What a piece of shit year 2020 has been so far. As if this corona hoax was not bad enough, or never mind the fact that all our governments did not betray us enough already, now the two most positive female role models in mainstream pop culture died in the same year. Honor Blackman died this year and now a few days ago Diana Rigg died. How ironic that the 2 most iconic women on television died in the same year. 2 women to whom any woman should look up instead of looking up to trash like the Kardashians, Brie Larson, Scarlett Johansson, Cardi B, Miley Cyrus, Katie Perry, Madonna and Lady Gaga. And then women complain they cannot find a guy. No shit, if you look up to the trash I mentioned, but are also lazy as fuck.
Now let us take a closer look at the two women, who oozed femininity and girl power before the Spice Girls besmirched the term girl power and all the other women that took that term in vain like the Kardashians and shit.
Honor Blackman (RIP 2020, natural causes)
Cathy Gale and John Steed
Honor Blackman is the mother of girl power. When The Avengers started (not the Marvel or Disney Marvel Avengers), Honor Blackman was a phenomenon as Cathy Gale. She was the partner of the legendary John Steed kicking ass and solving crimes. The Avengers was a quirky and unique TV show and I do not remember seeing anything else resembling it years later. Cathy Gale was not your typical damsel in distress type of character. She could kick your ass. I was a teen when I saw re-runs of The Avengers. I don’t remember seeing any woman kicking ass before, except in comics like Spiderwoman (Spiderwoman vs Nekra, look it up) or Black Widow in Daredevil. Cathy Gale kicked ass in the 60s! In a time in which women were only arm pieces. Honor Blackman kicked so much ass, that they wanted her for the role of Pussy Galore in Goldfinger. And any self-respecting movie fan knows who Pussy Galore is.
If you don’t know her you suck
However, if you defend Brie Larson you don’t know what “Pussy Galore” is.
An interesting fact about Honor Blackman is, that she practiced judo at the oldest dojo in Europe, the London Budokwai. They wanted her to train judo before she started in The Avengers, so she did. Several years later she even published Honor Blackman’s Book of Self-Defense which is still a sought-after item to this day!
The book
"I know Judo".
A self defense technique against would be rapists!
Honor Blackman portrayed the perfect woman in The Avengers. A confident woman, who was sexy too and could take care of herself.Outside of TV Honor Blackman did not always make friends because she spoke her mind. She got nuclear heat for saying:” Margaret Thatcher was a powerful figure, but she did damn all for empowering women. “ Personally, I think Honor was still too kind for Thatcher.
Honor also criticized Connery after he became a tax exile. She said: “I disapprove of him strongly now. Because I don't think you should accept a title from a country and then pay absolutely no tax towards it. He wants it both ways. I don't think his principles are extremely high.”
A woman after my heart for sure.
For the past few years there was always some news article that said Honor Blackman had died. It seemed like some running joke. Everytime I thought:” RIP” but the news turned out to be false. Except for this year. This year the news was not false, and we lost a female legend. A woman who stood for something.
Honor Blackman will forever be known as the woman who introduced girl power, because let’s face it, what was the first TV show after the Avengers having an ass-kicking female in the lead role? I thought so.
Honor Blackman is and will remain the mother of girl power. RIP.
Diana Rigg (RIP 2020, cancer)
Emma Peel and John Steed
Diana Rigg was the godmother of girl power. Personally, the term girl power has been besmirched for years, but not when Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg did their thing.
Just when I thought Honor Blackman was the perfect woman along came Diana Rigg. She was the successor to Honor Blackman in The Avengers. She played Mrs Peel, the new partner of John Steed. And they continued the same trend of fighting baddies side-by-side week by week. Peel was never portrayed as the damsel in distress. She was portrayed as John Steed’s equal. Just like Cathy Gale Emma Peel could take care of herself. Next to that the chemistry on-screen between her and John Steed was off the charts. Emma Peel oozed class, sophistication, style, sexiness and girl power all in one. In fact, she oozed so much class that they made her Mrs Bond in On Your Majesty’s Secret Service. The only woman to ever be Mrs Bond.
"Bond, Mrs Bond".
Diana Rigg had no martial arts background, but as a teen, when I watched the re-runs I didn’t notice that. She kicked ass in my eyes.
I didn’t notice anything.
One of the biggest blasphemies I ever saw was that they did a remake of The Avengers in the 90s. They made a movie, in which Uma Thurmann starred as Mrs Peel. If there was one woman who doesn’t have an ounce of Diana Rigg’s class, sophistication, style and sexiness it was Uma Thurmann. Blasphemy of the highest order.
Diana Rigg played the perfect woman and after years of watching movies and TV shows I never found another woman who came even close to portraying the perfect woman. Brie Larsson? Piss off. Gal Gadot? Piss off too. Scarlett Johannson? Are you fucking kidding me? Were there good women portrayed? Yes, Michelle Yeoh in Tomorrow Never Dies, for example, but there are not many around. That is because Hollywood does not understand true girl power and are reluctant to give women positive role models. The only thing Hollywood wants is to get money from people by producing absolutely the drizzling shits. They cast vapid women, who have no shame, class, sophistication, style, or sexiness. And then we males are supposed to think they are sexy and shit? Fuck that shit.
Oh, and a fun fact for the comic fans. The Hellfire Club in X-Men was based on The Hellfire Club in The Avengers Episode A Touch of Brimstone.
Hellfire Club. Looks familiar?
Diana Rigg was the godmother of girl power and she was the real deal! RIP.
-Bop
PS. The Avengers TV show, both the Cathy Gale and Emma Peel runs were immensely popular all over Europe.