Tessa Thompson’s Hits

BY: Katherine Sloan

Whether she’s a Pussy Power advocate in a pop music video, a Valkyrie warrior in Avengers: Endgame, a secret agent fighting off aliens in Men in Black: International or a young working class woman simply trying to survive while paying off her dying mother’s mortgage in Little Woods, Tessa Thompson is incredibly effective. Janelle Monáe’s most recent music video for her single “Pynk” is filled with feminine energy and power all while proclaiming that “Pynk is my favorite part.” Thompson plays Monáe’s sidekick as she evokes lesbian sexual energy, vaginal imagery and self-love. It’s fun, flirty but also very timely. In a world filled with misogyny we need as much “Pynk” as we can get.

One of Thompson’s most alluring qualities is that she is unapologetically feminine and sexual: with her appearance in Monáe’s video, we, as an audience, are aware of her fluidity and playfulness. Complete with an entire army of beautiful and incredibly stylish young women with their legs dangling over the edge of a swimming pool and their bottoms in the air, we are almost at a loss for words while watching Monáe’s “Pynk.” Thompson is a girl along for the ride in a pale pink convertible with the desert air clouding around her like dusty pink cotton candy. At one point, she’s even seen between Monáe’s legs in a pseudo-birth sequence. Thompson has proved time and time again that she can play an action heroine: with her role as Valkyrie in Thor Ragnarok and, now, in the new Avengers film, she is a legitimate movie warrior—complete with armor, weaponry and tribal war paint. Thompson also stars in the highly anticipated Men in Black: International as a fiercely sexy secret agent in a black suit with dark sunglasses. Along with the action and frivolity, what’s really going to put asses in seats this June is the intense chemistry and flirtation between Chris Hemsworth and Thompson.

Finally, Thompson is unafraid of being decidedly unglamorous and this is refreshing to moviegoers because we are able to recognize her as a serious actress. Sure, she can be sexy and fun but can she also inspire empathy? In Nia DaCosta’s Little Woods, Thompson plays a young woman who reunites with her estranged sister (played by Lily James) to help pay back their terminally ill mother’s debts. In economically depressed North Dakota, Thompson’s character is caught between a rock and a hard place as she is also pregnant and has very little money. She must figure out how to earn the funds she desperately needs so she goes back to old habits and sells opioids. This is also a very topical story: with the misdistribution of wealth in this country, women’s rights at stake, opioid addiction and cases of cancer on the rise, Little Woods is going to strike a personal chord for many. So, watch out for Tessa Thompson. She’s a major player and starlet on the rise.