"Strong Female Characters" or "Sexy Girls Kicking Butt In Tight Clothes"

[Seil]

So recently, The Black Keys released a fake trailer for their song Howlin' For You, featuring Tricia Helfer as a sexy assassin looking for her fathers killer.

Also very recently, a movie called Hanna was released, the main plot being that a young blonde is looking for people hunting her father.

Columbiana is yet to be released, but scores points out the gate for having... a young, sexy woman out to get revenge on the people who killed her parents.

Does it strike anyone as odd that the strong female protagonists of these movies, the ones who kick ass and take names are, y'know, young and sexy women in tight or skimpy outfits who have sex with some dude during the course of the film? The biggest flick I can remember in the last decade about this sorta thing was Kill Bill, where a strong female protagonist was out to kill the people who wronged her and "killed" her daughter. You could maybe count Eowyn in the Lord Of The Rings movies, but hey, that wasn't her movie, and she has one scene where Pippin does some of the grunt work. Or hey, Tomb Raider, where Angelina Jolie has a dead father who's already dead, but gives her motivation and drive to... have sex with a sexy Scottish (?) criminal. Is... is that ironic?

[Kyanbu The Legend]

This has been a thing for about as long as I can remember. It's more or less a sex sells thing that hollywood has going on. Sexy badass women kicking all kinds of asses= money, lots of money to them... usually.

I'd talk more but something tells me that this is a thread I shouldn't be too involved in. I can be a bit biased when it comes to this kind of subject.

[Jagos]

Ironically enough, I just finished watching Salt...

[Aerozord]

soon as I saw the title I began thinking of the many possible anime this could be describing

Originally Posted by Seil

Does it strike anyone as odd that the strong female protagonists of these movies, the ones who kick ass and take names are, y'know, young and sexy women in tight or skimpy outfits who have sex with some dude during the course of the film?

no more odd then the flood of movies in 80's and early 90's of buff grizzled guys that kick ass and usually have sex for no reason but to have it.

Heck lets even drop the "kicking ass" part. How often do you see a movie with an un-attractive protagonist, or even antagonist, heck even just second string characters.

I can rattle some off sure, but thats majority of actors in any type of movie

[RickZarber]

I don't feel that Hanna applies for the sex appeal aspect of the trend. That movie was quite tame and innocent in that regard.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Batwoman is the hottest character in comics. If you say different, you are wrong.

[Azisien]

Originally Posted by RickZarber

I don't feel that Hanna applies for the sex appeal aspect of the trend. That movie was quite tame and innocent in that regard.

Yeah, and while innocent or tame never applies when I think of the movie Kick-Ass, a major draw and edge factor for that movie was Hit Girl, which is pretty far from sex appeal except for a very specific crowd of people not invited to this thread.

I personally think it goes beyond raw sex appeal, though sex appeal always has an effect. Believe it or not, females can be strong too, and not just in the "heartwarming mother/sister/lawyer fighting tyranny/injustice/whatever. They can actually kick ass, Rambo style. I mean shit, the fight scenes that Saoirse Ronan choreographs for Hanna are better than most testosterone fueled adventures.

[Ecks]

One of the reasons I liked Tex from Red vs. Blue so much.

She didn't need to be missing half her armor for her to outtestosterone most of the male cast.

Same goes for Kat from Halo: Reach.

[The SSB Intern]

Does it strike anyone as odd that the strong female protagonists of these movies, the ones who kick ass and take names are, y'know, young and sexy women in tight or skimpy outfits who have sex with some dude during the course of the film?

To be honest, you could replace "skimpy outfits" with, I dunno, leather jackets, and "dude" with chick(s) and you'd be describing most male action movie stars.

[Magus]

Since you referenced it in your title but didn't bother linking it...

http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=311

Originally Posted by Seil

Does it strike anyone as odd that the strong female protagonists of these movies, the ones who kick ass and take names are, y'know, young and sexy women in tight or skimpy outfits who have sex with some dude during the course of the film? The biggest flick I can remember in the last decade about this sorta thing was Kill Bill, where a strong female protagonist was out to kill the people who wronged her and "killed" her daughter. You could maybe count Eowyn in the Lord Of The Rings movies, but hey, that wasn't her movie, and she has one scene where Pippin does some of the grunt work. Or hey, Tomb Raider, where Angelina Jolie has a dead father who's already dead, but gives her motivation and drive to... have sex with a sexy Scottish (?) criminal. Is... is that ironic?

Well despite the criticisms of its first season, I think we can all look forward to the second season of Game of Thrones and its introduction of Brienne of Tarth, known for her unattractiveness.