Gender Representation in Thrillers

Males and Females are often represented differently within Thriller genres, with men stereotypically being the 'hero' type of figure and the 'Damsel in distress'. However, occasionally women are given leading roles which I think gives an alternative, interesting twist. We too have a leading female role in our thriller opening who independently escapes the hands of her kidnapper. With this being said, I looked into other thriller films with strong female roles...

Hanna:

This film actually has many similarities to ours; obviously, it has a female lead but she too, is also cast as a sixteen year old. The story follows her on her mission as an assassin across Europe, tracked by a ruthless intelligence agent and her operatives. 

The role was played by Saoirse Ronan. The film needed a smart, courageous young girl to play the role and Saoirse ticked all the boxes. Although the films story line massively differs from ours, the characters personality traits are very similar, we too wanted our actress to show strength and intelligence.

Kill Bill:

Kill Bill is another prime example of a female playing a 'males' role. Uma Therman plays an independent woman who wakes from a coma and discovers her baby is gone. She suspects it is down too the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, led by her ex lover 'Bill.' and decides to seek revenge upon the five people who destroyed her life and killed her baby. 

Although the storyline of this film and ours differs, small aspects of it link with ours such as the idea of plotting a plan to get revenge and escaping a previous life.