They put up Bridesmaids, we went. They put up Pitch Perfect, we went. They put up The Devil Wears Prada, which was in two-thousand-meryl-streeping-oh-six, and we went (and by “we,” I do not just mean women; I mean we, the humans), and all of it has led right here, right to this place. Right to the land of zippedy-doo-dah. You can apparently make an endless collection of high-priced action flops and everybody says “win some, lose some” and nobody decides that They Are Poison, but it feels like every “surprise success” about women is an anomaly and every failure is an abject lesson about how we really ought to just leave it all to The Rock. — Linda Holmes for NPR.

I recommend reading the entirety of Linda Holmes’ piece, “At The Movies, The Women Are Gone,” about how it is currently nearly impossible, in most parts of America, to go to a theater and see a work of fiction that is about a woman. However, I found this paragraph of it to be perhaps the most powerful one, and I have my own caveat to add: After the commercial success of The Hunger Games, Brave, Snow White and the Huntsman, and Prometheus (to pull merely from 2012 alone), and after the increasingly vital and action oriented roles of women in superhero movies like The Avengers and Iron Man 3, not to mention Man of Steel and The Dark Knight Rises in which the female leads have been praised as some of the best aspects of the film… After that, how long are we expected to pretend that a movie with a female Marvel or DC superhero in the lead is such farfetched idea?

Previously in Female Leads in Action Film

When Ubisoft initially announced the creation of Aveline de Grandpré, the first female playable character in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, you could tell she’d hit a chord by the best of indicators: despite her costume involving multiple layers, distressed fabrics, studs, buckles, leather, and custom weapons… there was cosplay immediately. This was despite the fact that the game she starred in was available only for a poorly selling handheld device rather than a major console release. But Ubisoft has just confirmed that Aveline will be getting her console debut with the upcoming Assassin’s Creed IV: Pirates Black Flag.

We previously reported on the controversy surrounding SheZow, a cartoon from Australia, now airing on The Hub here in the U.S. Writer Ben Shapiro felt the need to defend his show on things outsiders were reading into it but now MovieBob takes a crack. And a great one at that. Give it a watch.

(via The Escapist)

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Warning: This article will contain spoilers for The Walking Dead comic book and the television show as well as references to adult themes.

Do you pay attention to adverbs, adjectives, or verbs in what you read? They’re just words, right? Except that they can be used to frame a narrative in a certain way. I was struck by this doing research for a Walking Dead-related short story contest. I decided to give words to a woman who has been mostly denied them on the show, Michonne. Given that my Walking Dead compendium will arrive soon and I’ve faithfully followed the show, I thought I could safely take a peek at her Wikipedia page. The character arcs vary widely between the two mediums (which I was expecting) but I came across something else that was intriguing-the language used to describe her story.

Meet Guy Hamdon. He’s a 12-year-old wannabe-macho man whose catchphrase is “It’s a GUY thing.” But when he steals a ring meant for his sister and puts it on as a joke he gets the shock of his young life, as the ring is actually a magic ring that turns its wearer into SheZow, a “a legendary FEMALE superhero who possesses many super powers both physical and in the form of awesome gadgets” and whom Guy can subsequently turn into by saying “You go girl!”

SheZow, which airs in the U.S. on The Hub, has already gotten a lot of people talking about its refreshingly unique attitude to gender. But some of the comments haven’t been so positive.

Look out. Conservative bastion Brietbart News has found out about The Hub’s genderswapping kid’s show. And they aren’t pleased.

Come on, you know they totally did this. These cosplayers have the right idea. (Fashionably Geek)

That’s damn impressive. Just one thing, those are supposed to be Black Widow’s sleeves and gloves but I think he should have added her Widow Bites because they’re super cool. (via Geekologie)

Jaime Moore wanted to do something special for her daughter’s fifth birthday photo, but when she looked online, all she could find were princess tutorials.

“Now don’t get me wrong,” she says on her site, “I LOVE Disney Princesses… But it got me thinking, they’re just characters, a writers tale of a princess (most before 1998)…an unrealistic fantasy for most girls,” except, she admits, for Kate Middleton. “My daughter wasn’t born into royalty, but she was born into a country where she can now vote, become a doctor, a pilot, an astronaut, or even President if she wants and that’s what REALLY matters.” So she and her daughter decided to do a series of photos with five historical women who fought to get Jamie, Emma, and a lot of other women the rights and opportunities they enjoy today. And those pictures? They’re great.

And before you think “Well, sure, that’s less than half of what would really be ideal representation, but maybe it’s a sign of progress,” this is the lowest level of gender equity in roles in five years.

Rick, LOOK BEHIND YOU. (TVLine)