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Here's a question for my flist on the acceptability of women in fight scenes: Can our hero fight a woman and not be seen as misogynistic? For that matter, is it ever acceptable for a woman to be hit/fought against, even if that woman is a bad guy and quite capable of dishing out as well as she receives?
I ask because I just got back from seeing Live Free or Die Hard again and in it Bruce Willis' character of John McClane (our beloved hero) has this incredible fight scene with Maggie Q's character of Mia (a kick-ass bad gal who kills without hesitation). Now I've read a lot of reviews on the movie and quite a few of them, even when they like the movie, thought that the scene was overly violent and unnecessary, some have even went so far as to say that it shows the "misogynistic" side of John McClane.
I've seen this movie twice now. I didn't think it was overly violent the first time I saw it. In fact, I thought she matched up well to any of the villains that McClane went toe-to-toe with in any of the first movies. I wanted McClane to pound her into the pavement -- as I would any worthy bad-guy opponent. This time, after reading the reviews, I specifically paid attention to the fight scenes between them, trying to see if they were a "statement in favor of violence against women". I still didn't see it.
McClane doesn't physically attack her, only fighting after she manages to disarm and attack him. Once she is down, he (foolishly, IMO) leaves her laying there and turns his back on her. When she attacks again, he fights her once more only to end up getting tossed down several floors. It gets more "action movie" after that with McClane taking a car and driving it through the room... it ends up with both of them and the SUV stuck in the shaft of a freight elevator. All the while she is the one who gives out more punishment than she receives (as typical of a Die Hard movie where McClane only wins a fight because he's lucky and too stupid to give up). She dies, not by McClane's hand directly, but because she (and the SUV fall to the bottom of the shaft).
Does the fact that McClane fights this woman, make him less of a hero? Is it ever acceptable to have a woman (evil or not) "beaten" (in a physical fight not in the abused sense of the word)? In shows such as "Buffy", the main hero is woman and because of that, all those who fight her are bad guys. Since they were evil, having them fight a woman only added to their "evilness". Of course, Buffy had special powers that made her physically superior the average human being. Does that make her one-on-one combat with men more acceptable? If McClane would be fighting an "evil Buffy" would that make a difference in whether or not he's misogynistic?
When I write a evil female character can I ever have a good male character fight her without damaging his character? Or is it only possible to have a good female character take her out?
I ask because I just got back from seeing Live Free or Die Hard again and in it Bruce Willis' character of John McClane (our beloved hero) has this incredible fight scene with Maggie Q's character of Mia (a kick-ass bad gal who kills without hesitation). Now I've read a lot of reviews on the movie and quite a few of them, even when they like the movie, thought that the scene was overly violent and unnecessary, some have even went so far as to say that it shows the "misogynistic" side of John McClane.
I've seen this movie twice now. I didn't think it was overly violent the first time I saw it. In fact, I thought she matched up well to any of the villains that McClane went toe-to-toe with in any of the first movies. I wanted McClane to pound her into the pavement -- as I would any worthy bad-guy opponent. This time, after reading the reviews, I specifically paid attention to the fight scenes between them, trying to see if they were a "statement in favor of violence against women". I still didn't see it.
McClane doesn't physically attack her, only fighting after she manages to disarm and attack him. Once she is down, he (foolishly, IMO) leaves her laying there and turns his back on her. When she attacks again, he fights her once more only to end up getting tossed down several floors. It gets more "action movie" after that with McClane taking a car and driving it through the room... it ends up with both of them and the SUV stuck in the shaft of a freight elevator. All the while she is the one who gives out more punishment than she receives (as typical of a Die Hard movie where McClane only wins a fight because he's lucky and too stupid to give up). She dies, not by McClane's hand directly, but because she (and the SUV fall to the bottom of the shaft).
Does the fact that McClane fights this woman, make him less of a hero? Is it ever acceptable to have a woman (evil or not) "beaten" (in a physical fight not in the abused sense of the word)? In shows such as "Buffy", the main hero is woman and because of that, all those who fight her are bad guys. Since they were evil, having them fight a woman only added to their "evilness". Of course, Buffy had special powers that made her physically superior the average human being. Does that make her one-on-one combat with men more acceptable? If McClane would be fighting an "evil Buffy" would that make a difference in whether or not he's misogynistic?
When I write a evil female character can I ever have a good male character fight her without damaging his character? Or is it only possible to have a good female character take her out?
