Editing Action film (section)

===Gender in action cinema===
{{See also|Girls with guns}}
====Hong Kong====
In Hong Kong, the "new school" of martial arts films that Shaw Brothers brought in 1965 featured what Yip described as "strong, active female characters as protagonists." These female-centered films were challenged with the rise of a new male heroic prototype marked by a strong sense of youthful energy and defiance and by a propensity for violent action, identified with the films of [[Chang Cheh]].{{sfn|Yip|2017|pp=7}}

====Hollywood====
Violent female characters have been part of cinema since its early inception, with characters such as Kate Kelly brandishing a shotgun in ''[[The Story of the Kelly Gang]]'' (1906). Women traditionally appear in action films as romantic interests, [[tomboy]]s, or [[sidekick]]s to male protagonists.{{sfn|Heldman|Frankel|Holmes|2016}}

Violent [[White people|white women]] would appear in other genres as well such as the ''[[femme fatale]]s'' in ''[[film noir]]'' and horror films of the 1970s. Violent women were common in action films since the 1960s. These films featured [[working-class]] women exacting revenge. Films of the 1970s featured [[Black people|black]] women such as [[Pam Grier]] in films like ''[[Foxy Brown (film)|Foxy Brown]]'' (1974).{{sfn|Heldman|Frankel|Holmes|2016}}

In the 1980s, a new symbolically transgressive character emerged in the form of [[Ellen Ripley]] in ''Aliens'' (1986) and [[Sarah Connor (Terminator)|Sarah Connor]] in ''[[Terminator 2: Judgment Day]]'' (1991) and the title character in ''[[China O'Brien]]'' (1990) who were physically muscular and or enacted more extreme violence that was usually reserved for male action leads.{{sfn|Heldman|Frankel|Holmes|2016}}{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=76}} In her book ''Contemporary Action Cinema'' (2011), Lisa Purse described the media response to female leads in action films  reveal a discomfort about their presence and are often described with hesitant terms of women moving into territories that are perceived as masculine.{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=76}} Revealing woman in this form deconstructs the notion that traditional marks of masculinity are not exclusive to men and that musculature was not natural, but something to be achieved. Accusations of these muscular women of the era were levelled at that them by 1993 were that they were "men in drag" and that the films generally have to "explain" why their female leads displayed physical aggression and why they were "driven to do it."{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=77}} As the 1990s went on, Hollywood films began having more conventional looking women in their action films such as ''[[The Long Kiss Goodnight]]'' (1996).{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=78}}

[[File:Ultraviolet poster.jpg|thumb|[[Yvonne Tasker]] identified action film heroines, such as the lead in ''[[Ultraviolet (film)|Ultraviolet]]'' (2006) after the mid-90s as "exaggerated statements of sexuality" in the tradition of "fetishistic figure of fantasy" drawn from comics and [[softcore pornography]].{{sfn|Purse|2011|pp=78-79}}]]
A vibrant debate exists about whether hypersexualization is itself empowering and, if not, whether a hypersexualized female character can still represent strength and autonomy.{{sfn|Heldman|Frankel|Holmes|2016}}
Hypersexualized female action leads had tight fitting or revealing costumes that Tasker identified as "exaggerated statements of sexuality" and in the tradition of "fetishistic figure of fantasy" derives from comic books and [[Softcore pornography|soft pornography]].{{sfn|Purse|2011|pp=78-79}} This originated in television with characters like [[Buffy Summers]] (''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' (1997–2003)) and [[Xena]] (''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' (1995–2001)). These series popularity demonstrated a growing market for female action film heroes, in films of the 2000s like ''[[Lara Croft: Tomb Raider]]'' (2001), ''[[Charlie's Angels (2000 film)|Charlie's Angels]]'' (2000), ''[[Ultraviolet (film)|Ultraviolet]]'' (2006), ''[[Salt (2010 film)|Salt]]'' (2010) and series like ''[[Underworld (film series)|Underworld]]'' and ''[[Resident Evil (film series)|Resident Evil]]''. These series like their television series earlier, had their leads eroticized as active and physically capable while also being scantily-clad, hyper-feminized similar to the woman of exploitation films of the 1970s such as ''[[Caged Heat]]'' (1974) and ''[[Big Bad Mama]]'' (1974).{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=79}} While characters like Frank in ''The Transporter'' series are permitted to visibly sweat, strain and be bloodied, Purse found a reluctance for filmmakers to have their female leads have any appearance warping injuries to ensure a perfectly made-up face.{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=81}} Comedy is often used in films of this period to place the female leads in implausible elements, such as in ''Charlie's Angels'', ''[[Fantastic Four (2005 film)|Fantastic Four]]'' (2005) and ''[[My Super Ex-Girlfriend]]'' (2006).{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=80}} The fighting styles of women also tend towards more traditionally feminine fluid movements of martial arts, over using guns or directly punching.{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=82}}

Purse wrote that the contemporary female action film lead's sexualized brand had her in close proximity of [[post-feminism]] discourse about choice, power and sexuality.{{sfn|Purse|2011|p=82}} Marc O'Day interprets the action heroine's dual status of an active subject and sexual object was overturning the traditional gender binary because the films "assume that women are powerful" without resorting to justify her physical aggression through narratives involving maternal drive, mental instability or trauma.{{sfn|O'Day|2004|p=215}} Purse found that female leads in films like ''[[Elektra (2005 film)|Elektra]]'' (2005), ''[[Kill Bill: Volume 1|Kill Bill]]'', ''Underworld'', ''Charlie's Angels'' and ''[[Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005 film)|Mr. & Mrs. Smith]]'' (2005) did showcase women having expensive cars, clothing, travel, homes and often high-paying jobs, but that this was only shown as being applicable to white middle-class women.{{sfn|Purse|2011|pp=82-83}} Purse found that these women were empowered at the price of women of other ethnicities. This is seen in ''[[Æon Flux (film)|Aeon Flux]]'' (2005) where Sithandra dies protecting Aeon and Rain's death to make way for Alice in ''[[Resident Evil (film)|Resident Evil]]'' (2002).{{sfn|Purse|2011|pp=82-83}}