action heroines in wildly inappropriate shoes

like the bechdel test, but for shoes

[heroinesinheels]

aight, first thing’s first: i loved wonder woman and am quite possibly in love with gal gadot. 

but also, this is a movie with a full dressing room montage that mocks how restrictive women’s fashion can be...

...and multiple jokes about diana’s sword not going with her outfit...

...and then a subversion of all that when diana hides in plain by wearing a blue ball gown and stuffing her sword down her back.

ww is clearly a movie that’s conscious of the power of clothes and which also takes diana seriously as an athlete, so... whyfor the wedges?  

anyways, here’s my boo gal on the red carpet in some practical flats. wheeeeeee

[heroinesinheels]

I appreciate the message ur trying to get across on this blog, but high heels don't necessarily impair how much butt-kicking an action character can do. A lot of ppl are really good at running/dancing/moving around in heels. Like that one video of lady gaga wearing this massive heels and sprinting from one part of a stage to another? Idk like as a feminist I appreciate what you're trying to do but it kinda undermines women's abilities to say that wearing heels automatically makes them useless:/

Responding to this comment because it touches on an important, but misguided, argument. Here’s why:

1. I’m not saying wearing heels makes women useless at all. In fact, in the fantasy world of these movies, women who fight in heels are probably *more* skilled than the guys, since heels are objectively impractical battle footwear.

2. What I’m saying is that the pervasiveness of this trope is a pretty obvious cop by those behind the scenes to making sure Strong Female Protagonists confirm with at least some societal expectations of femininity (lest -- gasp! -- they lose their sex appeal). On that note, this extends beyond heels. I’ve written about this idea before as relates to the fetishization of skinny female protagonists in YA literature, for example.

3. I expand on all this in my MTV interview (which, FTR, was conducted before I started working there):

MTV: What do you think when you hear something like Bryce Dallas Howard insisted on wearing the heels?

Julianne Ross: She said it’d be like surrendering the femininity of the character to take off the heels, but I think that’s a pretty shallow interpretation of what it means to be feminine.

... Strength isn’t incompatible with femininity, but it’s pretty obvious when a sartorial choice is made to please male audiences or without thoughtfulness towards women’s experience. ...

It’s also important to note that it’s a lot bigger than Claire; “Jurassic World” is a very silly movie, but this trope of women in dire situations being coiffed in some way is everywhere in entertainment—they’ll be in the middle of a battle, or the apocalypse, or prehistoric times, and they’ll still have perfectly plucked eyebrows or a blowout or shaved armpits. It’s like, even at the end of the world women have to hide the biological realities of being human beings.

[heroinesinheels]

are y’all loving jessica jones as much as i am? totally passes the heroines in heels test -- just look at those practical boots!

[heroinesinheels]

OH I LOVE YOUR BLOG!! You made my day! I want to submit Carly from Transformers 3, black Heels are definitely the best choice for fighting Decepticons!

via toomuchsugar 

[heroinesinheels]

Chuck’s Agent Sarah Walker. totally practical.

[heroinesinheels]

Has no one submitted the worst offender of all time: Seven, from Star Trek Voyager? It made no sense for her to wear heels practically AND it totally went against the psychology of the character!

[heroinesinheels]

Will you ever win the Fun Home lottery?

i know not god’s plan.

[heroinesinheels]

now THAT is how it’s done. take the damn shoes off.

[heroinesinheels]

“Black Widow’s sweet wedges almost fool you into not realizing she’s wearing heels…”

[heroinesinheels]

they fixed it. 

[heroinesinheels]

absolutely not. (h/t sorrymadam)

[heroinesinheels]

major side-eye DC -_-

[heroinesinheels]

“Ming-na Wen as Agent May from the tv show Marvel Agents of SHIELD.  She’s totally awesome and kicks butt regularly.  She dispenses with all formality and doesn’t care what people think.  She’s above all practical.  In fact, that’s all pretty central to her character.  But while her colleague Jemma Simmons the scientist gets to wear flats and Bobbi Morse, another butt-kicker gets to wear combat boots with no heel, guess what Agent Melinda May is wearing?  It just doesn’t make SENSE.” via exxiethewriter

[heroinesinheels]

submission: “Samus Aran from the Metroid game series. She has gotten these high heels in Super Smash Bros. On WiiU. She used to not have them.”

[heroinesinheels]

we got a fun shoutout on MSNBC today! y’all rock.

[heroinesinheels]

“Ladies in Kill Bill. At least Oren Ishii & Gogo got to wear flats. Psshh.” via sosreelthoughts

[heroinesinheels]