Fair Cop: A Century of British Policewomen

edithtmithThis month marks the 100th anniversary of the first British female police constable with the power of arrest, Edith Smith (right). The documentary below looks back at the history of women in the police force over the past hundred years, and how the role, attitudes (of both the public as well as their male colleagues) and even the uniform has changed during that time. Interesting to discover that the organized format started as the result of two effectively “vigilante” groups, who were formed to carry out volunteer patrols. One was mainly suffragettes, who were also fighting at the time for the right to work; the other, more genteel group of middle-class ladies, were the ones who obtained official sanction. At this time, the Great War was taking place, and just as World War II opened the doors to women in many areas, so did this conflict, with a large percentage of the male population being enlisted into the armed services.

Initially, women constables were tasked solely with handling children and other women – one of Smith’s main tasks was to address the prostitution problem, due to the large army presence near the town of Grantham where she was stationed. There were also restrictions which were not applied equally to men: they were forced to quit the force if they got married, it being deemed incompatible with the job. Some of these took a very long time to overcome; it wasn’t until 1994, for example, that policewomen in Northern Ireland were allowed to carry firearms for personal protection, something which had long been standard practice for men. But slowly, and not without some push-back, doors opened to other fields, from detective work through to the specialist units, and now certain areas have a majority female presence, such as the mounted police.  Now, there is no separation at all, something the film does acknowledge as not without its issues, in particular leading for a time to a horrendously primitive and uncaring approach to rape victims.

I think what I enjoyed most were the anecdotes told by the various women who had served, about their time in the police-force, and how they handled the situations in which they found themselves, which does a good job of bringing out the human side of the topic. Virtually every one of these officers comes over as resilient – likely a necessary attribute, I would imagine! – and sharp; the men interviewed largely praise the womens’ skills and abilities as equal to their own. It’s not a job I imagine is ever easy, and you’ll probably leave this film with a new-found respect for the women who take it on.

DC Showcase: Catwoman

catwomanThe character of Catwoman has had a mixed history over the years in other media than the printed page. TV has had the Julie Newmar & Eartha Kitt versions, a nod in Birds of Prey, and a teenage version of the character can be seen in the Gotham series which premiered last month. In film, we had Lee Meriwether in the sixties incarnation then, perhaps most famously of all, Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns [albeit only after Annette Bening, Nicole Kidman and Demi Moore all were linked to the part]. Then, there was Halle Berry’s Catwoman, still talked about in hushed tones as perhaps the worst comic-book adaptation of all time, and which arguably did more damage to action heroines than any other big-budget movie in history. Despite the massive success of the Batman reboot, it took eight years before the character would appear in another film, Anne Hathaway playing Selina Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises.

However, it’s the animated versions – perhaps the nearest medium to the comic book – which are of most interest here. That dates back as far as 1968, when she appeared, voiced by Jane Webb (who also played Batgirl in the show), as part of The Batman/Superman Hour on CBS. A decade later, Melendy Britt pulled the same double-duty as Webb, playing both the heroic Batgirl and villainous Catwoman, in The New Adventures of Batman, another CBS show that began in 1977 and also used the voices of Burt Ward and Adam West, start of the original TV show. But it was the nineties when the form really took off. Batman: The Animated Series was ranked last year by TV Guide as among the top 10 cartoons of all time, and its style was clearly influential on the cinematic reboot of the franchise under Christopher Nolan.

Adrienne Barbeau voiced the character of Catwoman here and in The New Batman Adventures, later in the decade. This marked a shift, with the actresses being used for the role, even if never seen, becoming increasingly high-profile. 2004’s The Batman had Gina Gershon as Catwoman in five episodes, and the feature Batman: Year One had Eliza Dushku, With the third anniversary of the latter’s release this week, what better time to showcase the Catwoman-focused short below, which was originally included as a bonus feature on the Year One DVD. In it, Selena Kyle/Catwoman attempts to bring both a Gotham City crime boss called Rough Cut and his smuggling ring to an end, but stumbles upon a mysterious cargo shipment far worse than just smuggled diamonds…

She-Wolves – England’s Early Queens

In the medieval and Tudor world there was no question in people’s minds about the order of God’s creation – men ruled and women didn’t. Yet despite everything that stood in their way, a handful of women did attempt to rule medieval and Tudor England. Historian Dr Helen Castor explores seven queens who challenged male power, the fierce reactions they provoked and whether the term ‘she wolves’ was deserved. Helen looks at what happened when England was faced not just with inadequate kings, but no kings at all.

Matilda and Eleanor

800 years ago Matilda almost became the first woman to be crowned queen of England in her own right. Castor explores how Matilda reached this point and why her bid for the throne ultimately failed. Her daughter-in-law Eleanor of Aquitaine was an equally formidable woman. Despite being remembered as the queen of courtly love, in reality during her long life she divorced one king and married another, only to lead a rebellion against him. She only finally achieved the power she craved in her seventies.

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Isabella and Margaret

In 1308 a 12-year-old girl, Isabella of France, became queen of England when she married the English king. A century later another young French girl, Margaret of Anjou, followed in her footsteps. Both these women were thrust into a violent and dysfunctional England and both felt driven to take control of the kingdom themselves. Isabella would be accused of murder and Margaret of destructive ambition. But as historian Helen Castor reveals, their self-assertion that would have seemed natural in a man was deemed unnatural, even monstrous in a woman.

Jane, Mary and Elizabeth

In 1553, for the first time in English history all the contenders for the crown were female. In the lives of these three Tudor queens – Jane, Mary and Elizabeth – she explores how each woman struggled in turn with wearing a crown that was made for a male head. Elizabeth I seemed to show that not only could a woman rule, but could do so gloriously. But at what cost?

A Day with Kurdish Female Fighters

In the mess which is the Middle East, Syria is currently perhaps the biggest mess of all. I’m not going to get into the politics, but for the purpose of this article, what you need to know is that the north and north-eastern sections of Syria are largely populated by Kurds. For decades, this ethnic group have been fighting for an independent Kurdistan, composing sections of what are currently Turkey, Iraq and Iran, as well as Syria. There has been varying degrees of success in their struggle, but in Syria, they have seized the opportunity presented by the recent chaos elsewhere in the country, and declared themselves semi-autonomous.

During the civil war, the Yekîneyên Parastina Gel (or YPG, Kurdish for Popular Protection Units) were created under the administration of the Kurdish Supreme Committee, to control the Kurdish inhabited areas in Syria. They have taken a defensive position, fighting against any group that has the intention of bringing the Syrian civil war to Kurdish inhabited areas. While mostly Kurds, they have been joined by Arabs opposed to hardline Islamic groups, and have collaborated with the Free Syrian Army in operations against the likes of ISIS. But of particular relevance here is the YPG’s use of women fighters, in units known as the Yekîneyên Parastina Jin (YPJ, Women Protection Units), which some estimates have making up more than one-third of the YPG’s overall strength.

Many are not happy at the increasing threat of radicalization groups such as ISIS pose, with their strict application of sharia religious law, which has been applied to prevent women from working, going to school or even leaving their homes.Of course, it’s also worth mentioning that ISIS have female battalions of their own, though these appear more involved in security work, such as searching women at checkpoints and enforcing sharia, rather than active fighting. In the video below, some of the members of the YPJ tell their stories, their experiences, why they joined and what they fight for in this women-only militia amid the civil war in Syria.

Dead Fantasy

deadfantasyThis computer-animated series was brought to my attention by our son, and pits the heroines of two classic video-game franchises against each other. It’s the women of Dead or Alive versus the ladies of Final Fantasy – hence the name -with occasional supporting roles for the odd male character and/or guests from other series). These are fan films made by Monty Oum, who had previously created another film based on combing two other video-game franchises, Halo and Metroid. Dead Fantasy reached five entries (and a preview for #6), released from October 2007 up until Oum went to work for Rooster Teeth Productions in March 2010,

Let me be cheerfully up-front, and admit I do not have a clue what is going on here. Even our son, who plays a good deal more computer games that I do [though I have played both DoA and FF, particularly FF7], was unsure of who some of the characters are, and as for any expectations of plot, you really should not bother at all. That said, it’s still pretty intense, like mainlining half a dozen espresso shots simultaneously. Initially, it starts of as a 3-on-3 battle in, on and around a gigantic temple. When the DoA girls realize they’re losing, Ayane destroys the temple out from under them, but the battle continues as they’re falling. Rinoa, from Final Fantasy then uses her magic to separate the participants at the end of part two. and the remaining episodes then focus on the various individual combats around the world which result.

It’s a series that gets considerably darker as things progress: initially, it seems like little more than a capture of a multi-player video game, albeit admittedly an impressive one, with characters taking little or no damage, and bouncing back up to continue the fight, without a mark on them. But by the fifth part, Final Fantasy’s Tifa is both taking and handing out some undeniably brutal punishment, being struck with so many arrows she resembles the pin-cushion version of Xena from the series finale, while decapitating and disemboweling her attackers. It’s certainly a good deal more Mortal Kombat than Final Fantasy, and one wonders where the series might have gone, had its creator been able to continue with it. You’ll probably also find yourself mentally casting a live-action version of the episodes, assigning actresses to each of the heroines: “Scarlett Johansson as her… That one’s Zoe Bell…” For your enjoyment, here are all 5½ parts. Get some popcorn.

Mercenaries trailer

Kristanna Loken, Brigitte Nielsen, Vivica A. Fox, Cynthia Rothrock, and Zoë Bell?

Why was I not informed of this? It’s out August 8, on video and VOD. Needless to say, a review will follow here very, very quickly.

mercenaries

Rina Takeda smashes blocks, throws out first pitch

Actress Rina Takeda is well known around GirlsWithGuns.org, for her work in films like Karate Girl, and got the chance to throw out the first pitch before a game in Japan between the Chiba Lotte Marines and the Saitama Seibu Lions. Of course, Takeda did it with her own inimitable style: first breaking 10 cement blocks with her head!

Lucy trailer

Luc Besson’s returns to his action heroine flick with this SF tale of a drug mule who discovers she has acquired new powers, after the cargo starts to leak inside her.

It’s out on August 8th in the United States

Kite trailer + clips

The adaptation of the infamous manga and anime was mentioned just a few days ago, in our 2014 preview, but we now have more info, in the shape of the first trailer, and four clips. Per the synopsis, it’s the story of “Sawa (India Eisley), a young woman living in a failed state after the financial collapse, where a corrupt security force profits on the trafficking of young women. When Sawa’s policeman father is killed, she vows to track the murderer down with the help of his ex-partner, Karl Aker (Samuel L. Jackson).”