Lisa Paitz Spindler, Danger Gal

Today’s topic for Danger Gal Friday is a bit of a departure. Usually, I profile a female character in Science Fiction or Fantasy who I think subverts common stereotypes about women or who is at least a strong female character of note.

Hermione Granger is definitely a strong character in the Harry Potter stories and a good role model in young adult fiction. She is highly intelligent and is rewarded and respected for that intelligence. The adults around Hermione encourage her to develop her already finely-honed intellect. While certainly one of Harry’s sidekicks, it’s clear that Hermione has plenty going on in her life besides Harry’s exploits. She is a well-rounded secondary character who doesn’t fall into many of the girl friday sidekick stereotypes. (A few people think Hermione is a Mary Sue character for J.K. Rowling.) Having said all that, there’s something that’s always bugged me about the Harry Potter universe.

Why wasn’t Hermione the main character in this series?

Haven’t we seen enough stories like this with a boy as the main character? Luke Skywalker anyone? (who was originally supposed to be female). The movie UP is about a young boy and an old man. The robot in Wall-E is portrayed as masculine. Toy Story is about a boy’s cowboy and spaceman toys. Ratatouille’s main character is a young man. The dog in Bolt is male. The main character is Kung Fu Panda? Boy. The Incredibles is mostly about the father. I haven’t seen the Percy Jackson flick, but it seems like a Harry Potter wannabe — and I assume the main character is Percy Jackson, boy hero. Ice Age? Three male main characters.

Some of these stories have great female secondary characters like Hermione, Kung Fu Panda’s Tigress, and The Incredibles’ Helen and Violet. However, there’s really only one movie I can think of — aside from Disney princess movies — that has a female lead character and that’s Susan from Monsters and Aliens. Susan will definitely be a Danger Gal profile in the near future.

I have to point out, though, that of eight or so recent movies, one of them has a female lead. That’s not exactly a good track record. (UPDATE: I thought of one more after I wrote this: Ella Enchanted, but again, that’s a comedy and what’s at stake is not the world.) Aside from Disney princess movies can you think of any aimed at children and young adults that have a girl or young woman as the main character? (Please don’t say Twilight. I’d recommend a young woman read about Hermione Granger any day over Bella Swan). Buffy hasn’t been on screen for some time, but that show was really never meant to appeal to the same audience the Harry Potter stories.

So, in the comments, talk about your favorite girl hero and if you can’t think of any, what kind of heroine would you like to see? What books would you recommend with young or teenage heroines? Two on my list include The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester and pretty much anything by Rachel Caine in her Morganville Vampires series about Claire Danvers.

On screen, I’d like to see a more serious movie version of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. Disney has a show called Wizards of Waverly Place with a female lead, but it’s a comedy and doesn’t deal with issues on the same level Harry Potter does. I’d love to see an update to Nancy Drew or something similar.

NOTE: In a sad example of how this type of story is just plain missing, take a look at this accidental search I did on Amazon while writing this post.

“You have a strong heart. No fear. But stupid! Ignorant like a child!”

This week’s Danger Gal profile is on Neytiri from the blockbuster movie Avatar portrayed by actress Zoe Saldana.

It’s challenging to unpack my thoughts on this movie, especially keeping in mind that I have very much enjoyed Cameron’s previous films. I don’t want to have a knee-jerk fan-girl “I loved it!” response, but neither do I want to completely pan it. There are good and not-so-good elements in this movie, but I still think Neytiri stands out and is worthy of a Danger Gal profile.

One of the primary criteria for a Danger Gal profile is that the character must kick ass. I have in the past fudged a little on this point when other attributes seemed very important, but nothing like that is necessary with Neytiri. She knows herself, has confidence in her warrior abilities, and so does everyone else in her life. While certainly there are some anti-feminist aspects of her character and this movie, I tend to agree with Vocal Eyes when she says:

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This week’s Danger Gal Friday post profiles two characters from the first Transformers movie, Mikaela Banes and Maggie Madsen. I know what you’re thinking — “Megan ‘I have the libido of a 15-year-old boy’ Fox? Really?” * — but hear me out. While certainly Mikaela’s character in the first Transformers movie is physically exploited (and evidently even more in the second movie), she has her moments and I think those moments are important.

Neither of these female characters are shrinking violets and they’re not rescued any more than any of the male characters. In fact, Mikaela deals far better in life-or-death situations than Sam Witwicky does and rescues him from the Decepticon named Frenzy. She’s self-contained and, as evidenced by her walking away from her idiot and condescending boyfriend, doesn’t take crap from anyone. She’d rather walk home than get a ride from a guy who treats her like an idiot. ** When Sam’s car, Bumblebee in disguise, “breaks down” Mikaela is quick to try to solve the problem. Contrasting Sam with the guy Mikaela just walked away from, Sam is in no way intimidated by Mikaela’s ability to take care of herself and whatever car she’s driving. (Or moped — I really thought her the type to have a motorcyle rather than a moped.)

In the end, it’s Mikaela who rigs an injured Bumblebee onto a tow truck and hauls him around so he can fight the Decepticons. She sees an opportunity to make a difference and takes it, even if it puts her own life in danger. She doesn’t expect others to fight for her. So, while I’d certainly like to see less of Fox’s physical exploitation in the movie, her character’s resolve is a positive counterpoint. Also, she stands up to the Sector Seven officer to the point of revenge and in the end isn’t punished for that, but is instead rewarded with having her juvenile record expunged. Mikaela is definitely not a perfect, princess-type figure waiting for others to rescue her and solve the story’s problem.

The other character I found interesting in Transformers is former NSA analyst and Rand Corporation employee Maggie Madsen. Maggie has a colorful past, having lost her NSA job because she has a tendency to speak her mind bluntly, but she’s also acknowledged to be brilliant. She leads her team in discovering the hostile agent hacking into Air Force One. While I feel bad for her feet in those stilettos and think their presence is ridiculous, she’s not sexually exploited and is considered valuable. In the end she’s part of those who defeat the Decepticons.

On balance, I found unexpected feminist aspects of both these characters in Transformers. No one doubts these two women’s ability to accomplish what they set out to do. I’m not optimistic about more of the same from the second Transformers movie from what I’ve been told, but I wanted to at least highlight these unexpected aspects of the first Transformers movie.

Having said all that, I’d really love to see a Transformer with a female voice. Hear that Michael Bay?

* Also, I sort of like that Fox has been plain about creating a persona for the men’s magazines. Some of her quotes are definitely disarming and blunt, a refreshing trend from a “sex symbol.” If it’s true, then she’s created a character to play and admitting it points a finger at how ridiculous it is. Fox seems to be playing the stereotypical vixen and at the same time breaking that character down. That’s not something we normally see in the run-of-the-mill starlet.

** The Transformers Wiki claims that Mikaela hid her car knowledge from other boyfriends. I didn’t really get this out of those scenes. Rather, it seemed Mikaela doesn’t open up to people in general and so would not just automatically share personal information even with a boyfriend. When her boyfriend writes her off as just a pretty face, she walks away without looking back.She’s not afraid to be alone or on her own.

This week’s Danger Gal Friday profile goes to Trixie as played by Christina Ricci in the re-imagining of the Speed Racer cartoon in the recent-ish movie. Last year, before the movie was release, I pegged Trixie as a Danger Gal Maybe with a wait-and-see episode. Well, thanks to Netflix, I finally saw Speed Racer and I have to say that I like the updating of this character. I would love to see a movie with a female character like Speed as the main character, but I’m always optimistic when female characters are updated with more dimension.

In the cartoon, Trixie did little more than yell “Speed!” and moan a lot, so I appreciate how they developed the character in the movie, actually portraying as an active character with interests outside of her love for Speed Racer. Rebecca Murray mentions that Trixie is “an outgoing young woman who’s equally unafraid of dressing girlie and kicking a little butt” and quotes Ricci as saying:

“Trixie is Speed’s childhood sweetheart. He’s his best friend and confidant; his partner in crime. In some ways, she’s the feminist ideal model. She’s as girly as she wants to be, she’s into her hair and outfits and makeup … she has a special outfit for each activity, but at the same time she’s into all the things the boys are. She’s never judged or given the irritating title of ‘tomboy’ and that’s important for young women. Young women tend to watch the reaction of men around older women and they see if someone’s judged, positively or negatively, in too strong a way. Young women shy away from making those kinds of decisions.”

At the Tribeca Film Festival, Ricci has actually considered her character Trixie from a feminist point of view and said:

“It was really fun. It’s fun to play someone who’s a little bit cartoonish. They dressed me up like a doll, but then they let me go and fight people and race cars and fly a helicopter so it was fun…It was really fun and it was something that I loved because that really is the sort of ultimate feminist thing where you can be as girlie as you want to be, but you’re still as capable and as able to do everything that the boys can do. But I still want more.”

Trixie evidently isn’t just the girlfriend of Speed Racer, but an important member of the Racer family’s racing team. Speed clearly respects her abilities. We get to see Trixie coming to Speed’s rescue, racing Taejo Togokahn’s car, repairing engines, and flying a helicopter among other things.

As a side note, one character did have to strip down to skivvies in this movie — and for once it wasn’t a woman. Nope, this time it was Matthew Fox as Racer X. Never in my girlish crush did I ever expect to see Racer X in his boxers and all the while fighting a ninja!

First Trixie flying, racing, and rebuilding engines. Then Racer X in his boxers. Can I watch the movie again?

This week’s Danger Gal Friday profiles Myka Bering from SyFy’s new series Warehouse 13 portrayed by Canadian actress Joanne Kelly. Warehouse 13 is already getting pegged as “X Files Lite” with many comparisons between Bering and Scully. There are similarities of the good kind, but the show also has a Steampunk feel to many of its gadgets as well as a bit of a history lesson, in the pilot at least. The SyFy web site describes Bering as:

A woman born to be an agent. Organized and focused, Myka believes in hard work, solid planning, and steadfast execution. She never met a meticulously detailed mission outline she didn’t like, and her attention top minutiae has led her to status as a rising star in the Secret Service despite a “classified” situation in Denver, Colorado.

Pilots for series are often a little rocky as the writers and the actors are just getting to know the story world and the characters, but I thought Warehouse 13 came off mostly solid. I was never tempted to turn the channel and am intrigued by the hints at the character’s back stories.

In keeping with many a Danger Gal, Bering saved her male counterpart and twice to boot — once by pulling him from a wrecked car (and coming too first after being thrown) and in the end. Bering and Latimer saved each other on a few occasions, so I thought that aspect of the pilot was well-balanced. I don’t want to pay undo attention to Bering’s attire, but I always pay attention to see if a female character is costumed similarly to a male character — such as in Star Trek Uhura wears a capped sleeved mini-dress while the male characters are all in long sleeves and long pants. Someone on the Enterprise is either very chilled or sweating.

Bering and Latimer were both dressed appropriately and in fact Latimer showed off more skin than Bering did. I did think it odd that Bering would wear a skin-tight cocktail dress and heels to protect the President, but at least they made a point of showing her taking off those heels when she had to kick some ass. Later we see Bering wearing much more appropriate shoes with actual treads.

From a story development standpoint, Bering contributed just as much to solving the story problem as her partner did. Overall, a good start to a fun show, one not quite so deep as Fringe that I appreciate, and I’m looking forward to more.

In light of the recent reboot of the Star Trek franchise with the release of J.J. Abrams’ new movie, this weeks’ Danger Gal Friday post profiles Number One, the original first officer of the Enterprise from The Original Series pilot “The Cage.”

Number One was played by Majel Barrett, wife of Gene Roddenberry. Originally, Number One had also served as first officer under Christopher Pike on the USS Yorktown before joining him on the Enterprise. Network executives made several changes to the series after the original pilot, one of which included changing Barrett’s character to Nurse Chapel. Number One’s “highly-logical, steel-trap mind” was then attributed to Spock instead. I have few criticisms of the new Star Trek movie, and in fact very much enjoyed it, but one facet that saddened me was the continuation of the Nurse Chapel character without any reference to the Number One character. Initially, Spock was the science officer, but the new movie continues with the idea that he is both chief science officer and first or executive officer.

While I appreciated the update to Uhura’s character, I do hope that Abrams touches on the Number One character in future installments of the new franchise considering he’s also created characters such as Alias’ Sydney Bristow* and previous Danger Gal Fringe’s Olivia Dunham. Jennifer Weiner at The Huffington Post voices many of my misgivings with the female characters in the new movie:

Honestly, I didn’t have a problem until about midway through the film…at which point I realized that every single lady on screen was either a mother, a ho, or an intergalactic hood ornament.

Memory Alpha describes Number One: “. . . she held the rank of lieutenant. She was noted for her exceptional intelligence and rationality. In 2254, Captain Pike regarded Number One as the most experienced officer on the Enterprise.” Evidently, Roddenberry initially based the Starfleet rank structure on the 18th and 19th century British navy, when a ship’s second-in-command was often a First Lieutenant, rather than 20th century Naval ranks now associated with the series.

In “The Cage,” the Talosians reveal to Pike that Number One harbored feelings for him. Number One and Spock at one point installed computer upgrades that made the Enterprise voice-interactive. They utilized her voice-pattern, which was later carried over into all Starfleet computers.

Many different names have been associated with Number One in the Star Trek expanded universe: Eunice Robbins and Morgan Primus among others.

* I thought I’d already profiled Sydney Bristow, but when I searched the archives I discovered that I’ve neglected her! I’ll try to rectify that shortly.

This week’s Danger Gal post profiles Hancock’s Mary Embrey. This movie isn’t new, but I myself only watched it recently, so beware that spoilers follow.

I admit to having mixed feelings about this movie and about Mary’s character. Charlize Theron, who portrayed Mary in the 2008 movie, had this to say about the character:

“She makes this conscious decision to live in suburbia and be this soccer mum to her stepson and be the perfect wife—she lives in this bubble. But when people do that it usually means they are hiding some characteristic inside themselves that scares them. That is Mary’s case. She knows who she is and what she is capable of. I find it very complex when I get to play women like that.”

As visual evidence that Mary is not living authentically, we see her appearance change pretty drastically when she finally owns up to her true nature: Mary transforms from hippie housewife to black-clad superhero. The black eyeliner alone tells you not mess with her, right?

Turns out that Mary and Hancock are, in Mary’s words:

“Gods, angels. . . Different cultures call us by different names. Now all of a sudden it’s superhero. . .Whatever we are, we’re built in twos. We’re drawn together. No matter how far I run, he’s [Hancock] always there! He finds me. It’s physics.”

The only two of their kind left, Mary and Hancock have been breaking up and reuniting for millennia. The problem? When they’re together both lose their superhuman abilities and become vulnerable. By the way, when their powers are manifest Mary is the stronger of the two.

This is actually a great romantic concept: That love makes you vulnerable. Mary and Hancock, however, are subverting their destinies by periodically breaking up after particularly nasty events, perpetuated by outside forces, happen to them that nearly kill one or both. The most recent was a mugging that nearly killed Hancock. Mary stayed away initially so Hancock could make use of his superhuman healing abilities, but then decided it was best if they never reunited (or maybe they’re just “on a break,” we’re not told). He ended up with amnesia and therefore has no clue about his identity or the source of his powers. Hancock doesn’t know who he is without Mary.

You’d think they’d ask why this pattern keeps repeating? Is there a Big Bad out there with their demise as a goal? Or is it just that if you live long enough, bad things eventually happen? When together, proximity or love, possibly both, turn these two superhumans into regular people. Maybe they’re supposed to live a natural life together and die like the rest of us? Instead of sticking it out together when bad things happen they break up and become superhuman again.

So, what happens in the end? Do these two lovers learn how to live life being vulnerable both physically and emotionally? Um, no. Nope, the world needs a protector and Hancock is The One.

Never mind that Mary is actually stronger and therefore actually more qualified for the job.

Mary decides to stay in the bubble. Sure, she’s doing good work creating a stable environment for her step-son and seems to have a good drama-free relationship with her husband. I do like this twist on the fated mate motif, and Mary and Hancock need to form identities separate from simply being one part of an eternal dyad. So, if separating is what’s best for both of them — if the real romance here is between Mary and Aaron — I still don’t like that Mary decides to keep her superior powers under wraps. There’s a double-standard going on here in that Hancock isn’t permitted to shirk his superhero duties, so why should Mary get a free pass? The world needs all the help it can get. Why do either of them have to choose between family and career? If Aaron really loved Mary he wouldn’t want her to keep her light under a bushel.

Overall, I like the Mary Embrey character mostly because, despite this double-standard, she is not a reactive female character. To the contrary, it was Mary who decided to leave Hancock, Mary who decided to form a family with Aaron Embrey, Mary who decided to out her superpowers, and Mary who decided to remain with Aaron. The men in her life, and the world at large, have to accept those choices. I generally like the roles Charlize Theron picks because more often than not, she chooses to play active, choice-making characters like Embrey — even if I don’t always agree with those choices. For this alone I think Mary Embrey qualifies as a Danger Gal — the superpowers of course help.

With all the attention garnered by Ronald Moore’s re-imagined version of Battlestar Galactica, it’s easy to forget what was good about the original series — and if you’re willing to filter out the 1970s cheese factor there is a lot of good to be found. One of these is the female characters. This week’s Danger Gal Friday profile is on the women of the original Battlestar Galactica series: Sheba, Athena, and Casseopeia. We’ll even talk a little bit about Serina too.

The original series reflected the changing gender roles of the 1970s as well as portrayed the beginnings of a more feminist future. This latter point is evidenced by Sheba’s command of Pegasus’ Silver Spar Squadron. A big deal is made of Galactica pulling its pilots and Viper pilots from civilian — and female — volunteers when a sickness decimates pilot ranks. However, clearly women have not only been serving as Viper pilots, but also as commanders such as Sheba, on Pegasus without the impetus of male pilots’ absence. While this development on the Galactica has more in common with the situation during World War II when women worked in factories simply because most men were away fighting in the war, it did open up the show to portray the friction between women and men in the 1970s as women willingly joined the workforce.

Serina enjoyed a career as a journalist on Caprica prior to the holocaust, but Apollo is definitely not comfortable with Serina putting her life in danger by becoming a Viper pilot and the two have several arguments over it. With Serina’s character we get to see a woman balancing a career and family since she is one of the few mothers portrayed in the series. Incidentally, Jane Seymor was originally offered the role of Lyra, a member of the Quorum of Twelve. Lyra was intended to be an ongoing character, but Seymor wanted to be free to do films so the character was changed.

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In lieu of a Danger Gal post this week, here is a link to Pink Ray Gun’s review of last week’s Battlestar Galactica episode “The Oath.”

Money quote:

It was like they [the women of BSG] attended a seminar with Gwen Cooper! Possibly “Sci-fi Chick Badassery: Intermediate Methods ” or “Reconnecting with Your Lost Badass: A Seminar for Disenfranchised Women Who’d Rather Not Kill Themselves”. Whichever seminar they attended, I hope this behavior keeps up for the remaining episodes.

Yeah, someone please help Dualla out from under that refrigerator.

This week’s Danger Gal Friday post profiles Lt. Jodenny Scott from Sandra McDonald’s THE OUTBACK STARS.

Lt. Jodenny Scott earned a MacBride Cross for bravery during the tragedy that destroyed her previous ship the T.S.S. Yangtze. The story picks up with Scott frustrated after three months of recovery and desk duty when she pulls out all the stops to be reassigned to the T.S.S. Aral Sea. Scott finds herself embroiled in an existing mess of intrigue that she and Sergeant Teren Myell unravel, all the while discovering an ancient alien device and trying not to fall in love. I agree with Heather Massey’s assessment of this novel as “a terrific mix of accessible military SF, romance, and mystery.” In fact, McDonald has a great tagline on her web site that so very succinctly describes her books: “love. duty. really big spaceships.”

Ships in Scott’s world travel faster than light via an ancient alien system called the Alcheringa. Earth’s climate has been decimated, though some unfortunate people still live there. Many have colonized seven planets called the Seven Sisters. The mythology of the story is taken from Aboriginal Australian mythology and explained by the fact that Australians were the first to discover the Alcheringa and therefore the first to colonize the Seven Sisters, though no one yet has discovered the purpose of three spheres found on each planet called the Mother, Father, and Child Spheres.

Scott definitely qualifies as a Danger Gal in that she’s a decorated officer and, once joining the Yangtze, is put in charge of Underway Stores, the department responsible for all supplies across the entire ship. I thought the Romance and Science Fiction elements were well-balanced and the plot well-executed, but I also admired McDonald’s obvious knowledge of daily life on a Naval vessel. Her bio states that McDonald has in fact served as an officer in the United States Navy and this life experience definitely comes across in the main details of the story.

While fraternization between officers and enlisted is not permitted, it’s clear that in Scott’s world women and men enjoy quite an egalitarian approach to sexuality, though other modes of approach are not extinct. For instance, one female character is suspected of exchanging sexual favors for gifts and another female character is in an abusive relationship. However, Scott encourages the first character to give up her situation because of how it may impact on her career — no mention is made of anyone’s aspirations on the woman’s moral character. The woman in the abusive relationship is helped by several characters, including Scott and Myell.

In a reversal of many Romances I’ve read, it’s the hero, Myell, who has to deal with past physical abuse rather than the heroine. Scott has had her trials and tribulations, but none of them include the stereotypical tropes often given to female characters to support an unwillingness to consider a new romantic relationship. Throughout the story Scott outranks Myell, but never does he demonstrate a problem reporting to a woman or following orders given by her. Scott has emotional baggage to deal with from her losses on board the Yangtze, but her efforts to continue on despite them show a sense of admirable determination. My only criticism in this area is that Scott considers and voices the possibility of giving up her commission in order to continue their relationship, but Myell never talks of making a similar sacrifice. In his defense, Myell is against Scott resigning and before having met her decided he would leave the military when his contract expired in three months.

I appreciated that many of Scott’s and Myell’s superior officers were women, including a very important admiral. Also the Aral Sea is comprised of a multicultural crew that I found refreshing. Overall I very much enjoyed THE OUTBACK STARS, relished reading about Scott’s adventures, and look forward to the next installment in the series.

More information on this novel:

10 Hella Sexy Discoveries in The Outback Stars
SFF World Review
SciFi Weekly Review