A Male-Dominated Universe
It’s widely known that the Marvel Universe is mainly male-dominated. Some would agree that as there aren’t many female superheroes in the universe, it wouldn’t be true to the legacy if new characters were created: to only tailor to wider audiences.
Others would argue that Marvel has not shone a bright enough light on the female protagonists in the universe, to allow them to equally dominate the brand.
Although we will be focusing mainly on the representation in Marvel films, it’s interesting to note that 26.7% of both Marvel and DC superheroes are female and specifically 12% of these female characters are in the mainstream market. Out of a total of the 20 MCU movies so far, not one of them has been directed by a woman or featured a female in the leading role.
Most of these films tend to adopt ‘The Smurfette Principle’, a term coined by American poet and critic, Katha Pollitt.
“The Smurfette principle is the practice in fiction, such as film and television series, to include only one woman in an otherwise entirely male ensemble. It establishes a male-dominated narrative, where the woman is the exception and exists only in reference to the men. As a consequence, works employing this trope often fail the Bechdel test, an indicator of gender bias in fiction.”
This can be seen in the Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers, to name a few.
DC Leading the Way
Marvel has been heavily criticised that the character of Black Widow is one of only two original Avengers to not have a standalone movie – this was before one was announced earlier in the year. Numerous female directors have been approached in relation to this announcement and Marvel are adamant that a female will direct the movie.
Marvel’s latest offering, Ant-Man and The Wasp, is due to be released in the UK on 3rd August and it will be the first Marvel movie that has a female character in the title, a shocking fact for 2018.
Unlike the team at DC who have released a small number of female-led films, like Catwoman and Elektra for example but were met with low ratings and terrible criticism. At face value, some criticism’s suggested that they weren’t successful because the characters weren’t believable as ‘heroes’. But if you truly look at why these films weren’t successful; it boils down to an awful script, tiny budget, and shoddy editing.
Then Wonder Woman came along… demolishing all misconceptions about female superheroes, becoming the highest-grossing superhero origin film, thus far. The film broke many boundaries with its majority female cast and skyrocketed its director Patty Jenkins into the spotlight, for her creative excellence and original interpretation of the story.
Captain Marvel
Next year Marvel will finally release its first female-led offering in Captain Marvel. The film is set to star Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson and will be directed by Anna Boden. In an issue of Vanity Fair, Brie Larson explained why she agreed to take the role.
“It took me a really long time. I had to sit with myself, think about my life and what I want out of it. Ultimately, I couldn’t deny the fact that this movie is everything I care about, everything that’s progressive and important and meaningful, and a symbol I wished I would’ve had growing up. I really, really feel like it’s worth it if it can bring understanding and confidence to young women—I’ll do it.”
It Takes a Woman to get Things Done
Larson believes that Captain Marvel is the best choice for Marvel to do right in displaying a strong female character, in such a male-dominated universe and she believes that she will be an excellent role model for women young and old.
It’s extremely encouraging to see that times are changing and the marginalized, not specific attention to women, are finally being recognized. It’s unfortunate however that it has taken so long for this change to come about.
One thing to remember is to succeed, you need to make mistakes along the way and allowing for these mistakes would show real progress for ‘female movies’.
Personally, I can’t wait for the release of Captain Marvel and believe it will be a good fit for the Marvel Cinematic universe, but I also look forward to the day when the equality for women in film, is no longer a topic of conversation.
