Then a little film was released, a sequel to a horror film actually, and suddenly Joan of Arc was reborn for the purpose of fighting aliens on a distant planet. Aliens reintroduced us to Ellen Ripley, now a haunted soul tortured by the memories of a nearly invincible alien enemy. However she returns to the battlefield and effectively leading a group of Colonial Marines, destroys the alien stronghold. Given the obstacles that Ripley faces a weaker, stereotypical, science fiction female character, would have succumbed to an attack of the vapors and died; but because of her strength of will, her concern for a child, she thrives and survives. At the start of the movie it was plain to see that she was headed for a much-deserved nervous breakdown. True to her archetype, though, she overcame her fears and by the time the credits rolled, she was a cultural icon. She was, and still is, a chick who kicks ass.
While a draw to the male audience, Ripley was the protagonist all us geek femmes had been waiting for. Those of us who had absorbed every science fiction book, movie and television show -- including Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers -- yet emerged hungry for something more, something elusive, had found our role model. We were impatient with a vision of the future that still saw us as "the weaker sex". While the bastions of the literary side of the genre had begun to show signs of a less biased view of women, film and television still portrayed us as brainless victims needing to be rescued. Sigourney Weaver's Ripley showed the world that we were perfectly capable of saving ourselves, thank you very much, and perhaps even a few other people in the process -- like that really cute Colonial Marine, Corporal Dwayne Hicks (Michael Biehn).
Although Linda Hamilton's portrayal of Sarah Connor in The Terminator (1984) actually pre-dates the ass-kicking Ripley of Aliens (1986), it wasn't until the sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), that she came into her well-ripped own. She shed not only her limp 80's perm, but also her role of victim. Okay, so she also lost that really cute time-traveling-resistance-fighter, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn again), but that's why they call it sacrifice.
Thrust into the role of both mother and protector to the future savior of humanity (mankind's Dauphin) against a tyranny of machines, Sarah's story bears even more striking similarities to the Joan of Arc legend. Buff, tough, and imprisoned in a mental hospital for clinging to the knowledge of a future gone horribly wrong, the haunted Sarah is so tightly wound that you wonder why she doesn't just snap -- or if she already has. But it's that same ghastly vision that drives her on to fight against impossible odds and eventually emerge victorious.
In recent years the big screen has brought us more ass kicking heroines like computer geek Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) from The Matrix and chauffeur/bodyguard Lornette Mason (Angela Bassett) in Strange Days, who, while not as closely drawn from the Joan of Arc Legend, are more than welcome additions to the ranks.
And while the movie industry had successfully found an old heroine for a new age, television has been just a tad slower in breathing life into the Joan of Arc legend.
