The Modern Amazons: Warrior Women On-Screen

by James Ursini

The Modern Amazons: Warrior Women on Screen documents the public's seemingly insatiable fascination with the warrior woman archetype in film and on television. The book examines the cautious beginnings of new roles for women in the late fifties, the rapid development of female action leads during the burgeoning second-wave feminist movement in the late sixties and seventies, and the present-day onslaught of female action characters now leaping from page to screen. The book itself is organized into chapters that group women warriors into sub-genres, e.g., classic Amazons like Xena Warrior Princess and the women of the Conan films; superheroes and their archenemies such as Wonder Woman, Batgirl, and Catwoman; revenge films such as the Kill Bill movies; Sexploitation and Blaxploitation films such as Coffy and the Ilsa trilogy; Hong Kong cinema and warriors like Angela Mao, Cynthia Rothrock, and Zhang Ziyi; sci-fi warriors from Star Trek, Blade Runner, and Star Wars; supersleuths and spies like the Avengers and Charlie's Angels; and gothic warriors such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Kate Beckinsale in Underworld and Van Helsing. In addition, the book is lavishly illustrated with over 400 photos of these popular-culture icons in action, interesting articles and sidebars about themes, trends, weapons, style, and trivia, as well as a complete filmography of more than 150 titles.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism

400 pages, ebook

First published March 1, 2006

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, start by acknowledging that we're here for the photos, which are generally pretty good. The text ranges from the dated (We're still doing Freud and biological essentialism? Really?) to the problematic (Asia - it's all one country and culture, except when it's not). There's some interesting info on movies I wasn't that familiar with or hadn't heard of at all and will likely track down, and some info that ensures that I take some movies off my "watch eventually" list. So overall, I'd say this is worth tracking down if you're a film buff and want to watch more films and older TV with fighting women in lead roles. If you're looking for a more contemporary feminist analysis of those films and you're not into the pictures, look elsewhere.

[Andrew Shapter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was to be research for my own novel with a strong female lead, as much as entertainment, however there isn’t nearly enough actual analysis as I had hoped for.
There’s a lot of ideas and highlighted motifs that we probably overlook in such cinema but I found it mostly tended to be a synopsis and light examination of film plot lines.
Still… entertaining.