Girls with guns
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about a film genre, see also Girls with Guns (album).
Girls with guns is a sub-genre of films and animation, especially Hong Kong action films and anime, with a female protagonist in a strong lead role, set in a modern context. The genre involves gun-play, stunts and martial arts action. Some of the best known female fighters to Western audiences are Angela Mao Ying, Cheng Pei-pei, Moon Lee, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi and Cynthia Rothrock.
Contents |
[edit] Beginning
The genre started in the 1960s when then-unknown Cheng Pei-pei starred in the 1966 Shaw Brothers Studio film Come Drink with Me, the first film to combine Hong Kong action cinema with a female as the lead. Cheng followed up her success in this film with Golden Swallow in 1968. Golden Harvest Studios had their own female fighter, Angela Mao Ying, best known to western audiences for playing the ill-fated sister of Bruce Lee's character in Enter the Dragon. She starred in such films as Hapkido, When Taekwondo Strikes and Lady Whirlwind.
[edit] 1980s
In the early 1980s, there was a change in the Hong Kong film industry: movies had bigger budgets, new stars, and new stories. Two new faces appeared around this time: Michelle Yeoh and martial artist Cynthia Rothrock. They starred in the Corey Yuen directed film Yes Madam, AKA In the Line of Duty 2. The movie was a box office hit making Yeoh and Rothrock stars and reviving the "girls with guns" genre. In the mid 1980s many martial arts movies featured a female either as the lead or as the co-star in action.[citation needed]
Actresses Jade Leung, Yukari Oshima, Cynthia Khan and Joyce Godenzi would rise to prominence in similar roles.
[edit] 1990s
American popular culture became fixated by girls with guns in the nineties and they were seen in many media.[1]
[edit] Anime
The term "girls-with-guns" is also used in reference to anime series such as Bubblegum Crisis,[2][3][4][5] Gall Force,[5][6] Dirty Pair,[4][5][6][7] Gunsmith Cats,[6][8] and Gunslinger Girl,[6] as well as Kōichi Mashimo's trilogy of Noir, Madlax,[9] and El Cazador,[10] and works inspired or influenced by it. Rei Hiroe's Black Lagoon tends to supplement the "girl with guns" motif with other anime inspired motifs such as "Maids with Guns" and "Nuns with Guns."
[edit] Films
- Come Drink with Me (1966)
- Hapkido aka He qi dao (1972)
- Yes Madam aka Huang gu shi jie (1985)
- Righting wrongs aka Zhi fa xian feng (1986)
- Magnificent Warriors aka Zhong hua zhan shi (1987)
- Angel aka Tian shi xing dong (1987)
- In the Line of Duty 4: Witness aka Huang jia shi jie zhi IV: Zhi ji zheng ren (1989)
- Nikita (1990)
- She Shoots Straight aka Huang jia nu jiang (1990)
- Tank Girl (1995)
- Killing Time (1998)
- Judas Kiss (1998)
- Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
- Full Disclosure (2001)
- Swindle (2002)
- So Close (2002)
- Naked Weapon (2002)
- Kill Bill (2003/2004)
- UltraViolet (2006)
[edit] See also
- Bad girl movies
- Feminist film theory
- Zero Woman
- Assassinations in fiction
- Bond girl
- Moon Lee
- Yukari Oshima
- Andy Sidaris
- The 10th Victim
[edit] References
- ^ Diane Waldman, Janet Walker. Feminism and Documentary, 109. ISBN 0816630070.
- ^ Girls With Guns: Bubblegum Crisis. Girls With Guns. Retrieved on 2007-09-06.
- ^ AnimeInfo.org - Reviews - Bubblegum Crisis 2032 by Shouryu. AnimeInfo.org. Retrieved on 2007-09-06.
- ^ a b Smits, Alex. Girls With Guns: Animation Hot Picks. Alex-in-Wonderland. Retrieved on 2007-09-06.
- ^ a b c Bruce Carlson & Steve Pearl. The Anime Primer. rec.arts.anime gestalt. Retrieved on 2007-09-06.
- ^ a b c d How Many Girls with Guns Anime are There?. AnimeNation (2003-10-23). Retrieved on 2007-09-06.
- ^ Girls With Guns: Dirty Pair. Girls With Guns. Retrieved on 2007-09-06.
- ^ Girls With Guns: Gunsmith Cats - Bulletproof. Girls With Guns. Retrieved on 2007-09-06.
- ^ Wong, A. (March 2005). "Inside Bee Train". Newtype USA: 8–15.
- ^ January 3-10 News. Anime News Service (2007-01-06). Retrieved on 2007-01-19. “Following Noir and Madlax, this [El Cazador] will be the thrid[sic] installment in a series of what Director Koichi Mashimo has referred to as his girls-with-guns genre trilogy.”
