Why are Female Superheroes not Common in Movies/Comic books?
Ever since the offset of comic and movie production, it is strikingly rare to see a movie starring female superheroes. This bizarre occurrence is quite visible even in the rating of the few the film that women have featured in as main paladins of the movie. A good example is the Elektra produced in 2005 and Catwoman, which was created in 2004 with abysmal ratings (Lindner & Schulting, 2017). The scores of these movies had significant impacts that made producers hesitant to produce this kind of film. This made me try to examine the probable reasons that make female superhero movies less popular.
The female superheroes have not been mostly used in comic books and movies, mainly because of cultural perception and views concerning women. On the contrary, men have been elevated because of male chauvinism; thus, they have dominated all the spheres. Every society treats men and women unequally when men are given prominence at females’ expense (Kester, 2019). The authors of movies and comic books present characters mainly as superheroes. It is anchored that women are physically weaker than men; thus, they cannot play the intended roles. Since women are perceived as soft, they are presented as weak in movies and comic books as victims who cannot liberate themselves from various challenges. They are thus rescued from these scenarios by men presented as superheroes.
Many movies that feature women commonly depict a lack of creativity since they are continually imitating male characters in similar films. Hence, this makes them luck proper qualities that can make them more marketable a good example is supergirl (Ndalianis, 2020). Consequently, another primary reason that makes female superhero movies unpopular is the luck of fans. It is so because most superhero movies and comics are geared towards the male audience, thus introducing a female superhero character makes the film less thrilling (Kester, 2019). The continuous insinuation that only the renowned male gender can dominate and gunner more rates than the female characters have made many movie production companies invest in male gender since they guarantee profitable returns.
To conclude, the cultural perceptions concerning women as weak beings lead men to dominate the comic books and movies. Authors are supposed to present men and women with equal measure as a way of respecting advancing the role of women in the film industry. Besides, female filmmakers should have proper adaptable and promotion mentorship since this, together with adequate production of quality work, will give them a better competitive edge.
References
Kester, L. T. (2019). Female Superheroes. Using Superheroes and Villains in Counseling and Play Therapy, 255-263. doi:10.4324/9780429454950-22
Lindner, A. M., & Schulting, Z. (2017). How movies with a female presence fare with critics. doi:10.31235/osf.io/dzcq2
Ndalianis, A. (2020). Female fans, female creators, and female superheroes. The Routledge Companion to Gender and Sexuality in Comic Book Studies, 310-328. doi:10.4324/9780429264276-27