To kiss or not to kiss: the evolution of the female action heroine
How fresh choices can revitalise our creative decision-making
SPOILER ALERT: This article talks about some of the final scenes in the 2024 movie Twisters.
Twisters has been a box office smash amongst the northern hemisphere summer 2024 movie releases. A standalone sequel to the 1996 movie Twister, featuring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton, this new movie follows meteorologist Kate Cooper (played by Daisy Edgar Jones), whose initial love of chasing tornados ended in tragedy when she lost a number of people close to her. Years later, she’s lured back into the thrill of the chase by an old friend, who suggests they might be able to use new technology to predict and lessen the devasting effects of these extreme weather events. However, their mission is repeatedly interrupted by cowboy chaser and online personality Tyler Owens (Glenn Powell), who merrily gets in the way of their efforts, but who has much more depth to him than first appears.
The film is another nostalgic trip down memory lane, akin to 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick: both of them showcasing the enduring and universal appeal of quality action movies. However, in Twisters, one thing is very different. In post-production, executive producer Stephen Spielberg made a note that the final kiss scene between the two leads should be ditched, to avoid the romance undercutting the main narrative arc of the story, which is that Kate Cooper reclaims her confidence, agency and expertise during her journey of recovery.
I knew about this aspect of the story before I saw the film, and in truth I wasn’t expecting to like it. Yes, I love a dark and twisty action movie – but I also love a good romantic plot strand, and for me there’s nothing more heartwarming than seeing the kiss-culmination of an emotional journey where two people decide they’re meant for each other. However, to my surprise I found I very much appreciated the ‘no kiss’ ending of Twisters. I went home not only intrigued at my reaction but also bemused that my husband spent the car journey arguing with gusto for the inclusion of the kiss scene. Is he a traditionalist or just an old romantic? Whatever, it made for an interesting conversation!
I’m wary of the debate about whether this kiss-cut was the right or wrong decision: I don’t think we can translate one decision about one movie into a broad cultural observation – or pass a general judgement because of a personal preference. However, the fact it’s caused a stir is notable, and it did make me think about expectations in storytelling. When is the moment to follow a tradition, and when is it better to turn a trope on its head? I write about female heroines who are dealing with trauma, and this often means dark plot lines that don’t have much to do with promoting traditional female roles. However, I often include a bit of romance too, even if it’s understated, simply because I enjoy it, and I think my readers will like it too. Would readers be disappointed if I focused more on the action elements of the story, and romantic arcs were left unrealised? What are the risks between fulfilling or subverting reader/watcher expectations?
The more I thought about it, the stranger it seems that we still come to stories with such expectations. Haven’t we watched the male/female leads smooching in a gazillion action movies before this? Don’t we want to see something different? Or are we always drawn back to love as the elemental force that underpins every story in one form or another? What I appreciate about all these questions is that it makes me think more consciously about different aspects of my storytelling - which can only result in more thoughtful decision-making and more interesting stories.
Back to Twisters. Just because this film doesn’t end with a kiss, it doesn’t mean there isn’t the promise of one: we know this couple have a lot further to travel (and there’s a montage during the credits that shows us a glimpse of their future – but still no kiss). However, if there had been a kiss, the story would have felt done, whereas without it there’s more space for the watcher to imagine these new beginnings. One of the places where it’s easy to fail as a storyteller is by not letting the reader in enough – it can be hard to trust ourselves and leave gaps for readers to fill, and this makes it easy to overtell a story. And yet absence can be a powerful thing. The spaces on the page or in the movie, the things left unsaid, the kisses left unrealised, can be just as powerful as what’s there.
And then there’s the feminist angle. Does this non-kiss champion female agency and independence, rather than reducing Kate Cooper to a romantic object that Tyler Owens can rein in? Or are we falling into a faux-feminist trap by imagining that in order for us to value Kate Cooper as a heroine she must deny or subdue her own desires? Such questions never have easy answers, and while it’s fun to debate them, I suspect there’s truth in both perspectives.
For those left wondering about the kiss, you can easily decide which ending of the film you prefer because (of course!) the kiss they filmed is easily found online. It’s a Choose Your Own Romantic Adventure! Which is another way forward, I guess, but also dilutes the power of making a bold choice. In the end I liked Spielberg’s direction. And even more than this, I appreciated the way it made me think about the rationale behind these decisions, the effect of our choices on our creative output, and the possible ways to evolve our heroines within romantic subplots. Sometimes a kiss is just a kiss, and a story might have more to say without it. But at other times, a kiss might say it all.
Update from me: I’m currently head down and lost in the line edits for When She Was Gone - this is about the sixth or seventh round of editing so as you’d imagine my brain is a hot mess! So is my house, my to do list, etc. - but the deadline is today so I’m hoping to regain some control over the rest of my life over the weekend! This is particularly important as my other job is Harry Potter party planner for the eleventh birthday party of the season next week - argh, wish me luck!
Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading x