From being helpless housewives to CEOs, women have begun to overcome the gender inequality resulting from living in a patriarchal society. Media, such as action films, reflect this change in societal roles by depicting less harmful stereotypes where female characters are sexualized by, dependent on, and subordinate to a male protagonist. One example is Mission: Impossible, which is an ongoing action franchise with seven movies spanning two decades. Each movie revolves around Ethan Hunt, a field agent for the Impossible Mission Force (IMF), who accomplishes various missions with his team to save the world. Mission: Impossible female protagonists have increasingly challenged the aforementioned stereotypes, which has progressed their roles from supporting character to co-hero. Examining the portrayals of negative female stereotypes in characters Nyah Nordoff-Hall, Jane Carter, and Ilsa Faust reveals how female protagonist roles in Mission: Impossible have evolved to become more equal to Hunt’s role as the main male protagonist.
Mission: Impossible II (2000) stars Hunt with professional thief Nyah Nordoff-Hall, whose role in the movie reflects harmful stereotypes of female characters. In Hunt’s mission, Nordoff-Hall’s role is to reconnect with her ex-lover Sean Ambrose to access secret information (Mission: Impossible II 00:28:46-29:03). When Ambrose addresses if Nordoff-Hall is suspicious, he asks, “Suppose she is some sort of Trojan horse sent by IMF to spy on us. Why should I deny myself the pleasure of a ride or two?” (00:45:01-45:08). By using Nordoff-Hall as bait, Hunt suggests that her worth is tied to her relationship with Ambrose rather than her skills as a professional thief, which objectifies her. Additionally, Ambrose’s evaluation of Nordoff-Hall further reduces her role in the movie from being a multifaceted protagonist like Hunt to a sexual object. After Nordoff-Hall injects herself with a fatal virus, Hunt has to save her life by retrieving an antidote from Ambrose (01:24:51-24:57). In this situation, Nordoff-Hall leans into the well-known female stereotype of “damsel in distress,” where the female character is heavily dependent on the male protagonist to rescue her. This role juxtaposes Nordoff-Hall’s powerlessness against Hunt’s many abilities, highlighting his superiority. When Nordoff-Hall collects the information Hunt needs from Ambrose, Hunt demands that she leave Ambrose immediately but refuses to answer her questions regarding the stolen information (00:54:01-54:14). Hunt’s commands toward Nordoff-Hall demonstrate that he views himself as someone who can control her. Furthermore, his refusal to share knowledge with her reinforces his superiority. In this situation, he removes her ability to disobey his orders, as she does not have enough information to make her own educated decisions. As a result of Nordoff-Hall’s role as a sexual object, damsel in distress, and Hunt’s subordinate, she reflects the outdated belief that women are unequal to men.
Over a decade later, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) introduces IMF agent Jane Carter to Hunt’s team. As the token female on Hunt’s male-dominated team, Carter still falls trap to some negative female stereotypes, though to a lesser degree than Nordoff-Hall. In the final heist of Ghost Protocol, Hunt sends Carter to seduce a man named Brij Nath to get a code that shuts off a nuclear satellite (01:33:10-33:30). According to Jeffery Brown in his book chapter “Teams, Partners, Romance, and Action Heroines,” Carter’s role is called the “Honey Trap.” Brown asserts that the female team member is the “sole repository for all things feminine and sexual,” which leads to their “primary use to the team [to be] typically her sexual attractiveness” (“Teams, Partners” 59). So, Carter’s job as the Honey Trap reduces her to a sex object during the heist. However, since the film contains three other missions, Carter can show more aspects of her character aside from her sex appeal. As a whole, the film sexualizes her less than Nordoff-Hall, making her a more multifaceted character like Hunt. In other Ghost Protocol missions, Carter demonstrates her IMF agent skills, such as strength (01:02:10-02:29), impersonation (01:06:25-07:23), and hand-to-hand combat (01:15:43-16:23). Those skills were heavily emphasized in past Mission: Impossible films, so Carter’s competency proves that she is a capable female character who is not dependent on Hunt for her safety, unlike Nordoff-Hall. Despite not relying on Hunt for safety, Carter still relies on him for commands and information. For example, as Carter seduces Nath, Hunt provides her specific directions over an earpiece on how to act (01:38:50-38:55). Hunt’s orders suggest that he knows what type of women Nath likes and how Nath would react to Carter’s moves. Not only is Hunt the team leader, making Carter his subordinate in the team hierarchy, the flow of knowledge from Hunt to Carter further cements his place as her superior. Overall, Carter is not dependent on Hunt for her safety, but she is still subordinate to him. She is also still sexualized, though to a lesser extent than Nordoff-Hall. As a result, through fewer portrayals of harmful female stereotypes with Carter, Mission: Impossible shows some improvement in gender equality representation.
However, some people may perceive the Honey Trap role as empowering women instead of depicting women as unequal to men. In his book chapter “Alias, Fetishism, and Pygmalion Fantasies,” Brown discusses that action films may use the heroine’s sex appeal to emphasize that “beneath all of [the] sexy aliases is an agent who is capable and deadly” (63). But Brown introduces Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical ideas about fetishism to refute this claim. According to Freud, “the woman’s lack [of a penis] represents the male’s own possible castration” (qtd. in 68). To feel less threatened, men substitute a woman’s lack of a penis through excessive sexualization, such as with “fetishized passive” and “fetishized active” women (68, 71). Fetishized passive heroines exaggerate femininity as a disguise by acting submissive and wearing fetishized or revealing costumes (71). This portrayal attaches sexuality to female body parts, outfits, and behavior, which plays into male fantasies of vulnerable women who are “subject to the sexual whims of patriarchy” (71, 72). While seducing Nath, Carter wears heavy makeup, dangly earrings, and a revealing dress, all of which emphasize her femininity and display her body (Ghost Protocol 01:36:29-36:36). After Carter hooks Nath’s interest, he leads her through a hide-and-seek game. She dutifully plays along, looking in the specific directions that he tells her to (01:42:19-43:08). Her submissive behavior and feminine outfit demonstrate how she is a fetishized passive character. However, Carter also is a fetishized active woman. Fetishized active action heroines portray strong women with combat abilities. Since combat skills are more associated with men, these abilities make action heroines masculine, which makes up for their phallic lack (“Alias, Fetishism” 73). In addition, Brown claims that “the fetishized active figure explores the erotic appeal of powerful women” (74). The audience can see this exploration after Carter finds Nath in their hide-and-seek game. When he feels her up, Carter twists Nath’s arm; when he kisses her hand, she slaps his face. Yet, as she walks away, he rises from the floor to follow her with a still aroused facial expression (Ghost Protocol 01:44:53-45:16). Most action heroines quickly alternate between fetishized passive and active portrayals, as seen with Carter, which allows both the fantasy of powerless and powerful women to simultaneously be true. These “dual fetishistic forms,” as described by Brown, fulfill the fantasies of male viewers who like either type of woman (“Alias, Fetishism” 75). As a result, even though the Honey Trap role that Carter plays may seem empowering at first, it works to alleviate male fears and satisfy male fantasies about women. Because the Honey Trap role is tailored for male viewers, it reveals the control men have over women even as just an audience member, which indicates that women are subordinate to men.
After Ghost Protocol, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015), Fallout (2018), and Dead Reckoning (2023) avoid harmful female stereotypes for new female protagonist Ilsa Faust, an undercover MI6 agent. Throughout the aforementioned films, Hunt and Faust develop a close relationship. In Dead Reckoning, they embrace on the rooftop during golden hour, and they hold hands on a boat ride at night (01:17:32-18:03). These actions, among many others, confirm that Faust and Hunt are romantically involved. Paired with no Honey Trap roles and minimal revealing camera shots, Faust is not reduced to just a sex object, which gives her equal standing in their romantic relationship. However, she is not just his romantic partner; they are professional partners, too. Faust rescues Hunt several times throughout the movies. For example, in Rogue Nation, Faust fights alongside Hunt to break him out of the Syndicate’s torture cell, which is a terrorist organization that she is undercover in (00:15:55-17:40). According to Ilaria Boncori, although Hunt ultimately frees Faust from her undercover duties by capturing the Syndicate’s leader Solomon Lane, “she is no longer a traditional ‘damsel in distress’” due to how many times she has saved his life (103). From time to time, Hunt saves her from dangerous situations too, but Faust’s excellent combat and medical skills show that she is not reliant on him for safety. In addition, Faust does not need Hunt for information; instead, Hunt is the one who is frequently dependent on her. For instance, Faust reveals to Hunt the only method of accessing the ledger that Lane wants, so Hunt can retrieve it first (00:56:50-59:08). Since Faust often has the information that Hunt and his team need to be successful, she is the one with control over what they do on their missions. In addition, though she works alongside Hunt sometimes, Faust works for other agencies first and foremost, so she does not receive orders from him. As a result, she is not subordinate to him. All in all, Faust is not hypersexualized, dependent on Hunt for safety, or subordinate to Hunt. The lack of negative female stereotypes creates a give-and-take relationship between them where they frequently work together and help each other. This equal partnership between a male and female protagonist is one of the most progressive roles that female characters play in modern action media.
These evolving female protagonist roles in Mission: Impossible can be seen throughout other modern media as well. The way female protagonists have become less sexualized, dependent, and subordinate to male protagonists reflects how female roles and stereotypes have also evolved in the real world. Boncori asserts that harmful female stereotypes in media negatively affect women’s self-esteem and mental health in their daily and professional lives. In addition, these portrayals affect how other people, such as teenagers and male coworkers, perceive women (98, 99). This implies that positive depictions of women will have uplifting societal effects. Mission: Impossible and other action media still have much room to progress. For example, some small steps Brown suggests include having more than one female member on a male-dominated team, unlike Carter’s situation, so “types of femininity portrayed can be moderately more diverse” (“Teams, Partners” 58). Brown also asserts that equal male-female partnerships, such as Faust and Ethan’s, should avoid falling into the professional partner to romantic partner stereotype. According to Brown, this stereotype perpetuates the idea of “romance as the ultimate end game for women,” as it “undermines the possibility that women can merely be incredibly good at their heroic jobs and find enough satisfaction on a professional level” (77). For bigger improvements, Brown hopes for more main female protagonists created by female directors (“Alias, Fetishism” 87). With more women behind the scenes who have lived through the firsthand effects of harmful female stereotypes, female protagonists can defy stereotypes themselves. As female characters become less stereotypical and more equal to male characters in media, female protagonists can positively impact the lives of women throughout the modern world.
Works Cited
Boncori, Ilaria. “Mission Impossible: A Reading of the after-Death of the Heroine.” Culture & Organization, vol. 23, no. 2, Mar. 2017, pp. 95–109. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1080/14759551.2016.1206548. Accessed 30 Oct. 2024.
This peer-reviewed paper from the Smith library analyzes how character Ilsa Faust fulfills Heather Höpf’s definition of a modern heroine in Höpf’s essay “Becoming A Virile Member: Women and the Military Body.” Ilaria Boncari is a Professor in Organization Behaviour and Human Resources Management at the University of Essex. Boncori first offers a history of gender stereotypes in media, before diving into the impacts of gender stereotypes in daily and professional life. Then, Boncori evaluates how female characters in the first four MI movies are less sexualized and subordinate with each subsequent film. Finally, Boncori analyzes how Ilsa’s body, clothes, and actions in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation allow her to avoid being too masculine and be a strong female protagonist that is not overly dependent on the male hero. For my essay, Boncori’s overview of the real-world impacts of gender stereotypes was particularly helpful for my conclusion, where I needed to offer a big picture and raise the stakes. In addition, Boncori’s analysis of how Faust is not a damsel in distress provided me a brief counterargument to include in my paragraph about Faust. Boncori’s ideas about the significance of knowledge sharing affected how I analyzed if female protagonists were subordinate to Hunt. I did not find Boncori’s ideas of masculinity and femininity to be relevant to my argument.
Brown, Jeffrey A. “Alias, Fetishism, and Pygmalion Fantasies.” Dangerous Curves: Action Heroines, Gender, Fetishism, and Popular Culture, University Press of Mississippi, 2011, pp. 63–92. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2tv6xs.6. Accessed 11 Nov. 2024.
This chapter from the Smith library examines how sexualizing action heroines is another product of men’s control over women. Jeffrey A. Brown is a Professor of Popular Culture and Critical and Cultural Studies at Bowling Green State University. Brown discusses Freud’s psychoanalytic ideas of how men sexualize women to feel less threatened by the female lack of a penis. Brown proposes the terms “fetishized passive” and “fetishized active” women to explain two ways this sexualization occurs. Brown also evaluates how the heroine’s relationship with their father figures or agencies and the actress’s relationship with male directors reflect male control over women. This source was critical for countering the belief that the Honey Trap role empowers women. In addition, Brown’s analysis of the relationship between male directors and female actresses was useful for suggesting a solution in my conclusion, as he asserts that male directors were the problem. I did not find Brown’s evaluation of the heroine’s relationship to her father figure or agency to be relevant to my argument.
Brown, Jeffrey A. “Teams, Partners, Romance, and Action Heroines.” Beyond Bombshells: The New Action Heroine in Popular Culture, University Press of Mississippi, 2015, pp. 54–77. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt17mvh6x.5. Accessed 30 Oct. 2024.
This chapter from the Smith library evaluates different roles that female characters play in action movies and TV shows. Early roles depict women as being lesser than men by reducing them to sex appeal (“token female” of a male-dominated team), implying that it takes multiple women to succeed (female/female partnerships), and making them subordinates (amateur sidekick/protégé in a male/female partnership). Recent male/female partnerships promote women to equal standing, but the relationship tends to fall prey to romantic expectations. Brown concludes that to continue to progress female roles in action media, male/female partnerships should resist becoming romantic. This source was especially useful for my argument, as it discusses a lot of female character roles in the Mission: Impossible franchise. Brown’s ideas about “token females” and the “Honey Trap” role applied well to analyzing Jane Carter’s role. Ilsa’s relationship with Ethan fits Brown’s description of equal male/female partnerships with a romantic attraction. Brown’s suggestions for future improvements in female roles were extremely helpful for providing solutions in my conclusion. I did not find his ideas about female/female partnerships or male/female amateur sidekick/protégé relationships to be relevant to my argument.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, Paramount Pictures, 2023.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Directed by Brad Bird, Paramount Pictures, 2011.
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, Paramount Pictures, 2015.Mission: Impossible II. Directed by John Woo, Paramount Pictures, 2000.