"If a strong female character has to be surrounded by dumb, incapable men to prove that she is strong, then she is not a strong female character."
The "strong woman "archetype came from a good place. It was a reaction to the "damsel in distress" archetype, a moment when society realised, "Oh, hold on, women are actually capable human beings who don't always need saving by a heroic man. Who knew!"
And since then we've had so many incredibly strong female characters as a result of that. Just to name a few; Ripley (Aliens, Scott, 1979), Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 1997-2003), Jo March (Little Women, Gerwig, 2019), Princess Leia (Star Wars, Lucas, 1977-1983), Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games, Gary Ross, 2012 - 2015), Clarice Starling (The Silence of the Lambs, Demme, 1991) and more recently Enola Holmes (Enola Holmes, Bradbeer, 2020-2022). But somewhere along the lines, things started to go very very wrong.
With the rise of woke culture, the strong woman has become one of the most disliked tropes in all of cinema. And honestly, it sucks. Cinema needs strong women (just like it needs strong men) but cinema also needs those strong women to be well-written representations of real women and not these obnoxious, self-righteous, girl boss pick-me's posing as real representations of women, all in the name of "feminism".
To make this seem more like a cohesive analysis, rather than the transcript from a chaotic rant I had on my lunch break with my work colleagues, I am going to split this post into three sections, to explain why most feminist films seem to fail when it comes to the whole, feminism part.
Women Are Perfect
Are they though? No! Of course, we're not. No one is, so why is it that so many feminist films have female protagonists who are absolutely perfect from beginning to end? The whole "Hero's Journey" seems to vanish into thin air.
For example, the first movie that comes to mind when thinking about who has fallen victim to the "women are perfect" problem, is Mulan (2020, Nick Caro). Don't get me wrong, the original Mulan does not face the same issue as its live-action remake does. For some insane reason, the remake portrays Mulan as this amazing, perfect warrior right from the very beginning. Due to this, we lose any character growth that we could have gotten and instead, we are forced to follow this flawless protagonist, who remains pretty much the same from beginning to end. When it comes to films, the protagonist MUST go through some sort of change. There MUST be an arc, else, what's the point? Why are we aligned with this person who can do no wrong? It's just not realistic. It's boring, and most of all it's annoying.
Women can struggle.
Women can fail.
Women can be weak.
Women can make mistakes.
And that's okay. It's realistic. It's relatable. We want to see characters, male, or female, struggle and then overcome that struggle and triumph. That's one of the main reasons we watch films. We want to root for these characters, but how can we possibly root for someone who is so perfect and so unrelatable, and half the time, super unlikable?
Men Are Stupid
First of all, men are stupid, but so are women. In fact, human beings in general are pretty stupid, there is no arguing with that. But it has become a trend in feminist media to portray all men as absolute bafoons, in order to lift up their female counterparts. If a strong female character has to be surrounded by dumb, incapable men to prove that she is strong, then she is not a strong female character.
Remember when Elizabeth Banks did that Charlie's Angels remake for no good reason? Well, it was a complete box office failure. Why? Because it alienated half of its audience. The women, aka the Angels, were perfect. And the men...well they were either villains or idiots. I'm convinced the premise line of that movie was: Women = Good, Men = Bad.
In one breath, Elizabeth Banks said that the movie wasn't for men, and then when it totally bombed, she decided that the reason it bombed, was because those men who didn't go and see her film, didn't go and see it because of sexism.
Elizabeth...sort yourself out.
Femininity is Weak
Perhaps the most common, yet bizarre trait of modern feminist media, is this rhetoric that traditional femininity is weak. It seems that female characters are having typically feminine traits taken away from them and subsequently adopting more masculine traits, to prove that they are strong. For example, a strong female character is often more aggressive, and less emotional. They don't want to fall in love, and they can never ask for help, oh...and they absolutely can never be seen smiling...or wearing a dress for that matter.
Taking away these typically feminine traits, in order to portray a supposed strong female character, is actually incredibly sexist when you really think about it. Surely we should be celebrating femininity, not turning it into something else and then pretending it's strong femininity when it's not.
I'm not saying all women in film should be portrayed with these classic feminine ideals that were created at a time when women literally had no rights. No, not at all. What I'm saying is, that women come in all shapes and sizes, with all different kinds of traits. A lot of women encapsulate those more traditionally feminine traits, and some do not, so why are we only seeing one type of woman portrayed on screen? Currently, what we are exposed to is women who can only be considered strong when they shed feminine traits in some form or other, which when you put it like that, is a load of BS.
A woman can want to fall in love, and still be strong. A woman can cry, and still be strong. A woman can smile, and still be strong. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point, or at least, I hope you do.
In essence, I wish the woke femininity plaguing cinema at the moment would die a long painful death, and I hope that in the near future, we get authentic female characters, who have flaws, stand out even when they are side by side with a strong male character and embrace their femininity.
I just want real women, portrayed on my cinema screen, is that too much to ask for?
Examples of badly written female characters -
Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel, 2019)
Wendy Darling (Peter Pan and Wendy, 2023)
Mulan (Mulan, 2020)
Eowyn (The Lord of the Rings)
Charlie's Angels (Charlie's Angels, 2019)
Harley Quinn (Suicide Squad 2016)
Elle Evans (The Kissing Booth series)
Tessa (After series)
Elizabeth Swan (Pirates of the Caribbean series)
She-Hulk (She-Hulk TV series)
Rey Skywalker (Star Wars series)
Snow White (Snow White 2024) - I know this film hasn't even come out yet, but from the state of the promos and interviews, I have a feeling this is going to be a rough one for the girls.
Examples of well-written female characters -
Ripley (Alien, 1979)
Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Tv Series)
Jo March (Little Women, 2019)
Aurora (Maleficent, 2014)
Princess Leia (Star Wars, 1978)
Hermione Granger (Harry Potter series)
Enola Holmes (Enola Holmes series)
Cassandra (Promising Young Woman, 2019)
Cher Horowitz (Clueless, 1995)
Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games series)
Harley Quinn (Birds of Prey, 2020)
Clarice Starling (The Silence of the Lambs, 1991)
Here are some films that I believe get the whole feminism thing spot on!
Enola Holmes 1 and 2 (Harry Bradbeer, 2020, 2022)
Little Women (Greta Gerwig, 2020)
Fresh (Mimi Cave, 2022)
Kill Bill (Quentin Tarantino, 2003)
Promising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell, 2020)
Maid - Miniseries (2021)
Booksmart (Olivia Wilde, 2019)
Wonder Woman (Patty Jenkins, 2017)
Moxie (Amy Poehler, 2021)
Legally Blonde (Robert Luketic, 2001)
Clueless (Amy Heckerling, 1995)
Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)
Terminator 2: Judgement Day (James Cameron, 1991)
Barbie (Greta Gerwig, 2023)
Bottoms (Emma Seligman, 2023)
Mulan (Barry Cook, 1998)
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