#NoMoreCatsuits: How Jessica Chastain Got At The Root Of Hollywood’s Female Action Hero Problem
Jessica Chastain has a bone to pick with Hollywood and how they portray strong women. Specifically, what they’ve been making them wear.
In an interview earlier this week with Radio Times, the actress, who appears in the upcoming films, The Martian and Crimson Peak, said, “If you look at films like Elektra and Aeonflux” — two superhero action films that starred women — “the problem that studios have is that they try to make kick-ass women very sexualized,” Chastain explained. “They have to be in some catsuit.”
The 38-year-old actress added, “If you look at the most incredible female roles, like Ripley in Alien, she is a very sexy woman but she’s not wearing a lot of makeup. She’s in a T-shirt and jeans. What’s sexy about her is how capable she is.”
Unfortunately, not all studios think capability is what gets filmgoers (specifically men) in the seats. But Chastain’s very shareable quote about female superhero fashion hits at the bigger problem with Hollywood’s kick-ass women: they are too often created to please men, not to be role models for little girls.
If the clothes make the man then they make the woman too, and when she’s wearing a skimpy, revealing bodysuit it’s often hard for people to see her as anything more than a sexual object. How can she really take care of the bad guys if she has to worry about her boob popping out mid-kick?
Marvel’s Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson, is more than capable of bringing down a male assassin — often with her powerful thighs — but is forced to do so too often in a very tight black catsuit that seems to always be zippered up just low enough to reveal a bit of cleavage. Maybe that’s more comfortable, who knows, but, why do the other members of the Avengers get to wear full-on body armor that barely lets a bit of skin show through while all she gets is a bit of lycra?
And let’s be honest, we’re splitting hairs here because Black Widow is probably the most conservatively dressed female superhero out there. We’ve all seen Wonder Woman’s new costume, which is a bronze bathing suit with some padding. It’s basically the sexy superhero costume no parent wants their little girl wearing for Halloween. While women may look at this and think we haven’t moved far enough away from Lynda Carter’s go-go boots, one male writer for Cinemablend complained that the costume was too muted. Where was the American red, white and blue? Buddy, that’s the least of our problems here.
But even if “catsuit” is just a catch-all term for what female superheroes and action stars wear, the outfits worn by actresses in these roles are often made to entice, not be practical.
Rebecca Ferguson kicks major ass in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, even stealing some of Tom Cruise’s thunder, but director Christopher McQuarrie has no problem leering with his camera at this skillful spy while she undresses after saving Cruise’s life or tracing the curves of her leg in a high-slitted silk gown as she readies to shoot some bad guys.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with being sexy and powerful. But that sexiness should come from something more than how a little fabric drapes across a woman’s body, as Chastain pointed out when it came to her kick-ass woman crush Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2.
“I remember the opening shot of her in that tank top doing those pull-ups,” she said. “And I remember being a little girl watching her and thinking, ‘This is amazing. I want to be her.’”
Of course, it wasn’t because of how she filled out her tank top, it was the pull-ups and those shots of her ripped biceps that made Chastain want to be Linda Hamilton. It was watching this actress show her physical endurance in a way most women were unable to do in film before then. Men may have found Hamilton sexy, but it was for the same reasons a young girl could look up to her: she was a strong, powerful woman.
Chastain believes that the studios have “misjudged” their audience, thinking sexy is what sells when most filmgoers want to see a female action hero “who’s a capable, intelligent woman and isn’t only leaning on her sex.” Her example? Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, who is tough while “not wearing a catsuit, either.” So tough in fact that she could carry a billion dollar film franchise all on her own while wearing very functional clothing. Probably made it easier to carry all that weight when she wasn’t worried about a wardrobe malfunction.
So, how does Chastain’s message lead to more than just a snappy headline? Well, we could start by hiring more female directors to helm action movies. In 2013, according to Variety, only two of the top-grossing 100 movies of the year were directed by women. That’s just plain pitiful and unfortunately it actually gets worse. A recent study by the Female Filmmakers Initiative, which is backed by the Sundance Institute, found that “female directors of top-grossing films have decreased in the last 13 years, with female helmers clocking in at just 4.1 percent of directors across the 1,300 top movies in this time frame. This calculates into a gender ratio of 23.3 male directors to every 1 female.”
Kathryn Bigelow, one of the few female directors who has helmed several action movies (and won an Oscar for it), made Zero Dark Thirty with Chastain as a CIA agent who manages to bring down Osama Bin Laden wearing little makeup and a wardrobe full of neutral colors. Bigelow wasn’t shortsighted enough to think that without a sexily dressed leading lady she would somehow be unable to get men in the seats and that’s a view we need more when making action movies.
But more importantly, actresses need to feel comfortable saying no to less than stellar wardrobe choices. Amy Pascal, the former co-chair of Sony Pictures, made it clear earlier this year that that’s really how women get what they want.
“The truth is, what women have to do is not work for less money. They have to walk away,” she said. “People shouldn’t be so grateful for jobs. … People should know what they’re worth.”
Pascal was talking about the wage gap between actors and actresses, specifically referencing the one between Jennifer Lawrence and her male co-stars in American Hustle that was made very public after the Sony email hack, but her “know your worth” philosophy could definitely be used in this scenario as well.
Actresses should feel free to say no, I will not wear that tiny catsuit while attempting to fight for my life. Anyone think that Robert Downey Jr. has any qualms saying no to a costume he doesn’t like? How about Jason Statham, you think that guy’s wearing a Speedo anytime soon to get more women in the seats? N-O, we don’t think so.
And saying no shouldn’t stop at wardrobe choices. Women should be unafraid to say, no, I will not add a nude scene into this film because it is completely unnecessary to the film’s plot and my character’s development. It certainly worked for Emily Blunt, who recently said that her latest film Sicario, where she plays an FBI agent working the Mexico-United States border, originally asked for her to appear nude, but, as she made clear, “It came out because we didn’t agree with it.” The “we” being her tits of course.
Like Blunt, Chastain seems willing to speak up when it comes to how females characters should be portrayed, telling Radio Times, “If the female character isn’t as interesting as the male character, I’m not interested.” She has definitely put her money where her mouth is, calling out Marvel for offering her a “boring civilian” role in Iron Man 3 when she would have much rather played someone like Black Widow. That needs to be the standard across the board. Not to mention, let’s get Chastain a superhero movie, ASAP.
Now obviously, this may all seem easier said than done. No woman wants to get the reputation that she’s being difficult. But the hell with that, women need to stand together and refuse to work with directors or studios that think skimpy clothing is the way to portray strong women onscreen. Chastain and Blunt have said no and it doesn’t seem to be hindering either of their careers considering both have three films already slated for 2016. Besides, the choice should not be wear a catsuit or lose the role, not in 2015. Together, actresses need to make sure that kick-ass women exist on the big screen the same way they should in real life: fully clothed and ready for duty.
