public persona allowed her to:
301 Ibid., 94. 302 Condon and Hofstede (2000) 35. 303 Gough-Yates (2001) 85. 304 Ibid., 86. Steinem was attractive, white, heterosexual and had a curvy figure. 66 continue to shave my legs, wear mascara, covet nice clothes, sleep with men, and still be a feminist ... [she] made me feel that women could cobble together elements of the codes of femininity they were unable to expunge with a feminism they were eager to adopt. 305
Gough-Y ates also notes that discourses surrounding femininity and feminism and the 'single girl' in the 1970s owed a debt to Helen Gurley Brown's Sex and the Single Girl from 1962. It was a best-seller which prompted women to use sex as a way to get to the top and Brown wrote that a career was important for a girl's economic independence.306 Shere Rite's The Hite Report307 in the mid-1970s added to notions of sexual liberation for women and Charlie 's Angels epitomized all these things while offering themselves up to the male television viewing population, the male gaze, with their constant changes of costumes, many of which enhanced the 'jiggle' effect.
The Performance of Gendered Identity Unlike the 'cool' Mrs Peel, who wore mini skirts and jumpsuits, the Angels dressed in American casual, and trousers were very much a part of their fashion wardrobes. Gough-Y ates discusses the adoption of similar fashions by women at the time in order to emulate a lifestyle radically different from that they were accustomed to. These actions, according to Gough-Y ates would indicate that ''the products of commercial capitalism could be configured not as symbols of women's oppression (as many feminists had argued), but as agents for women's liberation".308 Similarly to Mrs Peel, the undercover identities that the Angels assume are those that they have adopted for subversive purposes. By experimenting with identity, all women opened their horizons not just to performance, which involved appearance and action, but to possibilities for performativity:309 ways of acting that, through repetition over a period of time, may subvert notions of femininity that had been sustained by American culture through the 1950s and much of the 1960s. Butler writes that "If the inner truth of gender is a fabrication and if a true gender is a fantasy instituted and inscribed on the surface of bodies, then it seems that genders can be neither true nor false ... "310 Sara Salih, a Butler scholar, deduces, therefore, that "it must be possible to
305 Douglas {1994) 230-232; and also cited in Gough-Yates (2001) 87. 306 Gough Yates (2001). 307 Shere Rite, The Hite Report on Female Sexuality (A Nationwide Study ofFemale Sexuality). (New York: Macmillan, 1976). 'Demonstrates that sex as we define it is a cultural institution ...that should be changed to include the stimulation women desire.' www.hite-research.com/ (retrieved February 10, 2007). ~ 08 Gough Yates (2001) 93. ~ 09 Butler (1990) 31. 310 Ibid., 136. 67 'act' that gender in ways which will draw attention to the constmctedness of heterosexual identities".311 Butler allows her reader to consider that gender is not something that is with us at birth, but is a sequence of repeated acts that solidify over time into a semblance of normative gender practices. This leads Butler to suggest that one could repeat one's gender differently, using the tools one already has, in order to subvert notions of normative gender practices.312 Subversive performances are those that destabilize existing heterosexual power structures.
The performativity of gender as enacted by the Angels was ambivalent. They were allotted one masculine trait each - the intellect, the athlete, the streetwise - and an overriding feminine trait- the angelic, the romantic, the sensitive. The Angels took up space more so than Emma Peel - they sprawled in chairs, and were generally casual rather than formal in their everyday deportment. They refused to be victims in a time when men still thought it was their right to manhandle women, and to display a sense of ownership of women in general. For example, the notion of men not being able to control their sexual passion was still current in the 1970s, and in the episode 'Night of the Strangler'313 it was interesting to note how the Angels translated an attempted rape as eager sexual attention, and even joked about it. Contemporarily, in the twenty first century, the efforts of second-wave feminism have caused the myth of male sexuality as uncontrollable to be virtually debunked, and sexual harassment laws have allowed for recognition of that which personal autonomy entails. For example, inappropriate sexual comments and actions are currently punishable by law.
The producers of Charlie 's Angels were smart enough to offer tough warrior women with a balance between masculine and feminine signifiers, so that the show did not, in so many words, threaten the gender order, but was subversive enough to contribute to the notion that women were capable of toughness.
Both Wonder Woman and Charlie 's Angels screened on New Zealand television, and young girls (and boys) were enamoured ofLynda Carter's Wonder Woman. Lynda Carter will be equated "forever"314 with the character Wonder Woman, but in the late 1970s she had stopped
311 Sara Salih, Judith Butler (London and New York: Routledge, 2002) 65. 312 Butler (1990) 145. 313 Charlies Angels: Angels Undercover 'Night of the Strangler', producers Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg, starring Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett-Majors and Jaclyn Smith, in association with Columbia Pictures, 1977. 314 Stuever (2001) COl. 68
69 69
96. 96. (2001) (2001) Gough-Yates Gough-Yates
319 319
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318 318
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317 317
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316 316
Ibid. Ibid. 315 315
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319 319
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318 318
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317 317
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316
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315 315
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70 70
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320 320
provide provide to to 1973 1973 in in established established was was Benefit Benefit Purposes Purposes Domestic Domestic The The society. society. Zealand Zealand New New in in ways ways
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320 320
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of of writes writes Wolfe Wolfe Richard Richard men. men. like like being being to to equated equated somehow somehow men' men' with with 'equality 'equality of of concepts concepts
feminist feminist liberal liberal that that anxieties anxieties Kedgley's Kedgley's Sue Sue of of some some mirrored mirrored 1980s 1980s the the Zealand Zealand New New In In
Post-feminism Post-feminism and and Politics Politics Dressing, Dressing, Power Power
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Woman's Woman's Wonder Wonder of of course course the the map map to to continuing continuing as as well well as as chapter, chapter, following following the the sort. sort. some some In In
of of nurturer nurturer or or secretary secretary housewife, housewife, to to limited limited mainly mainly still still were were television television on on women women for for roles roles
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Post-feminism Post-feminism and and Politics Politics Dressing, Dressing, Power Power 4 4
71 71
43. 43. Ibid., Ibid.,
325 325
38. 38. Ibid., Ibid.,
324 324
Ibid. Ibid. 323 323
Ibid. Ibid. 322 322
2005). 2005). Women, Women, Graduate Graduate
of of Federation Federation Zealand Zealand New New (Dunedin: (Dunedin: 1975-2004 1975-2004 Women Women Zealand Zealand New New Ceiling: Ceiling: Glass Glass a a in in Cracks Cracks Herd, Herd, Joyce Joyce
321 321
matters"). matters").
325 325
business business and and professional professional in in sex sex own own their their of of members members with with deal deal to to women women enable enable but but women, women,
younger younger for for models models role role important important as as serve serve only only not not women women "these "these that that believes believes she she and and 1988, 1988,
in in cent cent per per 60 60 nearly nearly to to 1975 1975 in in cent cent per per 25 25 from from rose rose students students medical medical female female of of percentage percentage
the the Herd, Herd, to to (according (according 1980s 1980s the the in in numbers numbers in in increased increased all all - managers managers lawyers, lawyers, dentists, dentists,
doctors, doctors, - professionals professionals women women Zealand Zealand New New workplace. workplace. the the from from discouraged discouraged are are women women high, high,
is is unemployment unemployment when when and and workplace, workplace, the the enter enter to to encouraged encouraged are are women women low, low, is is unemployment unemployment
when when that that idea idea the the of of consideration consideration in in particularly particularly society" in in role role rearing rearing and and childbearing childbearing
324 324
women's women's on on place place we we value value the the on on held held was was debate debate informed informed an an that that time time is is "it "it that that suggests suggests
Herd Herd Joyce Joyce home. home. the the into into back back move move to to encouraged encouraged were were women women again, again, once once consequently, consequently, and and
workers, workers, less-skilled less-skilled the the on on particularly particularly impacted impacted which which Zealand, Zealand, New New in in unemployment unemployment mass mass
of of time time a a was was 1980s 1980s the the that that note note to to important important is is it it women, women, for for progress progress this this of of spite spite In In
men. men. like like being being to to equated equated somehow somehow men' men' with with 'equality 'equality and and way, way, the the
along along lost lost somehow somehow was was process process this this of of feminization feminization a a of of notion notion the the though, though, states, states, Kedgley Kedgley Sue Sue
As As 1980s. 1980s. the the during during workforce workforce the the of of areas areas most most into into integrated integrated were were women women and and employment, employment,
from from dismissal dismissal of of fear fear without without leave leave maternity maternity unpaid unpaid take take to to women women allowed allowed Act Act Protection Protection
and and Leave Leave Maternity Maternity the the 1980, 1980, offense). criminal criminal a a still still In In was was prostitution prostitution (although (although formed formed
323 323
was was Collective Collective Prostitutes' Prostitutes' Zealand Zealand New New the the 1987, 1987, year, year, next next the the in in and, and, adults adults consenting consenting
between between conduct conduct sexual sexual decriminalizing decriminalizing 1986, 1986, in in passed passed was was Act Act Reform Reform Law Law Homosexual Homosexual
the the and and 1983 1983 in in established established was was Affairs Affairs Women's Women's of of Ministry Ministry The The shifts. night night work work
322 322
to to 1981) 1981) (by (by able able were were factories factories in in women women and and firefighters, firefighters, pilots, pilots, airline airline commercial commercial - work work of of
areas areas male male supposedly supposedly in in employed employed were were women women More More 1977. in in passed passed was was Act Act Abortion Abortion and and
321 321
Sterilisation Sterilisation Contraception, Contraception, the the and and law; law; the the through through increasingly, increasingly, with, with, dealt dealt was was women women against against
discrimination discrimination 1970s, 1970s, late late the the in in time); time); this this before before badly badly fared fared had had (women (women 1976 1976 in in property property
of of division division equal equal for for allowed allowed laws laws divorce divorce the the husband; husband; her her from from separately separately live live to to woman woman
a a for for allowed allowed 1981 1981 Act Act Domicile Domicile the the children; children; dependent dependent with with 16 16 over over parents parents single single for for support support
72 72
1992. 1992. June, June, 18 18 Theatre Theatre Castle Castle in in delivered lecture lecture Open Open Dunedin, Dunedin, Feminism, Feminism, against against Backlash Backlash The The
Faludi, Faludi, Susan Susan was: was: which which of of one one oflectures, oflectures, series series a a with with book book her her promote promote to to Zealand Zealand New New toured toured Faludi Faludi Susan Susan
331 331
14. 14. Ibid., Ibid.,
330 330
14. 14. (1991) (1991) Faludi Faludi
329 329
29. 29. 27, 27, 1985) 1985) 14, 14, (September (September Listener Listener Zealand Zealand New New equality', equality', to to road road the the 'Feminism: 'Feminism: Dann, Dann, Christine Christine
328 328
relationships.) relationships.) and and marriage marriage of of aspects aspects to to eyes eyes nation's nation's the the opened opened already already had had Zealand Zealand New New
in in One One Television Television on on 1977 1977 September September through through featured featured which which Women, Women, called called documentaries documentaries of of series series (A (A 20. 20. Ibid., Ibid.,
327 327
20-23. 20-23. 1981) 1981) 19, 19, (September (September Listener Listener It?'. It?'. Zealand Zealand New New To To Up Up Men Men 'Are 'Are Campbell, Campbell, Gordon Gordon 326 326
° °
male male a a cites cites Faludi movement". women's women's the the "reviled "reviled generation generation younger younger feminist feminist
331 331 33
post a a that that and and seventies" the the of of flavour flavour "the "the was was feminism feminism that that wrote wrote media media the the 1980s), 1980s),
329 329
(mid- feminist feminist themselves themselves naming naming were were women women younger younger and and older older both both when when time time a a at at that that
believes believes She She media. media. the the by by promoted construct construct a a as as Faludi Faludi by by noted noted was was feminists) feminists) (for (for definition definition
negative negative a a as as post-feminism post-feminism Firstly, Firstly, definitions. definitions. distinctive distinctive two two has has 'Post-feminism' 'Post-feminism'
time. time. this this around around feminism) feminism)
(for (for context context negative negative a a in in used used was was post-feminism post-feminism term term The The apparent. apparent. became became feminism feminism
against against backlash backlash a a period, period, same same this this In In differing situations. situations. differing in in people people different different for for meanings meanings
different different has has 'woman' 'woman' term term the the that that same; same; the the all all necessarily necessarily not not are are perspectives perspectives women's women's
that that indicated indicated which which (feminisms), (feminisms), plural plural the the in in recognized recognized was was feminism feminism 1980s, 1980s, the the By By
Zealand. Zealand.
328 328
New New in in centres centres crisis crisis rape rape and and refuges refuges women's women's of of number number the the in in increase increase the the in in reflected reflected
was was this this and and pornography, pornography, and and harassment, harassment, sexual sexual punishment, punishment, corporal corporal abuse, abuse, child child incest, incest,
against against campaigned campaigned feminists feminists sexuality, sexuality, women's women's with with concerned concerned Also Also attitude". this this down down
327 327
break break to to ...... helped helped all all have have women women for for jobs jobs and and contraception contraception effective effective "Feminism, "Feminism, that that point point
the the makes makes article article The The 'problems'. 'problems'. dis-interest dis-interest and and frigidity frigidity orgasmic, orgasmic, with with partner, partner, second-rate second-rate
the the were were Women Women belief. belief. wide-spread wide-spread a a was was women women with with originated originated problems problems sexual sexual that that idea idea
The The sexuality. sexuality. concerning concerning matters matters in in active active to to passive passive from from role role changing changing women's women's as as notions notions
such such emphasizing emphasizing feminism feminism through through occur occur to to begun begun had had that that changes changes discuss discuss sex therapists therapists sex it?'
326 326
To To Up Up Men Men 'Are 'Are entitled entitled Listener Listener Zealand Zealand the the in New New article article an an In In sexuality. sexuality. women's women's up up freed freed
(1977) (1977) Act Act Abortion Abortion and and Sterilisation Sterilisation Contraception, Contraception, the the of of passing passing the the and and pill pill contraceptive contraceptive
the the of of introduction introduction the the - 1960s 1960s the the in in began began which which revolution' revolution' 'sexual 'sexual the the with with keeping keeping
in in 1980s 1980s the the in in changed changed had had concept concept girl girl girl/bad girl/bad good good the the matters, matters, sexual sexual and/or and/or social social In In journalist as saying: "Post-feminism is the backlash".332 For Faludi, then, post-feminism has become synonymous with the backlash against feminism. 333
A second definition or reading of 'post-feminism' is that which signifies a shift in feminist theory. Post-feminism is a frame of reference that does connect feminism with the other 'posts' postmodernism, post-structuralism, postcolonialism - but as "an expression of a stage in the constant evolutionary movement of feminism", 334 recognizing pluralism and difference. 335 Joke Hermes, in her essay in Feminism and Femininity in Popular Culture cites Moseley and Read's belief that post-feminism may mean the loss of a political agenda, or the foundations for a new one, where it signposts the overcoming of unproductive old distinctions between feminist and feminine. 336 The period most often associated with post-feminism is the mid-1980s through to the 1990s, and has evolved into third-wave feminism in this more positive (for feminists) reading.
Pop Culture, Girl Power and Women's Empowerment In this same period, the 1980s, Girl Power in New Zealand had its beginnings in promotional material published by the Vocational Training Council: "Girls Can Do Anything". 337 This project encouraged girls to move into the public arena and offered alternatives to the expected 'feminine' roles that girls had enacted in the past. In the western world, the Girl Power revolution was underway. Susan Hopkins writes: "If 1970s feminism was built on the ideals of authenticity and solidarity, Girl Power is built on dreams of celebrity and
332 Ibid., 15. 333 See also Amelia Jones, 'Feminism, Incorporated. Reading "Post-feminism" in an Anti-feminist Age', ed. Amelia Jones, The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader (London, New York: Routledge, 2003) 314-328; Suzanna Danuta Waiters, Material Girls: Making Sense ofFeminist Cultural Theory (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1995) 138. Also, Hollows (2000) 190-193 expresses both of these understandings of post feminism. 334 Brooks (1997) 1. 335 Suzanna Danuta Waiters, in her chapter 'Postfeminism and Popular Culture', Material Girls (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1995) 116-142, elaborates on the difference between the popular (backlash) version of post-feminism, and the feminist theoretical challenge to identity politics (also known as post feminism). There are other versions, such as that of Alice, cited in Brooks (1997) who believes that post-feminism was a term used in the U.S. before 1960 (in a positive manner). Also, in their Introduction to Postfeminism (Cambridge, New York: Icon Books, 1999) 3, Sophia Phoca and Rebecca Wright state that post-feminism (the pro feminist sort) came into being on 8 March 1968 in Paris on International Women's Day. 336 Moseley and Read, 2002 cited in Joke Hermes, "'Ally McBeal", "Sex and the City" and the Tragic Success of Feminism', eds. Joanne Hollows and Rachel Moseley, Popularity Contests: The Meanings ofPopular Feminism (Oxford, New York: Berg, 2006) 79-80. 337 Vocational Training Council, Career Options for Girls: Girls Can Do Anything (brochure published in 1982- 1983). 73
74 74
2006). 2006). 21, 21, June June (retrieved (retrieved (www.manifesta.net/manabout.html) (www.manifesta.net/manabout.html) future future the the and and feminism feminism women, women, Young Young Manifesta: Manifesta:
2006); 2006); 20, 20, June June (retrieved (retrieved (www.thirdwavefoundation.org/about/history.html) (www.thirdwavefoundation.org/about/history.html) Foundation Foundation Wave Wave Third Third sites: sites: Online Online
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of of (eo-founder (eo-founder Jervis Jervis Lisa Lisa by by given given speech speech a a from from Adapted Adapted (www.msmagazine.com/winter2004/thirdwave.asp). (www.msmagazine.com/winter2004/thirdwave.asp).
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75 75
14. 14. (2000) (2000) Hollows Hollows in in cited cited Greer Greer
348 348
12. 12. Ibid., Ibid.,
347 347
13. 13. (2000) (2000) Hollows Hollows
346 346
1963). 1963). published published first first (1983, (1983, Friedan Friedan
345 345
10. 10. (2000) (2000) Hollows Hollows
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342 342
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348 348
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347 347
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346 346
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344 344
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343 343
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76 76
book. book. this this in in women women against against backlash backlash the the of of analysis analysis clear clear
a a gives gives Faludi Faludi 1991). 1991). Windus, Windus, and and Chatto Chatto (London: (London: Women Women against against War War Undeclared Undeclared The The Backlash: Backlash: Faludi, Faludi, Susan Susan
354 354
167. 167. (2000) (2000) Daniels Daniels
353 353
1986. 1986. February February 329, 329, No. No. Woman Woman Wonder Wonder Comics, Comics, DC DC
352 352
151. 151. (2000) (2000) Daniels Daniels
351 351
company. company. production production the the against against suit suit law law a a won won who who Ellison Ellison Harlan Harlan by by story story
short short a a from from Plagiarised Plagiarised Hurd, Hurd, Gale Gale by by Ann Ann Produced Produced Cameron, Cameron, James James by by Directed Directed (film), (film), (1984) (1984) Terminator Terminator
350 350
Shusett. Shusett. Ronald Ronald producer, producer, Executive Executive O'Bannon, O'Bannon, Dan Dan by by Story Story Scott, Scott, Ridley Ridley by by Directed Directed (film), (film), (1979) (1979) Alien Alien
349 349
woman. woman. warrior warrior the the situation for for situation
no-win no-win a a was was it it way, way, Either Either marriage. marriage. with with punished punished was was unruliness unruliness her her or or punished punished was was marry marry
to to determination determination her her and and unruly, unruly, too too far far was was Woman Woman Wonder Wonder feminism: against against backlash backlash the the
354 354
from from suffered suffered guises) guises) various various in in century century first first twenty- the the to to through through 1940s 1940s the the from from has survived survived has
who who woman woman warrior warrior (the (the form form book book comic comic in in Woman Woman Wonder Wonder that that argue argue I I but but regeneration, her her
353 353
for for allow allow would would act act this this that that says says Daniels Daniels Les Les Island. Island. Paradise Paradise to to time time in in back back sent sent was was moulded moulded
been been had had she she which which from from clay clay the the and and devolved devolved had had Woman Woman Wonder Wonder 1986), 1986), (March (March issue issue
next next the the in in but but Earths, Earths, Infinite Infinite on on Crisis Crisis the the in in Trevor Trevor Steve Steve marry marry to to Woman Woman Wonder Wonder allow allow
352
writer's writer's the the of of one one did did only only not not 1986, 1986, short-lived. short-lived. In In extremely extremely was was feminism feminism of of recognition recognition
This This forty. forty. of of age age the the over over women women inspirational inspirational particularly particularly of of lives lives the the honour honour to to established established
be be should should Foundation Foundation Woman Woman Wonder Wonder a a birthday, birthday, fortieth fortieth hero's hero's super super the the commemorate commemorate
to to that that decided decided had had Comics Comics DC DC of of president president The The . 'W' 'W' letter letter stylized stylized a a with with replaced replaced
351 351
was was bustier bustier Woman's Woman's Wonder Wonder onto onto emblazoned emblazoned was was which which eagle eagle golden golden the the 1982, 1982, In In
Backlash Backlash the the and and Women Women Warrior Warrior
1980s. 1980s. the the into into Woman Woman
Wonder Wonder by by suffered suffered crises crises identity identity continuing continuing the the of of evaluation evaluation an an after after below below discusses discusses be be will will
personas, personas, or or women, women, three three These These performances. performances. virgin/whore virgin/whore her her with with audiences audiences her her confused confused
also also Madonna Madonna autonomy. autonomy. and and sexuality sexuality women's women's up up free free to to fight fight the the in in woman woman warrior warrior a a as as
here here included included be be must must singer/songwriter/actress singer/songwriter/actress the the Madonna Madonna Connor. Connor. Sarah Sarah as as Hamilton Hamilton Linda Linda
starring starring Terminator, Terminator, and and Ripley, Ripley, Ellen Ellen as as Weaver Weaver Sigoumey Sigoumey starring starring Alien, Alien, period, period, the the
350 350 349 349
of of films films major major two two in in reflected reflected are are 1980s 1980s the the during during culture culture popular popular in in women women warrior warrior concerning concerning
ideals ideals and and sexuality, sexuality, and and bodies bodies own own their their of of control control women's women's empowerment, empowerment, of of Notions Notions
outlook. outlook. serious serious and and somber somber more more a a of of favour favour in in stilettos, stilettos, and and makeup makeup like like enhancements enhancements
feminine feminine excessively excessively and and housewifery, housewifery, and and domesticity domesticity as as such such attributes attributes feminine feminine
many many of of shedding shedding the the involved involved empowerment empowerment of of concepts concepts feminist feminist Liberal Liberal behaviours. behaviours. feminine feminine
77 77
179. 179. (2000) (2000) Daniels Daniels
358 358
160. 160. 2000) 2000) Press, Press, University University Manchester Manchester York: York: New New (Manchester, (Manchester,
Cycle Cycle Rape-Revenge Rape-Revenge the the and and Femininity Femininity Feminism, Feminism, Avengers: Avengers: New New The The Read, Read, Jacinda Jacinda in in cited cited Traube Traube Elizabeth Elizabeth
357 357
62. 62. Ibid., Ibid.,
356 356
62. 62. 1985) 1985) Methuen, Methuen, Reed Reed (Auckland: (Auckland: Zealand Zealand New New in in Women Women and and Men Men Wilderness: Wilderness: Sexual Sexual The The Kedgley, Kedgley, Sue Sue
355 355
femininity. femininity. their their
of of much much discarding discarding men', men', of of 'world 'world the the into into forth forth venture venture bravely bravely women women warrior warrior two two following following
the the 1980s, 1980s, the the in in Woman Woman Wonder Wonder unlike unlike However, However, 1992. 1992. until until self self heroic heroic her her rediscovered rediscovered
really really never never She She flashes". hot hot to to romance romance teenage teenage from from everything everything on on advice advice offering offering and and
358 358
sweaters sweaters wearing wearing ...... hanging around around hanging time time of of lot lot a a "spent "spent and and World' World' 'Man's 'Man's in in situations situations opera' opera'
'soap 'soap in in placed placed was was She She together. together. chained chained were were cuffs cuffs wrist wrist her her when when vulnerable vulnerable not not was was she she
is, is, that that weakness, weakness, her her eliminated eliminated had had writers writers her her 1987 1987 by by but but costume, costume, less less and and cleavage, cleavage, more more
muscle, muscle, more more with with 1980s 1980s late late the the in in reborn reborn was was She She Woman? Woman? Wonder Wonder And And character. character. Stone's Stone's
Sharon Sharon actress actress the the of of form form the the in in enemy enemy 'feminised' 'feminised' a a featured featured and and feminism, feminism, second-wave second-wave
regarding regarding anxiety anxiety reflected reflected 1987, 1987, in in released released Attraction, Attraction, Fatal Fatal film film the the end, end, this this To To
ofremasculinization. project project ideological ideological ongoing ongoing an an to to instrumental
357 357
became became enemies, enemies, feminized feminized in in and and women women in in embodied embodied power, power, female female of of threat threat
fantasized fantasized a a ...... era era Reagan Reagan the the During During community. community. imagined imagined the the from from expulsion expulsion
their their or or men men appropriate appropriate the the to to subordination subordination their their either either requiring requiring threat, threat, a a
as as constructed constructed be be to to continued continued women women in in ambition ambition Unlimited Unlimited ...... 1980s 1980s the the During During
States: States: United United the the in backlash backlash the the about about say say to to this this has has Traube Traube Elizabeth Elizabeth
differential. differential. power power the the to to and and
designation, designation, role role gendered gendered to to change change of of fear fear the the of of because because controversy controversy be be will will there there threatened, threatened,
is is quo quo status status the the Whenever Whenever " " ...... public association association public any any to to admit admit they they if if approval approval male male
356 356
lose lose will will they they fear fear and and ...... feminists feminists of of rhetoric rhetoric anti-male anti-male the the by by off off "put "put were were women women Sympathetic Sympathetic
earner. earner. salary salary or or wage wage of of that that with with combined combined homemaker homemaker of of that that roles, roles, dual dual out out carrying carrying were were
women women that that and and 'liberation', 'liberation', before before problematic problematic less less and and simpler simpler been been had had life life that that were were raised raised
issues issues Other Other feminists. feminists. by by "non-persons" be be to to considered considered were were men men on on dependent dependent financially financially
355 355
still still were were who who women women that that and and occupation occupation an an as as motherhood motherhood devalued devalued had had feminism feminism that that
stated stated Critics Critics 1980s. 1980s. the the in in Zealand Zealand New New in in effect effect taking taking was was backlash backlash the the that that fact fact the the affirms affirms
Kedgley Kedgley Sue Sue Zealand, Zealand, New New in in Woman Woman and and Men Men Wilderness: Wilderness: Sexual Sexual The The book book her her In In
78 78
18-19. 18-19. 1984) 1984) 8, 8, (December (December Listener Listener Zealand Zealand New New Woman', Woman', Multiple Multiple A A Be Be 'To 'To Alpers, Alpers, Diana Diana
362 362
1 1 (1999): (1999): Joyce Joyce
361 361
2006 2006 October October 25th 25th
360 360
2006). 2006). April14, April14, (retrieved (retrieved http://archive.salon.com/bc/1999/0l/12bc.html http://archive.salon.com/bc/1999/0l/12bc.html Amazon' Amazon' 'American 'American Joyce, Joyce, Cynthia Cynthia
359 359
status status the the ensure ensure to to order order in in repressed repressed be be must must which which monstrous-feminine, monstrous-feminine, psychoanalytic psychoanalytic the the of of
representative representative is is in in Alien Alien creature creature the the that that believes believes Creed, Creed, Barbara Barbara theorist, theorist, film film Feminist Feminist
Croft. Croft. Lara Lara including including
women, women, tough tough and and warriors warriors future future by by adopted adopted and and Angels Angels 's 's Charlie Charlie light-hearted light-hearted more more the the
by by embraced embraced was was that that creed creed a a is is which which it", it", of of part part be be might might man man the the and and somewhere somewhere way way her her
362 362
on on "actually "actually be be must must plays plays she she character character any any that that Zealand- New New visited visited she she when when 1984- from from
interview interview an an in in states states Weaver Weaver interest. interest. romantic romantic no no had had that that film film a a in in self-contained, self-contained, emotionally emotionally
persona, persona, tough tough a a created created who who hero, hero, action female female best best and and first first the the was was Weaver Weaver Sigourney Sigourney Joyce, Joyce,
for for because because Croft"/ Lara Lara no no be be would would there there Ripley, Ripley, ''without ''without that that says says Joyce Joyce Cynthia Cynthia gaze. gaze.
61 61
fear' fear' 'no 'no determined determined and and steady steady a a with with blazing, blazing, gun gun uniform, uniform, in in Ripley Ripley Ellen Ellen the the to to contrast contrast direct direct
in in was was physicality, physicality, non-macho non-macho non-aggressive, non-aggressive, her her and and cat, cat, the the for for hunt hunt anxious anxious the the underwear, underwear,
her her to to stripping stripping her her of of sensuality sensuality the the by by reinforced reinforced was was which which femininity, femininity, her her However However ship. ship.
the the of of spaces spaces geographical geographical the the in in performance performance her her in in and and ship, ship, the the on on command command of of position position her her
in in dress, dress, her her in in androgyny androgyny of of sense sense a a was was There There command. command. of of role role her her in in legitimated legitimated be be to to time time
some some Ripley Ripley Ellen Ellen took took downfall. downfall. their It It precipitated precipitated action action this this course, course, of of and and demands, demands, crew's crew's
the the to to succumbed succumbed and and female, female, inhumane inhumane and and cold cold a a be be to to appear appear to to wanting wanting not not hesitated, hesitated, She She
decontaminated. decontaminated. been been had had he he until until board board on on allowed allowed been been have have not not should should member member crew crew dying dying or or
sick sick the the is, is, That That crewmates. crewmates. male male her her by by undermined undermined was was followed followed be be protocol protocol that that insistence insistence her her
when when uncertain uncertain felt felt she she 1980s: 1980s: early early 1970s, 1970s, late late the the in in appropriate appropriate was was that that way way a a in in femininity femininity
perform perform to to seemed seemed Ripley) Ripley) (Ellen (Ellen Weaver Weaver Sigoumey Sigoumey Alien, Alien, viewed viewed last last I I When When
360 360
" ...... dignity dignity and and composure composure with with lead lead female female strong strong
359 359
a a play play to to actresses actresses of of generation generation new new a a of of first first the the was was She She chested. chested. small small and and big-brained big-brained -
anti-Barbie anti-Barbie the the became became Weaver] Weaver] [Sigoumey [Sigoumey "she "she that that states states magazine magazine Salon Salon from from Joyce Joyce Cynthia Cynthia
control. control. take take to to has has who who officer officer first first the the is is Weaver) Weaver) Sigourney Sigourney (actress (actress Ripley Ripley unfold, unfold, events events As As
rebirth. rebirth. a a primal- is is scene scene The The computer). computer). (the (the 'Mother' 'Mother' by by woken woken is is crew crew the the and and womb, womb, large large
a a like like is is itself itself ship ship The The parasites. parasites. are are which which 'eggs' 'eggs' and and creatures creatures strange strange with with planet planet a a on on lands lands
SOS, SOS, an an investigating investigating that, that, ship ship mining a a involving involving one one is is (1979) (1979) of of Alien Alien outline outline plot plot The The
Connor) Connor) (Sarah (Sarah Terminator Terminator and and Ripley) Ripley) (Ellen (Ellen Alien Alien
79 79
laboratories?" laboratories?" living living as as used used be be bodies bodies women's women's should should And And God? God? playing playing
work work this this doing doing teams teams medical medical the the Are Are society? society? for for ahead ahead dangers dangers there there are are But But world. world. the the around around hailed been been -have -have
engineering engineering genetic genetic in in 'advances' 'advances' other other and and fertilization fertilization vitro vitro in in couples- childless childless helping helping for for technique technique new new "The "The
reads: reads: subheading subheading The The 23-26. 23-26. 1984) 1984) 20, 20, (October (October Listener Listener Zealand Zealand New New danger?', danger?', 'Test-tube 'Test-tube Rowland, Rowland, Robyn Robyn
366 366
sequel. sequel. this this of of text text the the in in debated debated are are
heroism heroism versus versus motherhood motherhood single single surrounding surrounding issues issues The The woman. woman. warrior warrior a a as as (1991) (1991) Day Day Judgment Judgment 2: 2: Terminator Terminator
in in own own her her into into came came only only really really character character Connor Connor Sarah Sarah The The film. film. breakthrough breakthrough Schwarzenegger's Schwarzenegger's Arnold Arnold was was
it it and and technology) technology) of of side side dark dark the the (shows (shows noir noir film film technological technological a a considered considered is is and and 1984, 1984, from from is is Terminator Terminator
365 365
form. form. cultural cultural popular popular in in expressed expressed being being were were body body
the the with with concerned concerned advances advances scientific scientific other other and and fertilization fertilization vitro vitro in in surrounding surrounding anxieties anxieties the the that that It It appears appears
364 364
264-265. 264-265. 1999) 1999) Press, Press, University University Edinburgh Edinburgh (Edinburgh: (Edinburgh:
Thornham Thornham Sue Sue ed. ed. Reader, Reader, A A Theory: Theory: Film Film Feminist Feminist Feminine', Feminine', Monstrous Monstrous the the and and 'Horror 'Horror Creed, Creed, Barbara Barbara
363 363
AIDS AIDS the the of of naming naming the the but but fiction, fiction, science science and and cloning cloning subjectivity, subjectivity, of of notions notions to to contributed contributed
have have may may research genetic genetic of of beginnings beginnings the the Scientifically, Scientifically, age. age. information information the the of of rise rise
366 366
the the to to contributing contributing all all players, players, cassette cassette and and recorders recorders videocassette videocassette did did as as consumer, consumer, individual individual
the the to to available available became became Invaders Invaders Space Space and and Pacman Pacman as as such such games games electronic electronic and and computers computers
home home Electronically, Electronically, technologies. technologies. various various in in developments developments futuristic futuristic and and major major with with ages, ages,
information information and and industrial industrial the the between between era era transitional transitional a a be be to to considered considered is is 1980s 1980s The The
life. son's son's her her planning planning already already and and determined determined
365 365
and and calm calm Mexico, Mexico, to to traveling traveling and and pregnant pregnant is is she she dead) dead) terminator terminator the the and and lover lover (her (her film film the the in
scene scene closing closing the the in in and and unfolds unfolds plot plot the the as as player player resourceful resourceful increasingly increasingly an an to to victim victim frightened frightened
from from changes changes Connor Connor Sarah Sarah mother. mother. his his protect protect to to assistant assistant an an time time in in back back sends sends time) time) future future
the the (in (in son son Her Her child. child. the the has has she she before before her her kill kill to to authorities authorities by by time time in in back back sent sent is is 'terminator' 'terminator'
robotic robotic A A leader. leader. future future a a of of mother mother the the be be to to is is who who (Connor) (Connor) woman woman young young a a concerns concerns
plot plot The The reproduction. and and machines) machines) and and (cyborgs (cyborgs aliens aliens involving involving narrative narrative a a in in involved involved
364 364
also also is is (1984) (1984) from from Terminator Terminator Hamilton) Hamilton) Linda Linda (actress (actress Connor Connor Sarah Sarah character character The The
feminism. feminism. second-wave second-wave of of
influence influence the the and and order order gender gender the the concerning concerning culture culture popular popular within within anxiety anxiety the the reflect reflect and and text text
sub and and text text of of negotiations negotiations healthy healthy create create of of Alien Alien readings readings many many the the within within ambivalences ambivalences the the
- hero hero male male the the of of manner manner the the in in warrior warrior a a creates creates and and 1970s, 1970s, late late the the in in attitudes attitudes the the of of mindful mindful
character, character, the the explores explores Weaver Weaver culture. culture. popular popular in in genres genres various various within within accepted accepted be be to to warriors warriors
women women other other for for way way the the paved paved Ripley Ripley character character the the and and order, order, gender gender the the concerning concerning anxiety anxiety
expresses expresses film film the the in in Alien, Alien, occur occur may may that that order' order' patriarchal patriarchal the the of of up up 'shoring 'shoring any any of of Regardless Regardless
notion). this this reinforces reinforces also also cat cat (the (the body body female female pleasurable pleasurable the the of of reassurance reassurance a a is is camera camera
363 363
the the of of front front in in undresses undresses Ripley Ripley where where scene, scene, final final the the and and order, order, social social the the of of continuance continuance or or quo quo
80 80
58-85 58-85 Vintage,1991) Vintage,1991)
(London: (London: Myth Myth Beauty Beauty The The Wolf, Wolf, Naomi Naomi
371 371
Ibid. Ibid. 370 370
101. 101. 1996) 1996) Press, Press, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania of of University University (Philadelphia: (Philadelphia:
1970 1970
Since Since Movement Movement Women's Women's the the and and Culture, Culture, Media Media Television, Television, Feminism: Feminism: Time Time Prime- Dow, Dow, J. J. Bonnie Bonnie
369 369
22-23. 22-23. 1981) 1981) 12, 12, (September (September Listener Listener Zealand Zealand New New Sex', Sex', 30-Second 30-Second 'The 'The Stirling, Stirling, Pamela Pamela
368 368
be." be." could could it it thought thought
ever ever Wilde Wilde Fran Fran than than ordeal ordeal an an of of more more proved proved has has Parliament Parliament through through Bill Bill Reform Reform Law Law Homosexual Homosexual the the "Steering "Steering
reads: reads: subheading subheading The The 18-19. 18-19. 1985) 1985) 3, 3, (August (August Listener Listener Zealand Zealand New New Everything', Everything', it it 'Give 'Give Guerin, Guerin, Louise Louise
367 367
a a as as aesthetes aesthetes music music and and musicians musicians by by criticised criticised was was and and 1980s, 1980s, the the in in phenomenon phenomenon new new
a a quite quite was was video video music music The The programmes. programmes. music music imported imported and and local local on on featured featured 1980s 1980s the the from from
videos videos her her and and magazines, magazines, through through Zealand Zealand New New in in eye eye public public the the into into came came Madonna Madonna
Femininity Femininity of of Negotiation Negotiation the the and and Madonna Madonna
video. video. music music in in and and television television in in and and film film in in but but advertising, advertising, consumer consumer in in just just not not on on lives lives
myth beauty beauty The The her. her. rejected rejected have have would would audience audience an an Roseanne, Roseanne, as as such such woman woman plain plain large large
371 371
a a by by performed performed been been had had action action the the if if but but women, women, for for stage stage on on grabbing grabbing crotch crotch legitimated legitimated have have
may may Madonna Madonna crude. crude. loudly loudly and and large large and and plain plain is is Roseanne Roseanne Madonna, Madonna, unlike unlike However, However, her. her.
of of think think others others what what in in interest interest no no has has next, next, discussed discussed be be will will who who Madonna, Madonna, like like and, and, household household
her her controls controls Roseanne Roseanne note note feminist feminist positive positive a a on on but but sphere, sphere, public public the the claiming claiming women women of of
notion notion feminist feminist versus versus housewife housewife of of acknowledgement acknowledgement its its in in ambivalent ambivalent more more is is period, period, same same the the
from from comedy comedy situation situation the the Roseanne, Roseanne, episodes. later later the the of of focus focus the the became became issues' issues' 'women's 'women's
370 370
but but racism- and and sexism sexism inequities- criticized criticized Lacey Lacey and and Cagney Cagney episodes, episodes, early early limited". limited". In In
369 369
and and negotiated negotiated down, down, "watered "watered mostly mostly was was Feminism Feminism 1980s. 1980s. the the in in absent absent mostly mostly were were leads leads
female female strong strong concerned, concerned, were were programmes programmes television television as as far far so so In In beauty. beauty. of of values values gendered gendered
heterosexual heterosexual particular particular to to conform conform both both and and saviour), saviour), world world future future of of mother mother as as Connor Connor Sarah Sarah
and and cat, cat, the the rescuing rescuing Ripley Ripley (Ellen (Ellen women women of of expected expected stereotype stereotype nurturing nurturing the the to to degree degree some some
to to conform conform both both but but roles, roles, lead lead female female strong strong offer offer that that films films are are and and Terminator Terminator Alien Alien
femininity. femininity.
normative normative of of notions notions to to in in buy buy and and glamour glamour purchase purchase to to women women encourage encourage would would advertisements advertisements
in in women women of of portrayal portrayal sexist sexist the the paradigms, paradigms, consumer-oriented consumer-oriented post-industrial post-industrial to to contributing contributing
of of way way a a and and side-effect side-effect 'positive' 'positive' a a As As men". on on dependent dependent docilely docilely and and detergents detergents among among
368 368
happy happy "deliriously "deliriously - home home the the in in objects objects sex sex as as commercials commercials television television in in women women of of portrayal portrayal
continued continued a a and and values family family conservative conservative of of up up shoring shoring mainstream mainstream a a caused caused George George
367 367
Boy Boy as as such such musicians musicians by by sexuality sexuality 'deviant' 'deviant' of of declaration declaration open open the the and and rights, rights, gay gay virus, virus,
81 81
268. 268. 2003) 2003) (1992, (1992, Bordo Bordo
375 375
82. 82. Ibid., Ibid.,
374 374
82. 82. Ibid., Ibid.,
373 373
82. 82. 1992) 1992) Books, Books, Harmony Harmony York: York: (New (New Ambition Ambition Blonde Blonde Madonna: Madonna: Bego, Bego, Marc Marc
372 372
to to anyone anyone challenging challenging vulgar, vulgar, and and trashy trashy deliberately deliberately gaze, gaze, own own her her with with it it teasing teasing gaze, gaze, male male
the the rejected rejected ...... " " she she that that conduct, conduct, feminine feminine of of 'rules' 'rules' the the of of flaunting flaunting her her as as following following young teen teen young
her her reasons for for reasons Fiske's Fiske's John John cites cites Bordo Bordo Susan Susan and and self-defmed, self-defmed, was was persona persona sexual sexual Madonna's Madonna's
desire." patriarchal patriarchal of of object object passive passive a a as as constructed constructed be be to to herself herself "allow "allow to to refused refused who who icon icon
375 375
cultural cultural pop pop subversive subversive a a was was Madonna Madonna strength. strength. incorporated incorporated that that femininity femininity - a a - achievement achievement
personal personal with with concerned concerned was was that that femininity femininity a a for for girl girl girl/bad girl/bad good good of of notions notions rejected rejected that that
one one - femininity femininity of of concept concept new new a a offered offered were were identity, identity, of of notions notions exploring exploring were were who who Zealand Zealand
New New in in teens teens those those including including 'wannabes', 'wannabes', Madonna Madonna The The issues. issues. social social and and gender gender to to references references
and and symbolism symbolism religious religious and and sexuality sexuality her her expressing expressing plots plots and and character character with with cinematic, cinematic, and and
elaborate elaborate more more became became narrative narrative the the but but narrative, narrative, a a conveyed conveyed always always videos videos Madonna's Madonna's
hair. hair. in in tied tied bows bows arms, arms, the the up up bangles bangles rubber rubber black black bras, bras, lacy lacy and and t-shirts, t-shirts, tom tom mimicked-
was was dress dress of of style style Her Her girls. girls. pre-teen pre-teen and and teen teen young young on on had had performer performer this this influence influence much much
how how just just realize realize to to world world the the allowed allowed 1980s 1980s mid mid the the in in tour tour performance performance live live first first Her Her them".
374 374
love love still still I I and and me me love love still still they they because because back back me me take take would would them them of of one one every every top, top, the the
to to get get to to over over stepped stepped I I men men those those "All "All always: always: first, first, came came career career her her Madonna Madonna To To dominance. dominance.
and and sexuality sexuality her her as as well well as as fashion, fashion, unconventional unconventional and and skin skin white white lips, lips, red red eyebrows, eyebrows,
thick thick black black hair, hair, bleached bleached her her with with 'look' 'look' Madonna Madonna a a of of notion notion the the concreted concreted video video The The
life. life. imitating imitating art art of of case case a a truly truly
373 373
is is This This car. car. his his keep keep to to get get and and - guy guy the the ditch ditch to to Madonna Madonna to to it it Leave Leave guy. guy. the the
of of rid rid gotten gotten has has she she car- the the driving driving is is Madonna Madonna song, song, the the of of end end the the at at ...... guy guy
handsome handsome a a by by driven driven car car a a by by hit hit be be to to going going is is Madonna Madonna like like looks looks .It .It .. ..
unfolds: unfolds: story story the the video, video, the the In In
airwaves". airwaves".
372 372
the the of of dominatrix dominatrix the the as as Alexis Alexis 'Dynasty's' 'Dynasty's' rival rival to to destined destined was was who who girl girl the the at at look look first first
America's America's "represented "represented Bego, Bego, Marc Marc to to according according and, and, 1983 1983 March March in in released released was was Attraction' Attraction'
Up/'Physical Up/'Physical 'Burning 'Burning single single the the and and time), time), the the at at Zealand Zealand New New in in available available not not was was (which (which
MTV MTV on on featured featured first first Up' Up' 'Burning 'Burning video video Madonna's Madonna's medium. medium. video video music music the the with with image image
their their promoted promoted also also Prince Prince and and Jackson Jackson Michael Michael substance. substance. than than rather rather surface surface on on concentration concentration
82 82
454. 454. Ibid., Ibid.,
380 380
it. it. about about girl girl 'doing' 'doing' of of aspects aspects of of lot lot a a has has City City the the and and Sex Sex programme programme television television The The 451. 451. Ibid., Ibid.,
379 379
femininity. femininity. on on treatise treatise her her in in levels levels performance performance different different
four four the the not not may may 'fit' 'fit' they they Ussher- by by account account into into taken taken not not are are 'girl' 'girl' of of positions positions ability ability and and Racial Racial 445. 445. Ibid., Ibid.,
378 378
444. 444. (1997) (1997) Ussher Ussher
377 377
268. 268. Ibid., Ibid.,
376 376
An An practices. practices. beauty beauty in in interested interested particularly particularly not not is is and and artifice artifice without without practice practice and and desire desire
sexual sexual in in active active is is equals, equals, as as men men treats treats woman woman The The rejected. rejected. are are girl girl being being or or doing doing of of notions notions
dichotomous dichotomous the the all all where where one one is is girl, girl, resisting resisting Ussher, Ussher, by by forward forward put put category category third third The The
protected. protected. and and after after looked looked be be to to desire desire a a alongside alongside
380 380
independent independent be be to to desire desire a a love'; love'; 'in 'in be be to to desire desire deep deep a a with with juxtaposed juxtaposed romance, romance,
of of myth myth the the of of condemnation condemnation man, man, a a with with femininity femininity acquiescent acquiescent friends, friends, with with
cynicism cynicism contexts: contexts: different different in in positions positions different different up up take take to to appeared appeared Women Women
feminine: feminine: the the enacting enacting while while
desires desires their their negotiate negotiate to to order order in Also, Also, path. path. own own their their follow follow to to and and autonomous autonomous be be to to wanted wanted
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379 379
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a a is is girl girl Being Being 'girl"'. subverting subverting or or resisting resisting doing, doing, "Being, "Being, femininity: femininity: of of performance performance
378 378
their their in in operate operate women women which which from from positions positions different different four four are are there there that that suggests suggests ssher ssher U U
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377 377
deliberately deliberately choose choose they they if if scripts scripts the the subvert subvert and and reject reject (or (or 'right' 'right' it it get get to to want want
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model. model. role role a a as as her her adopted adopted and and desirable, desirable,
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words, words, other other In In judged." be be might might she she how how damn damn a a giving giving not not ultimately ultimately and and whore, whore, a a her her call call 376 376
83 83
106. 106. Ibid., Ibid.,
385 385
106. 106. (1992) (1992) Bego Bego
384 384
460. 460. (1997) (1997) Ussher Ussher
383 383
beliefs. beliefs. feminist feminist to to adhering still still while while appearance appearance feminine feminine a a have have could could they they that that insisted insisted
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382 382
455-458. 455-458. Ibid., Ibid.,
381 381
power'. power'. 'girl 'girl of of
beginnings beginnings the the feminism/femininity- new new a a was was This This doing". was was I I what what knew knew I I until until virginity virginity
385 385
my my lose lose didn't didn't "I "I replied: replied: she she press, press, the the in in virginity virginity own own her her losing losing about about asked asked was was she she when when and and
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384 384
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gender. gender. with with associated associated categories categories normal normal the the refuses refuses she she gender- of of boundaries boundaries the the transgresses transgresses
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change. change. and and modification modification resistance, resistance, to to open open
383 383
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382 382
which which in in category category the the is is This This girl. girl. subverting subverting is is offers offers Ussher Ussher that that category category final final The The
masculinity. with with playing playing and and expectations expectations gender gender subverting subverting of of way way a a fun, fun, be be
381 381
can can girl girl resisting resisting women, women, some some For For femininity. femininity. doing doing or or being being complementing complementing masculinity, masculinity, doing doing
or or being being of of notions notions in in up up caught caught be be can can too, too, men, men, because because men men attract attract to to hard hard it it find find may may they they
that that warned warned are are girl, girl, resist resist who who those those strong, strong, and and independent independent appear appear who who women women Heterosexual Heterosexual
name. name. same same the the of of series series television television the the from from Roseanne Roseanne be be would would culture popular popular in in here here example example
84 84
Ibid. Ibid. 391 391
177. 177. Ibid., Ibid.,
390 390
1988) 1988) Press, Press, Women's Women's The The (London: (London: eds. eds. Marshment Marshment Margaret Margaret and and Gamman Gamman Lorraine Lorraine culture, culture, popular popular of of viewers viewers
as as women women Gaze: Gaze: Female Female The The anyway', anyway', it it is is gaze gaze whose whose Power: Power: of of Politics Politics the the and and 'Feminism 'Feminism Young, Young, Shelagh Shelagh
389 389
here. here. listed listed
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estview estview W W Oxford: Oxford: Francisco, Francisco, San San (Boulder, (Boulder, Theory Theory Cultural Cultural and and Identities, Identities, Subcultural Subcultural Politics, Politics, Representational Representational
Connection: Connection: Madonna Madonna The The ed., ed., Schwichtenberg, Schwichtenberg, Cathy Cathy 155-138; 155-138; 1996) 1996) Press, Press, University University Duke Duke London: London:
and and (Durham (Durham Madonna Madonna to to West West Mae Mae from from Camp Camp Feminist Feminist Pleasures: Pleasures: Guilty Guilty Madonna', Madonna', About About Talk Talk We We When When About About
Talk Talk We We What What or, or, Difference? Difference? a a Make Make Camp Camp Feminist Feminist 'Does 'Does Robertson, Robertson, Pamela Pamela (1993); (1993); Butler Butler (1990); (1990); Butler Butler
388 388
462. 462. (1997) (1997) Ussher Ussher
387 387
tour. tour. on on act act stage stage live live and and videos videos pop pop her her Through Through
386 386
contemporary contemporary the the allowed allowed has has what what is is movement movement feminist feminist the the that that saying saying as as Winship Winship Janice Janice
cites cites Young Young project. second-wave second-wave feminist feminist the the of of product product the the fact fact in in are are example) example) for for videos, videos,
391 391
risque risque in in body body her her (using (using mores mores feminist feminist for for disregard disregard her her with with coupled coupled sexuality sexuality aggressive aggressive
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390 390
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389 389
At? At? Looking Looking You You Are Are What What And And Anyway? Anyway? it it is is Gaze Gaze Whose Whose
century. twenty-first twenty-first the the into into 1990s 1990s the the through through practice feminine/feminist feminine/feminist
388 388
'subversive' 'subversive' of of acceptance acceptance the the to to enormously enormously contributed contributed has has Madonna Madonna theorists. theorists.
queer queer and and feminists feminists by by examined examined was was performance performance gender gender and and subjectivity subjectivity as as particularly particularly
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often often punished, punished, still still are are Transgressors Transgressors boundaries. boundaries. these these of of negotiation negotiation continuous continuous is is there there
and and femininity, femininity, define define that that boundaries boundaries are are there there that that realise realise to to important important is is it it However, However,
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387 387
the the 'woman', 'woman', be be to to is is it it what what rescript rescript and and rewrite rewrite women women as as Indeed, Indeed, fixed. fixed.
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of of notions notions Ussher's Ussher's femininity. femininity. of of subversion subversion visuae and and public public very very a a offered offered Madonna Madonna 86 86
85 85
(1997). (1997). Ussher Ussher
396 396
125. 125.
(1996): (1996): Robertson Robertson
395 395
post-modernism. post-modernism. of of
aspects aspects
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but but name name
to to
identity, identity,
fractured fractured and and
whole) whole) a a create create to to items items
disparate disparate together together (cobbling (cobbling
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394 394
1997). 1997).
Routledge, Routledge,
York: York: New New
and and (London (London
Forms Forms
Cultural Cultural and and Theory Theory Cultural Cultural Feminism, Feminism,
Postfeminisms: Postfeminisms: Brooks, Brooks,
Ann Ann and and
1993) 1993) Unwin, Unwin,
& & Alien Alien
NSW: NSW:
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Schwichtenberg Schwichtenberg C. C. ed. ed. Connection, Connection, Madonna Madonna The The
Master-y', Master-y', and/as and/as
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Kaplan, Kaplan, Ann Ann E. E. also also (See (See
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393 393
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392 392
essay essay
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patterns patterns the the so so world, world, this this from from not not is is she she course course Of Of girlness. girlness.
subverting subverting and and
resisting resisting
b~tween b~tween fluctuates fluctuates identity identity Woman's Woman's Wonder Wonder 1980s 1980s the the In In
femininity. femininity. of of script script the the of of
negotiations negotiations 396 396
the the
in in
positions positions
various various
represent represent
chapter chapter this this in in discussed discussed women women warrior warrior the the then then versa, versa,
vice vice and and feminism feminism
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contribute contribute
femininity femininity of of aspects aspects that that acknowledgement acknowledgement an an and and plurality plurality
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accepted accepted is is it it If If quo. quo. status status the the to to acceptable acceptable is is that that feminism feminism
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twentieth twentieth
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down down watered watered a a as as negatively negatively considered considered is is it it times times other other
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feminism, feminism,
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post-feminism. post-feminism.
of of
ideals ideals
certain certain with with also also but but
postmodernism of of only only not not
notions notions 395 395 394 394
particular particular
with with
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Madonna's Madonna's suggests, suggests, Robertson Robertson Pamela Pamela as as and and conflated, conflated,
be be to to
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back". back". looking looking now now is is and and looked looked
has has she she 393 393
because because
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knowledge; knowledge; of of
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Winship Winship
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heterosexuality". and and
gender gender with with play play "to "to which which in in space space cultural cultural 392 392
86 86
56. 56. Ibid., Ibid.,
399 399
56. 56. Ibid., Ibid.,
398 398
52-71. 52-71. 1996) 1996) (Spring (Spring 3 3 No No Vol35 Vol35
Journal Journal Cinema Cinema Return'", Return'", No No of of "Point "Point the the and and Hardbodies Hardbodies Heroine: Heroine: Action Action the the and and 'Gender 'Gender Brown, Brown, A. A. Jeffrey Jeffrey
397 397
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399 399
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398 398
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87 87
(2005). (2005). Herd Herd
401 401
Slayer. Slayer. Vampire Vampire the the Buffy Buffy as as series series television television such such of of popularity popularity the the in in factor factor a a was was girlpower girlpower woman, woman, young young the the For For
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400 400
the the However, However, Zealand. Zealand. New New in in management management in in areas areas masculine masculine traditional traditional in in ground ground new new break break
to to continued continued women women individual individual century, century, twenty-first twenty-first the the into into and and 1990s 1990s the the Throughout Throughout
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401 401
became became Richardson Richardson Ruth Ruth and and General General Governor Governor became became Tizard Tizard Cath Cath Dame Dame Dunedin; Dunedin; of of Bishop Bishop
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400 400
Television, Television, of of Women Women Warrior Warrior The The book, book, her her in in notes notes Heinecken Heinecken Dawn Dawn culture. culture. popular popular in in hero hero
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88 88
24-30. 24-30. 1995) 1995) 12, 12, Listener Listener (August (August Zealand Zealand New New Home', Home', 'Hitting 'Hitting Telford, Telford, Deborah Deborah
406 406
22. 22. 1991) 1991) 26, 26, Listener Listener (August (August Zealand Zealand New New Wrongs' Wrongs' and and Rights Rights 'Human 'Human Dickson, Dickson, Elizabeth Elizabeth
405 405
17 17 Ibid., Ibid.,
404 404
(2005). (2005). Herd Herd
403 403
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402 402
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406 406
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405 405
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404 404
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403 403
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402 402
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89 89
149. 149. Grindstaff(2001) Grindstaff(2001)
411 411
43. 43. 1991) 1991) 15, 15, (July (July Listener Listener Zealand Zealand New New Reviews', Reviews', 'Film 'Film Listener, Listener, Zealand Zealand New New
410 410
133-175. 133-175.
(2001) (2001) 2 2 No No Vol16 Vol16 47 47 Obscura Obscura Camera Camera Nikita', Nikita', Femme Femme La La Remaking Remaking Retold: Retold: Tale Tale Pygmalion Pygmalion Grindstaff, Grindstaff, Laura Laura 'A 'A
1997. 1997. in in series series television television a a became and and Fonda, Fonda, Brigit Brigit starring starring Return Return No No of of as as Point Point 1993 1993 Hollywood in in Hollywood for for remade remade
and and 1992) 1992) (sequel (sequel 1991 1991 in in in in Cat Cat Black Black titled titled movie movie action action Kong Kong Hong Hong an an as as remade remade was was Nikita Nikita Femme Femme La La
409 409
67-86. 67-86. 1995) 1995) Unwin, Unwin, Alien Alien (Sydney: (Sydney: & & Masculinities Masculinities Masculinity', Masculinity', of of Organisation Organisation Social Social 'The 'The Connell, Connell, R.W. R.W. 408 408
-- 28 28 Ibid., Ibid.,
407 407
women. women. off' off' 'pissed 'pissed for for film film fantasy fantasy a a is is freedom. freedom. It It wild wild and and brief brief a a create create to to past past the the to to ties ties
their their cut cut Louise Louise and and Thelma Thelma Nikita, Nikita, of of case case the the in in wielded wielded control control patriarchal patriarchal the the Unlike Unlike
muck". and and blood, blood, food, food, of of 'afterbirth' 'afterbirth' an an with with covered covered below below dumpster dumpster
411 411
the the emerges from from emerges [she] [she] ...... " " kitchen: kitchen: the the from from hatch hatch food food the the down down to escape escape to has has she she when when
obvious obvious more more becomes becomes analogy analogy rebirth rebirth This This job. job. first first her her undertakes undertakes she she when when birthday birthday her her on on
complex) complex) underground underground an an is is site site training training (her (her reborn reborn also also is is Nikita Nikita order. order. masculinist masculinist a a into into chaos chaos
from from moulded moulded is is Nikita Nikita of of hero hero the the whereas whereas instinct, instinct, maternal maternal their their through through deeds deeds heroic heroic their their
to to driven driven are are two two these these but but threatened, threatened, is is binary binary male/female male/female the the Connor), Connor), (Sarah (Sarah Terminator Terminator and and
(Ripley) (Ripley) Alien Alien of of heroes heroes the the Like Like seasons. seasons. five five for for last last to to Nikita Nikita off off spin spin television television 1997 1997 the the cause cause
to to enough enough intriguing intriguing were were issues issues These These manner. manner. humane humane a a in in other other each each treating treating while while respect, respect,
self self and and independence independence our our retain retain can can we we how how of of problem problem the the ponders ponders also also Grindstaff Grindstaff home. home.
and and family family of of sphere sphere private private so-called so-called the the especially especially life, life, personal personal one's one's into into authority authority state state of of
intrusion intrusion the the and and rule, rule, patriarchal patriarchal under under body) body) hard hard the the of of (she (she women women phallic phallic of of fate fate the the identity, identity,
and and self self of of nature nature the the about about desires desires and and fears fears collective collective reflect reflect may may film film this this that that Grindstaffwrites Grindstaffwrites
Laura Laura moving." oddly oddly that, that, all all for for yet, yet, and and stylish, stylish, rough, rough, nihilistic, nihilistic, even even violent, violent, superficial, superficial,
410 410
- set set cafe cafe the the for for one one is is "This "This saying: saying: ambivalent ambivalent extremely extremely was was review review Listener Listener Zealand Zealand New New
The The retold. tale tale Pygmalion Pygmalion the the is is this this 1990, 1990, in in Released Released assassin. assassin. government government a a as as recruited recruited
409 409
is is who who woman) woman) (a (a murderer murderer convicted convicted a a of of story story the the tells tells which which film film French French a a is is Nikita Nikita
Nikita. Nikita.
Femme Femme La La film film the the in in encapsulated encapsulated were were autonomy autonomy women's women's of of fear fear and and power power of of loss loss patriarchal patriarchal
1990s: 1990s: the the in in media media the the in in apparent apparent also also were were feminism feminism against against backlash backlash continuing continuing a a and and
empowerment empowerment Women's Women's appeals. appeals. fundraising fundraising street street and and television television on on promotions promotions through public public
general general the the of of attention attention the the to to issue issue the the brought brought collective collective Refuge Refuge Women's Women's the the and and 1990s, 1990s, the the in in
media media the the in in investigated investigated were were women women to to violence violence men's men's and and violence violence surrounding surrounding Issues Issues
children. children. and and women women bully bully to to men men allowing allowing order hegemonic hegemonic the the reinforces reinforces and and culture culture
408 408
Zealand Zealand New New permeates permeates attitude attitude This This control". in in not not are are they they because because unmanly, unmanly, as as labeled labeled be be 407 407
90 90
153. 153. 2004) 2004) Macmillan, Macmillan, Pa1grave Pa1grave
York: York: New New and and Hampshire Hampshire (Basingstoke, (Basingstoke, Inness Inness Sherrie Sherrie Ed. Ed. A. A. Culture, Culture, Popular Popular in in Women Women Tough Tough of of Images Images
New New Chicks: Chicks: Action Action Heroines', Heroines', Sacrificial Sacrificial Into Into Snapped Snapped Heroes Heroes Female Female Season: Season: Cruelest Cruelest 'The 'The Crosby, Crosby, Sara Sara
416 416
Ibid. Ibid. 415 415
Ibid. Ibid. 414 414
Ibid. Ibid. 413 413
63. 63. 1991) 1991) June, June, (17 (17 Newsweek Newsweek Fascism?', Fascism?', or or Feminism Feminism
Louise" Louise" "Thelma "Thelma Is Is & & Much: Much: Too Too Kill Kill Who Who 'Women 'Women Springen, Springen, Karen Karen and and Murr Murr Andrew Andrew Shapiro, Shapiro, Laura Laura
412 412
the the for for screens screens our our on on appeared appeared Flux Flux Aeon Aeon and and States, States, United United the the in in 1991-4 1991-4 from from aired aired Television Television
Liquid Liquid minutes. minutes. 3 3 or or 2 2 for for ran ran episode episode each each and and seasons, seasons, two two for for Television Television Liquid Liquid MTV's MTV's
in in included included was was She She episode. episode. every every died died character, character, cartoon cartoon television television the the Flux, Flux, Aeon Aeon
Punk Punk the the and and Assassin Assassin the the Control: Control: in in Women Women
patriarchy. the the
416 416
by by incorporation incorporation resist resist to to order order in in did did they they as as acted acted characters characters the the and/or and/or power; power; patriarchal patriarchal by by
punished punished be be would would femininity femininity 'monstrous' 'monstrous' and and subversive subversive their their reasons: reasons: main main two two for for themselves themselves
killed killed have have may may women women these these that that suggests suggests Crosby Crosby Sarah Sarah lives. lives. their their ended ended too, too, women, women,
warrior warrior of of promising promising most most the the of of some some century century twenty-first twenty-first the the of of years years first first the the in in but but die, die, and and
cliff cliff a a over over drive drive to to was was citizens citizens class class second second be be to to refused refused who who women women for for solution solution possible possible only only
the the that that however, however, problematic, problematic, highly highly is is women). It It with with popular popular extremely extremely also also and and revenge"; revenge";
415 415
explosive explosive ...... sadistic sadistic "bloody, "bloody, behaviour"; behaviour"; testosterone-crazed testosterone-crazed of of stereotypes stereotypes ("pathetic ("pathetic
414 414
controversial: controversial: extremely extremely be be to to movie movie the the causing causing world, world, the the around around women women by by recognized recognized
was was and and Louise, Louise, Thelma Thelma in in illustrated illustrated & & was was seriously seriously complaints complaints women's women's take take to to law law the the of of
incapacity incapacity the the as as well well as as women, women, of of abuse abuse men's men's that that knowledge knowledge The The weapon". powerful powerful most most
413 413
their their are are hands hands clasped clasped whose whose women women two two about about movie movie a a is is This This jeans. jeans. their their in in tucked tucked pistols pistols
have have they they because because not not but but feminists, feminists, were were they they course course "Of "Of states: states: article article Newsweek Newsweek The The
canyon. canyon. the the into into death death their their to to drive drive They They Canyon. Canyon. Grand Grand the the and and police police
the the between between cliff cliff a a of of edge edge the the on on trapped trapped are are women women the the movie, movie, the the of of stages stages final final the the In In earlier. earlier.
years years some some raped raped been been had had Louise Louise where where Texas, Texas, avoiding avoiding Mexico, Mexico, to to run run the the on on go go fugitives fugitives
The The dead. dead. him him shoots shoots Louise Louise and and lot lot parking parking the the in in her her rape rape to to attempts attempts man man a a drunk, drunk, gets gets Thelma Thelma
When When break. break. two-day two-day a a for for off off drive drive who who friends friends two two about about movie, movie, road road a a is is This This fact. fact. this this with with
grapple grapple Louise Louise and and Thelma Thelma and and territory, territory, men's men's in in is is she she sphere, sphere, public public the the in in is is she she when when that that
is is of of aware aware is is woman woman every every truth truth a a that that states states article article The The flick'). 'chick 'chick a a as as contemporarily contemporarily
412 412
'othered' 'othered' (commonly (commonly view" view" of of point point female female unmistakably unmistakably its its is is film film this this of of aspect aspect revelatory revelatory
most most "the "the that that states states review review Newsweek Newsweek A A month. month. first first its its in in millions millions grossed grossed it it 1991, 1991, in in Released Released
91 91
Ibid. Ibid. 423 423
68 68 (2003) (2003) Heinecken Heinecken
422 422
Ibid. Ibid. 421 421
(2005). (2005). Networks Networks MTV MTV Chung, Chung, Peter Peter Cut, Cut, Director's Director's collection, collection, animated animated complete complete the Flux: Flux: Aeon Aeon
420 420
2006) 2006) April22, April22, (retrieved (retrieved www.moria.co.nz/sf/aeonflux.htm www.moria.co.nz/sf/aeonflux.htm
419 419
65-89 65-89 2003) 2003)
Lang, Lang, Peter Peter York: York: (New (New Television Television of of Women Women Warrior Warrior Body', Body', Grotesque Grotesque the the and and Flux Flux 'Aeon 'Aeon Heinecken, Heinecken, Dawn Dawn
418 418
alike. alike. theatre-goers theatre-goers and and reviewers reviewers the the of of fire fire under under
badly badly fared fared and and 2006 2006 in in Zealand Zealand New New in in released released was was Flux Flux Aeon Aeon movie movie The The emerged. emerged. story story a a and and necessary, necessary, became became
Dialogue Dialogue air. air. on on went went each each of30mins of30mins episodes episodes often often consisting consisting Flux Flux Aeon Aeon entitled entitled 1995 1995 in in series series MTV MTV An An
417 417
the the was was (Aeon (Aeon arena arena appropriate appropriate an an also also was was Flux Flux Aeon Aeon workplaces. workplaces. and and offices offices in in even even and and
streets streets some some on on and and shops shops in in appearance appearance their their making making were were cameras cameras security security 1995; 1995; by by accessible accessible
be be would would player player DVD DVD the the and and household household every every infiltrating infiltrating were were computers computers realized; realized; being being
were were technologies technologies reproduction reproduction New New body. body. human human the the of of and and society society of of invasion invasion technological technological
of of threat threat the the concerning concerning anxiety anxiety offload offload to to which which on on hero hero a a provided provided Flux Flux Aeon Aeon
destruction". destruction". signals signals
423 423
status status liminal liminal whose whose woman, woman, 'unruly' 'unruly' an an is is She She place. place. his his in in man man the the sets sets who who anyone, anyone, to to down down
bows bows never never who who woman woman a a as as her her "see "see may may Viewers Viewers 1996. Ass' Ass' Our Our Kick Kick Can Can in in They They Though Though
422 422
Even Even Love Love We We 'Women 'Women of of list list 20 20 top top Esquire's Esquire's named named was was in in that that Flux Flux Aeon states states also also she she but but
1990s, 1990s, the the of of trend trend hero hero action action female female the the of of 'mother' 'mother' the the is is Flux Flux that that Aeon Aeon believes believes Heinecken Heinecken
Dawn Dawn format. the the or or story story the the or or characters characters the the with with familiar familiar or or reassured, reassured, comfortable, comfortable,
421 421
feel feel to to viewers viewers his his want want not not did did Chung Chung all. all. at at her her about about assumptions assumptions no no make make could could one one
and and family, family, or or relatives relatives no no had had orders, orders, given given not not was was She She good. good. nor nor bad bad neither neither all, all, at at hero hero no no was was
She She fighter. fighter. crime crime a a or or patriot patriot a a not not was was Aeon Aeon on. on. so so and and grunts, grunts, sighs, sighs, were were actors actors the the by by emitted emitted
sounds sounds only only the the because because play, play, in in were were conversations conversations what what guess guess to to had had viewer viewer the the - dialogue dialogue
the the with with so so story, story, the the with with As As actions. actions. Flux's Flux's Aeon Aeon predict predict to to viewer viewer the the allowed allowed have have may may
that that anything anything eliminate eliminate to to wanted wanted he he that that states states he he which which in in Chung Chung Peter Peter featuring featuring commentary commentary
a a is is there there set DVD DVD the the On On violence. extreme extreme its its and and rituals rituals weird weird its its for for known known is is series series
419 419 420 420
The The love/hate. love/hate. of of one one and and ambiguous ambiguous is is relationship relationship Their Their Bregna. Bregna. of of country country neighbouring neighbouring the the
of of dictator dictator the the Goodchild, Goodchild, Trevor Trevor sabotage sabotage to to attempts attempts her her of of consists consists episode episode each each and and Monica Monica
of of country country free free the the of of agent agent an an is is She She clothing. clothing. bondage-type bondage-type and and exotic exotic wears wears who who assassin assassin
spidery spidery a a is is She She Schiele. Schiele. Egan Egan artist artist the the of of drawings drawings the the by by influenced influenced is is body body Aeon's Aeon's Rats), Rats),
Chung Chung (Rug (Rug Peter Peter by by Designed Designed attention." popular popular and and critical critical both both shows shows its its gamer gamer audiences audiences
418 418
youthful youthful to to appeal appeal and and reputation reputation trend-setting trend-setting network's network's "the "the and and culture culture visual visual contemporary contemporary on on
influence influence strong strong a a has has MTV MTV that that notes notes Heinecken Heinecken Dawn Dawn Television. for for was was Liquid Liquid audience audience
417 417
the the varied varied how how just just amazing amazing was was Zealand. Zealand. New New in in air air It It on on was was MTV MTV that that time time short short very very
92 92
format). format). book book comic comic original original the the of of recognition recognition (in (in movie movie the the Girl Girl in in Tank Tank sequences sequences animated animated were were There There
426 426
79-81. 79-81. 1995) 1995) (Sept (Sept 3 3 no. no. Vol89, Vol89, Fiction, Fiction, Science Science and and Fantasy Fantasy of of Magazine Magazine The The Girl', Girl', 'Tank 'Tank Maio, Maio, Kathi Kathi
425
79-100. 79-100. 1994) 1994) (March (March 1 1 No No Journa!Vol10 Journa!Vol10 Studies Studies Women's Women's Power' Power' and and 'Feminism 'Feminism Yeatman, Yeatman, Anna Anna
424 424
attitude. attitude. devil-may-care devil-may-care
and and autonomy autonomy and and unruliness unruliness her her with with legacy legacy woman woman warrior warrior the the to to contribute contribute however, however, did, did, Girl Girl
Tank Tank extremes. new new to to life life real real and and animation animation between between crossover crossover of of ideas ideas takes takes which which Gorillaz Gorillaz
426 426
band band rock rock animated animated the the project, project, worthy worthy less less much much a a considered considered be be may may to what what to on on moved moved
have have creators creators Her Her lives. lives. our our from from disappeared disappeared has has she she punk, punk, initial initial the the like like but but great, great, was was Girl Girl
lose. lose. Tank Tank to to nothing nothing with with daring, daring, and and bold bold be be and and planet' planet' the the on on room room more more up up 'take 'take to to and and life, life,
to to approach approach her her in assured assured more more much much be be to to learning learning friendship, friendship, the the in in blossoms blossoms who who mechanic mechanic
a a is is Girl Girl Jet Jet friend friend best best Girl's Girl's Tank Tank positively). more more expressed expressed be be could could character character the the
425 425
audience, audience, older older an an for for been been had had rating rating censorship censorship the the if if that that is, is, (that (that success success a a being being from from movie movie
stopped the the stopped censorship censorship that that felt felt reviewer reviewer one one least least at at although although young', young', die die and and dirty, dirty, fight fight hard, hard,
'live 'live of of ideals ideals the the under under living living film, film, the the in in delightful delightful and and raucous raucous is is She She big. big. too too are are that that boots boots
combat combat and and dress dress punk-oriented punk-oriented sexy sexy wears wears and and fights fights smokes, smokes, beer, beer, who who tank tank drinks drinks a a with with punk punk
a a is is She She power'. power'. 'girl 'girl expresses expresses definitely definitely Girl Girl Tank Tank Kingdom, Kingdom, United United the the in Magazine Magazine Deadline Deadline
for for strip strip comic comic a a as as 1988 1988 in in Martin Martin Alan Alan and and Hewlett Hewlett Jamie Jamie by by Created Created name. name. same same the the of of film film
1995 1995 the the in in Petty Petty Lori Lori by by representation representation her her for for well-known well-known most most is is who who character character animated animated an an
is is she she culture, culture, punk punk by by Influenced Influenced Flux. Flux. Aeon Aeon of of sophistication sophistication the the of of none none has has Girl Girl Tank Tank
change. change. and and transition transition concerns concerns 'flux' 'flux' while while timelessness, timelessness,
connotes connotes 'aeon' 'aeon' name name Her Her processes. processes. natural natural such such with with association association her her suggests suggests name name
Aeon's Aeon's best. best. are are processes processes natural natural that that believes believes Flux Flux Aeon Aeon again. again. purpose- of of sense sense a a with with week
next next returns returns Flux Flux Aeon Aeon Louise, Louise, and and Thelma Thelma unlike unlike but but end, end, the the at at dies dies she she Louise, Louise, and and Thelma Thelma
Like Like body. body. human human the the of of frailties frailties the the to to subject subject yet yet independent, independent, powerfully powerfully storylines, storylines, traditional traditional
non in in up up caught caught self, self, fragmented fragmented the the of of symbolic symbolic is is Flux Flux Aeon Aeon society. society. our our in in women women of of
roles roles working working rearing) rearing) (child (child 'non-legitimate' 'non-legitimate' of of non-recognition non-recognition a a by by confounded confounded is is women women for for
step step 'positive' 'positive' this this and and women", from from protection protection paternalistic paternalistic withdraws withdraws which which self-regulation self-regulation
424 424
of of version version market-oriented market-oriented "a "a as as situation situation the the defines defines eatman eatman Y Y dependency. dependency. economic economic versus versus
opportunity opportunity equal equal of of issues issues in in up up caught caught were were circumstances, circumstances, particular particular to to due due beneficiaries beneficiaries
or or parents parents single single were were yet yet 'independent' 'independent' be be to to wanted wanted who who Women Women situations. situations. personal personal
of of regardless regardless market, market, labour labour the the in in participate participate to to and and independent independent be be to to women women encouraged encouraged
1990s 1990s early early the the in in Zealand Zealand New New in in state state the the that that writes writes theorist, theorist, feminist feminist Yeatman, Yeatman, Anna Anna
self-regulation. self-regulation. of of notions notions with with terms terms to to come come to to which which in in self) self) fragmented fragmented postmodern postmodern ultimate ultimate - Girlpower and the 'Tweens: from clueless Cher, to saving the world before bedtime Tank Girl was one aspect of girlpower - acting out, being unruly, and generally causing shock. Cher, in Clueless (1995), offers an exceedingly feminine concept of girl power. Possibly influenced by Jane Austen's Emma, one cannot help but enjoy the vacuous yet canny Cher. These two aspects of girl power- the muscled, tough, unkempt, seemingly uncaring Tankgirl versus the soft-bodied, pristine, pink and perfect Cher - are reflections of historical concepts of female identity and of questions concerning feminism and femininity which are ongoing into the twenty first Century. The 1990s was also a time when Madonna created her hard muscled dance body. She went on her Blonde Ambition tour and produced the video In Bed With Madonna/Truth or Dare which documented her backstage 'private' life. "Madonna the popstar that ate feminism"427 is the way that Susan Hopkins describes the capacity of Madonna's media entourage to pick out aspects of culture and rework these. A Madonna mythology is created that many feminists consider to be a positive influence on young girls and women: "Dressed in black lingerie and feminist discourses, she was embraced as a model of female empowerment".428 Madonna's ability to create new personas for herself was a postmodern tactic which influenced the creation of the girl band, the Spice Girls.
March 1993 was the year the Spice Girls was formed - five girls were chosen from hundreds who answered an advertisement to form a girl band. The girls were required to be 18-23 with the ability to sing or dance, be streetwise, ambitious, outgoing and determined. 429 In 1996 they released their first single. They became the biggest selling girl group of the twentieth century. The Spice Girls saw themselves as being dominant and influential within popular culture without losing their femininity. They dressed in fashionable and outrageous 'gear' such as micro minis with six inch platform boots and ribbons in their hair. The phrase 'girl power' reverberated throughout the 1990s, and influenced millions of young teen and preteen girls. The girl power advocated by the Spice Girls has been both criticized and defended. Angela McRobbie considers them to be an aspect of popular feminism, "fighting in a playful way for self-assertion and sexual enjoyment, disassociating themselves from an older generation of tired, white, middle-class
427 Hopkins (2002) 43. 428 Ibid., 45. 429 Rebecca Cripps and Mal Peachey, Real Life: Real Spice the Official Story (London: Zone, 1997). 93
94 94
318. 318. (1999) (1999) Greer Greer in in cited cited 'Wannabe' 'Wannabe' Hit Hit Girls Girls Spice Spice the the from from Lines Lines
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315. 315. 1999) 1999) Doubleday, Doubleday, (London: (London: Woman Woman Whole Whole The The 'Girlpower', 'Girlpower', Greer, Greer, Germaine Germaine
432 432
power. power. girl girl of of upholding upholding
aggressive aggressive slightly slightly and and defensive defensive a a with with punches, punches, no pull who who feminists feminists young young of of movement movement subcultural subcultural A A
431 431
156. 156. 2004) 2004) Routledge, Routledge, London: London: York, York, (New (New Harris Harris Anita Anita ed. ed. Identity, Identity, and and Culture Culture Power, Power, Girl: Girl: the the About About All All in in
Culture', Culture', Girl Girl in in Empowerments Empowerments Other Other and and Feminist Feminist Pop Pop Strategies: Strategies: 'Spicy 'Spicy Fritzsche, Fritzsche, Bettina Bettina in in cited cited McRobbie McRobbie
430 430
preferring preferring slayer, slayer, reluctant reluctant a a is is and and training training requires requires she she However, However, vampires. vampires. kill kill skills to to skills and and
strength strength the the all all with with one' one' 'chosen 'chosen the the is is who who world world the the all all in in girl girl one one the the is is Buffy Buffy empowerment. empowerment.
woman's woman's young young of of genre genre the the of of part part definitely definitely was was it it but but 1997, 1997, until until series series television television
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433 433
girllove. and and support support
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girl girl about about supposedly supposedly movement movement a a in in jealousy jealousy and and tension tension hostility, hostility, created created
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world world art art the the in in women women of of position position the the monitor monitor Girls Girls Guerilla Guerilla the the feminists: feminists: other other by by assertively assertively
used used been been has has 'girl' 'girl' The word word The Grrrls Grrrls Riot Riot the the and and Madonna Madonna by by instigated instigated performances performances
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co~ercial co~ercial of of aspect aspect highly highly a a be be to to Girls Girls Spice Spice the the considered considered have have others others Yet Yet feminists". 430 430
95 95
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Rosenman. Rosenman. Howard Howard and and Kuzui Kuzui Kaz Kaz by by Produced Produced Whedon, Whedon, Joss Joss by by Written Written (1992), (1992), Slayer Slayer Vampire Vampire the the Buffy Buffy
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437 437
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436 436
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435 435
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434 434
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96 96
subculture. subculture. gym gym the the in in fashion fashion leotard leotard with with keeping keeping in in hip, hip, the the to to arched arched leg-line leg-line the the with with skimpier skimpier became became
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445 445
64. 64. Ibid., Ibid.,
444 444
64. 64. 1996) 1996) 13, 13, (July (July Listener Listener Zealand Zealand New New Review', Review', 'TV 'TV Witchell, Witchell, Diana Diana
443 443
Takeuchi. Takeuchi. Naoko Naoko woman, woman, a a by by book book comic comic the the on on based based series series television television animated animated (1996). (1996). Moon Moon Sailor Sailor An An
442 442
Two. Two. Channel Channel on on morning morning weekday weekday Every Every
441 441
173. 173. 2003) 2003) Press, Press, University University Northeastern Northeastern (Boston: (Boston: Piepmeier Piepmeier Alison Alison and and
Dicker Dicker Rory Rory eds. eds. Wave, Wave, a a Catching Catching television, television, of of generation generation next next the the Slayer: Slayer: Vampire Vampire the the 'Buffy 'Buffy Byers, Byers, Michele Michele
440 440
2006). 2006). 6, 6, February February (retrieved (retrieved www.bitchmagazine.com www.bitchmagazine.com 10) 10) (No. (No. Bitch Bitch Fudge, Fudge, Rachel Rachel
439 439
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445 445
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444 444
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443 443
trend trend tiara tiara the the of of archetype archetype and and justice justice of of "champion "champion be be to to Moon Moon Sailor Sailor considered considered Witchell Witchell
Diana Diana Listener, Listener, Zealand Zealand New New the the in in Writing Writing Takeuchi. Naoko Naoko artist, artist, manga manga female female the the
442 442
by by created created hero hero book book comic comic a a on on based based Moon, Sailor Sailor character, character, animated animated the the watch watch to to choose choose
441 441
could could girl, girl, 'little' 'little' the the viewer, viewer, female female Zealand Zealand New New young young very very the the 1996 1996 in in 1990s: 1990s: the the in step step next next
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character. character. feminist feminist the the of of part part as as accepted accepted being being femininity femininity
of of example example an an is is Buffy Buffy women". and and girls girls to to but but man man honorary honorary an an to to not not belongs belongs heroism heroism
440 440
for for potential potential the the reimagining, reimagining, this this in And And activist. activist. an an witch, witch, a a slayer, slayer, a a smart, smart, strong, strong, independent, independent,
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to to Buffy Buffy hero hero the the considers considers Byers Byers Michele Michele However, However, " ...... media/culture media/culture mass mass girl-oriented girl-oriented of of
439 439
decade decade entire entire an an for for girl girl poster poster the the be be could could Buffy Buffy marketability, marketability, of of bow bow pretty pretty the the in in up up tied tied all all
97 97
Levin. Levin. Lloyd Lloyd and and
Gordon Gordon Lawrence Lawrence by by Produced Produced Bont. Bont. de de Jan Jan by by Directed Directed Georgaris. Georgaris. Dean Dean Screenplay Screenplay Game. Game. Interactive Interactive Eidos Eidos the the
on on Based Based (2003). (2003). Life Life of of Cradle Cradle The The Croft: Croft: Lara Lara and and Wilson. Wilson. Colin Colin and and Levin Levin Lloyd Lloyd Gordon, Gordon, Lawrence Lawrence Producers Producers
West. West. Simon Simon Director Director Zimman. Zimman. John John and and Massett Massett Patrick Patrick by by Screenplay Screenplay Colleary. Colleary. Michael Michael and and Webb Webb Mike Mike Cooper, Cooper,
B. B. Sara Sara Story Story heroine. heroine. games' games' computer computer animated animated Gard Gard Toby Toby the the on on Based Based (2001). (2001). Raider Raider Tomb Tomb Croft: Croft: Lara Lara
452 452
88. 88. Ibid., Ibid.,
451 451
2006.) 2006.) AprillO, AprillO, Muse, Muse, Project Project from from online online (retrieved (retrieved 87-97. 87-97. (2004) (2004) Journa/78 Journa/78 Arts Arts Performing Performing fantasy', fantasy', and and
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models, models, for for desire desire media media unending unending the the or or Girl Girl Adventure Adventure Young Young Ultimate Ultimate The The Croft: Croft: 'Lara 'Lara Lancaster, Lancaster, Kurt Kurt
45
2006. 2006. May May in in released released was was Legend Legend Raider: Raider: Tomb Tomb
449 449
2005). 2005).
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448 448
2005). 2005).
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447 447
producer. producer.
and and creator creator was was characters, characters, television television the the of of originator originator McCracken, McCracken, Craig Craig (film). (film). (2002) (2002) Girls Girls Puff Puff Power Power
446 446
that that says says Lancaster Lancaster films, the the in in character character Croft Croft Lara Lara the the plays plays who who Jolie Jolie Angelina Angelina actress actress the the
452 452
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451 451
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45
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449 449
Raider Raider Tomb Tomb of of number number a a in in starred starred has has she she and and Gard Gard Toby Toby by by 1996 1996 in in created created was was Lara Lara Croft. Croft.
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448 448 447 447
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446 446
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98 98
40-54. 40-54. 2003) 2003) Press, Press, University University Syracuse Syracuse York: York:
(New (New Kennedy Kennedy Kathleen Kathleen and and Early Early Prances Prances eds. eds. Warriors, Warriors, Women Women New New Television's Television's Daughters: Daughters: 's 's Athena Athena Princess'. Princess'.
Warrior Warrior inXena, inXena, Warrior Warrior Just Just the the of of Unmaking Unmaking the the and and Making Making
The The Battlefield: Battlefield: the the is is 'Love 'Love Kennedy, Kennedy, Kathleen Kathleen
458 458
26. 26. 2004) 2004) Macmillan, Macmillan, Palgrave Palgrave
York: York: New New and and Hampshire Hampshire (Basingstoke, (Basingstoke, Inness A. A. Sherrie Sherrie ed. ed. Culture, Culture, Popular Popular in in Women Women Tough Tough of of Images Images New New
Chicks: Chicks: Action Action Destruction', Destruction', and and Reproduction Reproduction Transposing Transposing Mission: Mission: Loaded Loaded and and Lethal Lethal
'Lara's 'Lara's Herbst, Herbst, Claudia Claudia
457 457
2006.) 2006.) May May magazine magazine 360 360 Xbox Xbox and and 2006 2006 May May 2 2 magazine magazine Playstation Playstation see see Legend, Legend, Raider: Raider: Tomb Tomb game game
new new the the on on promotion promotion the the view view to to Also, Also, on. on. so so and and it-girl., it-girl., LT. LT. the the ...... power power girl girl of of pioneer pioneer the the is is Croft Croft Lara Lara that that states states
which which documentary' documentary' traditional traditional than than entertainment entertainment factual factual 'more 'more (2003), (2003), Loaded, Loaded, and and Lethal Lethal Croft Croft Lara Lara (See (See
456 456
Ibid., Ibid., 96. 96.
455 455
Ibid., Ibid., 95. 95.
454 454
95. 95. (2000) (2000) Lancaster Lancaster
453 453
New New in in filmed filmed was was series series the the because because frrstly frrstly Zealanders, Zealanders, New New of of hearts hearts the the to to dear dear is is Xena Xena 1995. 1995.
September September in in was was programme programme own own her her in in season season debut debut Her Her Journeys. Journeys. Legendary Legendary The The Hercules: Hercules:
of of episodes episodes two two in in 1995 1995 mid mid in in Zealand Zealand New New in in screen screen small small the the on on appeared appeared first first Xena Xena
ofmen. those those than than important important more more or or equally equally
458 458
being being as as stories stories women's women's includes includes that that way way a a in in myths myths reconstruct reconstruct does does show show the the but but stars, stars,
its its to to according according such, such, as as programme programme feminist feminist a a not not is is Princess Princess Warrior Warrior Xena: Xena: mid-1990s. mid-1990s. the the
since since television television on on icon icon culture culture popular popular a a as as boys boys and and girls girls young young both both by by admired admired and and women women
many many by by with with identifiable identifiable readily readily is is and and Croft, Croft, Lara Lara to to character character different different very very a a is is Xena Xena
represents. represents. she that that ideal ideal the the for for desired desired is is she she
perhaps perhaps or or body), body), her her all, all, of of (most (most her her desire desire men men and and lifestyle), lifestyle), her her all, all, of of (most (most has has Croft Croft Lara Lara
what what want want Women Women research. research. this this in in woman woman warrior warrior a a as as included included be be to to her her cause cause that that autonomy autonomy
her her and and training training her her adventure, adventure, of of sense sense her her is is It It with. with. affinity affinity feel feel can can women women most most character character
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457 457
totally totally is is she she still still but but breasts breasts incredible incredible these these has has and and beautiful beautiful so so is is "She "She saying: saying: as as Croft Croft Lara Lara on on
essay essay Herbst's Herbst's Claudia Claudia in in cited cited is is player player Raider Raider Tomb Tomb male male A A level. level. 'buddy' 'buddy' a a on on women women other other
with with associates associates never never Croft Croft Lara Lara figures, figures, female female heroic heroic other other unlike unlike and and game, game, animated animated new new
456 456
every every with with larger larger grow grow breasts breasts Croft's Croft's Lara Lara sexuality". her her with with comfortable comfortable and and flirtatious, flirtatious,
455 455
"curvaceous, "curvaceous, woman- heroic heroic a a in in want want to to coded coded been been have have men men and and women women what what of of 'ought' 'ought'
the the references references also also He He adventure". adventure". masculine masculine quintessential quintessential the the for for companion companion "masculine "masculine
454 454
a a as as well well as as playmate" "sexual "sexual a a becomes becomes Jolie Jolie heroine, heroine, animated animated the the with with associated associated when when 453 453
99 99
Ibid. Ibid. 464 464
Ibid. Ibid. 463 463
74. 74. 1996) 1996) (Jul/Aug (Jul/Aug 1 1 Issue Issue Vol7 Vol7 Ms Ms popular', popular', strong-and strong-and tall, tall, big, big, She's She's 'Xena: 'Xena: Minkowitz, Minkowitz, Donna Donna
462 462
64. 64. Ibid., Ibid.,
461 461
64. 64. Ibid., Ibid.,
460 460
64. 64. 1996) 1996) 6, 6, (July (July Listener Listener Zealand Zealand New New Review)', Review)', (TV (TV Brass Brass 'Top 'Top Witchell, Witchell, Diana Diana
459 459
with with disagree disagree would would who who Zealand Zealand New New in in women women many many be be would would There There men. with with 'equal' 'equal' felt felt
464 464
she she words, words, many many so so in in because, because, superhero superhero a a be be to to desire desire no no had had she she young girl girl young a a As As statement.
463 463
this this on on expand expand not not does does she she although although fear, fear, own own their their by by disadvantaged disadvantaged only only are are Zealand Zealand
New New in in women women that that fact fact the the on on comments comments Xena) Xena) plays plays who who actress actress (the (the Lawless Lawless Lucy Lucy
being. into into came came
462 462
feminism feminism since since this this moments like like moments mass-culture mass-culture of of dreaming dreaming been been have have feminists feminists
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rapists. rapists. of of band band roving roving a a from from women women defends defends and and enslavement enslavement from from farmers farmers
poor poor saves saves she she between, between, it. it. from from In. In. returns returns and and underworld underworld the the enters enters Ares, Ares,
god god war war the the defeats defeats Prometheus, Prometheus, rescues rescues woman woman mortal mortal a a weeks, weeks, successive successive In In
magazine: magazine: Ms Ms in in wrote wrote Minkowitz Minkowitz
Donna Donna Princess, Princess, Warrior Warrior the the deriding deriding was was Witchell Witchell that that 1996) 1996) (July (July month month same same the the In In
hair. her her mussing mussing
461 461
without without baby, baby, a a like like blubbering blubbering Cyclops Cyclops blind blind metre metre 15 15 a a had had She She instant. instant. an an in in neck neck
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Or: Or:
land. land. the the through through rang rang bank bank the the to to way way the the all all laughing laughing producers producers
460 460
American American of of sound sound the the and and mankind mankind plagued plagued effects effects special special jerky jerky when when time time a a to to
travel travel to to opportunity opportunity another another history, history, classical classical of of lovers lovers and and fetishists fetishists leather leather Yes, Yes,
as: as: such such comments comments with with entertains entertains Witchell minister). minister). prime prime as as performance performance Clark's Clark's Helen Helen
on on reflect reflect to to analogy analogy this this uses uses also also (she (she 'man-in-drag' 'man-in-drag' or or feminine feminine monstrous monstrous as as hero hero the the labels labels
that that cynicism cynicism a a expresses expresses Witchell Witchell underwear. underwear. cast-iron cast-iron of of support support the the and and men men ten ten of of strength strength
the the has has Xena Xena that that description description her her in in scathing scathing rather rather is is Listene/ Zealand Zealand New New the the in in Xena Xena
59 59
of of review review her her in in Witchell, Witchell, Diana Diana (2004-2005). (2004-2005). movies movies Bill Bill Kill Kill Tarantino's Tarantino's Quentin Quentin in in Bride Bride The The
and and (2001), (2001), Alias Alias (2000), (2000), Angel Angel Dark Dark (1997), (1997), Slayer Slayer Vampire Vampire the the BuffY BuffY as as shows shows television television such such
for for way way the the paving paving with with credited credited is is She She globally. globally. popular popular extremely extremely was was Xena Xena 1999 1999 By By Zealand. Zealand.
New New from from also also are are cast cast the the of of many many and and Xena Xena plays plays who who actress actress the the secondly, secondly, and and Zealand Zealand
100 100
166. 166. Ibid., Ibid.,
467 467
165. 165. 1999) 1999)
Press, Press, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania of of University University (Philadelphia: (Philadelphia: Inness Inness A. A. Sherrie Sherrie ed. ed. Culture, Culture, Popular Popular in in Women Women Wonder Wonder and and
Warriors Warriors Women Women Girls: Girls: Tough Tough Princess', Princess', Warrior Warrior Xena, Xena, Century: Century: New New a a for for Girl Girl
'A 'A Tough Tough A. A. Inness, Inness, Sherrie Sherrie
466 466
79. 79. 1998) 1998)
(Fall (Fall 2 2 Issue Issue Vol32 Vol32 Culture, Culture, Popular Popular of of Journal Journal camp', camp', feminist feminist as as Princess Princess Warrior Warrior 'Xena: 'Xena: Morreale, Morreale, Joanne Joanne
465 465
often: often: so so princess princess warrior warrior the the for for
fall fall men men why why on on musing musing are are They They Xena. Xena. and and Gabrielle Gabrielle between between dialogue dialogue of of example example following following
the the offers offers Inness Inness A. A. Sherrie Sherrie humorous. humorous. often often are are musings musings her her but but past, past, evil evil and and reckless reckless her her about about
guilt guilt with with tinged tinged often often are are behaviour) behaviour) her her of of evaluation evaluation (her (her qualities qualities reflective reflective Xena's Xena's
relationship. relationship. the the in ambiguity ambiguity certain certain a a for for allows allows series series the the and and
deeply, deeply, other other each each for for care care They They friendship. friendship. close close intensely intensely an an is is Gabrielle Gabrielle with with relationship relationship Her Her
attention. attention. male male by by bored bored often often is is lover; lover; permanent permanent no no has has and and constantly, constantly, overtures overtures male male rejects rejects
she she heterosexual; heterosexual; obviously obviously not not is is too, too, sexuality, sexuality, Xena's Xena's men. men. to to strength strength equal equal have have to to able able
naturally naturally as as women women shows shows series series The The men. men. of of fear fear express express never never women women heroic heroic these these and and fighter fighter
female female great great a a also also is is Callisto, Callisto, them), them), of of one one (or (or nemesis nemesis Xena's Xena's weapons). weapons). with with expertise expertise or or
strength strength than than rather rather guile guile to to resorts resorts often often but but Xena Xena save save to to best best her her tries tries side-kick side-kick her her Gabrielle, Gabrielle,
(although (although her her rescues rescues no-one no-one trouble, trouble, in in is is she she When When men. men. most most than than devices), devices), superhero superhero
or or magic magic on on rely rely not not does does (she (she naturally naturally stronger, stronger, is is hero, hero, female female a a as as Xena, Xena, character character The The
adventures. adventures. her her all all on on her her accompanies accompanies who who Gabrielle Gabrielle sidekick sidekick her her
from from advice advice on on relying relying sometimes sometimes and and swordswomanship, swordswomanship, and and strength strength her her on on relying relying powerful, powerful,
and and athletic athletic self-sufficient, self-sufficient, is is Xena Xena 1990s". postmodern postmodern the the for for appropriate appropriate fashion fashion a a in in
467 467
her her "rewrites "rewrites Xena Xena but but games, games, video video various various in in women women warrior warrior as as well well as as (1995) (1995) Kombat Kombat Mortal Mortal
in in Blade Blade Sonya Sonya and and (1981) (1981) Barbarian Barbarian the the in in Conan Conan Valaria Valaria including including bra", brass brass the the in in "chick "chick
466 466
the the with with associated associated imagery imagery much much on on relies relies Princess Princess Warrior Warrior Xena: Xena: saying saying predecessors, predecessors, Xena's Xena's
overviews overviews Innes Innes Sherrie Sherrie A. A. Xena". into into meanings meanings own own their their read read to to positions positions subject subject different different
465 465
from from viewers viewers "enable "enable Xena Xena in in ambivalences ambivalences The The manner. manner. patriarchal patriarchal traditionally traditionally a a in in told told
is is that that story story a a in in context context feminist feminist a a in in traits traits feminine feminine and and masculine masculine offers offers character character s s Xena' Xena' that that
says says Morreale Morreale Joan Joan readings. readings. feminist feminist to to tales tales classical classical up up opened opened and and light, light, favourable favourable more more a a in in
Amazons Amazons the the placed placed has has Xena Xena her, her, before before Woman Woman like like Wonder Wonder However, However, . . oppression. oppression. structural structural
overcome overcome to to means means a a as as struggle struggle collective collective or or sisterhood sisterhood of of notion notion the the disregards disregards also also she she
but but woman, woman, white white noticeably noticeably and and beautiful beautiful tall, tall, curvaceous, curvaceous, a a of of lips lips the the from from comes comes that that view view of of
point point a a expressing expressing is is she she is is only only Not Not women. women. Zealand Zealand New New of of 'lot' 'lot' the the concerning concerning comment comment her her "Why does this always happen?" Xena remarks. "The blue eyes, the leather", Gabrielle replies. "Some guys just love the leather." "I think a wardrobe change is in order." "You could wear chainmail." "Yeah, but I think that would just attract a kinkier group," Xena sighs.468
Xena, Warrior Princess is a fun romp with seriously strong and deadly warrior women who embrace postmodernism inclusive of irony and pastiche.
In 1997, there was an attempt to represent the strong warrior woman in film in the form of GI Jane469 (directed by Ridley Scott of Alien fame). The film, unlike Xena, was completely lacking in humour. GI Jane attempted to address the question of whether women should go into combat in the armed forces but it was too, too serious and fitted into the woman-as-pseudo-male genre. 470 GI Jane appeared not long after Tomb Raider, which starred the Lara Croft virtual woman as hero. Claudia Herbst writes that: "Lara is no sissy ... she shows no weakness and there are no variations to her obedience. In accordance with fascist ideals, Lara has no alternative but to follow each and every command ... Her compliance is guaranteed."471 As with Lara Croft, GI Jane has a hard body, apparently void of nurturing and associations connected to reproduction (nothing wet or soft).
Herbst suggests that "when women are identified with death, rather than life, this 'cultural norm' is challenged".472 GI Jane is attempting to rid her body of the 'feminine' in order to be accepted and not seen as a threat to GI Joe (her reproductive properties and sexuality are neutralized). Lara Croft, meanwhile, was created by an adolescent young man as a sexually desirable virtual woman (also with nothing bodily wet or soft), but her tiny waist makes it impossible for her to reproduce. Her inability to create life makes her acceptable as an instrument of sex and of death. The female hero is caught in a bind. Her body is either fashioned to be hard surfaces and invulnerable with a neutralized maternity, or maternal, using her skills to protect the
468 Inness (1999) 170. 469 GI Jane (1997). Directed by Ridley Scott (Alien). Story by Danielle Alexandra, screenplay by David Twohy. 470 Philip Mathews, 'Vanity Fare', New Zealand Listener (December 6, 1997) 43. 471 Herbst, 'Lara's Lethal and Loaded Mission: Transposing Reproduction and Destruction', Action Chicks: New Images of Tough Women in Popular Culture. Ed. Sherrie A. Inness (Basingstoke, Hampshire and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004) 33. 472 Ibid. 101
102 102
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Subversive Subversive and and Sensational Sensational Identity: Identity: Gendered Gendered and and Women Women Warrior Warrior 6 The New Millennium
Chapter five studied the growing trend of warrior women in popular culture in relation to girl power influences. In the new millennium there is a reversal of this 1990s trend: nostalgia for heroes from the 1960s and 1970s such as Charlie 's Angels and Mrs Peel from The Avengers are re-presented on the big screen. It seems as though the tough woman hero has not succeeded in the fight against patriarchal attitudes, and girl power, in its efforts to combine feminism with femininity, has been ineffectual in changing beliefs about women. The first half of the chapter notes the trials of some ofthe most-loved and heroic women in popular media, for example, Xena and Buffy, and some newly created warrior women are also evaluated. In the second half of this final chapter, the ambivalence expressed in the first few years of the twenty-first century concerning the role of the warrior woman478 will be overviewed.
The new millennium: new technology, the new conservatives and nostalgia From the late 1990s onwards - as part of ongoing promotion of the beauty myth479 by commercial producers - cosmetic makeovers, once relegated to the United States, have caught up with the New Zealand public. Self-enhancement through invasive procedures is not just restricted to ageing baby-boomers: vanity and a desire for the media concept of 'attractiveness' influences even the young, who sculpt themselves into 'acceptable' beauties.480 Working out at the gym has become a normalized part of life for many New Zealanders over the age of sixteen, and Pilates is the in vogue exercise routine. 481
The new century, too, is very much an age of visual culture. Cell phones have 'morphed' into cameras and instant portraits can be sent across town or across the globe in seconds. An electronic I-pod as small as a playing card and as slim as an after dinner mint can contain hundreds of photographs, music videos and films in its memory. Under the title 'Shock of the Next', Russell Brown of the New Zealand Listener investigates the five top technology trends in
478 Some suicides, some new creations, and some nostalgia for an idealized past have been the result of the warrior woman's feminine, feminist, and masculine attributes in the new millennium. 479 See Naomi Wolf, 'Culture', The Beauty Myth (London: Vintage, 1991 edition) 58-85, for a classic reference to the beauty myth.) 480 Jane Clifton, 'Buying Beauty', New Zealand Listener (November 13, 1999) 18-23. 481 Olivia Kember, 'The Height of Fashion', New Zealand Listener (March 13-19 2004) http://www.listener.co.nz/issue/333llfeaturesil584/the height of fashion.html (retrieved November 9, 2006). 104
105 105
Ibid. Ibid. 487 487
2006). 2006). 17, 17, May May (retrieved (retrieved Listener.htm Listener.htm Zealand Zealand New New Ansley Ansley Bruce Bruce by by Conservatives Conservatives
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486 486
2006). 2006). 17, 17, May May (retrieved (retrieved Listener.htm Listener.htm Zealand Zealand New New Ansley Ansley Bruce Bruce by by Fortress Fortress My My Home, Home,
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485 485
46-62. 46-62. 2000) 2000) Unwin, Unwin, Alien Alien NSW: NSW: Leonards, Leonards, & & (St (St Foucault Foucault
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484 484
Ibid. Ibid. 483 483
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487 487
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484 484
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483 483
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482 482
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one's one's communicate communicate to to means means a a possibly possibly and and card card credit credit a a be be also also will will phone phone cell cell A A merge. merge.
will will telephones telephones and and consoles consoles games' games' recorders, recorders, digital digital players, players, DVD DVD television, television, computers, computers,
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know know we we as as telephone telephone the the for for replacement replacement a a offer offer will will Internet Internet The The world. world. the the and and - Zealand Zealand New New home with the children, with the most conservative age group being sixteen to twenty-four year olds. The researcher states that the women in this age group are reacting to the thirty-somethings: the women who have a degree and a career but no children or partner. The new generation women will get a degree but they want to get married and stay home with the kids. And yet, there has been a steady increase in women's employment. In 2001 women made up 45.6 per cent of the New Zealand labour force, although the average woman's income was well below that ofmen.488 By 2002, 28 per cent of Members of Parliament were women and in 2003 the Ministry of Women's Mfairs launched An Action Plan for New Zealand Women, and a task force was set up to investigate pay and equity problems. The average income for women in 2004 was $22,000 compared with $37,000 for men, even though by 2002 women outnumbered men in educational qualifications at all tertiary institutions except in doctorates, "where men were the majority 274 to 247".489 It will be the current generation of 'thirty-something' women who make use of their degrees, according to Ansley' s article: the young women of tomorrow will dust their framed degree or diploma with no regrets, along with the rest of their housewifely tasks.
Moral conservatism had no part in the decision in 2003 to decriminalize prostitution, because prostitution is destabilizing of heterosexual normative relations. Prostitutes discourage monogamous relationships and "share the goal of proliferating sexual deviancies in order to undermine the mechanisms through which women ... continue to be subordinated".490 This legislation allowed, theoretically, for the safeguarding of sex workers. Other liberal legislation included the creation of the Civil Union Act,491 which recognized same sex relationships, but marriage was not an option for same sex partners and within New Zealand and most of the western world, the practice of the shoring up of the heterosexual gender order has not abated in popular culture. The backlash against feminism also continues in the new millennium. Xena may dabble with sexual inclination - the ambiguous relationship between Xena and Gabrielle - and women may cheer on the warriors in popular media such as Buffy, Xena and the Powerpuff Girls, but in the first years of this twenty-first century some of the most promising of warrior women (like Wonder Woman in the mid-1980s) have given up on trying to make an impression on this world - in other words, they have found it too hard to pave the way for a new way of thinking
488 $14,500 for women and $24,900 for men. Herd (2005) viii. 489 Herd (2005) 87. also Rebecca Stringer, 'Is New Zealand a Post-feminist Paradise?', Living Together: Towards Sustainable Settlements in New Zealand, eds. Michelle Thompson-Fawcett and Claire Freeman (Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2006) 71-95. 490 Eva Pendleton cited in Amy-Chinn (2006) 181. 491 Herd, 2005) ix. 106
107 107
2004). 2004). 12-18, 12-18, (June (June Ansley Ansley
498 498
155-156. 155-156. Ibid., Ibid.,
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495 495
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493 493
2006). 2006). 22, 22, May May (retrieved (retrieved
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more more a a In In series. television television for for created created were were women warriors warriors women new new some some and and Angels Angels 499 499 ways of representing women with 'masculine' and 'feminine' traits is not new to the new century and Charlie 's Angels, the television series, was just as, or perhaps even more, successful in the 1970s. Two ofthe stars of the film, Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore are quoted in Hopkins' book Girl Heroes: The New Force in Popular Culture as saying that the original television Angels made a huge impression on their own lives.503 The three most important points relevant to girl power and Charlie 's Angels are firstly, that the original trio loved each other and worked as a team; secondly, they enjoyed themselves and loved to laugh; and thirdly, that they were feminine and sexy.
In the film, the Angels operate in exactly the same manner as the original Angels - working for Charlie, directed by Bosley, and supporting each other as well as using disguise to extract information. However, the new Angels have little compassion for those not attuned to the girl power wave length. The mild-mannered woman secretary is rudely brushed aside by the new Angel attitude: "not all forms of femininity are equal".504 The movie is also, however, full of nostalgic references to television and movie classics, Farrah Fawcett hair flicks, and "girls striking poses in the Madonna tradition".505 The sequel, Charlie 's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), fell flat at the box office. The first film placed three beautiful women, already popular and well known stars, in a nostalgic revisiting of an extremely watched television series from the 1970s. The sequel had lost the novelty drawcard, and viewers commented on its over-the-top action sequences as being too nonsensical and just plain 'bad'. 506
As well as providing nostalgic revisiting of pre-millennium tough women, the early twenty first century offered film versions of cartoon characters Aeon Flux and computer game heroine Lara Croft. In an interview in the New Zealand Herald, the creator of Aeon Flux, Peter Chung, when asked how he felt about the film version, stated: "I think it might be best to forget you had ever seen the animation and just look at it as something else". 507 Some of the elements of the original animated series are recognizable, but Chung has difficulty with Aeon's role as hero in the film version; her directive (she had no supervisors in the animated series); the happy ending; and the translation of the personalities. However, the film does reinforce the athletic, skilled and
503 Ibid., 135. 504 Ibid., 137. 505 Ibid., 138. 506 IMDb Charlie's Angels Full Throttle www.imbd.com/title/#0305357/ (retrieved November 28, 2005). 507 www.nzherald.eo.nz/section/6/print.efm?c id=6&objectid=l0369000 (retrieved March 1, 2006). 109 violent warrior woman persona, which had proliferated in the 1990s and extended into the new millennium.
Lara Croft translated extremely well from computer game to big screen, and the first film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) made millions at the box offlce.508 Studio estimates gave Charlie's Angels' audience as 45 per cent male and Tomb Raider's as 55 per cent male.509 Male audiences appeared to accept the aggressive action of the female stars, but it should also be pointed out that the warrior women were beautiful and conformed to the feminine ideal. However, Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life (2003) the Lara Croft sequel, fared no better than the Angels sequel, and although Cat Woman 510 and Elektra's511 heroes both "donned Victoria's Secret-inspired costumes"512 these films, too, foundered at the box office. Christina Larson513 believes that despite their beauty and sex appeal, it was self-absorbed internal questioning and not enough action and humour that caused the demise of these tough women. However, one suspects that the 'new world order' of young new conservatives may be more extensive than first thought. All the warriors who failed at the box office or who were put out of their small screen misery - even those who provided plenty of action and humour - appear to be husbandless and either childless or inappropriate parents (Xena, for example). This reading or interpretation becomes more believable when one considers such programmes as Charmed and Alias.
All in the family: witches, the CIA and genetic engineering The series Charmed began in 1998 and was finalized in May 2006. It was the longest running show of all time that had an all-female cast. The series was introduced a year after BuffY the Vampire Slayer appeared on television. Very much an Aaron Spelling-formula series, the three sisters (whom I have heard referred to as 'Charlie's witches') are good witches who are extremely beautiful, and support each other in times of stress and danger. In similar vein to Charlie 's Angels, there are many wardrobe changes in each episode, and much cleavage exposure. These women did not bulk up in the gym, but used magic, their inherited powerful
508 Both Charlie's Angels andLara Croft: Tomb Raider passed the $100 million mark, which labels a film a 'blockbuster'. Christine Larson, 'Seven Mistakes Superheroines Make: Why the latest action-babe flicks flopped', Washington Monthly (March 2005) www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0503.larson2.html (retrieved September 4, 2006). 509 Ibid. 51°Catwoman (2004). Directed by Denise Di Novi and Edward McDonnell, starring Halle Berry. 511 Elektra (2005). Directed by Rob Bowman, starring Jennifer Garner (Alias) as the comic book assassin for hire. Written by Mark Steven Johnson based on Frank Miller's comic book. 512 Ibid. 513 Larson (2005). 110 weapon against evil forces. The focus was on family as central to the women's lives, to the 514 degree that the finale included family from the past and also future generations • Susan Hopkins writes at length on the emergence of young practicing witches coinciding with popular culture texts such as Charmed since the 1990s. The witch does not take on 'masculine' warrior traits, preferring to use ancient feminine traits such as intuition. Hopkins suggests that the "fast-growing market of witchcraft commodities - Wiccan books, magazines, ritual tools, wands and scents .. .is aimed mostly at young female newcomers ... Popular witchcraft promises empowerment facilitated by consumption".515 Hopkins also notes that "These 'nice' white witches rarely question the boundaries between good and evil, victim and villain, real and unreal.. . Charmed lacks the ... camp sophistication of BuffY the Vampire Slayer". 516 Aaron Spelling's 'power of three', however, mesmerized television audiences. Spelling ensured that the division between right and wrong is clear cut; that his three heroes are beautiful, sexy, intelligent and have contrasting personalities; that there were maximum wardrobe changes; and that the magic (as with the Angels of Charlie's Angels fame) only worked when the three supported each other. This formula appears to be infallible, because Charlie 's Angels was watched by a huge audience in the 1970s517 and Charmed was also extremely popular, as demonstrated by the series' longevity. The audience for Charmed included those such as myself and other of my academic friends who felt guilty pleasure at watching a programme with such a lack of depth. One could speculate and say, perhaps, that the importance of family in Charmed is what appealed to audiences living in such a fractured society as ours.
Unlike Charmed, the series Alias starred a solo warrior: Jennifer Gamer acted as Sydney Bristow, a CIA agent who searched for and recovered artifacts of importance from the Renaissance period. When watching this programme, one is aware that, as with Charmed, there is an emphasis on family relations that are in this instance, complex and emotion-laden. Sydney's relationship with her father, for example, is strained and explosive. She idealises her mother, whom she assumes is dead. The series has intricate plotlines concerned with concealment of
514 Most episodes involved action in the domestic sphere- the home. 515 Hopkins (2002) 153. 516 Ibid., 173. 517 In the United States, 59 per cent of television viewers regularly tuned in to Charlie's Angels. See Time magazine (November 22, 1976) 53. 111
112 112
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113 113
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522 522
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114 114
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115 115
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527 527
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523 523
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527 527 526 526
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525 525
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524 524
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523 523
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Ibid. Ibid. 529 529
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528 528
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532 532
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531 531
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530 530
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529 529
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allowing allowing in in generosity generosity the the that that suggests suggests Herbst Herbst men". men". to to attributed attributed generally generally power power a a power, power, 528 528
117 117
179. 179. Ibid., Ibid.,
536 536
176. 176. (1999) (1999) Inness Inness
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Ibid. Ibid. 534 534
2006). 2006). 7, 7, July July (retrieved (retrieved 78682185/ 78682185/ 33ai 33ai 9 9 1316/is 1316/is m m finarticles.com/p/articles/mi finarticles.com/p/articles/mi www. www.
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533 533
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536 536
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535 535
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woman woman tough tough cultural cultural popular popular a a create create heteronormativity heteronormativity to to attached attached anxieties anxieties and the the and package, package,
534 534
sexualized sexualized highly highly and and non-threatening non-threatening a a in in comes comes power power women's women's Celebrating Celebrating pure. pure.
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533 533
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sell sell don't don't still still men men real real menace menace who who figures figures action action real real playing playing Women Women ...... tolerate tolerate
118 118
151. 151. (2003) (2003) Heinecken Heinecken in in cited cited Pender Pender
541 541
thesis. thesis. this this of of 3 3 Chapter Chapter See See 91. 91. (2001) (2001) Gough-Yates Gough-Yates
540 540
Angels. Angels.
the the by by badly badly treated treated were were secretary, secretary, the the as as such such women women other other when when too, too, film, film, the the in in highlighted highlighted was was attitude attitude This This
539 539
9.1. 9.1. Times Times 2003) 2003) 19, 19, York York New New (October (October Die'. Die'. to to Prepare Prepare Now Now Woman. Woman. am am 'I 'I JohnLeland. JohnLeland.
538 538
214. 214. (2002) (2002) Hopkins Hopkins
537 537
films films warrior warrior tough tough in in enacted enacted are are heroism heroism and and individuality individuality power, power, female female that that says says Heinecken Heinecken
Dawn Dawn and and place", take take power power female female and and feminism feminism like like terms terms of of meaning meaning the the over over negotiations negotiations
541 541
cultural cultural which which in in "sites "sites as as viewed viewed best best be be would would texts texts that that suggests suggests Pender Pender Patricia Patricia Theorist Theorist
man. man. any any by by sidelined sidelined be be to to refuses refuses and and smart, smart, educated, educated, is is she she - girls girls for for degree degree some some to to model model
role role a a offers offers audience, audience, male male a a for for exclusively exclusively almost almost intended intended perhaps perhaps although although Croft, Croft, Lara Lara Even Even
form. form. heroic heroic new new some some in in 2007 2007 in in continue continue hopefully hopefully will will experimentation experimentation the the and and feminism feminism
and and 'masculinity' 'masculinity' 'femininity', 'femininity', of of aspects aspects with with experimented experimented another another or or way way some some in in have have thesis thesis
this this in in discussed discussed women women tough tough the the All All answer. answer. defining defining one one no no has has culture culture popular popular in in warrior warrior the the
of of images images through through autonomy autonomy certain certain achieved achieved have have women women whether whether of of question question the the Ultimately, Ultimately,
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girl girl and and warrior warrior Women Women 1990s. 1990s. the the by by 'truth' 'truth' given given a a become become to to seems seems outfit" fashionable fashionable
540 540
a a or or perfume perfume a a in in purchased purchased be be can can which which 'attitude' 'attitude' simple simple a a into into "turned "turned is is feminism feminism that that
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539 539
other other the the from from themselves themselves separate separate the Angels Angels the Gough-Yates, Gough-Yates, by by suggested suggested as as Also, Also, amour".
538 538
for for armour armour the the drop drop not not do do they they ...... war war in in or or love love in in impenetrable, impenetrable, "literally "literally are are film film 2002 2002
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heart). heart). soft soft a a had had Girl Girl
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537 537
of of arts arts 'feminine' 'feminine' the the mastered mastered also also has has but but dominance, dominance, and and aggression aggression for for capacity capacity 'masculine' 'masculine'
a a has has hero hero girl girl The The feminine. feminine. and and masculine masculine glamorous, glamorous, and and tough tough strong, strong, and and sexy sexy "both "both
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others. others.
at at direction direction her her of of confident confident and and times, times, particular particular at at uncertain uncertain be be to to her her causes causes self-reflexivity self-reflexivity Her Her
119 119
2007). 2007). 4, 4, January January (retrieved (retrieved www.mwa.govt.nz www.mwa.govt.nz
website: website: Affairs Affairs Women's Women's of of Ministry Ministry the the on on found found be be can can Zealand Zealand New New in in women women of of status status the the on on 2006 2006
and and 2002 2002
Report Report Cedaw Cedaw The The 2006). 2006). 24, 24, February February (retrieved (retrieved www.stats.govt.nz www.stats.govt.nz website: website: Zealand Zealand New New Statistics Statistics
549 549
74. 74. (1996) (1996) Minkowitz Minkowitz
548 548
queen'. queen'. pageant pageant 'beauty 'beauty crowned crowned being being of of hope hope her her for for dismissed dismissed was was woman woman large large a a Xena Xena of of episode episode one one in in
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547 547
175. 175. (1999) (1999) Inness Inness
546 546
Ibid. Ibid. 545 545
185 185 (2006) (2006) Amy-Chinn Amy-Chinn in in cited cited Ono Ono
544 544
5. 5. (2003) (2003) Kennedy Kennedy and and Early Early
543 543
156. 156. (2003) (2003) Heinecken Heinecken
542 542
The The society. society. Zealand Zealand New New in in roles roles their their enact enact generations generations younger younger and and older older the the both both of of women women
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women women against against violence violence on on Statistics Statistics women. Zealand Zealand New New many many with with case case the the not not is is statistics, statistics,
549 549
to to according according men, men, with with status status equal equal share share actually actually do do women women that that But But men. with with 'equal' 'equal' felt felt
548 548
she she words, words, many many so so in in because, because, superhero superhero a a be be to to desire desire no no had had she she Zealand) Zealand) New New in in up up (growing (growing
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enlightened. enlightened. less less the the and and intelligent intelligent
547 547
less less the the beautiful, beautiful, less less the the at at fun fun poking poking of of or or dismissal dismissal of of texts texts these these in in pattern pattern a a also also is is There There
" ...... dispatches dispatches quickly quickly she she whom whom ...... warriors warriors enemy enemy swarthy swarthy usually usually are are appear appear to to people people darker darker
546 546
only only the the and and world, world, Xena's Xena's in in rare rare are are Asians Asians and and "Blacks "Blacks that that notes notes Princess Princess Warrior Warrior Xena: Xena:
discussing discussing in in Inness, Inness, Similarly, Similarly, women". white white of of heroification heroification the the to to this this links links and and relations relations
545 545
power power neo-colonial neo-colonial "re-establishes "re-establishes Slayer Slayer Vampire Vampire the the BuffY BuffY that that states states Ono Ono example, example, For For texts. texts.
cultural cultural
popular popular these these in in minorities minorities to to attitudes attitudes consider consider to to important important is is It It globally". labourers labourers
544 544
of of exploitations exploitations racialised racialised and and gendered gendered continuing continuing the the for for responsible responsible largely largely enterprises enterprises
commercial commercial by by produced produced them them of of most most identity, identity, female female of of notions notions pleasurable pleasurable ostensibly ostensibly
and and individualist individualist class class white-middle white-middle with with solely solely itself itself concerns concerns ...... politics politics power power "Girl "Girl subtext: subtext:
a a to to feminism feminism
relegates relegates power power girl girl that that suggesting suggesting when when Ono Ono Kent Kent cite cite also also They They feminism". feminism".
543 543
of of goals goals political political the the about about ambivalence ambivalence evinced evinced has has and and white white primarily primarily remained remained has has warrior warrior
woman woman new new ''the ''the but but measure, measure, independence independence an an as as violence violence mastered mastered 1990s 1990s the the in in emerged emerged
who who warrior warrior woman woman new new the the that that out out point point too, too, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kathleen Kathleen and and Early Early Prances Prances
discontent". discontent".
542 542
feminine feminine of of "expressions "expressions and and critique critique feminist feminist for for allow allow that that ways ways in in media media other other and and
120 120
2006). 2006). July4, July4, (retrieved (retrieved %28film%29 %28film%29 Woman Woman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki!Wonder http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki!Wonder
Woman: Woman: Wonder Wonder film film 2007 2007 upcoming upcoming the the of of writer writer possible possible as as Whedon Whedon Joss Joss discussing discussing Site
551 551
108. 108. (1989) (1989) Smith Smith Saville Saville and and James
550 550
alternative alternative an an glimpse glimpse to to us us enabled enabled has has incarnations incarnations her her all all in in woman woman warrior warrior The The exterior. exterior. glass glass
mirror sexy sexy a a and and talk talk slick slick surfaces, surfaces, slick slick for for penchant penchant postmodern postmodern her her overcome overcome now now must must
Whedon), Joss Joss by by directed directed film film Woman Woman Wonder Wonder the the for for anticipation anticipation with with waiting waiting am am I I (and (and
551 551
millennium millennium new new the the of of decade decade first first the the survive survive can can she she if if woman, woman, warrior warrior the the that that appears appears It It
control. control. in in and and powerful powerful
feel feel to to needing needing and and aggressive aggressive drunk, drunk, minute, minute, any any home home due due is is partner partner your your if if particularly particularly story, story,
the the of of part part a a only only is is television television on on 'butt' 'butt' kick kick woman woman warrior warrior a a watching watching nurture: nurture: to to even even yes, yes, and, and,
care care and and love love to to able able be be yet yet assertive, assertive, be be control, control, have have to to seen seen be be to to needs needs woman woman warrior warrior The The
confusion. confusion. emotional emotional to to up up opening opening is is 'amour' 'amour' course, course, of of and, and, vulnerabilities vulnerabilities show show to to strength strength
takes takes manner. manner. believable believable and and It It significant significant more more a a in in armour armour their their as as well well as as amour amour their their showing showing
forums: forums: cultural cultural popular popular within within inclinations inclinations romantic romantic their their with with experimenting experimenting be be to to seen seen be be to to
need need women women warrior warrior and and society, society, contemporary contemporary in in practical practical not not are are men men from from isolation isolation in in living living
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Charmed Charmed that that reason reason the the Perhaps Perhaps evil. evil. dispelling dispelling and and wrongs wrongs righting righting in in been been has has she she as as romance romance
her her in in successful successful as as been been not not has has culture culture popular popular in in woman woman warrior warrior (heterosexual) (heterosexual) The The
rethinking. rethinking. radical radical
550 550
need need suggest, suggest, Saville-Smith Saville-Smith and and James James as as level, level, an intimate intimate an on on men men with with interactions interactions women's women's
but but society, society, within within act act women, women, young young importantly, importantly, most most and, and, women women way way the the on on impacted impacted
has has culture culture popular popular in in woman woman tough tough the the by by experimentation experimentation The The regressive. regressive. and and forward-thinking forward-thinking
simultaneously simultaneously is is which which media media popular popular the the in in identity identity female female of of sense sense a a create create all all power power girl girl of of
advent advent the the with with 'girl' 'girl' of of redefinition redefinition the the and and women, women, warrior warrior on on texts texts of of nature nature contradictory contradictory and and
complex complex The The women. women. Zealand Zealand New New young young many many in in independence independence and and autonomy autonomy instill instill to to enough enough
been been or or done done not not has has She She performance. performance. her her within within 'naturalised' 'naturalised' been been has has violence violence the the often often
as as just just but but self-recrimination, self-recrimination, in in ended ended often often has has that that violence violence for for penchant penchant her her by by outweighed outweighed
been been has has care care to to desire desire Her Her tendencies. tendencies. feminist feminist her her of of detriment detriment the the to to often often practices, practices, 'feminine' 'feminine'
extremely extremely to to revert revert her her seen seen have have that that anxieties anxieties by by accompanied accompanied been been has has traits traits 'masculine' 'masculine'
adopting adopting ambivalence: ambivalence: with with down down weighed weighed is is woman woman tough tough untouchable untouchable and and beautiful beautiful white, white,
121 121
Introduction. Introduction. my my See See 3. 3. (2003) (2003) Kennedy Kennedy and and Early Early
552 552
order. order. gender gender the the
of of rethinking rethinking radical radical a a offer offer that that ways ways in in perform perform must must woman woman warrior warrior the the century century first first twenty-
the the of of decade decade next next the the into into survives survives she she If If unrealistic. unrealistic. be be to to found found are are - society society masculinist masculinist
a a in in empowerment empowerment to to limits limits and and men, men, vis vis a a vis vis opportunity opportunity economic economic of of inequality inequality the the women, women,
against against men men of of violence violence the the situations- actual actual and and life life real real women's women's to to whenjuxtaposed whenjuxtaposed images, images,
These These attitudes. attitudes. feminist feminist 'deviant' 'deviant' as as well well as as femininity femininity of of stereotypes stereotypes offering offering progressive progressive and and
regressive regressive simultaneously simultaneously are are woman woman warrior warrior the the of of Images Images subjectivity". and and agency agency female female
552 552
conceptualise conceptualise we we way way the the in in alterations alterations "effect "effect not does does she she but but relations relations gender gender of of performativity performativity
122 122
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136
137 137
Appendix Appendix the the in in items items these these on on provided provided is is information information *Further *Further
1986). 1986). (February (February 329 329 No. No. Woman Woman Wonder Wonder Comics. Comics. DC DC
Comics:* Comics:*
(1997). (1997). Eleven. Eleven. Episode Episode One, One, Season Season Sight'. Sight'. of of Out Out ofMind, ofMind, 'Out 'Out
episode: episode: following following the the to to made made is is reference reference Specific Specific
UPN. UPN. and and WB WB The The USA: USA: Slayer. Slayer. Vampire Vampire the the BuffY BuffY (1997-2003). (1997-2003). Joss Joss Whedon, Whedon,
1996. 1996. Two, Two, Part Part Six, Six, Season Season II', II', Part Part Need Need in in Friend Friend A A
episode: episode: following following the the to to made made is is reference reference Specific Specific
Syndication. Syndication. USA: USA: Princess. Princess. Warrior Warrior Xena: Xena: (1995-2001). (1995-2001). Sam Sam Raimi, Raimi, and and Robert Robert Tapert, Tapert,
Syndication. Syndication. Network Network Cartoon Cartoon USA: USA: Moon. Moon. Sailor Sailor (1996-1997). (1996-1997). Naoko Naoko Takeuchi, Takeuchi,
CTV. CTV. Canada: Canada: Nikita. Nikita. (1997-2001). (1997-2001). Joel Joel Sumow, Sumow,
Built' Built' Jack Jack that that House House 'The 'The
Dead' Dead' Living Living 'The 'The
Time' Time' in in 'Escape 'Escape
De'ath' De'ath' 'Castle 'Castle
ofBrimstone' ofBrimstone' Touch Touch 'A 'A
Prince' Prince' the the for for 'Honey 'Honey
Prices' Prices' Bargain Bargain at at 'Death 'Death
Gravediggers' Gravediggers' 'The 'The
Masterminds' Masterminds' 'The 'The
Peel: Peel: Emma Emma containing containing referenced referenced Episodes Episodes
ITV. ITV. UK: UK: 1965-1967. 1965-1967. episodes, episodes, Peel Peel Emma Emma Avengers. Avengers. The The (1961-1969). (1961-1969). Sydney Sydney Newman, Newman,
CBS. CBS. ABC, ABC, USA: USA: Woman. Woman. Wonder Wonder Original Original New New The The (1975-1979). (1975-1979). Moulton Moulton William William Marston, Marston,
Network. Network. Cartoon Cartoon USA: USA: Girls. Girls. Puff Puff Power Power (1995-2005). (1995-2005). Craig Craig McCracken, McCracken,
ABC. ABC. USA: USA: Angels. Angels. Charlie's Charlie's (1976-1981). (1976-1981). Ben Ben Roberts, Roberts, and and Ivan Ivan Goff, Goff,
138 138
empowerment. empowerment. female female encouraging encouraging in in interested interested was was He He movie. movie. the the directed directed and and wrote wrote
and and screenplay, screenplay, concept, concept, the the originated originated Whedon Whedon Joss Joss (film). (film). Slayer Slayer Vampire Vampire the the Buffy Buffy (1992) (1992)
Khouri. Khouri. Callie Callie woman- a a by by written written and and Conceived Conceived (film). (film). Louise Louise and and Thelma Thelma (1991) (1991)
MTV. MTV. for for storylines storylines the the wrote wrote and and Flux, Flux, Aeon Aeon
of of figure figure animated animated the the created created Chung Chung Peter Peter series). series). television television (animated (animated Flux Flux Aeon Aeon (1991) (1991)
Besson. Besson. Luc Luc by by directed directed and and Written Written (film). (film). Nikita Nikita Femme Femme La La (1990) (1990)
Martin. Martin. Alan Alan by by written written and and Gorillaz) Gorillaz) band band rock rock animated the the draws draws now now
(who (who Hewlett Hewlett Jamie Jamie by by drawn drawn character character book book Comic Comic character). character). book book (comic (comic Girl Girl Tank Tank (1988) (1988)
company. company.
production production the the against against suit suit law law a a won won who who Ellison Ellison Harlan Harlan by by story story short short a a from from Plagiarised Plagiarised
Hurd. Hurd. Gale Gale by by Ann Ann Produced Produced Cameron. Cameron. James James by by Directed Directed (film). (film). Terminator Terminator (1984) (1984)
personas. personas. performance performance multiple multiple with with character character self-invented self-invented A A Madonna. Madonna. (1983) (1983)
Shusett. Shusett. Ronald Ronald
producer, producer, Executive Executive O'Bannon. O'Bannon. Dan Dan by by Story Story Scott. Scott. Ridley Ridley by by Directed Directed (film). (film). Alien Alien (1979) (1979)
girls. girls. centerfold centerfold of of killer killer woman woman a a involved involved episode episode this this Ironically, Ironically, Milburn. Milburn.
Sue Sue woman, woman, a a by by written written was was Killer' Killer' 'Lady 'Lady titled titled States, States, United United the the in in 1976 1976 26, 26, November November
in in aired aired first first which which eight, eight, episode episode However, However, men. men. of of variety variety a a by by produced produced and and directed directed
written, written, was was series series television television the the of of episode episode Each Each series). series). (television (television Angels Angels Charlie's Charlie's (1976) (1976)
Silver. Silver. Joel Joel Producer Producer Ross. Ross.
Ralph Ralph Stanley Stanley by by Screenplay Screenplay series). series). (television (television Woman Woman Wonder Wonder Original Original New New The The (1975) (1975)
Angels. Angels.
's 's Charlie Charlie of of episodes episodes directed directed later later who who Moxey Moxey John John including including directors directors and and writers writers male male other other
many many and and Marshall, Marshall, Roger Roger Writer Writer Hayers. Hayers. Sidney Sidney and and Day Day Robert Robert Directors Directors Clemens. Clemens. Brian Brian
scriptwriter, scriptwriter, and and producer producer Executive Executive series). series). (television (television Avengers Avengers The The from from Peel Peel Emma Emma (1965) (1965)
Woman. Woman. Wonder Wonder of of legend legend the the re-presented re-presented art art cover cover
Robbins' Robbins' Tina Tina when when 1986 1986 in in was was input input female female noticeable noticeable most most The The artists/writers. artists/writers. female female two two
or or one one with with male male mostly mostly century, century, twenty-first twenty-first the the into into writers writers and and artists artists various various by by contributions contributions
with with Marston Marston Moulton Moulton William William by by Created Created character). character). book book (comic (comic Woman. Woman. Wonder Wonder (1942) (1942)
Media Media Popular Popular in in Women Women
Warrior Warrior of of Promoters Promoters and and Writers Writers Creators, Creators, with with order order date date in in Listed Listed
Films Films and and Television Television Appendix Appendix
139 139
Abrams. Abrams. J.J. J.J. by by Created Created agent. agent. CIA CIA Bristow, Bristow,
Sydney Sydney as as Garner Garner Jennifer Jennifer series. series. spy spy television television Family-oriented Family-oriented series). series). (television (television Alias Alias (2001) (2001)
August. August. John John and and Solomon Solomon Ed Ed Rowe, Rowe, Brian Brian by by Written Written Juvonen. Juvonen. Nancy Nancy and and film) film) the the
in in Angels Angels the the of of one one also also is is (who (who Barrymore Barrymore Drew Drew Goldberg, Goldberg, Leonard Leonard by by Produced Produced 1970s. 1970s. the the
from from series series television television Spelling Spelling Aaron Aaron the the for for nostalgia nostalgia on on Based Based (film). (film). Angels Angels Charlie's Charlie's (2000) (2000)
Eglee. Eglee. H. H. Charles Charles and and Cameron Cameron James James by by created created series). series). (television (television Angel Angel Dark Dark (2000) (2000)
Macpherson. Macpherson.
Don Don by by written written was was screenplay screenplay the the and and Chechik Chechik Jeremiah Jeremiah was was Director Director Weintraub. Weintraub. Jerry Jerry
by by Produced Produced 1960s. 1960s. the the of of series series British British the the for for nostalgia nostalgia on on Based Based (film). (film). Avengers Avengers The The (1998) (1998)
four. four. season season until until consultant consultant story story as as on on stayed stayed she she but but season, season, third third
the the before before Kern, Kern, Brad Brad man, man, a a by by replaced replaced was was She She Burge. Burge. M. M. Constance Constance woman, woman, a a was was producer producer
executive executive and and creator creator The The Spelling. Spelling. Aaron Aaron by by Produced Produced series). series). (television (television Charmed Charmed (1998) (1998)
Whedon. Whedon. Joss Joss by by directed directed and and Written Written 1992. 1992. of of film film original original
the the on on based based was was series series television television The The series). series). (television (television Slayer Slayer Vampire Vampire the the Buffy Buffy (1997) (1997)
Twohy. Twohy. David David by by
screenplay screenplay Alexandra, Alexandra, Danielle Danielle by by Story Story (Alien). (Alien). Scott Scott Ridley Ridley by by Directed Directed (film). (film). Jane Jane GI GI (1997) (1997)
Sumow. Sumow.
Joel Joel by by Created Created Nikita. Nikita. Femme Femme La La movie movie French French the the on on Based Based (television series). series). (television Nikita Nikita (1997) (1997)
Takeuchi. Takeuchi.
Naoko Naoko woman, woman, a a by by book book comic comic the the on on Based Based series). series). television television (animated (animated Moon Moon Sailor Sailor (1996) (1996)
history. history. 'real' 'real' her her and and - Gard Gard by by designed designed appearance appearance physical physical original original her her enhanced enhanced
- persona persona her her created created who who team team design design a a by by formulated formulated and and Gard Gard Toby Toby by by initially initially devised devised
figure figure animated animated computer computer A A character). character). game game (computer (computer Raider Raider Tomb Tomb Crofts: Crofts: Lara Lara (1996) (1996)
Raimi. Raimi. and and Tapert Tapert by by devised devised
also also Journeys, Journeys, Legendary Legendary The The Hercules: Hercules: series series television television the the in in was was appearance appearance first first Xena's Hsia. Hsia.
Ching Ching Lin Lin actress actress the the starring starring films films kung kung fu fu from from princess princess evil evil an an on on based based was was and and Raimi Raimi Sam Sam
and and Tapert Tapert Robert Robert by by devised devised was was Xena Xena series). series). (television (television Princess Princess Warrior Warrior Xena: Xena: (1995) (1995)
Heckerling. Heckerling. Amy Amy by by written written and and Directed Directed (film). (film). Clueless Clueless (1995) (1995)
1994. 1994. in in school school art art at at while while characters characters animated animated
these these invented invented McCracken McCracken Craig Craig series). series). television television (animated (animated Girls Girls Puff Puff Power Power (1995) (1995)
Martin. Martin. Alan Alan and and Hewlett Hewlett Jamie Jamie by by comic comic
the the on on based based Sarafian, Sarafian, Tedi Tedi Screenplay Screenplay Talalay. Talalay. Rachel Rachel by by Directed Directed (film). (film). Girl Girl Tank Tank (1995) (1995)
with. with. identify identify would would girls girls young young
which which act act pop pop female female a a assemble assemble to to was was idea idea The The dad. dad. his his partner, partner, business business his his by by supported supported
industry industry record record the the in in male male old old year year 22 22 a a Herbert, Herbert, Chris Chris by by Invented Invented Girls. Girls. Spice Spice (1993) (1993)
140 140
book. book.
comic comic Miller's Miller's Frank Frank on on based based Johnson Johnson Steven Steven Mark Mark by by Written Written Bowman. Bowman. Rob Rob by by Directed Directed
hire. hire. for for assassin assassin book book comic comic the the as as (Alias) (Alias) Gamer Gamer Jennifer Jennifer Starring Starring (film). (film). Elektra Elektra (2005) (2005)
audience. audience. general general a a for for concept, concept, original original his his than than format format palatable palatable more more much much a a
in in created created was was which which movie, movie, the the to to connection connection any any have have to to refused refused animation animation the the of of originator originator the the
Chung, Chung, Peter Peter Girl). Girl). (Fight (Fight Kusama Kusama Karen Karen film was was film the the of of director director The The (film). (film). Flux Flux Aeon Aeon (2005) (2005)
movies. movies. fu fu kung kung and and comedy comedy black black with with fascination fascination his his for for known known is is Tarantino Tarantino them. them.
preceded preceded had had that that woman history history woman tough tough the the by by influenced influenced but but films, films, warrior warrior than than films films revenge revenge
More More Tarantino. Tarantino. Quentin Quentin by by directed directed and and Written Written (films). (films). 11 11 and and I I Bill Bill Kill Kill 2004) 2004) and and (2003 (2003
August. August. John John by by Story Story Goldberg. Goldberg.
Leonard Leonard by by Produced Produced film. film. 2000 2000 the the to to sequel sequel A A (film). (film). Throttle Throttle Full Full Angels Angels Charlie's Charlie's (2003) (2003)
Levin. Levin.
Lloyd Lloyd and and Gordon Gordon Lawrence Lawrence by by Produced Produced Bont. Bont. de de Jan Jan by by Directed Directed Georgaris. Georgaris. Dean Dean Screenplay Screenplay
Game. Game. Interactive Interactive Eidos Eidos the the on on Based Based (film). (film). Life Life of of Cradle Cradle Raider: Raider: Tomb Tomb Croft Croft Lara Lara (2003) (2003)
producer. producer. and and creator creator
was was characters, characters, television television the the of of originator originator McCracken, McCracken, Craig Craig (film). (film). Girls Girls Puff Puff Power Power (2002) (2002)
Wilson. Wilson.
Colin Colin and and Levin Levin Lloyd Lloyd Gordon, Gordon, Lawrence Lawrence Producers Producers West. West. Simon Simon Director Director Zimman. Zimman. John John and and
Massett Massett Patrick Patrick by by Screenplay Screenplay Colleary. Colleary. and Michael Michael and Webb Webb Mike Mike Cooper, Cooper, Sara Sara B. B. Story Story heroine. heroine.
games' games' computer computer animated animated Gard Gard Toby Toby the the on on Based Based (film). (film). Raider Raider Tomb Tomb Croft Croft Lara Lara (2001) (2001)