"Rikke Schubart coined the term “High Trash Heroine” to describe low-budget postfeminist action films from the early 2000s, which highlight their heroines’ bodies over everything else (291). One such film she discusses is Charlie's Angels (McG, 2000), featuring superstars Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, and Lucy Liu, and more importantly, their perfectly made-up and fit bodies. The angels wear skin-tight clothing to perform action, dress up as Swiss mountain girls, racecar drivers, and even strippers to complete their mission, jiggle their butts for the camera, and comment on their bodies’ appearance, effectively fulfilling straight male viewers’ desires. Women’s narratives in the postfeminist era, even in the action genre, focused heavily on the heroine’s bodies and her individual goals. Action heroines born out of the second-wave feminist movement, however, often use their powers/abilities to help others or create meaningful change. For example, Sarah Connor of Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Cameron, 1991) uses her ultra-fit hardbody to prevent global nuclear annihilation. By contrast, postfeminist action heroine The Bride of Kill Bill: Volumes 1 & 2 (Tarantino, 2003 & 2004) uses her abilities as the world’s greatest samurai to hunt down and kill five people who have personally wronged her."
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