So I came across a tweet on twitter from someone I follow named “Mara Jade” (@OG_MaraJade). It was a retweet of this.

I followed the link to the source and came up with |Blake| the Villain (@Enemies_Allies) who originated the image. He also said “This was a very successful tweet. They literally just expose themselves.”

So he’s trolling. No, he didn’t post personal pronouns and his Av image is of Ben Affleck as Batman, so for the sake of argument, I’ll say “guy”. Also DOB April 26, 1999, so barely 21, which may affect the maturity of his observations.

But as I was scrolling down through the responses and considering whether or not to post one of my own, I struck gold here (you’ll have to click “View” because twitter says the image is sensitive…it’s not). Seems horrorpuppy nailed it, and I told him so (again, assuming male but can’t be sure).

One person responded saying that the universally liked characters were in better quality movies while another said that the liked females didn’t “hijack tropes that usually belong to men, that’s why men don’t have a problem with them. Rey and Cap Marvel and others took the role males characters usually get, dethroning the male. Hence the rage.”

I disagree.

Look, you can go to the links and dig deeper and get all of the social commentary that, after a while, I don’t have the stomach for anymore (occasionally, my giv’ a damn gets broken, too).

Really, some films work and others don’t. Some characters work and others don’t, male and female. Yes, it’s harder to write a convincing female action hero that men will watch and enjoy, but obviously, it’s a lot more common than some folks let on.

I’ve talked at length that my problem with Captain Marvel was Brie Larson, or rather how she chose to market her film. Gal Gadot, who played Wonder Woman, was in a substantially similar role, and yet her film and character were received very differently.

It’s more than just being a man or woman in an action film. Yes, women should play their role differently than a man in the same spot because, guess what, women tend to respond differently to situations than men. If they didn’t, why bother casting women, just cast all men (or just cast all women and no men if they’re that interchangeable?).

While I’ve seen the films featuring Captain Marvel and Rey, and I’ve heard about but never watched the female Dr. Who (I haven’t seen an episode since the 1970s), the fourth woman in that block is a complete stranger.

As far as horrorpuppy’s examples, the one in the upper left is unfamiliar with me, and I’d have trouble picking my favorite from the other three. Probably Ripley because of how her relationship with Newt was pulled from the loss of her daughter. Plus the whole “Nuke ’em from orbit” quote is so totally bad ass.

Yes, |Blake| was trolling using women in SciFi, and he was right that he got what he wanted. No, I don’t want damsels in distress like the bad old days, but a woman approaching a role is going to act it out differently than a guy. Yes, no two women and no two men will play it the same way (the difference between William Shatner and Chris Pine as young Captain Kirk). But having been married for almost 40 years, having raised a daughter who turns 32 tomorrow, and a granddaughter who is going to be five soon, I’d have to say that men and women are not carbon copy cutouts of each other.

That means you don’t necessarily want a woman star of an action film to play it out exactly the way a male actor would. You want her to put her unique mark on the role and make her own and an actor, and yes, as a woman.