’From ‘Girls with Guns’ to ‘Grannies with Guns’: The Martial Arts Legacies of Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock from Hong Kong to Hollywood.’ Event

A stylized action‑movie poster shows two pairs of women holding guns against fiery cityscape backdrops. Bold text highlights themes such as “Girls with Guns,” “Grannies with Guns,” and references to Michelle Yeoh, Cynthia Rothrock, and four decades of action cinema.

Time:: 16:00
Date:: 2026-03-03 16:00:00
Venue:: Lecture Theatre B, Building 65, Avenue Campus and online

Event details

Nan Zhou (Doctoral Researcher, Film Studies, University of Southampton) After co-starring in Yes, Madam! (1985) and achieving tremendous success in pioneering the action cinema subgenre known as ‘Girls with Guns,’ Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock have remained active as female action stars across four decades.

This article examines the forty-year ageing process as represented on screen in the careers of these two actors, from their portrayal of glamorous young women in Hong Kong cinema to their embodying ageing female martial artists in Hollywood productions. Drawing upon their filmographies and public archives, this paper examines how ageing is not only a personal experience by analysing how their performances look and sound over time, alongside a cross-sectional comparison of their differing professional trajectories as ageing action heroines. Engaging with scholarship in ageing studies, celebrity culture, gender, and martial arts cinema, this article investigates the factors contributing to their sustained influence and evaluates the cultural significance of their continued visibility as female martial artists in the public sphere.

Bio

Nan Zhou is a final-year PhD candidate in Film Studies at the University of Southampton and an Associate Fellow of Advance HE (AFHEA). Her research examines martial arts cinema through Daoist yin-yang philosophy, with a focus on gender, movement and stillness, and audiovisual aesthetics. She has presented at international conferences including SCMS, Film-Philosophy, Martial Arts Studies, and Music and the Moving Image, and is currently organising a panel on combat, embodiment, and screen media for NECS conference 2026. Alongside her doctoral work, she is teaching on Digital Screen Culture this year and contributing a chapter to the forthcoming book project Men and Masculinities in East Asian Cinemas.

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