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Why Liam Neeson's dadsploitation films shut out women Why Liam Neeson's dadsploitation films shut out women
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At this point, the thing that Pierre Morel, Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen created with Taken, and what Liam Neeson gave his shovel-shaped Gaelic face to, has become its own genre. Call it whatever you’d like – dadsploitation, old-man vengeance and on-screen midlife crisis come to mind – but with Neeson having expanded beyond the Taken films into similarly pitched affairs like Non-Stop and Run All Night, and other ageing male movie stars like Kevin Costner (3 Days to Kill) and Sean Penn (The Gunman) trying to out-Neeson the man himself, this is more than just a franchise of films. It’s a trend, and as long as these movies keep costing next to nothing and keep making money, they will keep getting made. (Probably not by Sean Penn, since The Gunman definitely did not make money – but he tried!)At this point, the thing that Pierre Morel, Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen created with Taken, and what Liam Neeson gave his shovel-shaped Gaelic face to, has become its own genre. Call it whatever you’d like – dadsploitation, old-man vengeance and on-screen midlife crisis come to mind – but with Neeson having expanded beyond the Taken films into similarly pitched affairs like Non-Stop and Run All Night, and other ageing male movie stars like Kevin Costner (3 Days to Kill) and Sean Penn (The Gunman) trying to out-Neeson the man himself, this is more than just a franchise of films. It’s a trend, and as long as these movies keep costing next to nothing and keep making money, they will keep getting made. (Probably not by Sean Penn, since The Gunman definitely did not make money – but he tried!)
Movies of this genre have a few qualities in common, including high body counts, dastardly kidnappers and a hero with a past that gives him very special skills. But there’s one more shared trait that might not seem so obvious at first, mostly because it’s of a piece with Hollywood trends as a whole. These movies are headlined by men. There is no female Taken in American filmmaking. And if the horizon’s any indication, there’s no female Taken on its way – no 55-year-old female actor threatening terrorists over the phone or holding an assault rifle, covered in dirt, flexing on a movie poster. Movies of this genre have a few qualities in common, including high body counts, dastardly kidnappers and a hero with a past that gives him very special skills. But there’s one more shared trait that might not seem so obvious at first, mostly because it’s of a piece with Hollywood trends as a whole. These movies are headlined by men. There is no female Taken in American film-making. And if the horizon’s any indication, there’s no female Taken on its way – no 55-year-old female actor threatening terrorists over the phone or holding an assault rifle, covered in dirt, flexing on a movie poster.
Of course, Taken did not invent the idea of a middle-aged protagonist taking on all comers. This is a type of film that is fundamentally rooted in the western, a genre that features a nearly unending procession of vigilantes, and more explicitly in the action thrillers of the 70s and 80s – films like Straw Dogs, Death Wish and Die Hard, movies in which men must rescue or avenge their families.Of course, Taken did not invent the idea of a middle-aged protagonist taking on all comers. This is a type of film that is fundamentally rooted in the western, a genre that features a nearly unending procession of vigilantes, and more explicitly in the action thrillers of the 70s and 80s – films like Straw Dogs, Death Wish and Die Hard, movies in which men must rescue or avenge their families.
Likewise, women have sought vengeance on screen before. The tradition that Quentin Tarantino pays homage to in Kill Bill comes out of controversial work like Abel Ferrara’s Ms 45 and They Call Her One Eye. These are tales of women who, after suffering horribly at the hands of men, seek revenge and find it, often in spades. If we look at the differences between these movies and the male-dominated revenge thrillers, though, one major thing stands out: the men seek revenge for crimes perpetrated against their loved ones, women and children, whereas the women seek revenge for crimes perpetrated against themselves – often including, or highlighted by, violation of their bodies.Likewise, women have sought vengeance on screen before. The tradition that Quentin Tarantino pays homage to in Kill Bill comes out of controversial work like Abel Ferrara’s Ms 45 and They Call Her One Eye. These are tales of women who, after suffering horribly at the hands of men, seek revenge and find it, often in spades. If we look at the differences between these movies and the male-dominated revenge thrillers, though, one major thing stands out: the men seek revenge for crimes perpetrated against their loved ones, women and children, whereas the women seek revenge for crimes perpetrated against themselves – often including, or highlighted by, violation of their bodies.
Men make these movies, and men go to see them. The paradigm that has been established over decades of filmmaking is that in a patriarchal culture, women must, in one way or another, be victimised for revenge to be significant, and significantly affecting. If the story asks for a female protagonist, that means she must be the victim. With this narrative of revenge sacrosanct, a female Taken becomes contradictory: you would have a mother – more than that, a middle-aged mother – seeking vengeance. That bucks two trends in contemporary filmmaking: it sidelines the father figure, and it contradicts the general income trajectory of actors. Men make these movies, and men go to see them. The paradigm that has been established over decades of film-making is that in a patriarchal culture, women must, in one way or another, be victimised for revenge to be significant, and significantly affecting. If the story asks for a female protagonist, that means she must be the victim. With this narrative of revenge sacrosanct, a female Taken becomes contradictory: you would have a mother – more than that, a middle-aged mother – seeking vengeance. That bucks two trends in contemporary film-making: it sidelines the father figure, and it contradicts the general income trajectory of actors.
According to one wide-ranging study, female actors see their income rise until the age of 34, when it drops off immediately. Male actors make more money ever year until they turn 51, at which point their earnings level off. A female Taken would mean a filmmaker – likely a male filmmaker, since there are so few female directors and even fewer female action-directors – deciding to disregard two industry-wide tendencies. Contemporary Hollywood is not a risk-taking place. According to one wide-ranging study, female actors see their income rise until the age of 34, when it drops off immediately. Male actors make more money ever year until they turn 51, at which point their earnings level off. A female Taken would mean a film-maker – probably a male film-maker, since there are so few female directors and even fewer female action-directors – deciding to disregard two industry-wide tendencies. Contemporary Hollywood is not a risk-taking place.
It takes only one film, though, and this year’s Jane Got a Gun, Natalie Portman’s long-gestating passion project, could be that film. The story of a woman in the old west who must, with the help of an ex-lover, defend her husband from attack, Jane’s Got a Gun doesn’t feature a middle-aged woman – Portman is still only 33. But it does seem to put a woman in the place of defender, and a man in the role of victim. It’s a start.It takes only one film, though, and this year’s Jane Got a Gun, Natalie Portman’s long-gestating passion project, could be that film. The story of a woman in the old west who must, with the help of an ex-lover, defend her husband from attack, Jane’s Got a Gun doesn’t feature a middle-aged woman – Portman is still only 33. But it does seem to put a woman in the place of defender, and a man in the role of victim. It’s a start.