The action heroine genre leaves many power and equality seeking women cold. But with gender disparity slowly receding there is more room in society and the big screen for ass-kicking females. Charlie's Angels' and 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,' proving that when estrogen meets adrenaline, bad guys had better beware.
Good action heroines.
Neither all sex nor all brawn but a blend of the two with brains and humor thrown in for good measure. And yet examples of this feminine role model have been few and far between in the history of Hollywood. While the idea of such strong women is not particularly radical, their scarcity is not particularly puzzling either. A number of obstacles have stood in the way of the proliferation of the big-screen tigress, even as her masculine counterpart has enjoyed a rich and substantial legacy. When Errol Flynn was swashbuckling his way through Sherwood Forest with his band of merry men, it seems plain that the idea of Olivia de Haviland pitching battle herself was not in the minds of the movie makers.