interesting points, but I wouldn't say " beautiful, busty and willing to wiggle and jiggle for the male masses" is the only way for a woman to make it in Hollywood, just the easiest and fastest.

When did you last see a super hero dressed like he was getting ready for a bondage ball?

I think all superheroes dress as if they are going to a bondage ball - Batman, Wolverine, Superman, Mad Max, even little Robin - it's ALL about sex Purple Tigress just as musical stars must be sexually attractive to succeed (please note Jim Morrison, Madonna, Mick Jagger, Frank Sinatra, Britney Spears and the oh-so-cute Beatles).....

It's my personal opinion that during their off hours, all superheroes spend time at massive S&M clubs working out their crimefighting frustrations on each other.......I imagine Wonder Woman has quite a time with that magical lasso......

I think perhaps part of the reason super heros are portrayed as fit and limber (i.e. sexually attractive) because it would be a bit more difficult for the movie going public to buy into John Goodman swinging between buildings, or Starr Jones doing a triple flip to land on top of the enemy (unless the actual scene was covered with the tv Batman stylized 'splat' over the grisly moment of contact). And I think the clothes have to fit, because I imagine it would be hard trying to run after someone while trying to hold your pants up.

Should we ever drive by a known sex club, we'll ask the doorman (Jack Ryan) if there are any superheros inside or just unwilling androids.

Most super heroes run around in things that would now be called unitards. One can run track, cycle, swim, ride horses, ice skate, tumble in gymnastic style and perform in Cirque du Soleil in unitards.

Please check out the Speedo Web site for their Fastskins. The US Olympic track team runs in unitards.

The capes (as with Superman and Batman) could be used as a diversionary weapon (one of the uses when men regularly wore them and fenced).

Strapless bustiers and platform boots or leather bras with ripped leather pants, stiletto heels and long opera gloves are not ensembles that anyone regularly does any of the above activities in.

And this is where the real question lies.

P.S. If you think Batman and Superman look like they are going to a bondage/fetish ball, you are very, very naive. They'd need more leather or at least more skin exposure (at least in Hollywood).

Purple Tigress, I agree with you and there's really no question there, it's pretty obvious that women dress for appearance rather than function, because men like it that way.

I've often thought it unfair that in the businessworld women are given such variety in clothing, from slacks to short skirts, to long dresses, from low cut collars to turtle necks, etc. but men are limited to business suits, although we do have a choice of three colors, blue, brown or black. The most expressive we can get is with the tie. We all know why this is, I don't think movies are going to deviate from what is unspoken yet expected in society. Can't it all be boiled down to biology, DNA and mating rituals? I don't mean that negatively, but logically.

p.s. and no, I'm not advocating men wearing women's clothing, I just don't see why men can't have a little more variety in male fashion and still be acceptable as well.

lmao.....bless your heart Purple Tigress, gotta love ya!.....;)

If you think Batman and Superman do NOT look like they are going to a fetish ball these days, perhaps you are the one who is naive?.......:)

I think the general reaction to Catwoman suggests that that it isn't enough for a female action hero to dress up in bondage gear and flick a whip on screen: that's the point of the poor reviews and lukewarm (at best) audience reaction. Guys who want pure jiggle can get it (and then some) via porn flicks, and I really think that mainstream films have to offer something else in order to succeed. In other words, if Halle had jiggled her way through a film that didn't assume the jiggle was enough, it might have done boffo box office, as they say.

What amazes me about "Catwoman" is that I haven't seen a single pull-quote in any of the advertising so far. Not even the heavily butchered along the lines of "It ... is ... a ... movie" - Bill Smith - Springfield Shopper.

In the Globe and Mail, the review (half a star out of five) said the costume was the only reason for the movie to exist, (and then a bunch of stuff about pussy and litter boxes).

ok people!Catwoman was the best movie i have seen in my life! I have seen many many many movies, and catwoman is still my favorite. Halle Berry is an awesome actress! Don't dis her because she happens to be both beautiful and talented.I feel like i am the only person sticking up for Hallie Berry. If you have not seen Catwoman by now.. GO SEE IT! You know what i hjave noticed is that the critics are always backwards.When critics usually sAy a movie is bad, in reality it is great and vice- versa. Halle did a great job in this movie, just as she does in all of her movies.she does not get through hollywood by "jiggling". She gets by with talent!! She's got it!And catwoman did not only please the men, but the women too. Women all around should love this movie. It represents independence,strength,and power. It represents sexiness. It shows you, you can be whoever you want to be. This movie is not just about the suit. It is so much more then that. The only reason you could possibly dis this movie is if you are a hater,or you are jealous deep down, and the only way you know how to express that is through hate! Well that sucks for you! It's a shame most of the world does not recognize a great movie, even if it hits them in the head.

The topic wasn't hate. The topic wasn't really even Halle Berry and her acting talents. The topic wasn't even the merits of the movie, "Catwoman."

The topic was asking when female superheroes won't look like they came out of some 14-year-old heterosexual male wet dream.

Stiletto heels? Platform shoes and a bustier for Wonder Woman?

These are things that one cannot fight in. The only thing worse I can recall is the fight scene in "Ghost in the Shell."

So please before you get yourself so emotionally worked up, take time to breath and read. Then, perhaps, you'll write a discussion worth reading.

Well, I DO hate this version of Catwoman (lousy script, laousy casting, lousy acting, lousy direction and no Selina Kyle), but about the fetish thing -- what other thing could Catwoman's costume be possibly about? Ever since she was given official superheroine/supervillainess name and trademarks (she initially was a regular thief aliased 'The Cat'), they were fetish themed. I mean, it's a MASKED SEX-KITTEN with a WHIP we're talking about -- doesn't it strike you as at least a little S&M-ish? Not that there's anything bad about it, that's actually one of the things I love about the character, that it was of a sexual nature even when it couldn't be blatantly stated (it would eventually BE blatantly stated in Frank Miller's "Batman: Year One", when Selina's origin was rewritten making her a former prostitute and dominatrix). And if we're going to talk about movies specifically, there's the universally adored Michelle Pfeiffer version of Miss Kyle (my personal favorite outside of the comimc books), whose costume couldn't have been more obviously sadomasochistic, which was an essential part of the character, representing the violent nature of her recently-freed sexuality. And that's the point in Catwoman's high heels and uncomfortably thight attire: there is much more about the character than the costume, but that doesn't stop it from being an important part.

And for the girl talking about great movies and stuff, a few probably unwise but well-intention words: critics say the films you like are crap and the films you don't like are good because they know what they're talking about and you don't. That's why most reasonable people, when asked about 'elitist' stuff like, say, art, answer with a polite "I don't know much about art, but I know what I like" -- and, you see, film critics' opinions are elitist stuff. Because they see movies as what they are, means of expression, and not corney feel-good girl-power messages less inspired than the great ones we can find in, for example, Sex and the City (women who, no matter how frivolous they might seem, can allow themselves to put their needs and desires before anything else because they have succesfully proved themselves to society) or the Powerpuff Girls (strong little girls asuming huge responsibilities in a society that entirely depends on them).

a super hero woman that makes sense, ummmm, nope, but who cares anyway, super heros are already fantasy subject matter, so as long as we're creating something that can't exist, it's not any kind of draw back from reality to have them wearing skimpy outfits too, so why the hell not? Plus, seen ben aflecks gimp suit in daredevil? How about the entire cast from the gay mardigras epic batman & robin.

what amazes me about Halle Berry is how so many people think she's cool. Mutton dressed as lamb if you ask me.

My cinema goddesses are Julia Roberts and Angelina Jolie...

This seems to have gone off on a wild tangent. My original thought was I have yet to see a big budget movie with a male superhero that is dressed with leather strips coyly covering only the genital areas or in chaps without much coverage. Why does a woman who has won an Academy award feel the need to be so over exposed? Part of the character? Then we need to get female superheroes who don't look like a heterosexual man's wet dream.

Could we order up an X-man who is totally naked except for some blue or other colored skin with a few scales for the next movie? Or would that be too threatening to heterosexual men like the so-called homoerotic photos of Robert Mapplethorpe?

Frankly, no one would want to see a movie in which superheroes dress sensibly. They'd just he supercops or something.

Also: The only women who object to this sort of stuff tend to be mentally disturbed, fat, ugly, or hairy. Hot chicks LIKE this kind of stuff. Fact, whether you like it or not.

Hmmm...let me see. Where to begin? I think plenty of people went to see Rambo and those Terminator movies so I don't think men have to be in spandex. Super heroes do dress sensibly except for those capes (in case you watched "The Incredibles"). I don't see them running around in high heels. Some current day athletes were suits that could be super hero gear.

Yet does one really care about the thoughts of a guy who carries around the old ugly, fat and hairy chicks are jealous and mentally disturbed stereotype?

It's not a fact unless you have hard data to prove it not just old boys'tales and fevered wet dreams and I already know of at least one woman who doesn't fit in your statement.

I guess that means that guys who like comics books are just...oh, what's the stereotype? White, pale-faced, scrawny nerds who dress in wrinkled mismatched clothes and are basically couch potatoes having wet dreams?

They are definitely not the hot guys.