When Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence proclaimed she was the first female lead in any action movie, many people disagreed.
Lawrence—who played the protagonist Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games movies based on the eponymous dystopian novels written by Suzanne Collins—received backlash for her grand statement.
She told fellow actress Viola Davis on Variety’s Actors on Actors series on Wednesday her role in the 2012 film adaptation of Hunger Games was significant due to her inaccurate fact that prompted social media users to say, "I don't think so."
The outspoken feminist and advocate for reproductive rights said:
“I remember when I was doing ‘Hunger Games,’ nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie because it wouldn’t work—because we were told girls and boys can both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead."
Here is a snippet of the discussion.
\u201c"We were told girls and boys could both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead," Jennifer Lawrence says of taking on the role of Katniss in #TheHungerGames. https://t.co/TqYPwDLCC4\u201d— Variety (@Variety) 1670434235
Lawrence continued, referencing Davis' recent female empowerment historical epic The Woman King.
"And it just makes me so happy every single time I see a movie come out that just blows through every one of those beliefs and proves that it is just a lie to keep certain people out of the movies."
People online who took issue with Lawrence's bold claim set the record straight by referencing actors who came before her who paved the way for her success in movies like Hunger Games.
Among the examples mentioned were Sigourney Weaver who played Ellen Ripley in 1979's Alien, Milla Jovovich as Alice in the Resident Evil films from 2002 and Angelina Jolie in the 2001 and 2003 Tomb Raider movies.
It didn't take hardcore cinephiles to discredit Lawrence's assertion she was the first female lead to star in an action movie.
General moviegoers knew enough about cinema history to fact-check her with more examples.
\u201cJennifer Lawrence was the first female action star. \n\nLinda Hamilton\nPam Grier\nMichelle Yeoh\nSigourney Weaver\nMilla Jovovich\nUma Thurman \nAngelina Jolie\nMichelle Rodriguez\nCarrie-Anne Moss\nHalle Berry\n\nThis women owe everything to Jennifer Lawrence\u2019s trailblazing\u201d— Stream the Vote (@Stream the Vote) 1670434940
\u201cWith the upmost respect to Jennifer Lawrence, these women (and more) have pioneered female representation in action cinema.\n\nCan we be doing more? Absolutely. A lot more.\n\nBut we have to acknowledge film history and how these actors have paved the way for film heroines today.\u201d— Yoko Higuchi (@Yoko Higuchi) 1670434505
\u201cJennifer Lawrence saying that she was the first woman to ever lead an action movie is so disrespectful to these icons.\u201d— Daniel Kwan (@Daniel Kwan) 1670450676
Some offered insight as to why female-led action movies haven't been recognized as an achievement in Hollywood.
\u201cIt is untrue that no one had ever put a woman in an action movie before Jennifer Lawrence in Hunger Games.\n\nIt is absolutely true that Hollywood had and has a real bias against women driven action movies because of this ridiculous belief about who identifies with whom.\u201d— Franklin Leonard (@Franklin Leonard) 1670435174
\u201cPart of the problem is that previous successes were often dismissed as being successful for reasons other than their being female driven action: Alien is a monster movie. Kill Bill is Tarantino. Titanic was epic romance. Twilight is YA.\n\nThey're all female driven action.\u201d— Franklin Leonard (@Franklin Leonard) 1670435174
\u201cAnd female driven action has made money in Hollywood since time immemorial, just like male driven action has.\n\nBut just like so many other kinds of films, the industry ignores the data, because they're wed to conventional wisdom that is all convention, and no wisdom.\u201d— Franklin Leonard (@Franklin Leonard) 1670435174
And some users tried to walk back Lawrence's comment.
\u201c@K__TequilaShot @franklinleonard YA/Teen movies/Major Franchises. Hunger Games was the first. Either way, shes right, so not sure how yall took this as a slight to other standalone action movies.\u201d— Franklin Leonard (@Franklin Leonard) 1670435174
\u201c@franklinleonard I'd also add that it's a YA/teen movie, and off the top of my head I can't really think of an action movie before Hunger Games with a teen girl as the protagonist. I think that *may* have been where she was coming from on this.\u201d— Franklin Leonard (@Franklin Leonard) 1670435174
\u201c@franklinleonard @KenSimonSays It\u2019s also cyclical - people who purport to have trouble identifying with people who aren\u2019t like them will continue to have trouble if they\u2019re not exposed to stories told from their POV. Meanwhile, underserved audiences have no choice but to see themselves in white guys.\u201d— Franklin Leonard (@Franklin Leonard) 1670435174
And regarding the notion men and boys can't identify with a female lead, Twitter had this to say.
\u201c@iWatchiAm Respectfully disagree. Men love watching female lead action films. Silence of the Lambs, Lucy, Underworld, Aliens, Resident Evil, Kill BIll, Jolie's TOMB RAIDER, T2, etc. all films that's target audience is men/boys all HITS.\u201d— Olivia Truffaut-Wong (@Olivia Truffaut-Wong) 1670436537
\u201c@tonygig But do men love watching female led action films that aren't overly sexualized and marketed specifically to a horny male audience? Even Alien features an unnecessary underwear shot.\u201d— Olivia Truffaut-Wong (@Olivia Truffaut-Wong) 1670436537
\u201c@iWatchiAm Respectfully, I disagree. Her very valid point feels moot when she's ignoring women, who in some way, may have paved the way so she could star in a Hunger Games. Pam Grier, Angelina Jolie, Michelle Yeoh, Uma Thurman, Halle Berry & so many others deserve better\u201d— Olivia Truffaut-Wong (@Olivia Truffaut-Wong) 1670436537
\u201c@TheDetourEffect @iWatchiAm As much as I love Jennifer Lawrence, she completely missed the mark on this one. Boys/Men absolutely can &do relate to & identify with female lead roles. There are plenty of female rolls & characters that we relate to. In my 45 years I've never heard anyone make those claims.\u201d— Olivia Truffaut-Wong (@Olivia Truffaut-Wong) 1670436537
Davis did not respond to Lawrence's claim in their 45-minute-long discussion.
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