CROSSROADS IN CULTURAL STUDIES
Fourth International Conference
June 29 - July 2, 2002, Tampere, Finland

Representations of Strong Women in Film and Tv-Fiction

Organiser: Rikke Schubart

Representations of Strong Women in Film and Tv-Fiction I: Pin-Up or Heroic Action?

Walden, Kim (University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom) RUN, LARA, RUN! THE IMPACT OF VIDEO GAMES ON CINEMA'S ACTION HEROINE
It has been asserted that cinema has always responded to the challenge of new media forms by appropriating their styles and absorbing them into its cultural domain. This paper will examine how cinema has been influenced by video games and considers how they have shaped representations of the action heroine. Through an examination of Run,Lola,Run (1998) and Lara Croft Tomb Raider (2001), the paper will look at manifestations of the 'new' action heroine in three areas.
o Narrative structure - examining how films mobilise the narrative conventions of the video game to 'play' with female roles.
o The bodies as spectacle - locating characters like Lara Croft within two different aesthetic traditions: Japanese nijikon fetchi ('two dimensional fetish') and the Hollywood studio 'pin up'.
o Audience pleasures - exploring on-line fandom in the core audience of young males.

Mikula, Maja (University of Technology Sydney, Australia) LARA CROFT, BETWEEN A FEMINIST ICON AND MALE FANTASY
Lara Croft, a widely popular videogame superwoman and recently also the protagonist of the blockbuster film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), has animated feminist polemics since her creation as a videogame character in 1996. Independent, strong, determined and fearless, Lara is seen by some as a desirable role model for present-day feminists, her violence a welcome counter-balance to the submissiveness of traditional female literary stereotypes. At the same time, Lara´s Barbie-like body and the moans she generates when engaging in demanding physical stunts make Lara an object of desire and the Cyber-goddess of the average adolescent male videogame player. The original cinematic concept of the videogame was meant to reduce the possibility of transference or identification of the player with the character. In both the videogame and the film, Lara‚s violence is controlled by the male gaze, with little room left for any significant shift in traditional gender stereotypes.

Huntemann, Nina (Westfield State College, USA) FEMME FATALITIES: REPRESENTATIONS OF STRONG WOMEN IN VIDEO GAMES
A critique of the representations of female characters from contemporary video games, this paper focuses on three common features of women in video games: 1) body size and proportions; 2) roles assigned to female characters, including their relationship to male characters; and 3) the hyper-sexualization of women in video games. The paper begins with a brief historical overview of the changing role of female game characters from damsels in distress to ass-kicking, modern-day warriors. In contrast to the helpless victim of the 80s and mid-90s, contemporary video games have introduced the strong female figure (i.e.. Lara Croft) who can defend herself against enemies. Like her male counterparts, she inflicts justified violence without punishment. She is often highly intelligent self-sufficient and self-confident. However, the trade-off for the strong female game character is the depiction of her as a hyper-sexualized woman, ultimately present for the playing pleasure of a largely male audience.

Ko, Yu-Fen (Taiwan National Chengchi University, Taiwan) ROARING WOMEN: ON THE POWERFUL FEMALE CHARACTERS IN CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS FILMS
This paper analyzes the representation of powerful female characters in Chinese Martial Arts films. The prototype of these powerful female characters is explosive, maniac, and hysterical. These women? power is related to their ability of physical alteration--that is, the magical metamorphosis of bodies. In the narrative structure of Chinese Martial Arts films, the Good and Evil boundary is sometimes elusive when applied onto these powerful women. Eventually they become destructive and monstrous because their desire for love or power is denied and punished. Driven by anger and hatred, these women's tragic vengeance causes chaos in the universe and is always restored by the (male) justice. This paper argues that, in the Chinese Martial Arts films, the uncanny female power is more than a negative depiction of femininity out of control; it actually poses as a potential threat and constant relentless rebel against the patriarchy.

Alesci, Walter (University of Cuyo, Argentine and Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain) XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS OUT OF THE CLOSET?!: A MELODRAMATIC READING INTO THE SHOW BY LATIN AMERICAN AND SPANISH GAY AND LESBIAN FANS
The research makes an analysis of the melodramatic interpretation of Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001) by latino gay and lesbian fans and of the obstacles that it brings about. The conflicts raised by its protagonists in the American series serve us in exploring the impact of a "subtextual" interpretation, and of a creative production from the latino fan communities within those of "Xenaverse" on the Internet. At the same time, I include the internal and external discourse (from those "in the know") over the Production of the program. All of these factors serve to illustrate that the "gender performance" of Xena is lesbian and the "performative character of gender" is hidden within the patriarchal domination, socially reinforced and accepted in a heterosexist, homophobic and discriminatory culture. It is because of this that Xena will never be out of the closet, since she has never actually been in it.

Schubart, Rikke (University of Southern Denmark, Denmark) HOLD IT! USE IT! ABUSE IT! ILSA, THE EVIL DOMINATRIX, AND THE STRANGE FATE OF PHALLIC PLEASURE Women-in-prison-films - wip-films - have been dismisssed by film critics as perverse, misogynist pictures where women are maltreated by men. Such a conclusion is not wrong. However, there are more to wip-films.
Analyzing the Ilsa-trilogy - Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS (1974), Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks (1976) and Ilsa, Tigress of Siberia (1977) - this paper looks at two central elements in the popular series: The figure of Ilsa, the strong dominatrix, and the image of male submission and castration. The pleasures of wip-movies are assumed to be male and sadistic. Here, however, men are tortured, caged, castrated (quite literally) and killed. To understand what pleasures a male audience derives from such a spectacle the paper first links these scenes to male masochism, and secondly read Ilsa as a ambivalent response to feminist discourses in the late sixties and early seventies.

Representations of Strong Women in Film and Tv-Fiction II: Truly Strong and Dangerous Women in Popular Film Genres

Sahin Gencer, Sultan (University of Nottingham, United Kingdom) JODIE FOSTER: THE PERCEPTIONS OF THE IMAGE OF STRONG WOMEN IN TEXTUAL AND EXTRA-TEXTUAL SOURCES
While thinking about the strong women as screen images during the period of 90s' Hollywood, couple of names could occur in our minds. Apparently, one of them is Jodie Foster who has become a unique actress by acting over three decades and her persona has always been acclaimed by prestigious references, such as intelligence, talent, challenging, confidence, toughness, intellectual and independence. This paper aims to explore how she has been embodied with a tension between an unconventional/conventional woman. Unconventional specifically refers to the ambiguity of her sexuality in her previous images and off screen persona. It also indicates her resistance to the media curiosity, determination in specific film roles, her successful qualifications with two Oscars and an uncommon physical appearance that does not perfectly fit into the Hollywood conventions.

Waltonen, Karma (University of California, USA) DARK COMEDIES AND DARK LADIES: THE NEW FEMME FATALE
The femme fatale of film noir has returned. She may be found in neo-noir and thriller genres, but her most intriguing reappearance is found in recent Hollywood romantic dramas and comedies. Through the fatale's presence, the antiquated messages of noir films are brought back and disguised in 90s feminist coding, encouraging the hegemonic acceptance of traditional ideology. These women are strong, independent, and definitely dangerous. As they exist outside of dark fantasy, however, it is no longer productive to punish them with violence or death. The genre of romance depends on the audience's ability to identify with the heroes. The female audience is therefore encouraged not only to see their potential to be independent 90s women, but to internalize the patriarchal values which consider this independence ultimately dangerous to heterosexual love. The fatale doesn't need to be punished if she can be passively domesticated.

MacDonald, Deneka C. (University of Glasgow, United Kingdom) ICONIC EYE CANDY: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER AND DESIGNER PEER PRESSURE FOR TEENS
The world of media has extended its boundaries in recent years; in conjunction with the fashion industry, on screen celebrities are increasingly portrayed in fashion magazines, strengthening the great myth of body and beauty, and providing further boundaries between average women and the onscreen elite. While (multi) media has both influenced and been influenced by social conventions within any given period, in the late twentieth century, this has become a curious phenomenon. Consequently, cultural difference as well as challenges to both gender and social norms have meant that media such as television, film and the fashion magazine must continually redraw their boundaries. This paper seeks to address issues of interaction between pulp culture programs (Buffy) and popular media campaigns directed specifically toward the teen viewing experience within North American cultures.

Harper, Stephen (University of Glasgow, United Kingdom) MONSTERS AND MOTHERS: REPRESENTATIONS OF WOMEN IN GEORGE ROMERO'S 'LIVING DEAD' SERIES
This paper analyses some of George Romero's representations of women, with particular reference to his four 'living dead' films: Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead (1979), Day of the Dead (1985) and the 1990 remake of Night. In a 1990 paper, Barry Keith Grant described how the heroines of Romero's living dead series show increasing independence as the series progresses. This paper offers some further observations on this point through close readings of the films. However, it also challenges Grant's association of activity with feminism and passivity with anti-feminism, showing that although Romero de essentialises the category of woman, he achieves this not only by insisting on the agency of women, but also by revalorising women's nurturing capacities. This is an important conclusion, not least because so many film critics, including Grant, assume that only gun-toting hardbodies are credible as feminist icons.

Kueh, Adeline (University of Melbourne, Australia) OF MUSCLES, RUSES AND GOOD LOOKS: AN ANALYSIS OF MIGHTY WOMEN IN MALAYSIAN CINEMA FROM THE 1950s TO CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
This study examines the ways in which certain women are represented in the Malaysian Cinema. From the films of the 1950s to contemporary representations of women, there exists the many kinds of "Fallen Women" to contrast with the "Virtuous Women". By focussing on primarily melodramas, the concepts of femininity and female sexuality are critiqued within semiotic and feminist analyses. The core question is whether these filmic representations of women reflect the cultural conventions of a post-war Malaya. As female sexuality in Malay culture is often divided into the Virtuous versus the Fallen, four conceptual categories (of the fallen woman, the maiden, the mother and the woman warrior) are thus created to facilitate the discussions of Malay cinematic culture, and its specific code of moral behaviour for women. The first section deals with the differing representations of the Fallen Woman: pontianak, harlot, and the evil (mother) in-law. The Maiden construct, on the other hand, is to emphasize the aspect of virtue and social mobility. The next category links the Mother figure in film with national consciousness. The Woman Warrior is patriotic and the most positive in her complexity and subjectivity as a woman.