Movie help for school paper

Hey, me and my group are doing a paper on gender roles in cinema and we need some help!

We are looking for instances of strong female characters who take a physical role in fighting of villains.

We need examples of three things:

1) Where women characters knock out men in hand to hand combat (like Sydney from Alias)

2) Where women use their "feminine" ways to distract/seduce men in order to help the hero.

3) Where women knock out men using stealthy techniques (like the end of Octopussy where the girls storm the castle, or KOing guards.)

This was a hard topic and we are looking for more examples so figured we'd try the movie forum haha.

Any help is appreciated!

Haven't seen it, but I guess that Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! might be what you're looking for.

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

Kill Bill

If Kill Bill is mentioned, Lady Snowblood should be mentioned too.

Death Proof's whole second half and especially ending is basically strong physical women taking on the villain.

Jackie Brown is basically Pam Grier intelligently planning to scam the villain (Samuel L. Jackson) through elaborate planning.

And Haywire is Gina Carano in a strong woman type role, although I have only seen bits of it.

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La Femme Nikita!

Also on a side note.. check out Shrek 3!

D.E.B.S.
It's a bit dumb, but it's a fun kind of dumb.

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You are no Vader. You are just a child in a mask.

Bitch Slap (2009)



Also a number of Angelina Jolie movies like Salt and Wanted, I think even Tomb Raider would fit in to that description.

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The first two Sister Street Fighter films are excellent and feature loads of one girl duffing up loads of guy's action. Star Etsuko Shihomi was only nineteen when she made the first one. Amazing really.

Similarly you might also look at the pinky violence films of the late sixties and early 70's which subverted Japanese gender roles turning young women into rebellious man eaters.

Stuff like Female Demon: Ohyaku (and the rest of the Legends of the Poisonous Seductress trilogy), Sex and Fury,Female Yakuza Tale, the Girl Boss series, Delinquent Girl Boss series, Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion series, the Rica trilogy, and Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs being some of the best examples featuring women beating up, manipulating and seducing men.



Similarly you might look at 70's exploitation films from the US, particularly those made by Jack Hill and the women in prison sub genre. The type of movies also partially subvert gender roles in that many of the them portray tough ass kicking women whilst also objectifying them as sex objects. Stuff like Caged Heat, The Big Doll House, The Big Bird Cage, and later films like Chained Heat. Not to mention blaxpliotation classics like Coffy, Foxy Brown, and the Cleopatra Jones films, and similar grindhouse classics like Switchblade Sisters and the Swedish made Thriller: A Cruel Picture.



Or you could skip the trash to go the neo-noir route and just watch Nikita and The Last Seduction for a great combination of stealth, manipulation and ass kicking.

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100 Favourites From The Future: REWIRED

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) and Point of No Return (1993) immediately came to mind.

Tank Girl???

Kick Ass, of course.

2001 Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
2003 Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
2008 Wanted

2011 Sucker Punch

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"Why pay a dollar for a bookmark? Why not use the dollar for a bookmark?"
Steven Spielberg

Charlie's Angel has it all.

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"Anything less than immortality is a complete waste of time."

Drew Barrymore, Lucy Lieu, and Cameron Diaz knock out more than their share of male opponents in the CHARLIE'S ANGELS franchise.