The best part of Pacific Rim: Uprising was its inclusion of female characters in a genre that historically dismisses them. But was it enough to avoid common pitfalls? Pacific Rim’s greatest strength continues to be its greatest challenge.
Aware of its history of strong female characters, Pacific Rim wasn’t afraid to bring more women into the fray with Pacific Rim: Uprising. And in a sequel that was a bit underwhelming compared to the first film, Uprising’s commitment to equal representation — at least when it comes to gender — was probably the best part of the movie.
There’s a lot to learn from how Uprising merged a somewhat stereotypical story with a progressive shift. Science fiction has an uncomfortable tendency to settle for a token “strong female character” — a type so established in the genre that Emily Blunt herself called it out in 2015, along with Hollywood’s tendency to cast the same actresses over and over again for “strong” roles:
“…the list is very short, because we don’t see women in these kind of roles. (…) So it’s a list of like, four women who are going to be considered.”
Uprising, on the other hand, didn’t aim to cast well-known actresses for roles it labeled as “strong.” Instead, it aimed to cast a diverse group of characters — and some of them just happened to be women.
Pacific Rim: Uprising spoilers below.
Not only did we get the much loved Mako Mori, but we got four other female characters play crucial roles in the development of the story. Amara Namani was essentially a main character on her own, despite Jake Pentecost being the ‘official’ main character. Vik was an antagonist that, although almost cringeworthily cliché, was able to appear sympathetic to the end. Jules Reyes was in a leadership role that didn’t quite submit to a love triangle. And Liwen Shao was a complex antihero that, though not exactly groundbreaking, pulled off a stellar performance.
But of course, there’s much more to writing diverse stories than just inclusion. In a genre and industry that historically has been happy to objectify women, it’s hard to shake off the habits of the past.
Jules might have not been reduced to a love interest in the way that was frankly expected, given her proximity to the main characters; but there was still a terribly awkward attempt at a love triangle that fell so flat it made you want to look away in secondhand embarrassment. A love triangle was not needed — it would have slowed the story — but it’s unsurprising that the filmmakers’ gut reaction was to include a scene that implied romantic rivalry between male characters.
It is important to acknowledge the moments when they were able to steer away from convention, though. Amara and Vik’s rivalry could have easily been reduced to pitting woman against woman to prove that Amara “isn’t like other girls.” In some ways it was expected, because we’re so used to seeing these kinds of rivalries on screen. But instead, their relationship ended up being one of respect and teamwork, and is definitely the reason for why Pacific Rim: Uprising passes the Bechdel Test.
Beyond clunky tropes, the characterization of women in Uprising is mostly held back by the characterization of everyone in the film. The story simply doesn’t make much space for profound character development, its focus mainly on how wild fights between Jaegers can get, and how much more intimidating Kaijus can be. That superficiality, emphasizing colorful visuals over character development, does detract from the value of Uprising as a movie.
As much as the movie tried, it couldn’t quite reach the heels of Pacific Rim, with its battles in the ocean, Raleigh and Mako’s struggle in the drift, and Mako’s tragic backstory. That’s not to say that Pacific Rim was some kind of work of art that defied all conventions — it had its fair share of stereotypes, and Mako’s character has often been deconstructed as being a trope in itself — but it managed to avoid falling into the same category every Transformers movie falls into. It left an impact.
The women in Uprising, unfortunately, don’t really get a chance to do the same. But at least it isn’t out of lack of effort, but rather a natural side-effect of beginning to work out where sci fi action has failed its audience, and setting things right when it comes to representation.
As it becomes more and more common to see women both in major roles and in background ones, we’ll start seeing more female heroes, villains and sidekicks — some of which will be boring, or one-dimensional, because the men in those movies also are.
But that, too, is equality: to have movies that are mediocre, not because they are misogynistic, but because the movie just isn’t that good. That, too, is progress.
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