Is Hollywood Making More of an Effort to Market Action Movies to Women This Summer?

I spoke with the reporter for this story (my quote about the Hunger Games made it in there) and was shocked to hear I was the only woman she talked to. She said the men she spoke with mentioned that superhero movies were incorporating love stories more, although I pointed out that they’ve always included a love story. They are probably just marketing that element more heavily.

I also think there’s a difference between marketing the movie and marketing products related to the movie (which Spider-Man seems to be doing). I wasn’t too fond of the quote about how guys need to make it a date night to see The Avengers. Can’t a woman just like The Avengers without a guy convincing her to. :)

On The Avengers, I figured that one of the reasons for marketing more to women was because Joss Whedon was involved in the project — although that’s certainly not the only reason. I’m not sure what others think of that guess?

I was interviewed for this article as well and argued that any female-driven marketing ofproduct has little to do with marketing genre films to women – it’s about selling product not getting them in theaters – and that focusing on the romance angle of narratives as THE way to sell a female audience on superhero movies is offensive. But clearly, since I disagreed with the article’s thesis my opinions didn’t fit with the content of the piece.

To be clear, I’m not concerned about not being quoted. But if we’re asking “Is this a trend?” it’s revealing that the answer is given only through evidence that supports the author’s intention in a way that reads as forced. I guess I’m feeling cynical too. I’d much rather see a superhero film made that embraces female audiences rather than one that is marketed to a very specific and limited idea of what the female gender wants from an action film. (Nail polish & boyfriends!) I mean, does anyone really think that Spider-Man nail polish is going to encourage a woman to go see the film? It might technically be “marketing”, but it’s insulting.

(BTW – I also mentioned that The Avengers might be being marketed more to women because of Joss Whedon’s reputation as a feminist.)

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I actually came over to see if you’d written on this yet, since I found the Reuters article so mind-blowingly offensive. Perhaps women are interested in quality story telling and exciting world-saving action sequences in their own right, not because of some slick nail polish advertising or highlighted love scenes. If they really wanted to market to us, how about making a super heroine LEAD? Where’s the Black Widow’s solo movie? Why can’t a woman save the world and come home to her worried boyfriend (or girlfriend)?

It would be nice to see good women action characters embraced in a good story.  Unfortunately, what we’re probably going to get are characters dressed as objects and promoted for sex appeal and studio executives saying, “See?  We gave you action heroines.”  Then when a movie doesn’t do well, the studio executives will figure Hunger Games was a fluke and won’t even bother to look at things they might have done to cause the movie to fail.

Like Catwoman, for example. :)

Why doesn’t Marion Cotillard have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?

To be fair, it’s a Walk of Fame, not a Walk of Talent. 

This. 
I’ll see this as a trend when women feature as the title character of a superheroine action movie that doesn’t completely offend like Uma Thurman’s “My Super Ex-Girlfriend”. I don’t understand what’s so challenging about writing a kickass movie that features a woman that DOESN’T feature the romantic plot as the most important one. 
Where’s my modern-day Wonder Woman film, Hollywood???

if they were really trying to market to women, they would play up all the homo-erotic subtext.

There are so many brilliant Female characters to choose from too, a number of female DC Green Lantern characters are WAY more interesting than the male leads (Guy Gardner not included), and with Marvel there just as many ( I want a She-Hulk film!). I’m hoping that Marvels recent comic ‘Winter Soldier’ will be embraced and become a feature film, one day, as Widow is featured prominently.

The Batwoman comics are brilliant. I’d love to see her on film. I’m really glad Joss wrote the script for Avengers because Black Widow’s role in Iron Man 2 pissed me off royally. All she was was tits and ass in that movie. In the Avengers, she held her own, fighting and emotionally. I also think she’s the most badass of the bunch. While everyone else is a superhuman or has high tech gadgets, all Black Widow needs is a gun and her intelligence (and a dash of manipulation). Her intro in the film was by far my favorite (“I’m gonna have to put you on hold”). I can’t understand why Hollywood thinks women don’t like comics or action films. As a woman, I would much prefer to see an action or sci fi movie than a romantic comedy. They’re more thought provoking with better characters and better plots. Woman don’t just care about romance as Hollywood seems to think. Of course, I doubt Hollywood realizes it’s out of the 1950s quite yet…unless we’re talking about gratuitous violence or sex, just that female leads can carry a movie and attract an audience.   

Absolutely right. And the problem, it seems, with Hollywood when they cast a woman as a superhero (or supervillain) lead is that they try so very hard to sex her up that it becomes the main framework of her character, and that’s always been problematic for me. Why can’t she be a regular guy like Peter Parker? Or a multifaceted super villain like Loki?

I sort of enjoyed what they did with Sif in the Thor movie, though I felt a bit icked when they made her seem like Thor’s little sister… but I thought she was pretty badass. 

Selina from Underworld was pretty awesome. One of my favorites so far.

Then of course there’s Katniss and Hermione Granger–though I admit, I’m still more enamored of their characters from the books, not the movies.

Whatever else she is, Katniss was pretty damn sexed up, in the books even more so, even if that practice is deconstructed. I think you have a good point, generally, thought I don’t quite see how Selina fits into your roster of unsexualized female leads, considering how many male fans refer to the franchise as the “Kate Beckinsale’s Ass Movies.”

Have you seen Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes?

Didn’t Raimi’s Spider-Man have at least as much romance as The Hunger Games?