Tag: girl power

The rise of Feminism in the Superhero Movie Genre

For years the onscreen superhero universe was dominated by male characters. Men were at the forefront, saving (or taking over) the world while women played a supporting role, if any at all. Fortunately, recent years have seen a positive shift in gender representation within the comic-book-inspired cinematic world, with female characters such as Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel and Harley Quinn finally receiving their much-deserved airtime. What’s more, they’re strong, kickass characters at that!

A recent piece by Currys PC World estimating the financial worth of superheroes and super villains calculated that, thanks to her medical training, Harley Quinn would be worth twenty times more than her male counterpart the Joker, and that Captain Marvel out valued all but one on the list (there was no competing with Black Panther’s reserve of vibranium, unfortunately!). So while they’re certainly not free of all challenges that come with being a woman in the modern age, the gender pay gap fortunately doesn’t appear to be one of them!

So, does this mark the dawn of a more feminist age? We explored the representation of some of the top female super-heroines and super villainesses to investigate further.

Wonder Woman

As DC’s first female-led superhero movie since Elektra in 2005, and their first female-directed superhero movie ever, there was a lot weighing on the release of Wonder Woman in 2017. Magnificently, it went on to become the highest-grossing superhero origin film of all time (until Captain Marvel came along!); all while successfully turning sexist Hollywood conventions on their head.

While Wonder Woman has been a household name and a feminist icon for many decades, Gal Gadot’s portrayal of the super-heroine takes it a step further, embodying femininity combined with the physical strength you’d expect from a male superhero. Sure, she can more than hold herself in a fight – wiping the floor with any man that dares challenge her – but it’s her emotional intelligence and empathy that proves her biggest strength. In fact, these traditionally ‘feminine’ traits fuel her power, rather than being suppressed in place of more masculine behavior.

What’s more, she is surrounded by other powerful women – The Amazons are depicted as honorable, hard-as-nails fighters who give as good as they get. All this is what makes Wonder Woman such a fantastic symbol of feminism.

Captain Marvel

Meanwhile, over in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel is also making feminist waves. Her character, a former Navy fighter pilot and NASA engineer turned super-heroine, was originally devised as a direct response to second-wave feminism in the 1970s. Unfortunately, she’s remained somewhat unheard of until recent years. The 2019 film adaptation of her origin story (cannily released on International Women’s Day) and her debut in Avengers: Endgame placed her firmly on everyone’s radars, and, according to Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, she is “more powerful than any character we’ve introduced thus far.”

Like Wonder Woman, the Captain Marvel story is one of empowerment and self-determination. Not only is Carol Danvers incredibly powerful, but she’s also very human. She is told to rein in her emotions from the very start of the movie, yet, through her journey of self-reflection, she realises her emotions are a potent source of power in itself.

Harley Quinn

As a quirky sidekick and lover to the Joker, Harley Quinn offers a sensitive portrayal of mental illness and survival in an abusive relationship. Her origin in Suicide Squad sees her going insane as a result of cruel experiments by the Joker, but despite this (or thanks to this), she has the relentless drive to go after what she wants – and she generally gets it.

Ironically, what makes her such a feminist icon is that she can be just as evil as any male villain. Now that’s equality! And while she is madly in love with the Joker, there’s potential for her to be very much independent without him by her side.

In fact, Harley Quinn made such a huge impact in Suicide Squad in her own right that the baseball-bat-wielding antihero has been granted her own female-written, female-produced and female-directed movie, Birds of Prey, which is set for release in 2020. The movie, officially titled Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), will see her after she has departed the Joker to do things on her own, alongside a girl gang made up of badass vigilantes, Black Canary and Huntress.

It’s undeniable that the comic book movie genre has historically been a man’s world. But, hopefully, as we see more strong female characters such as Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel and Harley Quinn owning the screen, we’ll see positive changes in gender representation. Plus, with box office figures breaking records, it’s clear that female-fronted superhero movies are a big hit with men and women alike – and rightly so!

To The Little Girl In Soccer Cleats

Your journey as a soccer player has just begun and your parents along with coaches already have such high expectations for you. 

You are being exposed to so many new things like meeting new people who will become your best friends down the line. 

You get to cheer on your teammates and in return hear the satisfying sound of parents cheering you on as the ball hits the back of the net. You’ll get praised for being exhausted while covered in dirt and sweat from head to toe.

Of course, in the moment, the extremely hot games in the summer or freezing cold practices in the snow won’t seem to be worth it. But somehow, hearing your name get called to come receive your trophy for winning the championship game or being declared MVP makes you regret ever letting the thought of quitting enter your mind. As you continue through the years of hard work and dedication that comes with this amazing sport, here’s a few things to keep in mind:

Appreciate the coaches you hate:

You’ll have coaches that will yell at you, make you run laps after losing a game and continue to push you even when you say you can’t possibly run another lap. 

Thank those coaches for they are the ones who will push you to be a better player. They are who you should thank when you’re being handed that championship trophy or varsity letter years down the road.  

These are the coaches who dedicated their time and energy to make you into the best player you could possibly be. You may hate them now, but one day you’ll be thanking them.

 Cherish every bruise and injury you obtain from the game:

After a long game, you’ll be sore and look down to see bruises and cuts covering your legs. You won’t even remember when you received them or be able to keep count of every time you fell down. If you do remember you were probably too busy laughing off the fall and the dirt on your butt to even feel the pain. Wear those bruises, cuts, and injuries proudly for they are your battle scars. 

You received them doing something you love, fighting for that winning goal. You might be in pain but every bruise and cut is worth it. One day you will miss being sore and miss the bruises because they meant you were playing the game you loved.

Thank your family for being at every game cheering you on.

While you were complaining about freezing, you were able to do a few laps or jump around a bit to keep your body temperature up. 

Your parents, and siblings, sat through every game in the freezing temperatures bundled up in a blanket or in the blazing heat sweating their butts off just to watch you play. It is such a nice feeling to look into the crowd and see your family chanting your name. 

You’re lucky compared to the players who don’t have parents who come to every game. 

You can’t win them all

Don’t be the team who refuses to shake hands with the winners. Don’t be a sore loser saying that the other team paid the ref off or that they must of cheated. Don’t leave a game crying or take out a loss on your teammates or coaches. Remember to always play for the love of the game, not for what the scoreboard says when the buzzer sounds. 

Just because you didn’t score as many points as the other team doesn’t mean you lost. If you left everything you had out on the field and played with all of your heart then it’s a win no matter what the scoreboard may say.

Be thankful that you are able to play the sport of soccer.

Not everyone is able to play this sport, so be glad you have the chance to. Soccer will teach you so many great things. You will meet so many new people, some of which will become your best friends and extended family. You get a chance to learn patience and teamwork while doing something you love. It’s a chance to learn a new skill, a skill others don’t have. You’ll learn to stay calm under the pressure of taking a penalty kick and learn to make friends with strangers, even if it’s a player on the opposing team. As you grow older, you’re able to watch your speed get faster and the balls you kick go further and further. Although now you may just see this as just another sport, in a few years you will realize that it’s not just another sport it’s your sport. you will realize how much it actually means to you and when you play that final game and take your cleats off for the last time your heart will break a little. it will feel like a piece of you is gone, something you’ve known for so long is over. You’ll regret every practice you skipped, every time you thought of giving up, every coach you told to suck it, and every ref you told off, you’ll do anything to just play one more game. You will realize just how worth it all the years of saying “I can’t, I have soccer??? were.

As you continue to play the next few years, I hope you fall in love with this sport as much as I have. You’ll fall in love with everything from your very first goal all the way down to your horrible tan lines. 

Every win, every loss, every tear, every drop of sweat will contribute to the amazing memories and friends you’ll walk away with. Give the game your all and I promise you won’t regret it.

32 Times Women Proved There’s Nothing More Powerful Than Supporting Other Women

Girls are conditioned from a young age to view other women as competition rather than a support system. We are taught that there simply aren’t enough jobs, opportunities, and sexual partners to go around, so we frequently avoid trusting other females. That’s why it’s so heartening to see women defying this outdated and regressive stereotype to lift up and support other women without question.

“Supporting other women” can mean a variety of things — it can mean offering words of encouragement to women you barely know, it can mean sitting next to another woman on public transit when a man is bothering her, or it can simply mean happily making makeup recommendations in the women’s restroom of a club.

Regardless of how you do it, offering support to other women alleviates these imagined competition narratives and replaces them with much more positive vibes. Here are some wholesome, pure and altogether inspiring tweets to remind everybody that, when women support other women, we all win.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

You May Also Like…

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3

32 Times Women Proved There’s Nothing More Powerful Than Supporting Other Women

Girls are conditioned from a young age to view other women as competition rather than a support system. We are taught that there simply aren’t enough jobs, opportunities, and romantic partners to go around, so we frequently avoid trusting other females. That’s why it’s so heartening to see women defying this outdated and regressive stereotype to lift up and support other women without question.

“Supporting other women” can mean a variety of things — it can mean offering words of encouragement to women you barely know, it can mean sitting next to another woman on public transit when a man is bothering her, or it can simply mean happily making makeup recommendations in the women’s restroom of a club.

Regardless of how you do it, offering support to other women alleviates these imagined competition narratives and replaces them with much more positive vibes. Here are some wholesome, pure and altogether inspiring tweets to remind everybody that, when women support other women, we all win.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

You May Also Like…

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3
Exit mobile version