Women in action movies

The changing role of women in the genre.

1. Look at the "classic" role of the female in action movies etc - the helpless victim whose sole function in the narrative is to be saved by the male hero, or to be sexually conquered by the male hero (Bond girls for example) - who therefore are simply accessories to his masculinity.

2. Look at the development of the female protagonist - early examples such as Alien (sci-fi horror action) or Terminator 2 (sci-fi action). These protagonists are often hailed as a really positive representation of gender as they are main protagonists, tough, and NOT objectified - ie not objects of male voyeuristic sexual pleasure.

3. What about more recent female protagonsist in non-traditional female genres (ie not romcoms)? Are they still carrying on this positive representation or are their representations more ambiguously positive? Think about Lara Croft, or Charlie's Angels, or Pirates of the Caribbean (the last one where Keira Knightly becomes a sort of protagonist), Resident Evil...

4. These more modern protagonists are clearly more avaliable as objects for heterosexuual male voyeuristic pleasure/the male gaze etc. SO they are both subjects and objects. For primary research you could investigate with female audience members their responses to these differences. PRIMARY RESEARCH: Analyse a range of clips from each era comparatively to reveal the differences in the reps of femininity, and then explore with a real audience of women their responses to these differences...