Stop Taking This Picture!

Yeah, we've all noticed that a female hero, no matter how tough, gets photographed from the rear for the movie poster. Sometimes it's so obvious that we have to laugh about it. Still, you might be surprised to see how many posters use this same trope in just the past few years.

So, the most recently released image of Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises kind of got me worked up. The moment I saw it I think I said something to the nature of, “If I have to see one more woman posed with her behind in my general direction, looking smouldering-ly over her shoulder, I’m going to punch someone in the face. And you two [my Tor.com officemates] should be worried, since you’re the closest people at hand.” My co-workers generally prefer a non-violent environment, so I decided to work through this the only way I know how: with lots of photographic evidence.

Oh yeah, there's lots of photographic evidence at Tor.com. Link -via Metafilter, where you'll find a lot more links on the same subject in the comments.


Jon A.: Are you talking about Ellen Ripley, who stripped to her teeny-tiny space undies?

To be fair, Catwoman is not the hero of the movie. Catwoman is a woman dressed up in a catsuit.

The comments at that link were hilarious. Too bad they couldn't see that this is a fairly empowering pose. It shows a woman can be sexy but still on her guard to fight her enemies.

"Who's that behind me? Oh, it's you..."
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It honestly depends on the character and type of movie. If the movie blurb starts with "Sexy archaeologist" and it's a dumb action movie, then yeah, this sort of thing would not be out of place. Especially with Catwoman, who has always been a "sexy" villainess.

On the other hand, I would be really disappointed in a remake of Aliens that treated Ripley this way. Because Ripley's character does not revolve around her being sexy.
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Mmmm mmmm mmm! I'd like to put her on a plate and sop her up with a biscuit! Hollywood you keep doing what you're doing. Ms. Hathaway, feel free to dress like that and pose like that any time.
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I have no problem with this. -At All.

Nor any of the girls on the James Bond posters with their feet farther than shoulder width apart.

FCS, I think one of the first line-items on every prospective girlfriend's resume should be, "High-Intermediate to Expert in dressing up as Catwoman/Trinity/Selene".
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Apparently somebody missed Day 1 of Marketing 101. If I remember correctly the title of that introductory lecture and the complete text was as follows:

Sex sells.
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I had thought that it was because of the enticement factor. That used to be called a "come hither look" and the actress was visually asking the viewer to follow her.

That said, it has become a cliche and as deserves to be ridiculed.
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