In “Death of the Female Action Star,” (link leads to a cached post—the original was taken down) author Joel Shepherd laments the lack of female action stars in big budget Hollywood films. In fact, when a producer shopped around his Cassandra Kresnov series, this was the result:
‘They’re just not interested,’ he [the producer] said. ‘I mention she’s female and that’s the end of the conversation.’
Wow. Like, way to dismiss half of the human race there.
In his post, Mr. Shepherd wonders why A-list actresses don’t address this imbalance more aggressively, but I think the situation is far beyond their ability to solve. In fact, in order to create the conditions that are conducive to female action stars, it’s going to take—cue clichéd phrase—a village. And that starts with questioning our own preconceived notions that a female action star is inherently impossible.
