Think about all the examples in the post… she can out-drink any dude / she is a fierce fighter / her relentlessness as a battlin’ mother directly contrasts “motherly” character qualities / etc. Do you expect a 100 lb cutie to be able to pound 40 Coronas? No! Of course not! The visual contrast of a 100 lb woman swinging and downing a 400 lb monster with a right hook is compelling largely because it is unexpected and visually surprising.

When The Bride defeats 88 fighters in Kill Bill vol. 1 we are surprised at her speed and ability against multiple opponents (as we might have been with a male fighter), but moreso because of Uma’s size and sex. Then we are surprised yet again when this unbeatable — female — human fireball is downed by a shotgun full of rock salt. How can she — any hero, but especially The Bride — have been defeated so easily after all she has accomplished to this point? It just doesn’t fit. So is that same notion of unexpectedness / surprise that keeps our attention. Packaging great fighters in beautiful female characters allows storytellers to sustain that freshness throughout a narrative… and from Princess Leia to today, it hasn’t gotten old yet