'The Equalizer': Queen Latifah on reviving Black action heroine

Private detective Foxy Brown has survived a rape, numerous beatings, a brawl in a lesbian bar, a kidnapping and a shot — against her will — of heroin. TV tried to capitalize on the trend too in 1974 with “Get Christie Love!” in which star Teresa Graves delivered the spicy catchphrase, “You’re under arrest, sugar.” In more recent years, top actresses including Charlize Theron, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence, Milla Jovovich, Jennifer Garner Kiera Knightley, Alicia Vikander and Jessica Chastain jumped into the game, beating up bad guys and performing risky stunts in high-profile film and TV projects. While “Get Christie Love!” lasted only one season, viewers flocked to shows with white heroines such as “Charlie’s Angels,” “Policewoman” and “The Bionic Woman.” During the Blaxploitation era, Black women were “seen as more built for bodily strength, and it was less of a risk to put them in those action roles,” said Jeffrey Brown, associate professor of popular culture at Bowling Green State University. Black women should be portrayed as the interesting, warm, powerful, complicated people that they are.” “Queen Latifah as ‘The Equalizer’ felt like a natural to us,” said Terri Miller, the drama’s cocreator and an executive producer. “It’s really nice to see Queen Latifah breaking a couple of molds,” said Brown.