Fight Like A Girl: How The Women Of Marvel Live! Are Redefining Gender Roles -- EXCLUSIVE
At some point in their lives, most women have been criticized for "fighting like a girl." Whether it was in elementary school PE class, at a bar too late at night, or while running for President of the United States, it's been an easy insult for the patriarchy to throw around for decades. But times, they are a-changin', and glass ceilings, they are a-crackin' as the Marvel universe redefines gender roles.
Elite Daily had the chance to interview the women behind the superhero franchise's newest installment: Marvel Universe LIVE!: Age of Heroes, which is a live, action-packed fight between good and evil for superhero fans of all ages.
Elite Daily spoke with Caitlyn Larsen, who plays evil villain Nebula, and Andrea 'Louie' Larson, who is a female super swing, about female empowerment and the ever-changing world of superheroes (where gender-wage gaps aren't really a thing).
Louie explained the male-to-female ratio on the Marvel: Live! team is 3:1, but that doesn't mean women aren't getting their fair share of roles, in fact, for the first time, they are even getting to play male roles. She said,
[There are] more men than women... and I get to play a bunch of different characters, and this year they're kind of blurring gender lines a little bit more. Last year I was unable to play characters like Green Goblin. He's fully masked but he's a male and I'm a female. But this year they're allowing us to kind of break those bounds and saying 'Hey, you're the right height, you're the right weight, get in there and do it.' Yeah, its cool. And as women a lot of times in movies, men do the stunts for us, small men... So not only are the women in this showing doing their own badass stunts but we're getting to do a lot of the stunts even cooler than the guys get to do.
Caitlyn added,
Yeah, they're jealous. The female tracks in this show are dope... We have the only true weapons that are actually being wielded on stage and actually had the formal training and had the most time with our fight choreographer for that. And we get plenty of the high falls we get the wrist loops and things that we do with the jumps. Especially with Gomorrah with the acrobatics and gymnastics through the air tracks. Our roles are dope!
After spending some time with Caitlyn and Louie, "dope" is an understatement.
With pride and smiling next to Caitlyn, Louie continued to talk about the important bond these women have created outside of the Marvel Universe and inside our changing society.
LL: We have a real sisterhood among the girls in the cast. Shows that I've worked on in the past don't have it quite as much as this one does. We take care of each other and it's a man's world -- a stunt show -- it's a man world, and it's really cool to see that Feld [Entertainment] is allowing us to sort of wipe away previous ideas of who should be doing what stunts and things. They're allowing us to push forward. CL: Break down some of that stigma. And we're pushing each other too. And it's a strong sisterhood, exactly right. It's a core of strong, independent, intelligent ladies who are f*cking getting it done.
Caitlyn, in full Nebula makeup, concluded with this powerful sentiment:
There's no such thing as fighting like a girl, you fight hard, you train hard, you work hard, and you get what you earn.
With female superheroes in the entertainment forefront right now, we can expect to see more female superheroes blocking punches, kicking villain-butt, and continuing to fight like girls.
