Still Have A Long Way To Go: Boondock Saints Two

Despite the small strides made towards gender equality in the media, there is still a long way to go. A prime example of this can be seen in Special Agent Eunice Bloom of Boondock Saints Two: All Saints Day.

Eunice Bloom was the new FBI agent in charge of investigating the Saints, twin brothers who believe that they are under the orders of God to kill all of the evil people in the world. Eunice is both smart and sexy, though she never sacrifices being smart in order to be feminine or being feminine in order to be smart. She is the leader of a team of three male investigators in charge of the Saints' case.  Eunice often bests the male officers in the investigations, noticing the crucial elements that the others investigators don't.

However, the character of Eunice Bloom has several pitfalls. When things eventually go wrong, the older male officer has to swoop in and save the day because the situation is "bigger than Eunice can handle". Also, Eunice has a very sparse range of emotions. She is either strong, smart, and confident, completely untouchable by any situation or she is the wilting flower, weepy and unable to deal with the big, scary world around her.

Despite the fact that Eunice's presence was a welcomed change to the franchise, the character was often lacking in the field of combating the traditional female stereotypes. If anything, Eunice reaffirmed the dominant ideology more than she disproved them. Though there have been advances in the re-framing of gender in the media, we as a society have a long way to go.