Despite the rampant misogyny in some nerd circles, it’s increasingly clear that girl power and feminism is a pretty great way to sell a movie or TV, since most of us prefer to live in the 21st century. Nowhere is this state of affairs more obvious than at this year’s Comic-Con, where writers, creators, and performers boasted about how gender-progressive their new projects are or critiqued the sexist status quo still prevalent in most of Hollywood.
Here are our five favorite feminist moments from Comic-Con:
— The “Supergirl” team avowed the importance of women’s stories and women storytellers. “It was a story that needed to be told,” said EP Ali Adler of her CBS series. “You come in and see her as female, and you’ll remember her as powerful. Her gender doesn’t really matter. She’s a badass.” Added EP Geoff Johns, “It’s important to have women involved in every show in production.”
— Fellow network superheroine Hayley Atwell explained why there are so many people viewers wanting Peggy Carter and Lyndsy Fonseca’s Angie Martinelli on ABC’s “Agent Carter” to get together by referencing the Bechdel test: “I think it’s quite rare on television these days in a scene [with two women] together who aren’t talking about the men, having women who are genuinely loving each other, supporting each other, caring for each other and not in competition, not being catty.”
— “Doctor Who” co-star Jenna Coleman supported fans’ calls for a female Doctor. “I think it’s absolutely possible,” Coleman said. “There’s absolutely no reason why not.”
— “Hunger Games” co-star Josh Hutcherson stood up for actresses over the age of, well, 20. “When I first signed on to these movies, I was 20. Now I’m 24,” said Jennifer Lawrence at a “Mockingjay: Part 2” panel, to which Hutcherson quipped, “That’s like 40 in Hollywood, though.”
— Guillermo del Toro talked about subverting the trope of the helpless female in his upcoming “Crimson Peak,” starring Mia Wasikowska. “Many times in some of these movies, the girl ends up being a damsel in distress,” said the “Pacific Rim” director. “I wanted to create a classical, gothic romance, but with certain twists that are a little more gender liberating, a little more about being yourself.” The father of two daughters said he wants to be more conscientious about what he’s putting out there, noting, “There is a secret gender war going on, and as storytellers, it’s our duty to take these genres and retell them and be conscious of that.”
