What's Happening? - Part 4 (August 2009).

Here is the fourth part and final part of the 2009 updates. Don't forget....

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So how to finish the final updates for 2009? There are more than a half dozen mini-articles which I'd thought up but I've decided to foresake these - maybe some other time. Okay, lets talk about the bad girl factor in the girls with guns genre. Let me put it like this, would you prefer to see Nikita (Peta Wilson) take down an entire enemy headquarters (not as uncommon as you would imagine) or one enemy agent take out one good guy? The bad girl? Yeah me too. I guess that is why long running GWG series have problems sustaining their interest. In the screencaps below there are 3 bad girls and 3 good girls paried from the same identical TV series or film.  Which of the 3 screencaps do you prefer?

1a 1b 2a 2b 3a 3b

Did you, by any chance, pick numbers 1a, 2b and 3a. If so was that because you recoginsed Traci Lords, Gina Torres and Lydie Denier - who have oftened play bad girl roles? Well, it was a trick question as in the roles shown they are all good girls and it is the others who are the villainesses (henchwoman, terrorist and hitwoman accordingly). Now try the following selection and pick your favorite pictures from these pairs. I've tried to keep the source fairly obscure and I've tried to maintain pose and posture between the two so it isn't immediately obvious which is which

4a 4b 5a 5b 6a 6b

Unless you happen to know the series these were taken from I would imagine that your choice was fairly random. In fact the bad girls were 4b, 5b and 6a (shoot out woman, robber and turncoat). Does that increase the interest of these pictures? If so I suppose it supports my theory that pages of this type work best when there is some kind of commentary to support the pictures. I hope so else I've been wasting my time for the past few years! OK, what are your favourites in the following pairs?

7a 7b 8a 8b 9a 9b

Of course they are the same actress in each pair. In general then there shouldn't be much to chose between them. However I am willing to bet that your choices are 7b,8a and 9b. The reason? The illusion of the bad girl is shattered by the image. There is something wrong about one of the photographs in each pair which will make you pick the other. An inappropriate facial expression and bang goes the illusion. I guess that is why some actresses get picked time and time again for these roles. Some can hack it and some, either by looks, dialogue, diction, script or poor direction can't. Of course I can't show you how bad dialogue and diction play their part in the determination of the best GWG entertainment - you'll just have to take my word on it. I guess that also explains why some of the very best bad girl films don't transcirbe to this page very well. Another 3 pairs follows. Come on, humour me and pick your favourite out of each pair.

10a 10b 11a 11b 12a 12b

Now my theory is that some of you will have gone for 10b, 11a and 12b and others for the other pair. The actresses are the same so what's the difference? Well I call this one the 'Fetish Factor'. If you prefer your bad girls in boots (hard to show from a TV screen capture), gloves or leather then you'd have picked these ones. To be fair to myself many of these themes have been explored or aluded to in previous articles.  I have to admit to veering towards my own ideal GWG image when drafting this page  - well after all it is my page. So what gets preferential treatment when it comes to selecting images for the page - apart from availability of material? One of the criteria is the motivation of character which is why previous articles have, where possible, included a very brief plot synopsis. Something else I've always considered when deciding what makes it on to the page is what I call the 'ooh factor'. Hard to define and certainly difficult to describe on the written page it boils down to the seduction factor. One of the problems I have with the action heroine is that all too often they are nothing more than girls doing male things - firing big guns and displaying unlikely fighting skills. Dressing them in androgonous battle fatigues (one of my pet hates) and/or unflattering hairstyles etc. further detracts from the effect. Sorry, but for me taking away totally the femininity of the character makes the character less interesting. Here are some comparisons from paired films or TV shows which may or may not support my argument. Come to think of it some of the action ones are quite neat!

13a 13b 14a 14b 15a 15b 16a 16b 17a 17b

My choice would be 13b, 14b,15b 16a and 17a. So, in my opinion the best GWG character would be feminine in some way, either by looks or dress, would use her feminine side to achieve her aims and should preferably be a bad girl and not on the side of law and order. Lets go through a few more screen captures or even posed photographs. In this instance there may be no  commonality of source material for each pair just a similar context, actress or look. What would you say works below and what doesn't work so well?

18a 18b 19a 19b 20a 20b 21a 21b

22a 22b 23a 23b 24a 24b 25a 25b

Of course there are no right answers. Your views will be different from mine. However for your information for me it would be 18a, 19b, 20a, 21a, 22b, 23a, 24b and 25b . I won't go in to why and wherefore but just to say that the reasons are for the arguments listed earlier. Anyway time to wrap up this little excursion in to psychology. If you really want a definitive essay in to this I'd recommend a thorough review of WOMWAM if and when it returns.

Well thats it folks. Its been nice to get a few thoughts and predjudices down and to actually get time to update the page. Hope you think its been worthwhile. Don't forget my old adage 'It's only a movie'. Maybe I'll be back in a few years time. Bye.