Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Girl Superheros in General

Anne Hathaway cast as Catwoman

From klutzy princess, to superspy, to Jane Austen, Anne Hathaway has demonstrated that she is a very versatile and talented actress. So this casting news sounds like I'm going to have to catch up with the Batman movies, because there's no way I'm missing Hathaway as Catwoman.

If, indeed she plays Catwoman. As the article states, only the character, not the super-alter-ego has been mentioned. However I say it's high time for a girl to get a masked identity in a Batman movie. So far most of the recent comic book movies (apart from X-Men and Fantastic Four) have decided to keep their girls strictly in the roles of damsels in distress. Which can be interesting the first time or two, but by the time you get to Spiderman 3 and Mary Jane is still doing nothing more than hanging from a car and screaming, it gets annoying. Granted, Liv Tyler (the Hulk), Gwenneth Paltrow (Ironman) and Katie Holmes (Batman Begins) were allowed to give their characters more depth than just screaming. Paltrow even got to be more of a formidable force in Ironman II (although we still have yet to see her in her own Stark suit, which actually happens in the comic). The closest we've seen in any non-team movie (that I'm familiar with, at least) is Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow in Ironman II. And that was pretty awesome.

Dont' get me wrong. I'm not a feminist. But I think it's annoying, cliche and unrealistic for girls to only be portrayed as damsels in distress. If I were in love with a superhero, I'd find a heck of a lot more to do than get captured all the time, and if I did, I certainly hope I'd have more presence of mind to do something like plan an escape than just scream and cry.

So here's hoping that Hathaway gets to play the full part of Catwoman and continue to pave the way for some awesome girl action.

10 comments:

Andy Hauge said...

SO EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my gosh. This is crazy. I'm also highly interested by the addition of Bane, who's not a very prominent villain. (In one of the comics, he apparently breaks Batman's back....yeah. He's insane like that.)

Seeing as Nolan has stated that this will finish the trilogy and "wrap up" the Batman story to a degree, I highly suspect that Catwoman will get masked time, instead of merely being set up as part of his rogue's gallery.

Emily said...

Great! I love Anne Hathaway as an actress. I'm trying to picture her as Catwoman but can't... eh, probably because my brain is fried at the moment. I'll have to wait and be surprised.

It's funny- I'm not much of a superhero-movie person. I didn't like Hulk. I only I saw one of the X-men movies. I liked Spider-Man(Right, except when Mary Jane's screaming got old..) and I liked Iron Man. But Batman Begins had a dark tone to it that was (although action-movie-ish and cinematic) very unpleasant.

Somehow, though, I'm looking forward to this new one. Is it going to be a sequel to Batman Begins?

Emily said...

Oh, that was silly. Obviously it's a sequel.

Hannah Liz said...

AMEN, SISTAH!!!!!!!!!
I agree!!! GOSH, it is just SO annoying to see girls all the time just getting captured and screaming. UGHGHGHG.
CAN'T WAIT to see this one where she actually FIGHTS or something. ;) :D

Elizabeth Amy Hajek said...

I know! And even in X-Men they make the girls take on the damsels in distress roles -- (Rogue and Jean) which is SO annoying because those ladies are some of the toughest girls out there.

(Okay, Rogue is. Jean is debatable.)

Cor Mariae said...

Well personally I think the "awesome girl who fights better than all the guys" is getting a bit cliched. =P At least as cliched as the "damsel in distress" which I don't mind nearly so much. It's just really annoying and put-off-ish to me when the heroine is swaggering around knocking everyone out. =P please.
I Really like Aunt May from spider-man. sure, she isn't wowing everyone with her fighting skills but she's *completely* awesome none the less. She's iron-strong but her strength is of a different sort. And I just loved when she hits Doc Oc over the head with her umbrella. Classic.

PS I feel a need to defend MJ. =P Sure, she does her bit of running and screaming but seriously. She hasn't had any training. What should one expect? It's logical that spider-man's enemies would go after her so perhaps she Should have gotten enrolled in martial arts or something but she didn't. So I don't think fighting back is really very feasible for her. =P ;D She could plan like you said but most of her situations are a little too late for that. =P

Elizabeth Amy Hajek said...

The girls don't have to be better than the guys, they just need to be given a chance. Have you watched all the superhero movies I named? All the X-Men, Batman, Ironman, Incredible Hulk, etc? Even though there may be good girl characters in there, they are pretty much treated as needing to be rescued by a man and incapable of fighting for themselves. And what bothers me is that a LOT of these women, in the original comics, were actually given their own ways to fight. I will NEVER forgive Fox for how they butchered Rogue in the X-Men movie. She's pretty much hands down the strongest heroine ever in the X-Man canon and they reduced her to a whimpering crybaby. The real Rogue would NEVER have even gotten in that situation, and if she had the last thing she would have done would be sit an cry about it.

Cor Mariae said...

I have not watched or read any X-men materials(I want to!) but I have watched all the batman, iron-man, spider-man and the incredible hulk. I can see how that would be totally frustrating and not much annoys me more than major changes like that. And I have nothing against a tough heroine. But when they are just thrown in there unrealistically it's really annoying. None of the girls of my acquaintance can fight better or know more about weapons and war than most of the guys I know. And I'm totally fine with that because I don't think that's where our strength lies. Fighting and war destroys, even if it's just. I believe that women are meant to nurture regardless of their calling. and when a movie just kind of throws a girl into the role of the protector and it's veiwed as a good thing and completely normal...well it annoys me.

I do think that it's a good thing to be able to defend yourself but I personally don't have time (or funds!) for martial arts and the like. and I'm perfectly fine with letting the men in my life do the protecting. you might say "but men won't always be around!" but God will. And my Guardian will. so if it's part of God's plan men *will* be there.



haha, I'm just sort of rambling... *grins*

Elizabeth Amy Hajek said...

CM -- oh I do agree. I for one don't particularily approve of females in the military.

But I see the superheros as different. The women have powers, but they're not using them to wage war because they want to. They're using them to defend and protect those weaker than themselves. You could say that's drawing on their maternal instincts. Actually I think Marvel does a very good job of keeping their heroines feminine but still strong as they fight.

Some examples:

Jean Grey's power comes precisely because she is incredibly compassionate. Emma Frost is a strong leader and can definitely fight, but she is also known for counseling, being an incredibly devoted teacher, and a talented navigator of mutant politics. Rogue is pretty tomboyish, but she was raised in an abusive family, and then her adopted mother trained her to be a fighter. She used to dream of falling in love and being the belle of the ball, but life was hard on her and gave her a power that isolates her from people.

Sue Storm of the Fantastic Four has offensive powers, but she is an incredibly nurturing, supportive and caring person who serves as the emotional heart of her team. She also really is a mother and would do anything to protect her husband and son.

Pepper Potts does indeed get her own ironman suit, but she specifically insisted that it be a suit designed not for combat, but for rescue.

Cor Mariae said...

and I think we completely agree now. =) I really wasn't thinking super-heroes when I was writing...in fact I was thinking of roles where the lady Isn't a super-hero. =P

btw I Love the fact that you're posting so often!!! Keep it up!!!! =D