Guardians of the Galaxy

Marvel released its latest blockbuster last week as Guardians of the Galaxy hit the theatres in Australia. Follow me under the cut as I discuss the movie (hark! there are spoilers ahead).

Let's Represent!

Recently I took the kids I nanny to a local amusement park for the day because the Avengers were going to be making an appearance. My 5 year-old boy is super hero obsessed so of course this was a mandatory stop. When 2PM finally rolled around and we’d waited in line to see them you could see tiny little pieces of all the little girls around me die. Even my 9 year-old who couldn’t possibly care less about the Avengers shrank back. Three well costumed men walked up onto the stage. Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man were all properly represented and the crowd cheered, cameras flashed. I was tugged down to Tyler’s height. 
“Sarah, where’s Black Widow?” he asked frantically.

“She couldn't make it today. She and Hawkeye had important work to do. Its not easy to protect the whole world all the time. And Hulk doesn't like crowds and roller coasters.” I lied. 
I heard my words repeated by other parents around me at a greater loss for words than I was. One little girl broke down in tears and despite having already waited a hour to see the Avengers refused to go in and meet them. She wanted to meet Black Widow.  Tyler stepped up to her and patted her back telling the girl that their beloved Nat was off being a better hero. She’s one of his favourites, and despite some judging of adults we've spent many a day with him adamantly telling everyone he meets that today he’s Black Widow.

I Need A Hero(ine)

With the recent success of Marvel (and to some extent DC) Comic Films, superheroes have once again captured the attention of a wide audience outside the usual fanbase. I've read only a few comics because the graphic novel and comic format has been hard for me to get into (weird, huh?) and because I've never known where to start, there are so many layers and reboots that it’s a daunting project to try. The comic genre had also never felt accessible to me and even now I still feel deterred from entering it. It wasn’t until Iron Man (2008) that I began to feel like it was something I could begin to involve myself in, and from there, the other Phase 1 (Iron Man - Avengers) and Phase 2 (Iron Man 3 - Avengers 2) movies and my first tentative steps into the comics themselves.

So what about my superheroines? There are plenty of female superheroes in both the Marvel and DC comics and yet, even in 2014, there is a resistance to the idea of making a female superhero movie; either from the belief that the movie wouldn’t make enough money, that women don’t watch comic book movies or there wouldn’t be an audience for it. We’ve had female superhero movies before in Elektra (2005) and Catwoman (2004), both of which did rather badly. They weren’t that great in many aspects. It’s been nearly ten years; a lot has changed since they were released, and there are many other ladies to choose from. It’s time that women finally get to see female superheros on the big screen who are the lead, rather than sidekicks or love interests.