The world of superhero movies has mostly been a dude dominated sphere, with men in spandex generally taking the lead in saving the day, while women are relegated to supporting roles that aren’t always particularly well-written. Things are changing with “Wonder Woman” and “Captain Marvel” on the horizon, but it’ll also take writers and directors taking initiative too, and ensuring female roles, even if they are the lead, are still substantive.
James Gunn is certainly taking that notion to heart, and yesterday (which was International Day Of The Girl) he hit Facebook to announce that “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2” won’t slouch when it comes to giving Gamora, Nebula, and Mantis agency in what unfolds. Here’s an excerpt of what he had to say:
I am sick of stories where there are a bunch of fully realized male characters and one female character, whose primary characteristic is simply being “the girl” or the personality-less object of some man’s affections. I’m not sick of this because I’m politically correct – those of you who know me know I am far from that – but because it’s boring, and it’s b.s. Likewise, I don’t think only making female characters “strong” is a fix either – you see her all the time these days, the perfect female warrior, who is a reaction to the stories of the past, but who is equally as boring and one-dimensional….
….I have done my best, as a male writer, with varying degrees of success, to bring female characters and female stories to the forefront. Whether they’re protagonists like Ana in Dawn of the Dead or Starla in Slither, comedy relief like Deadly Girl, Nightbird, and Power Chick in The Specials, or the insane, scene-stealing roles usually reserved for men, like Libby in SUPER. And I can’t wait for you all to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, with Gamora, Nebula, and Mantis in action, where we not only pass the Bechdel test, but run over it and back up over it again and again in an eighteen-wheeler truck, and where their stories and the men’s stories don’t come at the expense of each other, but are interwoven in a way to strengthen and optimize all of them.
It’s a confident statement that certainly raises expectations, too. We’ll see how it plays out when “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2” opens on May 5, 2017. Read Gunn’s full statement below.
