by Carla Martorello

Created on: July 10, 2008

FEMALE ACTION HEROES

What is a hero? There are different definitions to it, some are denotative and some are connotative. Among the first kind, we learn that a hero is "somebody who can commit an act of remarkable bravery or who has shown great courage, strength of character, or another admirable quality", or "somebody who is admired and looked up to for outstanding qualities or achievements." Among the latter kind, there are thousands of different definitions, since every person has their own conceptions or ideas as to what a hero is for them; we could say that the definition of hero will change depending on context. This way, for children, for example, it is usually their parents who are their heroes, and they probably did not really do anything remarkably brave, although it probably was for the children.

However, there is one specific type of hero that presents only one definition for everybody: the action hero. This type of hero was widely accepted by the audience in movies in Hollywood and lately also in American television shows or series. An action hero is a person we admire, a person who would do whatever it takes and whatever they can to save someone or something. Notwithstanding, most of them are male; as a matter of fact, there is a magnanimous difference between the amount of male action heroes and female ones that there have been.
Moreover, there is yet another denotative definition for hero', which applies specifically on movies: "the principal man or boy character in a movie, novel or play, especially one who plays a vital role in plot development or around whom the plot is structured." The definition for heroine' states the same only swapping the words man' and boy' for woman' and girl'. However, as it is stated in the research journal entitled "Young Adults' Perceptions and Memories of a Televised Woman Hero," that in the New World Dictionary the definition for heroine states that it is a woman who is the main figure in a novel or play with whom the hero is in love. According to this definition, the role of a heroine is essentially passive. Therefore, it probably does not apply to call a woman who is a hero in an action movie an action heroine, because that would give the idea of her being only the love interest of a male action hero. We should better instead use the term female action hero, which shows more accurately what that character actually is: a woman whose role is active in the action movie and who uses her physical strength, among other

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