The Feminist Lens: Movie Reviews

For this week’s Feminist Lens, I thought I’d take a look at a movie which I consider to be both feminist and underrated. An interesting aspect of this film is that the lead character was originally written for a male actor—Tom Cruise. After a substantial re-write and change to a female lead, the result was an underrated action thriller. I’m talking about the 2010 film, Salt.

Salt stars Angelina Jolie as CIA operative, Evelyn Salt. In the opening of the movie, Salt is released from enemy capture in a prisoner exchange. We find out that this uncharacteristic trade happened at the urging of her husband. Two years later, a defecting Russian operative arrives at the CIA with information about a Russian double agent who is embedded in the CIA. Her name—Evelyn Salt. Though she professes her innocence, the CIA attempts to detain Salt. Bad idea. She escapes (in a cool action scene) and finds that her husband has been kidnapped. To avoid spoilers, I’ll just mention that events are set in motion in which Salt must figure out her true identity, unearth other double agents, and save the world from nuclear destruction.

One of the best aspects of Salt is that the movie doesn’t feel like the writers simply replaced all the “he’s” with “she’s” when writing Jolie in. In fact, she had substantial say over the script changeover. When asked about the amount of input she had, Jolie answered:

A lot. The obvious would be that it would be made kind of lighter for a woman in some way, or more loving. We went in a completely opposite direction. The original male script, in the end, he is able to save his wife and kids and able to say, “I love you. I’ll protect you and my heart is with you.” For a woman, that’s not going to be a big revelation. What would be a revelation for a woman? What would be a surprise for a woman? We started there. Also, she would never have a child. I just felt she couldn’t. Also, I think as a woman, you would wonder why I’m not taking care of the child. It would become a film about me and the child. That wasn’t something that suited the film. That was the first call: We don’t say I love you, and there is no child [laughs].

In these ways, Salt takes a very different direction than many other action movies. While Jolie’s character is feminine, she is also strong, smart, and tough. Evelyn Salt does not simply fall into the stereotypical gender binaries that plague action movies.

Another striking aspect is that Jolie is not overly sexualized in the movie. While she has been known to play tough characters in the past (Tomb Raider, Wanted), in those films, Angelina is depicted as hyper-sexualized—showing up in revealing outfits and kicking ass while looking “sexy” at the same time. This is not the case in Salt. Jolie is never shown battling enemies in unrealistic attire or in tons of make-up. Her character is far more realistic (well, as realistic as a double agent operative that can outrun the CIA can be). This change marks a different avenue for women in action roles. While women of action are depicted as tough, they are almost always feminized and sexualized to “offset” this break from the norm. The message becomes that women can be strong and powerful—if they also look hot. Salt makes a conscious choice to reject this paradigm.

Does Salt mark a new direction for Angelina Jolie and action heroines in general? When previously approached about becoming a Bond girl, Jolie remarked “I want to be Bond—I don’t want to be anyone else in the movie.” This attitude stands out in the hyper masculine world of action  movies. However, changes in viewer reception may be occurring. Salt is more in line with contemporary action thrillers such as the Bourne series and Inception. These films combine interesting storylines with more dynamic characters and acting. Recent 80s macho throw-backs like the Expendibles, Bullet to the Head, and The Last Stand underperformed either with critics or in the box office. Perhaps audiences have really changed.

It is possible that movies like Salt can lead to the death of hackneyed gender roles will allow for changing representations in the movie world. It may be a slow process, but Salt shows that a female “Bond” or “Jason Bourne” can sell to audiences too.

What did the community think? Did you like Salt? Is the movie proof that women can kick ass without being hyper-sexualized? As always, comments are very welcomed.