MovieChat Forums > Van Helsing (2016) Discussion > Dudes complaining about a kick ass femal...

Dudes complaining about a kick ass female lead

posted 8 years ago by Octavius_Chimera
20 replies | jump to latest

Frankly I don't get it. Lots of guys on this board whining about why the main character is a woman. Why can she kick ass? Why can she beat up men? Why is she written like a dude but female? Shouldn't a character named Van Helsing be a man?

What is the root of this sentiment?

First off, I watched the pilot...I didn't see a female character who was a dude in a woman's body. I saw a woman who was confused, afraid, wanted to find her kid and was overwhelmed by her circumstances. Did she kick a few vampire asses and fight one dude and kill him? Yup. Why isn't that plausible? Do you guys also haunt the boards of Resident Evil and complain about that lead female? Did you feel this way about Lara Croft? Did you not buy Kate Beckinsale in any of the Underworld movies? I could go on...but I'll spare you with the plentiful and obvious examples available. AND, have you ever once complained about a 60 year old Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones could kick anyone's ass? Or a 63 year old Roger Moore still playing James Bond beating up trained assassins young enough to be his grand children? Or ANY of the aging men playing roles that defy belief with physical prowess they absolutely shouldn't have at their age? Nope, no complaints there because decrepit old men don't threaten your masculinity, they embolden it. See the double standard? You should.

Second, have you seen more episodes yet? Have you seen whether the character is written and performed just like a dude? Is it possible that there's a fully fleshed character there that has a range of emotions, vulnerabilities, needs, fears? Doesn't it make sense to watch a few more episodes and see what the character is really all about before making sweeping judgements about her or how the show is written? But no, let's rush to some knee jerk reaction just because she kicked the asses of a couple of men. NO you cry...not plausible, not realistic, doesn't ring true...

But forget movies and TV. What about real life? Do some research, there are some bad ass women out there that would lay you keyboard ninjas flat on your ass. Here's a great example but by all means browse through youtube and find dozens for yourself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4MfMZ8arBM

Not one of you would last a few seconds with a truly tough woman let alone a female MMA fighter. Lights out. So why is it so impossible to relate to them as tough when they play a character like Vanessa Van Helsing on a TV show? I think I know the answer.

Whether you want to admit it or not, you've got some old school, patriarchal view of women. They're either supposed to be women who you want to jerk off to or women who need a guy to protect them or legitimize them or make them feel clever. Strong women threaten you. Instead you want women to play a comfortable stereotype that protects your fragile ego. Well guess what? Times have changed. Shows have kick ass women because LIFE has kick ass women, deal with it. OR just stick with the misogyny and pretend it's not really that.

[–] duh-prezident 8 years ago

What are you even talking about? There are no such things as "strong women"

[–] nelsonengel 8 years ago

Hate crazy feminist topics like these. It's a *beep* TV-show, for Christ sake, just like Supergirl and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Shows like these are supposed to cater to insecure, whiney feminist girls like Octavius_Chimera. The Youtube video you posted as some kind of evidence is just pathetic. It was mentioned earlier that this was fake as *beep*. It speaks volumes that you didn't get that. Yes, a woman will be able to beat a man up if you put up a female MMA fighter on steroids against a 45 year old librarian who hasn't seen sunlight in months. In any other situation than this a woman will always get her little (or fat-not curvy) ass handed to her. Don't believe what you see on Ghostbusters (2016), Supergirl and Van Helsing. You try that *beep* irl, and the police doesn't come fast enough when you dial 911, it's lights out... most likely: forever.

[–] Octavius_Chimera 8 years ago

So nobody really had a valid argument to make to refute the original post? Figures. These IMDB forums are such a pit of sad, loner hatred that I really shouldn't have expected fair or valid critique. It's beyond you knuckle draggers. Oh well. Keep on keeping on. You are the disease.

[–] rockk_th 8 years ago

the actress is so bad it is cringeworthy, it is not kick ass it's retarded.

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[–] BlueShark1112 8 years ago

You ignoring very valid points from people like RhoDaZZ doesn't mean they don't exist. Get over yourself. How about you reply to them instead?

Whether you want to admit it or not, you've got some old school, patriarchal view of women. They're either supposed to be women who you want to jerk off to or women who need a guy to protect them or legitimize them or make them feel clever. Strong women threaten you. Instead you want women to play a comfortable stereotype that protects your fragile ego. Well guess what? Times have changed. Shows have kick ass women because LIFE has kick ass women, deal with it. OR just stick with the misogyny and pretend it's not really that.

And whether you want to admit it or not, you don't decide what other peoples though processes are.

How come we see this kind of whining only for *beep* female led shows and movies? Surely, if these people hated women, they would hate all of them. Buffy, Ripley, The Bride from Kill Bill, etc. The reason people hate this one is, because it's garbage. Like vampires that act like zombies. Or the fact Van Helsing is the full surname and the leads name is Vanessa Helsing. The lack of any regard for the original material is blatantly obvious. That and the overal quality is the reason it's getting flak. Not some scape-goat "muh misogyny" bullcrap.

P.S. And a very obvious point you virtue signaling simpletons can't seem to understand: You can dislike invididual women without hating women as a whole (because that's what misogyny actually is).

[–] venanttout 8 years ago

I don't care about the main character is a woman.

I care that the show is lame. Bad scenario, bad haracters,bad choregraphy... boring show.

By the way, women are welcom to MMA.

I'm curious to see top level MMA female fighter beat on a regular basis ]medium level male fighter of her age and of her weight.

Really, any woman able to do that would win millios.

By the way, i'd like to see the entire competions desegregated, on the olympic games for examples.

Women are equals to men, on physical level, aren't they ?

What ? It's a psychological limitation made by Patriarchy bogeymen ?

Well, it won't be worse what the black athlete had to face back in days, aren't they ?

The good news is now that women can be drafted in the USA (thanks Feminism!), we will see during the next Nam' how valorous women are face to extreme horror.

Uncle Stalin show the world that female batallon xcould be throw to slaughter like male ones, and it's good news that this step forward can be generalized to the most Advanced countries.

[–] blust2 8 years ago

Some dudes are very old fashioned and don't want their ass kicked by female. It is quite understandable that some would complain seeing such stories on TV.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] grungyhappycat 8 years ago

Times are changing. Some are struggling to adapt. It's understandable. We don't take to change very well. Especially when it's out of our control.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] drmokedweed123 8 years ago

Frankly I don't get it. Lots of guys on this board whining about why the main character is a woman. Why can she kick ass?

They aren't whining about the lead being a female, or an ass kicker. They are complaining they turned Van Helsing (a guy) into a girl.

No one has any problem whatsoever with strong female leads in action movies. As evident by the huge success from Alien, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Kill Bill and as far as TV Nikita, The Sarah Connor Chronicles,etc.

How a 100 pound chick is able to take on 10 guys will always be brought up. But that's not unique to just women. One guy having a gun fight and winning against difficult odds will always be more believable than one small girl taking out numerous people in hand to hand. However there's always that 'one guy' on boards that's unable to recognize it's make believe and is unable to suspend their belief. So they call out things that can't happen. Then they blame it on *beep* writing. Such as the action hero barely escaping in a cliche way. That stuff is called out all the time.

Weird how the bitching only occurs when it's reboots and remakes that change the genders.

Not one of you would last a few seconds with a truly tough woman let alone a female MMA fighter. Lights out.

Oh god, this fallacy. A male MMA fighter will always be able to *beep* on a female MMA fighter almost instantly, so point being? You can't compare a professional who's sole job it is to train to beat people up all day to an average guy. You can't even compare a male MMA fighter to a regular male. A female professional fighter is better than 100% of average male and female population. That said, most female MMA fighters are the same size as average guys. Since fighting comes down to weight and size hence why there's weight classes of course a trained fighter that's the same size as a guy would most likely win. However a female MMA fighter that's actually the size of an average girl will struggle and possibly even lose to an average sized male because then the guy will be able to rely on his size and strength.

I think I know the answer.

No you don't.

They're either supposed to be women who you want to jerk off to

We all jerk off to them anyways. Hell, I fapped to Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider when we got some awesome side boob.

Strong women threaten you.

No they don't. At the end of the day women only have power because we allow it.

your fragile ego.

You can't make claims like that when women attack video games, porn, magazine covers and the best of all inanimate dolls (barbie) for "bodyshaming" them. Are you sure the fragile group isn't the one that says barbie doll's bodies hurt their feelings and make them insecure? Men don't need to remind others how 'strong, smart and independent' we are. Nor do we need a 'girl power' saying.

Funny, everything women do and say kinda disproves that whole "strong, smart, independent" slogan they preach.

It was a nice effort man.