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been described as a female version of Harrison Ford's character in the Indiana Jones Trilogy' (1981, 84, 89). It is worth taking a look at the female representation in Indiana Jones' (specifically Raiders of The Lost Ark') as a historical comparison, to see how it has evolved over the last twenty years.

The one female lead in the film is Marion Ravenwood, played by Karen Allen. Jones seeks out Ravenwood, a former girlfriend to help with his quest to find the Ark of the Covenant. Marion is the daughter of Jones' former university lecturer, Dr Abner Ravenwood, an archaeologist obsessed with the Ark. One website (www.acmewebpages.com) describes Ravenwood's past: "when her father died in an avalanche in the Himalayas. He left her broke in Nepal where she had to struggle on her own to survive." Here it is important to note that Ravenwood was dependant on her father for survival. Despite this, she seems to have survived well enough, when we are first introduced to her character she is the owner of a saloon, winning money by out-drinking several of the male patrons. However, later on in the movie we find out that initially she prostituted herself, and only came to be owner of the saloon when the original owner of the bar went mad.

Throughout the movie, Ravenwood attempts to prove herself a match for Jones. Her dislike for him (due to their history) is evident, while he appears to see her as a damsel who needs to be saved and ridiculed. The only time Jones shows a flaw in front of her is when he is faced with a cave full of snakes, however, she is also reduced to a hysterical mess. Ravenwood rejects Jones' sexual advances throughout the movie, before falling for the hero at the end. The last scene where we see the pair shows Jones lying on a bed with Ravenwood adopting the typical nurturer role, tending to his wounds. Before dismissing this movie as sexist, one must take the historical context into account. The movie was set in the 1920's a time when women did fulfil the stereotypes of nurturers/mothers/damsels in distress etc.

One historical example of an empowered female protagonist is Sigourney Weaver's character Ripley, in the Alien' movies. It is clear that the representation of Ripley in these movies has had a strong influence on the use of and portrayal of women in action movies. Since 1979 when the first film was released the genre has seen a surge of strong female characters, Linda Hamilton (Terminator I'), Cynthia Rothrock (China O'Brien', Lady Dragon'), Milla

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