Please answer the following essay question. In responding you should draw on course readingsand relevant content from lectures and videos. Present your response in clear, concise, and non-repetitive language. This exam is fundamentally a test of your ability to digest course content and to apply it to a "real life" context.

While an excellent answer always lives by its own rules, in general, your response should be at least 4-6 paragraphs in length. The exam should be typed, double-spaced (New Times Roman, 12pt font).

What's a Woman Gotta Do (Wear)?

Actress Jessica Chastain, perhaps best known for her role in the film Zero Dark Thirty, recently called out Hollywood for what she considers to be a sexist double standard that powerfully shapes the portrayal of female superheroes. Concerning this point, she was quoted as saying "If you look at films like Elektra and Aeon Flux, the problem that studios have is that they try to make kick-ass women very sexualized. They have to be in some catsuit."

As our course readings and discussions have (hopefully) made clear, this is not a new issue. Drawing on (and citing) relevant class materials, please answer the following: 1) give some specific examples of how heroic female characters have been made to fit the "sexualized" paradigm referred to by Chastain. In other words, how have they been "sexed up"?; 2) compare and contrast this seemingly inescapable feminine heroic characteristic with essential aspects of male heroes as commonly depicted (biographies, patterns, archetypes, etc.); 3) lastly, suggest reasons why creators and audiences perpetuate/expect/accept this kind representation of heroines.