I saw The Avengers with my middle child over Mother's Day weekend. What an amazing movie! I am so in awe of that movie. I was especially touched that the directors seem to have gone to great lengths to find an actor who is very reminiscent of Bill Bixby, who originated the role of Bruce Banner on the television series back in the late 70's, early 80's. Iron Man was new to me. I've never been a big fan of Robert Downey, Jr, but his portrayal of Iron Man sold me on his acting abilities. And Thor... *sigh*... what's not to love about Thor?
Today I went with the boys to see Spiderman. Another excellent movie. It's not the version I originally saw back in the day, but I really enjoyed the special effects and the acting. Seeing Martin Sheen and Sally Field in the role of Peter's Aunt and Uncle was an unexpected pleasure. Oh, and the special effects. It goes without saying that the CG special effects were off the charts, blow your mind fantastic!
One big thing I noticed today is that the authors are no longer writing wimpy, helpless roles for women. No longer are they just sitting by helpless, and hapless, waiting to be rescued.
In Spiderman, when Gwen faces down the giant lizard man - not once, but twice - I was impressed. When she used her brains to help solve a very large problem (and looked smoking hot while engaging in science related activities!) I was in awe of the genius who wrote the plot.
In the Avengers, the Black Widow is a gorgeous, beautiful, smart, intelligent, kick ass woman who can take care of herself. My personal favorite scene in the movie is at the beginning. She is being held captive by an evil criminal overlord. And she's wearing her classic little black dress. When it is time for her to exit the scene, she breaks free of her bonds- by herself, and gets rid of the bad guys- by herself, then picks up her stacked black high heeled pumps, straightens her dress, and sashays out of the room.
Stan Lee, thank you for writing strong roles for women! No longer are we relegated to be beautiful but stupid, or smart but ugly. You are writing roles that show women in all of their glory- strong, smart, beautiful, and capable of solving any problem that comes their way in a well thought out, well reasoned manner that doesn't make them look hapless and hopeless.
You are truly showing the beauty and power of women. We are amazing, we are powerful, we are smart. We have the power to change the world. Thank you for capturing this!
This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog. I
moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all
of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one
place. I've matched the publication dates here to their original post
date. If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking
the time to go back through them all!
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