Imagine a woman with a gun in her hand, taking down fifteen baddies without a sweat in
her brow or ruffle in her hair. The men that she fights are not sure if they should be aroused or
afraid, for she is as beautiful as she is dangerous. Kicking the last one down with her booted
heel, she blows on the smoke of her fired pistol in a show of effortless power and, revealing
nothing else, struts away from the scene as mysteriously as she has entered it. This is what
Hollywood now advertises as a “strong female character.” For decades, Hollywood has been
profiting greatly off this faux representation of girl power, touting women in high heels beating
up men in place of actual well-written female characters. Marvel, one of the most popular
superhero movie franchises today, is particularly guilty of contributing to this trend. A prime
example of this is in their film Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier (2014). In the film,
characters Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff, alternately known as the superheroes Captain
America and Black Widow, work together to investigate the secret dealings of the spy
organization they have been a part of for years. Like many Marvel films, The Winter Soldier
falls victim to perpetuating Hollywood’s trend of faux girl power. It characterizes Natasha as an
oversexualized and one-dimensional female character whose identity as a “femme fatale”
objectifies rather than empowers her. This depiction poses a societal threat as it has the power to
negatively shape how people view women in the real world.
The film draws constant attention to Natasha’s physical appearance and how male
characters respond to it, which ultimately serves to oversexualize her. From the beginning of the
film, the filmmakers purposefully make the audience aware of her physical attractiveness
through her interactions with men. In her first scene of the movie, the female superhero arrives
in a sleek black car before rolling down the window and offering a flirtatious “Hey fellas” to the
two men waiting for her on the sidewalk. The camera lingers on one of the men looking at her
appreciatively and asking “How you doing?”, showing his potential interest in her as well. This exchange almost immediately establishes Natasha as an object of desire in men’s eyes, and thus
alerts viewers to the fact that her sexuality will be an important facet of her character. While this
scene may seem like an isolated instance of harmless flirting, it remains significant because it is
hardly the only instance in which Natasha’s sexuality is alluded to. In another scene, she and
Steve attempt to walk in public undercover, dressed as civilians; the two act as if they are in a
domestic relationship in order to blend in with other mall-goers. She flirts with him, tells an
Apple-story employee that they are on their honeymoon, and even instructs him to kiss her when
a potential spy passes by. Later, in a car by themselves, the two converse and mull over the kiss,
as well as Steve’s romantic history. This series of scenes reveals much about Steve–including
his romantic history and ongoing struggle with dating–but less about Natasha. The audience
only learns that she must be an excellent kisser, judging by the dazed look on his face after their
embrace. She is used as a romantic interest for her male counterpart, developing his character
further, but leaving hers to remain an object of desire. Aside from all of these subtle allusions to
Natasha’s sexuality, a more obvious sexualization is enforced by the clothing she wears. All of
her fight scenes portray her in a low-cut, skin-tight, leather body-suit–hardly the uniform
appropriate for a trained assassin. Film critics Madelaine Gerard and Mark Poepsel point out,
this choice in costuming allows male viewers “to gaze upon her as an object even when she is at
her most powerful” (Gerard, Madelaine, and Mark Poepsel). In this way, Natasha is sexualized
in nearly every scene she is present in; regardless of if she is beating up bad guys or simply
playing the flirt with her male counterparts, her sexuality is often the most emphasized element
of her character. By repeatedly drawing attention to her sexuality and its appeal to the men
around her, therefore, the filmmakers oversexualize Natasha’s character throughout the film.
The film’s overemphasis on Natasha’s sexuality occurs alongside its underdevelopment
of the rest of her character. Throughout The Winter Soldier, the audience learns almost nothing
about Natasha–she reveals very few weaknesses, personal quirks, or details of her past. At one
point in the movie, she does reveal that she was once shot in the stomach in a solo spy mission
years ago. This mysterious piece of her backstory is not strongly elaborated on, however.
Questions remain about the details of her story: Who was she working for? Who else was
involved? And how did this traumatic event affect her, beyond leaving a physical scar?
Especially compared to male figures in the film, Natasha is significantly one-dimensional. It
would be unfair to compare her characterization with Steve’s–after all, he is the protagonist of
the film and she is simply a supporting character. What about the characterization of another
supporting character, who happens to be male? Within his first two scenes, the audience learns
more about Sam Wilson’s character than they do about Natasha’s in the entire film: he is a former
member of the U.S. Air Force who is still transitioning into civilian life; he has served two tours
and thinks he may have enjoyed life in the military more than he does in DC; he spends his days
guiding regular group counseling for veterans suffering from PTSD; he once lost his partner,
Riley, on a night mission and still blames himself for not doing more to help his friend; and he
loves 70s soul music. In comparison to the vividly described Sam Wilson, Natasha almost seems
inhuman. This is because he is given the humanistic characteristics of emotion, weakness, and
history that separate realistic characters from one-dimensional ones. In her final appearance in
the film, a scene implies that some character development for our female superhero will occur
offscreen; at the conclusion of a successful mission together, she leaves Steve under the guise of
“figuring out” what her next personal move is. Yet no evidence of this supposed development
appears in the later Marvel films in which the superhero stars. Filmmakers continue to portray
her as sassy, sexy, and secretive, with little complexity beyond these features.
This one-dimensional characterization is probably, to some extent, intentional on the
filmmakers’ behalf. In one scene of The Winter Soldier, Steve even acknowledges her mysterious
persona by telling her “It’s kind of hard to trust someone when you don’t really know who that
someone is,” referring to how he knows almost nothing about his partner. The choice to include
this dialogue in the film reveals that even the filmmakers are aware of Natasha’s status as an
underdeveloped character; she remains an enigma even to her partner in crime. Such
characterization is most likely meant to craft an aura of mystery and strength around the
superhero–but in the attempt to accomplish this aesthetic, it reduces her to being
one-dimensional instead. The audience, like Steve, is left with little more than the shallow
outline of a female character, rather than a fully developed one.
Some may argue that Natasha’s status as a femme fatale showcases a form of
empowerment or agency; but because this archetype focuses solely on sexual control, it only
further objectifies her. Found commonly in graphic novels and fantasy fiction, the femme fatale
archetype is typically a woman who seduces men before bringing them to their doom. Usually
portrayed to be conventionally attractive, this woman uses her sex appeal to bring down men’s
guards, leaving them vulnerable enough to either manipulate or physically harm them. Although
these men are usually her “lovers,” sometimes they are simply strangers foolish enough to fall for
her charm.
The Winter Soldier’s characterization of Natasha as a femme fatale is first made evident
in a fight scene that takes place on a ship. In the scene, she single-handedly takes down nine men
using a medley of handguns, taser, and hand-to-hand combat. Before she does so, however, she
throws her enemy off guard with a wink and a suggestive “Hey sailor.” He is visibly startled by
her appearance and remark, giving her the upper hand as she launches immediately into battle.
Cinematographic choices further emphasize the way she effortlessly wields her sexuality as a
weapon. Film critics Madelaine Gerard and Mark Poepsel noted, “her body is contorted into sexy
poses” at the beginning and end of every battle (Gerard, Madelaine, and Mark Poepsel). By
making Natasha’s fight scenes as much a display of her sex-appeal as of her physical power,
filmmakers depict her as simply another femme fatale who utilizes her feminine sexuality in
battle. Some may argue that her control over her sexuality and ability to even weaponize it is
actually a form of empowerment. Cultural critic Peggy Orenstein explains in her writing, much
of 90s mainstream feminism applauded women reclaiming sexual objectification, as long as the
objectification was “used by the right people, with the right dash of playful irony.” But as
Orenstein goes on to ask, “How can you assure that?” “Empowered” objectification can easily be
morphed into overt oversexualization. The qualities of a femme fatale that Natasha
embodies–flirting in the midst of battle, wearing a sexy leather bodysuit as a uniform, and
strutting on the battlefield as if it were actually a runway–are the same qualities that Orenstein
feared 90s feminists were confusing with empowerment. The superhero’s status as a femme
fatale thus simply further objectifies her character, earning few points in the realm of female
empowerment.
Characters such as Natasha may appear in a fictional, cinematic world, but their
presentation on screen goes beyond the purpose of solely entertaining audiences, as on-screen
representations contain the potential to influence how viewers characterize women in the real
world. On the surface level, superhero films may appear to be simply another medium of popular
entertainment. Cultural critic Charles Ramirez Berg points out, after all, “Hollywood rarely
claims that the characters in its films are meant to be taken literally” (Berg). Many point to the
fact that superhero movies are generally filled with impossible fight scenes, flying men in
spandex, and an overall belief in magic, and thus are not meant to be taken literally; such people
would go on to assert that the characterizations of female superheroes are consequently not
meant to be concrete representations of women. Regardless of whether filmmakers intend to
portray female superheroes as reflections of reality, they retain the power to subtly influence how
viewers will perceive actual women. Academic Stuart Hall claims that the media’s representation
of reality can ultimately shape the way we view real people. Marvel’s portrayal of women as
objectified, shallow femme fatales, therefore, may shape the labels people assign to women in
the real world. And as Hall goes on to clarify, what is not shown in an image (in this case, a film)
is just as influential as what is shown (Stuart Hall). So when filmmakers choose not to depict the
physical exhaustion, emotional depth, and complicated backstories of characters like Natasha,
they miss the opportunity to realistically represent women on the silver screen. They instead craft
unrealistic and confining archetypes for women. When viewers then leave the movie theater, they
may retain the image of Natasha as simply another super-babe, rather than a strong, developed
female superhero–and in turn can impose those same unrealistic and confining on women that
they interact with in their own lives. Despite initially existing inside a cinematic world, therefore,
films like The Winter Soldier have the power to negatively shape how individuals perceive
women in the real world.
Marvel’s characterization of Natasha leaves much to be desired. It fails to properly
develop her character, reducing a potentially strong female character to an unempowering
archetype. While such representations of women on the silver screen may have been acceptable
in 2014, when The Winter Soldier was released, this cannot remain the case any longer. Lack of
diversity in media is arguably one of the most hotly contested topics in Hollywood right now,
and discourse on the issue has led to a shift in the way women are depicted in all genres of
film–including superhero ones. While progress has been made on this front, the journey toward
realistic representation is hardly over. Marvel, along with the rest of Hollywood’s mega
corporations, must continue to make the effort to depict female characters the way male
characters are: as complicated and fully realized human beings. While this journey is bound to
be a long and complicated one, filled with plenty of blunders and the needed aid of female
voices, it will also be a promising one. It will impact the way women view themselves on
screen, as well as impact the way men view women in their own daily lives. The consequences
of such an effect are certainly worth Hollywood’s efforts.
Works Cited
Berg, Charles Ramirez. Latino Images in Film: Stereotypes, Subversion, and Resistance,
University of Texas Press, 2002. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/socal/detail.action?docID=3442970. Created from
socal on 2019-09-13 18:18:42.
Gerard, Madelaine, and Mark Poepsel. “Black Widow: Female Representation in the Marvel
Cinematic Universe.” Polymath: An Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Journal, 2018,
https://ojcs.siue.edu/ojs/index.php/polymath/article/view/3314.
Orenstein, Peggy. “What’s Wrong With Cinderella?” The New York Times, The New York
Times, 24 Dec. 2006,
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/magazine/24princess.t.html?mtrref=www.google.c
om&gwh=15A563C5EB444C224BE642592047B224&gwt=pay&assetType=REGIWAL
L.
Stuart Hall: Representation & the Media. Dir. Mary Patierno, Sanjay Talreja. Media Education
Foundation, 1997. Kanopy. Web. 10 Oct. 2019.
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