4 ms·
Strong female characters in fiction are often neither genuinely female, nor genuinely strong -- it's as though "strongfemale" is its own type of being. It's a
by lotharbot 13y ago
Strong female characters in fiction are often neither genuinely female, nor genuinely strong -- it's as though "strongfemale" is its own type of being. It's a character with a mostly-male personality, lots of curves revealed by a tight-fitting outfit, and the only bit of feminine personality that comes through is a flighty, childish crush on one of the male leads.
I know plenty of genuinely strong women. My wife, my mother in law, the principal at my son's school, and so on. These are people who can handle tough situations, who show genuine leadership qualities, and so on. I've also been delighted by a few strong female characters in modern media -- Shu Lien in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon; half of the main characters on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic; Zoey from Firefly; Delenn, Ivanova, and Lyta from Babylon 5. One thing they all have in common is that they have real, feminine personalities and real strength that doesn't overshadow their personalities.
- dragontamer 13y agoAgreed. The internet community has dubbed these the "Faux Action Girls": http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FauxActionGirl http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FauxActionGirl "Faux Action Girls" generally stop fighting when their wrists are grabbed, or when they get into the famous "Long-Hair Choke Hold" (erm... since when is hair a weak-point of the human body??). I can come up with tons and tons of examples of "Faux action girls", but there are indeed plenty of genuine heroines. Samus Aran (before the crappy game Metroid: Other M) was a true female Action heroine. She was rarely sexualized and got shit done. Its only in the modern era (ironically, after year 2000 or so) when she began to be sexualized with her Zero-suit and crappy love stories --- Uggghhh... Metroid Other M :-(
- lotharbot 13y agoThe negative type I was referencing would more appropriately be called "Action Faux Girl" -- plenty of in-combat competence, but the only thing that identifies the character as female is her large bust. Her personality and dialog sounds like it was written by a man, possibly as a target for his own adolescent fantasies.
- dragontamer 13y agoAh... you're talking about the "Suckerpunch" characters. Yup, you're right about that. As you've stated, there are plenty of good female characters if you look around though. Its just that there's far more poorly written characters in general.
- hrkristian 13y agoDo the main target audience for action films want to watch and listen to a female character who sports a typical "female personality" as written by a woman, though? I don't know if I want Monica from FRIENDS shooting nazis in WW2, I should think that'd kind of ruin the movie for me.
- dragontamer 13y agoMagical Girl animes are pretty famous for emphasizing female personality stories. Madoka Magicka had romance and friendship. Of course, it didn't stop the magical girls from kicking ass once in a while: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDYea3qPzSU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDYea3qPzSU Here: Sayaka is struggling with the reality of her situation. She has recently learned that she has her very soul has been ripped out of her. Without her soul, it is harder for Sayaka to feel the pains of conflict, both emotionally and physically. (By the end of the above fight scene, she has learned to regenerate her body, since the absence of her soul negates all pain she feels when her body is attacked). Her newfound ability to negate the feel of pain also negates her ability to feel intimate with Kyosuke. The implications of Sayaka's realization to "no longer feel any pain" ultimately drain on her psyche... and lead to an interesting situation regarding the romantic relationship between Sayaka and Kyosuke.
- hrkristian 13y agoThe anime genre isn't exactly known for its correct representation of the real world.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- Tichy 13y agoWhat is "feminine personality" in that context, though?
- lotharbot 13y agoEach of the people and characters listed (from my wife to Lyta) have unique personalities. They are all examples of feminine personality.
- Tichy 13y agoExcept for Firefly I don't know these characters you mention, and I am not going to watch My Little Pony just so that I can understand your comment... Don't recall what was specific about Zoe from Firefly.
- lotharbot 13y ago> "I am not going to watch My Little Pony just so that I can understand your comment" If you watch My Little Pony, it should be for the witty dialogue and intelligent commentary on human nature and friendship[0]. It's OK if you don't understand all of the nuances of my HN comment. [0] yes, really. There's a reason why adult males without daughters are one of the major audiences for the show.
- hrkristian 13y agoWhat actual strong female characters have in common is the fact that they're not showing a huge amount of feminine traits. Take Zoey in FF for instance, if you disregard the female body she is not really female, in a good way. She is a loyal soldier, she is a loving spouse, and she is a good fighter, yet she's not really feminine. You know she's a woman and the writers chose to leave it at that, focus on what's actually important and not the "omg I can't believe she's a woman with a gun". This is true for beloved male leads in movies as well, in the case of Sherlock Holmes we're not constantly reminded he's a man. The same goes for say, Iron Man. These are people who are introduced to a series of problems they have to solve, and in one way or another they get shit done with all the flare, despair and glory needed to make a good film. Anti-racism is the new racism, anti-sexism is the new sexism, etc. When people stop focussing on trivialities, deeper thoughts can come to life.