Epic and masculinity in Kathryn Bigelow’s films.

Abstract

With the passing of time, action movies have evolved, from the eighties, when men showed their hypermuscular bodies off, to nowadays, when apparently natural men are represented as the new heroes. Heroes have also evolved through the years together with action cinema. The feminine figure has changed in action films as well. While, in the past, male qualities were depicted in women, these days’ cinema attributes a sexualized view to action woman. Through her films, Kathryn Bigelow expects to change these sexual stereotypes’ outlook in order to take archetypes in contemporary action cinema to pieces.