9 Kick-Ass Feminist Movie Icons We'd Brave the Apocalypse With

Strong female leads in popular film. Count them on both hands? No, we're struggling too. The sad fact about the recent success of Mad Max: Fury Road is that it was popular because it was an anomaly. If Imperator Furiosa had been there first as the franchise's main protagonist, would such a fuss have been caused if a new male character "muscled in"? She played around with action movie stereotypes, helped along by a tribe of older woman bikers and the surprisingly waifish-yet-strong former sex slaves who she'd risked her life to save. Male viewers of the film who had forgotten to pass the adolescent stage of their existence were incensed.

Anyway, we figured it was time to play tribute to the most memorable movie feminists. There aren't enough of them out there and it's time for things to change. In a world where our screens both large and small still see rape scenes presented freely and gratuitously as if it's just the law of the jungle and we need to get used to it (hello Game of Thrones, I'm looking at you!) and "manic pixie dream girls" who exist to help shape male characters seem to be the most outspoken female characters we're getting on a regular basis, these women have rubbed boldly against the grain.

9. Imperator Furiosa - Mad Max: Fury Road

In a post-apocalyptic nightmare world, Furiosa (Charlize Theron) frees the concubines of evil dictator Immortan Joe, before travelling across country to try and get them to safety. Along the way, she meets Mad Max, who pitches in but is to all intents and purposes a secondary character. A controversial scene in which Max hands her his gun because he knows she's a better aim had men's rights activists peeing their pants left right and centre.

8. Jackie Brown - Jackie Brown

Pam Grier appears as a disgruntled flight attendant annoyed at a step down the career ladder when she's forced to work on a smaller airline than she's used to. Caught up in a drugs smuggling ring to help ends meet, she's torn between escaping jail time if she shops her accomplice or death if she does. In the end, she chooses to try and avoid both and run off with the money... A badass icon in her own right, Grier's Jackie Brown proved she could face off with male gangsters and come out on top. 

7. Enid and Rebecca - Ghost World

We just couldn't separate these two. Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson) are beautifully, beautifully feisty and sarcastic and they let the boys know where they stand. Throw in some geek pride - because newsflash, you don't need a penis to be nerdy, contrary to popular belief - plus some hot anti-fashion sense and there is really nothing you couldn't love.

6. G.I. Jane - G.I. Jane

Under pressure from a female senator, the US Navy Seals test out the waters when it comes to letting female recruits serve with them. Enter just the woman, G.I. Jane (Demi Moore). Everyone expects this "experiment" to fail but it turns out she's, well, hot shit. Bonus points for Demi Moore looking fierce with a shaved head, like just a couple of other women on this list who I could mention.

5. Erin Brockovich - Erin Brockovich

Based on the true story of an environmental activist and legal clerk Erin Brocovitch (Julia Roberts) who bravely challenged the Pacific Gas and Electric Company in court after they were found to be contaminating drinking water. She eventually extracted the largest sum ever raised in a direct action lawsuit from them. That would be $333 million, folks.

4. Judy, Violet and Doralee - Nine to Five

Another team we couldn't separate. Are you sensing a brilliant sisterhood theme here? Nine to Five is a movie classic, with a stellar cast featuring Dolly Parton in the role of Doralee, Jane Fonda as Judy and Lily Tomlin as Violet. Irritated by their boss's misogyny, the trio decides to teach him a lesson he won't forget.

3. Thelma and Louise - Thelma and Louise

Yup, what we said about sisterhood. Two women go on a road trip for a break from their disastrous love lives. After Thelma (Geena Davis) experiences an attempted rape in a parking lot and Louise (Susan Sarandon) shoots and kills her attacker, the two end up on the run. We're not ones for spoilers but if you haven't seen that iconic car/cliff scene, you must have been living under a cliff.

2. Tank Girl - Tank Girl

Based on a cult UK comic strip, Tank Girl stars Lori Petty (who is still mightily kicking ass in the latest season of Orange is the New Black) as an insanely cool rebel who lives in a tank. Weirdly, the plot is similar to Erin Brockovich despite the films being very different - Tank Girl is out to stop a mega corporation from polluting the world's water supply. Tank Girl is openly bisexual. Indeed, t-shirts featuring her were one of the most popular motifs on the historic march against former British PM Margaret Thatcher's evil Section 28 law, which prevented schools from teaching kids about LGBT issues.

1. Ripley - Alien

A strong female lead in a sci-fi film was pretty unheard of when Alien was released in 1979. But Sigourney Weaver tackled it with unarguable panache. In the Alien movies - there are four, and apparently another in the running - we see her character evolve to become a true leader, ferociously challenging male domination in the "workplace" (which in this case is a spaceship, but the Nine to Five parallels certainly exist). 

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