Super Bitches and Action Babes

Rikke Schubart is director of studies and associate professor of literature, media and cultural studies at the University of Southern Denmark.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments      Preface      Introduction: Female Heroes in an Age of Ambivalence      PART ONE: THE RISE AGAINST MEN1. “Godmother” of Them All: The Rise and Fall of Pam Grier      2. A Pure Dominatrix: Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS      3. Enough! Birth of the Rape-Avenger      PART TWO: FROM THE MARGINS4. Meiko Kaji: Woman with a Vengeance      5. “Beautiful Vase Made of Iron and Steel”: Michelle Yeoh      6. Failed Female Hero? “Queen of Martial Arts” Cynthia Rothrock      PART THREE: INTO THE ACTION7. Sigourney Weaver: The Alien Series and the Mother Archetype      8. Daddy’s Action Girl: Nikita and the Daughter Archetype      9. The Warrior and the Wardrobe: The Amazon Hero      PART FOUR: AGE OF AMBIVALENCE10. Disturbing Creature: The Female Soldier in the War Film      11. The Action Star Persona of Milla Jovovich      12. High Trash Heroines: Lara, Beatrix, and Three Angels      Filmography      Chapter Notes      Bibliography      Index

“All too seldom, in reading about film, I have the experience of picking up a book that proves to be a revelation. [This book] is precisely that—a groundbreaking work that not only sheds new light on a trend in films, but also provides a fresh theoretical framework in which to situate its argument. Indeed, it is the richness of the author’s perspectives, the elegant writing, and the willingness to challenge orthodoxy that makes this such a rewarding book [and] is a vital, important contribution to film studies. I picked up this volume along with a half-dozen others through a subject search at the Library of Congress, not familiar with the authors of any of them, and this one was simply head-and-shoulders above the others. I expect this book will have a wider audience, and more permanent place in film studies, than many a more touted volume...a sophisticated tool”—Journal of Film and Video; “entertaining”—Film Review.