
I don’t know why I put on Underworld, the 2003 Danny McBride action flick about an ancient war between immortal werewolf and vampire clans. Well, at least that’s what I think it’s about. Truthfully, I hadn’t seen it since I was probably 10 when it would air as re-runs on cable. Besides, I was only really paying attention to Kate Beckinsale’s catsuit.
There is a story to Underworld. Something about an evil race of vampires mutated by a medieval plague, intent on eradicating werewolves who descend from the same bloodline, and mutated by the same plague. Both clans are also technologically advanced, capable of preserving elder vampires in suspended animation for centuries and wielding guns loaded with “UV bullets.” Don’t ask about the logistics of a bullet that harnesses ultraviolet rays. They’re not explained, and frankly, I don’t really care!
Underworld, behind the nebulous plot contrivances, is actually about Kate Beckinsale’s incredibly hot catsuit. At the time, it was probably a sexist choice, to construct a bland protagonist motivated solely by past “trauma”—her family was murdered, or something—who resolves that conflict by shooting guns and chopping people’s heads off with a sword. There has been plenty of feminist literature and online discourse, to this exact point. Rather, I’m more interested in my changing relationship to characters, at one point in my Tumblr-obsessed adolescence, I might describe as sexist caricatures of action protagonists.
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