Here are some photos of Charlize Theron at Good Morning America yesterday. She appeared on GMA to promote Mad Max: Fury Road. She talked about some of the same old stuff she’s been talking about for a while, like how she shaved her head for the role, etc. What I find sort of interesting is that Robin Roberts never really says that she thought the film was good or watchable. The only compliment is basically, well, at least you got to play a really strong badass woman. Which is true, I believe Charlize’s character is as tough and badass as any action-dude. Here’s the GMA video:

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What I found most interesting was Charlize talking about the action genre and always wanting to be a part of it, but not in a “here’s the pretty girl in the background” sort of way. Charlize also riffed about the same subject when she appeared on Live with Kelly and Michael, saying:

“I’ve always wanted to explore the genre a little bit more, especially because I think it’s such a misconception that women don’t like the genre, or that they don’t want to go and see these movies. I just feel like women have been so misrepresented in these films — why do we have to go and see the genre every single time with the girl in the back of the frame in a push-up bra? Why isn’t there a girl that’s standing on the same playing field with the guys? We don’t want to be guys, but in a post-apocalyptic world, we will survive! There’s something really, really nice about playing this woman who is a woman, first of all, but is a rogue warrior just like Max, and can fight just as well as Max with one arm. I think all the women — there’s a lot of women in this movie, like three different generations of women in this story, and I think they’re represented really well. And they kick butt.”

[From THR]

I think she’s right. I think she’s been right about this all along, actually, and I have no issue with the way Charlize has talked about the issues of female representation in films (in general) and action films specifically. Women should not be the accessories, sidelined in the action. The female characters should not be just male characters with a name change either. Allow for the possibility that female audiences want to see explosions and action too, and allow for the idea of women being perfectly capable of being violent, mean, aggressive and/or the action star.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.