One of the things that bugs me about noisy, contemporary so-called feminists is how susceptible they are to superficialities.What's also sad is how far these superficialities creep into the culture until people revert to them without thinking.
A few years ago, I showed a class a clip of Forbidden Planet. In the clip, Anne Francis as Altaira walks across the floor to speak to Leslie Nielsen's Captain Adams. "What do you see?" I said.
All they could come up with was her short skirt--oh, it is so sexist--and her supposed demureness, based, I suppose, on her blondness and high voice. Or the fact that the man is taller than she (Leslie Nielsen at 6'1"). Or that they hug. I really have no idea.
They entirely missed her direct gaze; her level, clear voice; her willingness to argue; her nearly proprietary caress.
Anne Francis, like other great sci-fi heroines, took the role and made it her own. To miss these obvious clues for the sake of cliches is to ignore her contributions: how she helped create a great film, her steady career as a working actress. Not all of the heroines on this list will be involved in romantic relationships; I'm using romance here in the older meaning of the term: romance as a tale involving great deeds, possibly outlandish settings, and high emotions.
