MARVEL’S LEADING LADIES: THE LONG OVERDUE ROLE MODELS FOR YOUNG GIRLS EVERYWHERE
October, 2019
Blockbuster films have been predominantly led by male heroes for decades, but as Marvel actresses dominate the box office and call for an all-female Marvel movie, this lengthy era of male dominance in the hero department may be reaching its close.
Recently, Brie Larson, who has received critical success for her role as Captain Marvel, told USA Today that the female cast members were interested in working together again on an all-female Marvel movie. “It’s kind of been this new breath of fresh air for us in our industry that there’s more female ensemble films, which has allowed us the opportunity to really communicate with one another,” she said.
This call for an all-female ensemble is largely unsurprising due to the economic and critical success of the franchise’s female cast members in the past couple of years. Captain Marvel, Marvel’s first female-led film, had the sixth-highest grossing worldwide opening weekend of all time and grossed over one billion dollars total.
While the capital and critical success of the female leads in the franchise have been vital to its continued success, the female heroes have also greatly influenced female viewers around the globe in ways that previous generations of women onscreen were often unable to.
English teacher Jenni Levora said the film industry’s newfound focus on three-dimensional female characters demonstrates a real shift from the portrayal of women when she was growing up. “Growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s females were completely objectified, especially on screen. For little girls growing up now, the expectations for what they can be and what is valuable about them is being illustrated through powerful female characters,” she said.
The influence of these female heroes’ portrayal of the newly accepted roles of women in society has not gone unnoticed or unappreciated by girls of this generation either.
College Freshman Nikki Chang said she would be excited to see an all-female marvel ensemble as she believes it would allow for the female heroes to have an even greater impact on their young female audience. “It would continue to show younger girls that they can be heroes too. The representation of female heroes shows them they can do anything they set their mind to, which is a very important mindset to have, especially at a younger age,” she said.
Whether Marvel chooses to produce an all-female cast movie or not, the impact that Marvel’s female heroes have had as role models in the lives of this generation’s young girls is undeniable.
Reflection
As I had been writing mostly feature and student life pieces, I wanted to try writing an article for the arts and entertainment section in order to have more variety in my writing. I have always loved the marvel movies and after hearing the actresses in the series had expressed the desire to work on a Marvel movie with an all-female cast I decided I had found a topic I was passionate about that would allow me to branch out in my writing. During the research process, I had the opportunity to interview women of different generations to get their input on the power of strong female characters on the big screen. Though I already had an understanding of how much female representation in the media has changed, hearing the impact this change has had on generations of women from others was inspiring. It allowed me to take the idea of reporting the potential of a new Marvel movie and add a twist showing its cross-generational importance. During the editing process, multiple female editors commented on how much they loved the angle of the piece which in turn led me to emphasize that angle even more within the article.
I chose this piece for my portfolio as I believe this experience of writing for a different type of section shows the versatility of my journalistic writing. It was also the first piece in which I feel I truly succeeded in making powerful use of multigenerational views within my article. Finding strong opinions from women of different generations allowed me to explain the importance of an addition rather than to purely inform readers, which I felt made a potentially mediocre article into a compelling read.