Terminator producer Gale Anne Hurd was recognized by the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland with an award for Best Producer for her contribution to film. As Terminator Fans, I’m sure that we are all very aware of just how much Gale’s involvement in the franchise helped to shape the mythos of the Terminator universe; fleshing out the story and its characters alongside James Cameron and William Wisher Jr.
Following the recent Variety interview about the future of the Terminator franchise, Gale also spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the first Terminator movie, and the fact that it was told through the female gaze, with the focus being on Sarah Connor’s story…
“Two of your best-known films as a producer are James Cameron’s The Terminator (1984) and Aliens (1986), movies considered transformational in terms of their portrayal of female characters in the sci-fi and action genres.”
THR
“Well, I have to say, it certainly wasn’t intentional. It’s not like Jim [James Cameron] and I sat down and said, “OK, we’re going to carve out this niche and we’re going to transform an industry.” It was literally about what is the best story to tell? Jim and I had conversations about this, about how we could get a unique way into these stories because there have been so many active male characters in these kinds of films but far fewer female characters. The interesting thing, a theme that tends to be pervasive throughout my career, regardless of whether it’s television or documentaries, is that of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances who often doubt their ability to rise to the challenge. In the case of The Terminator, to not only survive but save all of humanity.
Gale Anne Hurd
It was wonderful to be able to tell that story through the female gaze. The Terminator film was actually accepted even more so than Aliens, because Sarah Connor started out as an everyday young woman, working as a waitress at a coffee shop, never thinking that she had the skills to become this fighter. And it was told in the context of a love story. Yes, the movie is called The Terminator. And, yes, it was probably sold as the story of The Terminator and Arnold Schwarzenegger. But it is truly her story.
With Aliens, on the other hand, was we were attacked by a number of critics. I remember specifically an Austrian critic who basically said “this is preposterous. Women would never be able to rise to the challenge in warfare and they would be cowering in the corner while the big guy with the gun protected them.” I told him: “I have female relatives in Israel [who served in the military] and they could take you out, I’m sure, pretty easily.” But there was an interesting difference. Because we got to see Sarah Connor’s journey whereas Ridley Scott’s first film [Alien] set up her Sigourney Weaver’s character Ripley. In our film, she was the reluctant heroine, in the Joseph Campbell mode, but she wanted to go back and save other people from an experience that she knew was going to happen. If she didn’t come along, there was no way that mission was going to be successful.”
Gale’s input into the first movie is apparent in the way that Sarah Connor reacts and responds to what is happening around her, the character is soft and naïve without being disingenuous, and her interactions with Kyle Reese are delicate, emotional and feminine.
The Tech Noir scene in The Terminator is a great example of the movie taking on the perspective of Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and her story. As Sarah is frozen in place by the horror which is unfolding, we (the audience) view the scene in slow motion. So as Sarah watches Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) and the T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) launching into action, she is dealing with her own internal terror and confusion; she is immobilized and so are we, watching helplessly at a fraction of the real speed. Like a nightmare. Like Sarah’s nightmare.
THR also asked Gale about the misconception that genre movies are only for male audiences…
“Do you think when it comes to action, sci-fi, and horror films there is still the perception that the main audience for those movies is male?”
THR
“That’s 100 percent wrong. Just wrong. There is this feeling somehow, almost like little girls should prefer dolls and little boys should prefer trucks. But the truth is that we’re reinforcing these expectations, these perceptions. Back when I was growing up, if you were a little girl, if was very unlikely that your parents would buy you a toy truck to play with. You were exposed to particular things because there was an expectation that that was what you would like. And that that’s what you should be playing with.
Gale Anne Hurd
But even when The Terminator came out, so that’s 1984, 40 percent of the audience were women. The other thing that’s interesting is that in the movie-going choice between a couple, a male-female couple, is driven by the female in the relationship. So the fact that that movies like The Terminator and Aliens became date night movies reflects a woman’s choices as opposed to necessarily a man’s choice.
The other thing that’s even more fascinating is that the slasher genre is driven by young girls more than young boys. I think part of that is, you know, the adrenaline that you get going to see those movies. But traditionally there’s a final girl. There is the female character who somehow survives to the very end. I don’t think people have often taken that into account that it is actually an empowering story for women, that they are the ones who ultimately survive this traumatic experience.
As a woman who has been a Terminator fan since she was eight years old, and also happens to be the Editor of a Terminator fansite, I can say with one hundred percent certainty that genre movies aren’t just for men. The conditions are simple: if the story is good enough, the characters well developed enough, the writing cohesive and fluid, with conviction in directing – the audience is there; regardless of gender, affiliation or leaning.
Can you see the female gaze in The Terminator? Will you be watching the movie again with that in mind?
6 Comments
I agree with her. The phrase “female gaze” reminded me of “male gaze” and the feminist context wherein that phrase tends to show up, but I don’t read either in what Gale is saying, even if the title was effectively clickbait for that reason.
“It was wonderful to be able to tell that story through the female gaze.” – Gale Anne Hurd. The story to which Gale is referring is that of The Terminator (1984), as she goes on to say: “The Terminator film was actually accepted even more so than Aliens, because Sarah Connor started out as an everyday young woman, working as a waitress at a coffee shop, never thinking that she had the skills to become this fighter. And it was told in the context of a love story. Yes, the movie is called The Terminator. And, yes, it was probably sold as the story of The Terminator and Arnold Schwarzenegger. But it is truly her story.” It can hardly be called ‘clickbait’.
Let me clarify that I meant the term “female gaze” term was clickbait, not the title as a whole. I also didn’t mean to imply that there was a bait-and-switch, but simply that the term was provocative and attention-grabbing because it reminded me of the term “male gaze” often used in or from a derisively feminist perspective, antagonistic to men in the audience. The point of my comment was that I agreed with what she said, and despite my first impression of the headline, it turned out not to have anything to do with that context.
Maybe I’m too conditioned to read politics into anything coming out of Hollywood, be it the films themselves or interview snippets talking about past or future films, as this article demonstrates. But in my defense, political messaging permeates popular entertainment more blatantly than ever today, at the expense of storytelling or film quality that could otherwise satisfy the average or legacy audience. Dark Fate demonstrated that contemporary political messaging regarding feminist heroism and immigration policy heavily informed the themes of the film, while the film producers hoped that packaging those themes in a soft reboot like The Force Awakens would’ve ensured the film’s success.
I appreciate the clarification. The most important difference between THE TERMINATOR and Terminator: Dark Fate, and their uses of feminism is that the former movie included input from a female writer / producer (Gale Anne Hurd), while the latter was completely devoid of female influence in the creative process (something we repeatedly mentioned throughout the production).
The first Terminator movie benefitted from Gale’s involvement in that Sarah Connor was a female character who was well drawn, even in the earliest stages of evolution – whereas Dark Fate’s Dani Ramos was a hollow example of poor writing with little understanding of how to develop the character.
The politics of Dark Fate, as far as I’m concerned, were a gimmicky marketing tool. A glossily faux feminist attempt at advertising to a younger audience and something the studios also weaponized to silence any detractors – selectively choosing to ignore the very foundations of the Terminator franchise itself – a female co-creator and a well-rounded lead female actor / character.
Well put. It does make the prospect of another Terminator film more promising with her behind it, but it makes me wonder about Genisys as well. I don’t remember any female producers for that one, but I remember Laeta Kalogridis was one of the principal writers. Perhaps the problem is simply the leadership from Skydance, which gave us both these films. I wonder if their ownership of the IP finally terminated after Dark Fate, or that the movie ended up extending it. I believe that’s how US copyright works; use it or lose it.
I THINK GALE ANN HURD IS AN EXCELLENT PRODUCER, I THINK SHE WAS THE ONE WHO CONTRIBUTED THE MOST TO THE TERMINATOR FRANCHISE AND ALIENS WAS EXCELLENT, AND EVEN THE 1999 VIRUS MOVIE I LIKED A LOT AS A CIBORGS MOVIE.