“I didn’t save you. You saved me.”
Several years ago, probably ten or twelve now, I gave up on action flicks. I thought they were shallow, glorified violence, and demeaned women. I know. I can hear some of you right now saying that’s exactly what they are. Well, in some ways they are all that, but perspective is everything.
Transporter 1 and Jason Statham got me and my husband out of our anti-action flick phase. We LOVED it. We talked about it for days and we couldn’t stop smiling.
It was at this time, we realized what we had mistaken as shallow was really just very simple and straight forward storytelling with very human themes: redemption, revenge, get the girl, protection of the weak, save the earth —> you know, simple. Action flicks generally focus in on one part of humanity we can all relate to on a subconscious level. Commando: save his daughter. Rambo: survive against the odds. Boondock Saints: justice. Expendables 1: find a soul. Terminator 2: save the world by saving a little boy. Die Hard: wrong place, wrong time, do the right thing anyway. Faster: revenge and salvation. Cobra: protect the girl. Almost all action flicks can be reduced down to a single theme. And almost all of them are honorable. Almost all of them are exactly what we hope we would do if put in the same position – even if we don’t have all the special effects.
What we mistook as too much violence we came to understand as warrior tales along the lines of old Norse and Icelandic Sagas. These are stories about warriors. They are not stories about diplomats, politicians, poets, artists, or even leaders. They are not stories about really good men. They are stories about warriors. These are the tales about people who lay their lives on the line for others, but not by laying down their weapons. They charge into the fray guns blazing. They understand there are things worth dying for and there are things worth fighting for. They understand this world is a violent place and sometimes that violence has to be met with equal or greater force. These tales are something we desperately need in our day and age of peace and safety at any price. We need good warrior tales.
What we mistook as demeaning to women was actually stories of protection from the Man’s point of view. In our post-feminist era women need to be reminded and remember that we are different from men. The more we try to act like we aren’t, the more trouble we get into. It is okay for a movie to be geared towards men, have male heroes, and beautiful women being saved. I can’t think of any recent action flick where the woman passed out and did nothing to help her guy, but girls, get off your high horse. We complain about eye candy – really have you watched any Twilight movies??? I’ve only seen the first one but I’ve heard enough of the jokes to realize Jacob is in constant need of a shirt. If we think eye candy is a male thing we need to take a long hard look at ourselves, ladies. Second, how would we like it if guys started screaming that we needed to redo Pride and Prejudice with Mr. Darcy instead of Lizzie as the main character? We have plenty of movies where the women are the lead role. We have plenty of movies where men are the lead role. That’s how it should be. But, I’ll tell you this. I HATE action flicks with butch women. It makes me madder than the eye candy, stupid women – which I’ve pointed out there are not many of those these days. Nothing makes me madder than watching some girl take out all the big guys like that was super easy. Now, if she has guns and training, that is fine. But hand to hand? It’s a little unrealistic unless he is a couch potato. But, I digress. As a woman, I do not find action flicks offensive. I understand they are from a male POV. I find that refreshing since I have to live in my female POV all the time. 
So…all that to say, I have a deep love and respect for the classic action flick. Safe was one of them. And, the little girl wasn’t extra, overly pretty. She was cute, but more importantly she was believable as a super smart kid. I loved her. She was smart, courageous and kind. Her and Statham’s character’s chemistry was great. You wanted him to save this little girl. You wanted them to drive off in the sunset together! Yay. This was a redemption, revenge, take down the evil villains movie. That was it. There was no major twist. No unexpected shock and awe. Just Statham doing his thing and saving a little girl who in the end saved him from himself – more than once. It was fun! Violent – yes. But it did not bathe in the violence, it was what it was cause of its subject matter. Straight forward story? Yes! And that’s perfect for Sunday evening when I don’t really want to have to think through a complicated plot. Women needing protection? Yep! A little girl caught up in a big world and needing help finds it in a man needing a reason to live. It’s great!
Now you know why I love a well done action flick….and I didn’t even get into the snarky lines, explosions and well done fight scenes!
Amazing review and synthesis of the different themes!
Thank you!
Question time, Abby.
Just want to know how you feel about this character? Please be honest because that is the only way that I learn.
Alternate US Olympic Ski team 1984, Degree in History University of Vermont. Law Degree from Furman University, joined US Secret Service in 1985. Presidential Protection Detail for President H.W. Bush, Lead Protective Agent President Clinton, and Chief White House Security President G.W. Bush. Retired, 2008 at age 46. Never married, no kids. Sexually Abused as a young child. His call sign is Joshua. He is a good guy.
Joshua was abused as a young child by his Uncle. His sister was also abused by this man. To deal with the pain, he became a protector. She became addicted to drugs, ultimately dying because of an overdose. Following the funeral, Joshua visited the Uncle who was elderly and in poor health because of emphysema. Joshua turned off the oxygen and taunted the Uncle until he suffocated. With his law enforcement background, he arranged the crime scene and notifies the police. He gets away with the murder with no suspicion.
Now Joshua transfers that pain and anguish to all abusers. To the point of actively searching them out and seeking vengeance. In one scene, he confronts a pedophile. Gives the man a knife and teaches him how to use it. After the quick lesson, Joshua informs the pedophile that it is time to defend himself from an attack. He proceeds to disarm the pedophile ultimately leaving the man in the hospital, badly beaten and blind because Joshua gouged his eyes out with his thumbs. He threw the eyes into a dumpster before calmly walking away.
How would you feel about this character being female? How does that change your impression of the character? What about the actions and motivations? Does this make you more or less likely to identify with the character? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Hey, Okay. My first reaction is that as a writer you have a very complicated character to deal with. This character has a lot of gray areas. Now this is great and can give you a very well rounded character, but you have to live up to the standard you have set for yourself. This is not a good person. This is a person who instead of using drugs to deal with their issues, uses violence. Joshua is a murderer. Someday that is going to have to be dealt with, either internally or by the law. I think that is something you need to take into consideration.
As far as the male/female question, you just have to stay aware of the motivation for a man and a woman to do something cause our motivations are always different. Women are motivated by relationships and are heads are like a giant ball of yarn with everything connected to everything else.
Switching Joshua from being male to being female doesn’t really change my impression of them. I need to hear more about the motivations to decide what I think on that.
Can I identify with this character? On a basic level yes. Abuse is horrible and has been proven to lead to horrible actions by the one abused. Can I see myself tossing someone’s eyeballs in a trash can….not really.
My question is what made them decide to work outside the law and how does that affect them? Are there any cops tracking them down?
Abby,
I want to thank you for your willingness to engage in detailed conversations about my work. 99% of the world is obsessively self-centered. You care about other people and that character trait alone makes you special. I appreciate everything and if I can ever return the favor and help you think about your writing, please let me know.
Joshua was the original character but somewhere during the writing process, I changed him from a male to female named after Deborah in the Bible. Now, she has blossomed into a protector, someone who is willing to trade her life for the life of the innocent. She learned from the murder of her Uncle that it did not make her feel better or avenge the pain and hurt that he caused. But she has no remorse for the action either. He got his judgment and his penalty was appropriate. If honest with herself, she would do it again.
She is the ultimate protector and she hates those who bully, intimate and abuse. She is a large, powerful woman, former Olympic athlete, highly intelligent, and trained in every aspect of the art of protection. As a former Secret Service agent, she sees threats everywhere; she has been trained to scan a crowd of people, spotting those with evil intentions.
As a Solider of God, she sees her role as a warrior dedicated to protect those who can’t protect themselves. She has taken an oath to not murder and to use her skills and training to bring others to Christ. Using non-lethal means, she keeps her vows, but she also shows no mercy to them. By gouging out the pedophiles eyes, her goal is to injure the man in such a way that his heart can be opened. The man still has life and he still has a chance. By being blind, he cannot recognize Deborah, he cannot pick her out of a line-up and he knows her only by her voice.
In the end of the book, the pedophile is a broken man. His family has deserted him because he was implicated in the terrible acts. His Church abandoned him because he used Church funds to finance his trips to a resort for pedophiles, and the residents of the care facility shun him because of the rumors of his past. Deborah will visit him, not to torture him but to save him. She will recount the saving story of Jesus. The pedophile is a disgusting individual, but through her violence he will have the opportunity to be redeemed.
Wow.
I have had plenty of help along the way.
First, thank you for the compliment. My husband is a strong believer in that we do nothing without help, and I agree.
Second, it sounds like you have her really well thought out. I have to admit, even after I finish writing a novel I don’t always know my characters this well. Sometimes I get to know them better, sometimes I don’t.
I think I could find her believable.
What made you turn her from a man into a woman? I changed a team of Mercs from men into women in my last story. It took a bit of work. Women and men are really different and so I had to really change them. In fact, I’m still working on fixing them.
I’m always a fan of saving the disgusting individual. I know my own sin and Jesus came to save sinners. So, that’s always a plus in my book. (pun intended.)
My only question at this stage: Would he willingly listen to Deborah after she did this to him?
I have a theory that no one gets through life without help. Most of that help is covert and just kind of happens to help us along. Some of that help is intentional and deliberate. That is the kind of help that means the most because we know the effort that is being put out for our success. Again I thank you and I know that your husband is a lucky man because of the blessings of being married to you.
I changed the character because Joshua wasn’t interesting to me. He was coming across as a Dirty Harry/Death Wish type of character. Banker appearance with a killer mindset. That type of character is over used and completely understood by the reader. It almost felt like a Ted Bundy type person and I did not want that type of character. Joshua was secretly abused as a child but I had a problem getting past his childhood and I didn’t want to gravitate the issues of the Catholic Church. I thought about a former coach but that didn’t seem possible. That was long before Penn State by the way. I wasn’t even going to have him with the abuse background but it was tough to imagine a boy scout type person being involved with the SOG.
By changing the gender, now she has a different context. Still a banker appearance with a killer mindset, but she now has a mission that interests me. Conceptually, I can envision a dirty Uncle abusing his nieces. Conceptually, I can understand how it could be kept a secret especially in the late 70s in rural Vermont. Now she has that edge I am looking for. She operates with a passion now. She is not impulsive or sporadic. Everything she does is thought out, planned and executed with perfection.
The scene where she attacks the pedophile ends with her gouging his eyes out. Earlier, there is a scene where she has an emotional breakdown because of fatigue. This follows the revelation that the team has found the secret pedophile resort and that they have discovered the head of security is a CIA agent in Bangkok. Her breakdown happens at a logical time and does not interfere with the search. During the breakdown, she remembers her sister, the murder of her Uncle and other obstacles that she faced as a Secret Service agent.
When she goes to visit the pedophile in the assisted living facility. He will recognize her voice and will believe that she is there to kill him. She will not visit him alone but with another member of the team. Together they will start the conversation to redeem the pedophile. The reader will not get the ending of the story, just enough to allow the reader to imagine the ending. I like to reference the Bible in scenes like this because it gives just enough information to allow me as a reader to get the idea that the person has been saved but I will not know the end of the story.
I love it when I’m working on a character and I have a “Oh there you are” moment. I did that the other day with a character. He’s an arsonist. He went from being a creature with magical powers to a plane jane serial killer. Something still didn’t fit right. I didn’t have that instictive feel for him yet. Then one day he suddenly became the brother of one of my main characters and his name changed.
Light bulb moment!
Now, even though he is the bad guy, I love him.
Again, your character sounds very well thought out!! She also sounds very interesting! Keep it up!
I think as Christians it’s hard not to believe we need help. We all need help and have had help at one time or another.
I have several salvation scenes in my books but I don’t normally quote scripture. I would describe my world as more metaphorical for this one, but I’m pretty sure my Christian World View comes through loud and clear!
I love a big, gloriously dumb action flick as much as I love a spectacularly awful horror movie. The action movies with a female lead don’t bother me as much as they seem to bother you. Usually they’re super well trained and all that, so it makes some kind of sense. Plus, historically speaking women have been warriors, and there have been women who have achieved action movie levels of badassery. Like the army of Vietnamese women who fought off the Chinese in the Middle Ages, some of them with babies on their backs in the middle of the fight, haha.
That being said, sometimes actioners with a female lead feel like they’re trying way, way too hard. I can’t explain it other than that.
I would agree with you. I have no problem with a woman who is good with a gun or well trained. Lots of women are better shooters than men are. And women have been know to perform amazing feats of epicness when their children are involved. It’s the ones where I feel like they are pandering to women. Where it feels like they just felt obligated to do it. It’s just annoying. Probably exactly what you are saying about them trying too hard.