Why actress Tessa Thompson is done with male writers imposing sexualized ‘badass’ characters on women
Tessa Thompson wants to fight against how strong women are portrayed by male writers in Hollywood.
Image: Screen grab via Youtube/@marvelentertainment
In a Los Angeles Times interview, the “Thor: Ragnarok” actress shared how there are conditions for how women in action movies must appear versus their male counterparts.
“There’s an unfair position that women are sometimes put in, in the context of superhero movies and action movies where at once they have to be very strong and fierce, but also sexy,” she noted.
“There’s one word I hate in all scripts in Hollywood at the moment in describing women, and that is the word ‘badass’. That word has just crept into every script that is pushed around this town now,” she said.
She considers this as a way of reducing powerful women to sex objects despite their abilities. “It’s a dumb male writer’s way of saying, ‘Ah, uh, she’s like, she, uh, she’s tough.’ Then straight after that it’s like, ‘She’s badass, but she’s got a beauty about her. And she’s sexy. Unconsciously sexy.’”
The American actress and musician, who has starred in TV shows “Westworld” and “Dear White People” plays Valkyrie, an elite warrior of Asgard.
She worked with “Thor” director Taika Waititi to update the depiction of the character onscreen and shared that it deviated from the comic book version.
The movie also features Marvel’s first female villain in a movie, Hela, the Goddess of death (Cate Blanchett).
Image: Screen grab via Youtube/@marvelentertainment
When Blanchett was asked why she agreed to do the role, she told Los Angeles Times, “A) It was Taika. B) It was the goddess of death. And C) There’s never been a female Marvel villain.”
Along with Valkyrie, the latest installment will feature the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) joining forces with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) to defeat Hela. Niña V. Guno /ra
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