A year ago, Grace and I were feverishly working to get Heroine Content up and running in time to publicize it at BlogHer 2006. We're both at BlogHer 2007 today, and it seems almost impossible that an entire year has passed.

For those new to our blog, here's an except from our first post, imaginatively titled Welcome to Heroine Content:

Heroine Content is a feminist and anti-racist blog about women kicking ass. More specifically, we write about women kicking ass in action films, with a side order of television and video game commentary as things catch our eye.

What does feminist and anti-racist mean to us? It means that we look for portrayals of women and people of color that show them as people, not caricatures of what women or people of color are "supposed" to be.

Action films and other cultural products aren't always about reality, and that's often why we like them. We're not asking for campy action flix to become high art. But even in the silliest of action films, there's no reason that the woman always has to be a damsel in distress or an evil seductress, the African-American always has to be a thug or a prostitute, the Asian always has to be a martial arts expert, and the Latino/a always has to be a gang member or a maid.

Why do we care? Well, every genre has to start somewhere. Science fiction began as a stereotypical white man's paradise, full of gadgets and scantily clad women. Now it gives us a range of stories and experiences. Just as there were women avidly reading the early science fiction and hoping to someday see themselves represented, we hope to see ourselves and others represented well in the films we enjoy.

Since then, we're reviewed and rated about 40 films. Here's a list of all the movies that one of us has reviewed on this blog in the last year, organized by the rating we awarded. The link for each rating should take you to the page of reviews with that rating, so you can catch up on any you missed. You know, in your copious free time.

4 Stars: Greatest Hits

• Alien (Director's Cut)
• The Long Kiss Goodnight
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day
• Mr. and Mrs. Smith
• Tank Girl
• Underworld

3 Stars: Strong Contenders

• Set It Off
• Paycheck
• Grindhouse
• Resident Evil
• D.E.B.S.
• Bandidas
• So Close
• King Arthur
• The Island
• Aeon Flux
• Underworld: Evolution
• V for Vendetta

2 Stars: So Close

• Transformers (although if Skye did a re-write, it would probably get fewer stars)
• The Mask of Zorro / The Legend of Zorro
• Pirates of the Caribbean III: At World's End
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
• Bad Girls
• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider / Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
• La Femme Nikita
• 300
• Alien (Director's Cut)
• The Fifth Element
• Blade: Trinity
• Elektra

1 Star: Typical

• The Chronicles of Riddick (Director's Cut)
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
• Blood and Chocolate
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
• Point of No Return
• Ultraviolet

No Stars: Setting Us Back 20 Years

• BloodRayne
• Strange Days
• Bandit Queen
• Van Helsing
• Domino
• Daredevil
• My Super Ex-Girlfriend

To those who are already reading Heroine Content, thanks for a very enjoyable first year. To new folks, we invite you to sign up for updates by RSS feed, LiveJournal, or email. And as always, we welcome comments, questions, and lively debate!