Abigail Tarttelin attended Comic-Con with Schrodinger’s Girl a film she is in. Women & Hollywood asked her to write up her impressions of the offerings that we will be seeing on our TV screens this season.
Hello Women and Hollywood Readers,
This is Abigail Tarttelin, I’m an English actress just returned from Comic-Con 2009, after screening Schrodinger’s Girl, a sci-fi action adventure with three strong female lead characters, in the Official Selection of Comic-con’s Independent Film Festival. I was introduced to science fiction during the making of this film, and since then have been trying to reconcile where the genre sits with its portrayal of women.
Elizabeth Mitchell
Sci-fi and comic portrayal of women is a two-edged sword – on the one hand, science fiction has given birth to some of film’s strongest female characters: Ripley from Alien; Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Princess Leia and Queen Amidala from Star Wars; Starbuck from the Battlestar Galactica remake; most of Joss Whedon’s work (!), but then on the other hand, exploitation is rife and women are often scantily clad with emphasis on the “hot body”, and often relegated to victim roles.
In terms of film and television on offer for the female-friendly audience at Comic-Con, it was a mixed bag, but there were a few standouts to watch for. Preview night at Comic-Con showcased three pilots of shows to air later in the year including V, a remake of the 1983 two part mini-series, and this was a definite hit for women, with the leader of the Alien race, originally John, now the enigmatic Anna, played by Morena Baccarin. Even more positive is that the heroine of the piece is FBI agent and leader of the Los Angeles resistance cell, Erica Evans, played by Lost actress Elizabeth Mitchell, whose son is tempted into joining the Alien “nazi-youth” by his attraction to a young ‘visitor’. Erica plays the part well, and comes across as strong and intelligent, and while also portraying a mother and lover, she is not relegated to representing solely these roles.
Human Target, based on the comic book by Len Wein and Carmine Infantino, employs Tricia Helfer (Number Six in Battlestar Galactica) as the client that lead character Christopher Chance must save, and Vampire Diaries, the third pilot to screen on the Wednesday, stars Nina Dobrev as Elena, a human girl whose soul is the subject of two warring vampire brothers’ desires. The show could go two ways, as both vampire brothers happen to be cute so perhaps might steal the limelight away from Elena, but it does smack to me more of Buffy The Vampire Slayer so perhaps we’ll see a strong female character stick her neck out and refuse to be the victim. The show is based on the books but will be ‘tweaked’ for television, so feel free to read ahead and learn the story, but perhaps don’t get too comfortable with the specifics, as I’m sure the shows creators will want to surprise us.
The standout show this season for women, however, will be ABC’s Eastwick, starring Lindsay Price, Rebecca Romijn and Jamie Ray Newman. The pilot screening was incredibly well received, and all three actresses do a stand-up job, in three roles where the women are empowered or/and in the process of empowerment. The show is a re-imagining of the book and film The Witches of Eastwick for a modern audience, so hopefully won’t go down the semi-misogynistic route the book took, where the three witches give their female friend cancer when the subject of their desires marries her, then leave town with their ideal men. It doesn’t feel from the pilot like it will.
The show is exec produced by Maggie Friedman (Spellbound, Related) and directed by David Nutter (Roswell, Dark Angel, The Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), who stated that “What was most important was to make this a show about everyday people, make it as accessible as possible to people, make it a show about female empowerment, as well as relationships between women, and how they can deal with these abilities.” Sounds good. The show airs this fall, Wednesdays at 10pm ET/PT.
“The show is a re-imagining of the book and film The Witches of Eastwick for a modern audience, so hopefully won’t go down the semi-misogynistic route the book took…”
Hi Abigail! Thanks for covering Comicon!
I have to admit I was disappointed when I saw the trailer for Eastwick. I am all for sisterhood, but does it always have to come in one hue? Changing the ethnicity of a character is tricky, but I thought this could have been a perfect vehicle for it. I didn’t read the book, but in looking at the film version, there didn’t seem to be any particular need for all women to be white American. It’s just like SATC and Desperate Housewives all over again.
It would have been great if at least one of women was a woman of color. She could have been a Latina, and they could have possibly delved into Santaria, or maybe one woman is of Carribean descent (maybe Haitian?) who practiced Vodun. Then they could have shown the similarities and differences of the different practices we see as witchcraft.
But even if the magic is going to be akin to Bewtitched, then it still would have been nice to see female friends of different ethnicities bonding together.
Hope you enjoyed Comicon, and I hope your own panel went well!
ps – well, technically on Housewives they do have one woman of color!
d-
The troubling thing is, Lindsay Price IS a woman of color — but she’s started receiving a ton more starring roles since getting cheek implants and her eyelids “done”.
Really? :( I don’t know how I feel about that (the cosmetic stuff). I’m going to assume she’s latina?
Thanks for the correction…I guess I just wished it was a bit more obvious.
And what does that say about our society that she is getting more roles after the tweaks?
thanks
“The Hong Kong Connection” is a legal thriller about a gutsy female attorney who takes on high ranking International officials. It’s a taut, rollercoaster of a ride from New York to Palm Beach to Washington D.C. to Hong Kong. The plot is expertly woven, the characters persuasive, and the dialogue snappy and spot on.
http://www.StrategicBookPublishing.com/TheHongKongConnection.html