Women Superhero Movies are Not as Successful

     I am going to geek out on you all for a minute and I am sorry. This is something that has been on my mind for a while, and with a Wonder Woman movie in the works, as well as a possible Black Widow movie from the Avengers, I need to say this.

     I read an article a while back where filmmakers and Stan Lee explain as to why they put a female superhero movie on hold. The reasons included getting more of the essential characters of the universe out there, creating a better back story, and that female starring action movies just don't do as good. In fact, movies for women are still considered a niche market. The latter reason made my head spin. So I started wondering, why would they think that? Two examples, Electra and Catwoman. TERRIBLE representations of awesome female characters.

You can read the original article here.
 
     I first want to share with you a lovely quote from Meagan Marie who is a phenomenal cosplayer and Crystal Dynamics employee who I feel worded it perfectly.

     "One of the problems I think female superheroes face is that because there are so few of them, they have an unfair onus put on them to represent "women" across the board, rather than a unique person. Essentially, they are painted as easy-to-digest stereotypes - a vixen, a damsel in distress, a motherly character, and so on. They tend to be less interesting as a result. With a slew of male characters to feature in any given movie, each has the opportunity to be nuanced." Meagan Marie

     That explained the reason why the characters are not as diverse, but there are amazing characters out there regardless of stereotypes, and I don't understand why anyone would think they would be less successful in film. So I sat down and watched some of the best, and my favorite strong female staring movies.

     For starters, I notice an over-saturation of  female stereotypes. In almost all female hero movies I have seen, frankly, the women characters are written differently than men. More specifically, I am targeting the dialog, interactions between characters, especially with the male ones. There is too much hip swaying, cheesy attempting-to-be-witty-and-seductive dialog, and over-sexualization of the female form. Sure, we all want to see an attractive actress portraying our favorite character, kicking some ass, and taking names, but what we don't want to see is our favorite characters painted up as bimbos in costume trying to be more sexy, versus standing up for the greater good.

     The other thing I noticed was the dialog. Women in some of these movies are more Coy, flirty, and sassy. When the women are giving the crappy dialog you lose both men and women. Your character and story lose substance. Even though it's not real, we want it to feel real, and let us be honest, most people don't talk like "that". What I am trying to say, is if you think about conversations between male and females in movies, the flirtatiousness, and the one-liners most of the time are cheesy, but also not necessary.

     The Next thing is the sexualizing the characters. Yes, men are the ones who primarily see the comic book and action based movies. Sure guys want to see sexy, but again there is a line that you don't have to cross, that is often crossed. With that being said the gap is closing and more women are seeing the same movies, so to us when you represent women as very sexy, or seductive, the women don't respect or take the character seriously because they are represented more like bimbos.

     The idea that female leading action movies don't do as good is false because we saw great success with the Selene character in Underworld, Princess Leia in Star Wars, as well as the Alice character in the Resident Evil movies. Why do they stand out so much from other female leads? Because they weren't written differently. Their conversations were solid, their actions were solid. They were not based or influenced by their gender or emotions, they were based on the story and relevant situations happening in the movie. Sure Selene was sexy in the corset and catsuit, but she also had brains, she was strong, and could handle herself.

     So in short, you want to see a successful female action based movie, then write them like you would write the men. The male dialog isn't dripping with excess testosterone, so the females don't need extra estrogen. Write Wonder Women like you wrote Man of Steel or Batman. Write Black Widow like you would any of the male Avengers. You can have witty, but Think Tony Stark Witty or Princess Leia witty, not Hallie Berry Catwoman cheesy.

     I truly feel it isn't the female aspect, or even the character aspect as to why female leading movies do poorly, I truly feel its how they are written, how they are represented, and how they talk. In short, we can clearly see a beautiful actress playing our favorite characters, we don't need the extras.

Nightmares of Craiglist

PLEASE REMEMBER: Lots of jobs post listings on websites like craiglist.com, however, so do lots of scam artist, if they don't post a company name, list a website, or give a phone number, don't trust it. Always try to research the company listing by finding a website, or looking on Google maps to make sure the place exist. NEVER give out your social security number, or banking information over email, or phone.

Today I am going to talk about my experience with applying for jobs on craigslist. This can, and does tie into my other two job hunting posts.

I am looking for a second job and I decided to look up some craigslist postings. Now I know and have always been aware of the dangers out there so I have been fairly smart about my replies and postings. I wanted to share some of my tips with you.

If the company doesn't give a name, number, or any official information, (which sometimes companies don't like too) I won't attach my full resume or give any sensitive information in the reply. I politely state I do have a cover letter and detailed resume available, but because of the dangers I wait until I get an official response. Sometimes I don't attach anything at all, but I sent a short email that I am interested but cautious.

Well last week I did just that to three different companies. No resume, cover letter, or sensitive information in any reply and they all returned my emails...

Scenario One:  One responded with a very well written response about how they understand, a little about their company, job description, pay, and so on, but at the end they had a link that I was supposed to click, to go to an external site, put in my sensitive information and buy a credit report. RED FLAG and NO THANKS.

Why this is bad: Sometimes companies do look at credit reports for jobs, however they will do it themselves. I have never heard of, or had a legit company ask me to purchase my own credit report. So be cautious of this. I did examine the site, and it was a shady site.

On a side note, If you go to websites where you need to put in information, like banking, or card info via online shopping, make sure in the address bar, the first few letters are https: (With the S) this means the site is secure, if its not, then beware!

Scenario Two: The next two responses was someone with a decently written auto reply like the last but with some loopholes. They said "after careful examination of my resume" or something like that, I was perfect for the job and went on about my duties and such. One said that the job I applied for was no longer avail, but after reviewing my resume, they think I would be prefect for a different job, with pay and such that sounded to good to be true.

This is a red flag: because the posting has no official information in it I did NOT send them my resume or cover letter, so them by stating they looked over my resume, I knew they were fake, (or at least automated). One response wanted me to call, and other wanted me to show up at a location for "open interviews". So sadly these also were most likely scams. Potentially dangerous ones too.

So be safe when hunting for jobs online. Try to stick to websites like Monster, LinkedIn, Indeed.com or Care.com.

If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is, and if they don't have any company information in the listing, be vary.

Safe Hunting, leave experiences below.
Jessi

Your Body: Made of Cells!

Hello!

     I wanted to write a short blog about something we talked about when I was still in school for nursing. We were speaking about the basic of the human bodies make up. Specifically, cells.

     We all know that our bodies are made up of billions of cells, and each cell has a life span. As cells die they are replaced with new ones, but sometimes they have deformities, which can lead to aging, wrinkles, and other changes in our bodies, including health changes. Well, our cells are created and thrive off of what we put in our body. Cells need vitamins, minerals, and hydration to thrive. If our bodies lack adequate nutrition, we can exasperate this process.

     It is no surprise, that people who have adequate exercise and good eating habits, look younger, healthier, and more vibrant. Your body is a vessel, and what we consume is our fuel. When people talk about benefits of eating healthy, they talk about how it makes your skin more clear, you feel better, etc, but no one ever says why you get those result. So now you know.

     So as a recap, you need high quality fuel, because you body is made up of cells that use what you put in your body to rejuvenate. Sometimes those cells have deformities. To keep aging and other changes at bay its important to make sure your body and cells are getting everything they need to produce a fine product.

Hope this helps, or offers perspective,
Jessi Harm