The Disappearance of the Black Female Action Heroine

After watching the 2011 mystery thriller The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, I left the theater with a plethora of emotions. Excited, empowered, proud, somber, a bit in confused, and somewhat in limbo. This idea of the female action heroine reincarnated just kept calling out to me. But then I would take it a step further and ask what about the black female action heroine? Well…uhhhh…She’s nowhere to be found…"MIA"

Don’t get me wrong The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a remarkable film (that you should still see) that provides a foundation for audiences to see that the female actress can do more than just cry, sit behind a desk, stand by her man, and take care of her family. She exemplifies a female force to be "reckoned with" and someone who can stand on her own two feet. 

Breakout star 26-year old Rooney Mara who plays Lisbeth Salander in TGWTDT re-introduces a character that has been somewhat dormant . Yes recently we have had similar personalities or “sister-cousins” come to the big screen like Saoirse Ronan in Hanna and Chloe Grace Moretz in Kick-Ass (this one could be debatable,) but the last closely-related action heroine like Salander would be Anne Parillaud in the 1990 film La Femme Nikita. Both tell these bizarre, psychological  stories of a troubled, unsocialized and vulnerable young woman who climbs her way through her own personal horrific trenches and transform into a “female killing machine”. 

But back to my dilemma...While this is all well and good…YAY FEMALE POWER!! nevertheless, my problem with this picture is the lack of diversity with the female action heroine. If someone were to ask me name 5 female action heroine who had leading roles in Hollywood, I could easily spit out Angelina Jolie (Wanted, Tomb Raider), Kate Beckinsale (Underworld), Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil), Linda Hamilton (Terminator) and of course we can’t forget who some say got the “action heroine” ball rolling Sigourney Weaver (Aliens) and that's just round one. However, what’s wrong with this list…"the woman of color"…Even if I did a Google or Bing search it would struggle to just to even pull out two women of color (No Joke...Trust me I tried). 

Speaking as an African American/Black women I am constantly searching for those images that present heroine that looks like me, and finding that female action heroine of color is a further daunting task. Now please note it is not an anomaly that a female action heroine of color existed, it’s just the gap of how long another one will present itself to the forefront. Hmmmm…the last true female action heroine of color that was able to break ground in mainstream Hollywood would be that of Pam Grier’s character Foxy Brown and the late Tamara Dobson's portrayal of Cleopatra Jones from the 1970s Blaxploitation film era….notice the date 30+ years ago….Problemmatic!! 

It becomes somewhat of concern when there are numerous actresses of color that seem to be overlooked, downplayed, or selected on rare occasions for action hero roles. I guess I should be thankful that Halle Berry played a Black/African superhero X-Men’s Storm, or that Jada Pinkett-Smith plays a rebel martial artist in The Matrix Reloaded…mmmmm try again. Or maybe Hollywood wants me to be satisfied with one film every so many years like the 2011 summer action flick Columbiana starring Dominican/Puerto Rican bred Zoe Saldana. Alas, this is the most recent flick to have a female of color play the lead action heroine. Fortunately and unfortunately she has been the only “go-to” female of color to play an action heroine. 

Please make no mistake Saldana has skills, but this wealth could be shared. There are numerous women who have more than proved their skills and talents, like newbie/indie star Nicole Beharie, Jurnee Smollett, Tariji P. Henson, British born Naomie Harris, True Blood star Rutina Wesley, Sanaa Lathan, and I would even suggest Kerry Washington step out from her traditional drama roles and position her self in an action role, shoot even Jada Pinkett-Smith still has great potential. So my question now is, "Hollywood who and when will the next one be?"

It’s not there are not any women of color to choose from to fill these roles it’s just a matter of them being selected. Hello they are there and available!! Some might say we should satisfied that women of color are beginning to have lead roles or be more visible in drama and comedy films, unfortunately that is unsatisfactory.Or maybe Hollywood should expand its thought process to consider and thus eventually include Black female actress in these action-heroine roles. Historically, Black women have been fighting just to get quality roles and top billing (in general) and even in 2012 Black actresses are still trying to get to that mountain peak. We have made strides, slowly but surely, but not nearly enough as it should be. Black women should be able to represent all across the board not just in certain genres/areas. I mean for real are white woman the only ones capable of “kicking some ass” in the movies, and Black women just kind of fall off the map and worse the radar?

I guess the question that should be addressed is, “Can Hollywood Handle A Female Action Hero of Color?”