Guest post by screenwriter and actress, Nia Vardalos over at Women in Media & News concerning Hollywood studios not making movies with female leads because “women don’t go to the movies.” Sounds like what we’ve heard from the gaming and comic book industries (women don’t play/read them – – which we know is bullshit).
A detailed and thought-provoking piece over at Salon on genre busting heroines in supernatural fiction including Buffy Summers, Anita Blake, and Sookie Stackhouse.
I’ve yet to get into True Blood or the Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris, but this piece over at Damsel has me intrigued by the author’s suggestion that Sookie Stackhouse is the “natural heir to Buffy’s feminist throne.” Considering my interest in female heroes (and specifically, post-Buffy heroes I think I’m going to have to get cracking!
I can't agree with everything in the linked articles, but I will say they're worth reading & thinking about. I've certainly had enough of movies about gigantic explosions and robots!
I've enjoyed True Blood a lot, although more for the excellent writing and mise en scene than Sookie. I find her, or maybe Anna Paquin, a little… I just don't understand why everyone's so enamored of her in Bon Temps. But it's well worth watching. I love the opening credits.
Katherine
Yeah, I've found Anna Paquin to be a little . . . bland. And I'm not a fan of vampire fiction per se – though I am a fan of certain stories with vamps in them (the early Vampire Chronicle books by Anne Rice, Buffy the Vampire Slayer . . .). So I haven't made the time to check it out, but since it does have a woman as the central character, it's getting good reviews, and it seems some cultural critics are taking note of it in the context of Buffy I'm thinking I should start watching – especially when smart women are recommending it!