|
Who is a “strong female protagonist” done right?
########################################################################
|u/Curses_at_bots - 13 hours
|
|Margie from Fargo. She's the only moral, reasonable, responsible person
|in a town full of insanity. She deals with it all, while being pregnant
|and still finding the time to have emotions, but keeping them separate
|when there's a job to do.
|u/herculaneum - 12 hours
|
|My very first thought. She’s not physically ripped, she’s not a tech
|genius, she’s just the embodiment of female competence and everyday
|bravery.
|u/Curses_at_bots - 11 hours
|
|They did such a good job making her the protagonist. Protagonist
|period, not just a female protagonist. There's nothing over the top
|about her character, just a such a strong will and sense of duty in
|the face of such an absurd collapse of morality.
|u/buttstuffisokiguess - 10 hours
|
|And having bob "ya gotta eat marge. I'll make you some eggs."
|Idk. It's just so perfect.
|u/joooooooles - 10 hours
|
|I loved the portrayal of their marriage.
|u/SyfaOmnis - 9 hours
|
|It was really nice. Norm was just an average guy, not
|particularly handsome, not exceptional in his hobbies or
|ambitions. But they were devoted to each other and were
|making a life of it.
|u/gerwen - 5 hours
|
|> not exceptional in his hobbies Oh i don't know about
|that. He did get a painting on a stamp.
|u/M_is_for_ - 9 hours
|
|Finding a Marge to make eggs for us definitely marriage goals
|u/Sweeper1985 - 10 hours
|
|"So, that was Mrs. Lundegaard on the floor in there. And I guess
|that was your accomplice in the wood chipper. And those three
|people in Brainerd. And for what? For a little bit of money?
|There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don'tcha know
|that? And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day. Well. I just
|don't understand it."
|u/MistakeBeginning664 - 10 hours
|
|I cried the first time I saw Fargo. The wife's fear while she
|was tied to the chair in the shitty cabin still bothers me to
|even think about.
|u/herculaneum - 7 hours
|
|I lived in Fargo-Moorhead for a few years before the movie
|came out. The woman who played Mrs. Lundegard did commercials
|for a local carpet (I think?) showroom. Was weird to be
|watching the movie in Chicago and there she was.
|u/eletricmojo - 9 hours
|
|The dialogue throughout the movie is so good and so realistic.
|u/newyne - 8 hours
|
|I reference this line ALL THE FUCKING TIME! Like, I've had at
|least one bizarre, fucked up thing happen in my life, and...
|"Here ya are, and it's a beautiful day," is *exactly* how it
|feels.
|u/otheraccountisabmw - 11 hours
|
|Molly Solverson too. Just the most competent cop in town.
|u/TiresOnFire - 10 hours
|
|I loved her and Norm's story. Every time I watch it I attach myself
|to a different character. But I think she's my favorite over all.
|When she says, "Oh, Norm," my heart melts. And the "...and it's a
|beautiful day," line gets me too.
|u/bleachercreature95 - 11 hours
|
|She’s such a super lady!
|u/Still_Sitting - 11 hours
|
|And for what? For a little bit of money? There's more to life than a
|little money, you know. Don'tcha know that? And here ya are, and it's
|a beautiful day. Well. I just don't understand it.
|u/Proof_Bathroom_3902 - 12 hours
|
|"Hun? Prowler needs a jump."
|u/HiE7q4mT - 12 hours
|
|"Ooh, think I'm gonna barf!" "Aww jeez Margie"
|u/KHaskins77 - 10 hours
|
|Could say much the same of Molly Solverson from the TV show.
|u/Chocolat3City - 11 hours
|
|Love that scene where her husband woke up with her and made her eat
|breakfast before she went out to that murder scene.
|u/mooncritter_returns - 11 hours
|
|They’re a genuine, believable couples goal, if you think about it.
|Nothing sexy or explosively exciting about their life, but, “we’re
|happy.” What a concept.
|u/awkward-cereal - 10 hours
|
|Her celebrating her husband's art getting on the 2 cent(?) stamp
|was so heartwarming! He was discouraged because he didn't win and
|she was still so happy for him!
|u/jenncie - 9 hours
|
|“Gotta eat a breakfast, Marge. I’ll fix ya some eggs.” “Aw, you
|can sleep, hon.” “Ya gotta eat a breakfast…I’ll fix ya some eggs"
|u/Shirtbro - 11 hours
|
|>Margie from Fargo. She's the only moral, reasonable, responsible
|person in a town full of insanity. That's Norm slander and I won't
|stand for it
|u/homelyme - 13 hours
|
|Dana Scully. Even caused an uptic of women in STEM studies.
|u/VapoursAndSpleen - 12 hours
|
|Let’s add Uhura, then. She encouraged all girls and black people in
|general to aim their sights on space and science.
|u/Labradawgz90 - 11 hours
|
|YES! As a Trekkie, I LOVED Uhura, still do. Smart character,
|brave and sexy. I met Nichelle Nichols and she was a little older.
|That woman was more beautiful in person than on the screen.
|Absolutely gorgeous and so kind.
|u/borisdidnothingwrong - 8 hours
|
|I've told this before, but telling again as it's relevant. I
|was a sci-fi teen, with no money. This means that I read every
|sci-fi book at the library, and all the fantasy as well. One
|of my younger brother's friends was a massive Whovian. (Fan of
|Doctor Who, for the uninitiated.) The summer before Star Trek:
|The Next Generation premiered, a Star Trek convention was coming
|to town, at a hotel out by the airport. This was way before
|these things became mainstream. As noted, I was a poor kid. I
|would have liked to go, but the ticket would have made a huge
|dent in my hoarded Christmas and Birthday money. My brother's
|friend found out there was a Doctor Who panel at this convention,
|and it was all he could talk about. No one else he knew was
|remotely interested, so I was his sounding board. My mom
|approached me one day: she had talked to his mom and if I agreed
|to chaperone this kid 4 years younger than me his mom would buy
|me a ticket, and my mom gave me money for lunch. So, we went
|to the con. We went together to the merch tables, where I
|picked up some schematics for various Star Trek ships, and a copy
|of the Next Generation Technical Manual for the Enterprise D.
|We split up, because I didn't buy a ticket for the Doctor Who
|panel, and I found a quiet hallway to look over my purchases.
|I was sitting down, leaning against a wall, when I heard voices
|approach the door 6 to me. The door opened and a woman said,
|"I'm waiting out here," and out walked Nichelle Nichols, on her
|way to her Q&A. She saw 15 year old me scramble out of the way
|of the door with my geeky booty, and instead of ignoring me she
|asked how I was enjoying the convention, and asked me if I was
|taking science classes. I showed her my purchases, and she said
|she hadn't seen the Enterprise D Technical Manual yet, so I
|handed it over and she flipped through with me, stopping her and
|there to praise the design. We had a few minutes together
|before her people came to take her to the Q&A. I maintain that
|I had a better experience with her than anyone else at that
|convention. So kind, to take her time to speak sincerely with
|a shy, geeky kid from suburban Salt Lake City, and hold her NASA
|ambassador role with just one schoolkid. My brother's friend
|was very envious when we met after his panel to get some lunch.
|Still my coolest geek-cred moment.
|u/Maxxover - 7 hours
|
|Wow, you were so lucky. What a tremendous random experience.
|u/mmm_burrito - 5 hours
|
|This brings happy tears to my eyes. I'm so glad you go those
|moments.
|u/scylus - 4 hours
|
|This is such a cool story. Please don't tire of telling it.
|u/SwarleymonLives - 4 hours
|
|I'm a 45 year old man and I'm crying right now.
|u/FlyByPC - 9 hours
|
|At one point, she was thinking of quitting the show, and
|apparently Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. talked her out of it,
|because she was an inspiration.
|u/Character-Version365 - 9 hours
|
|There’s a documentary about her. She actually did a lot to help
|NASA recruit black astronauts. Extraordinary woman.
|u/DaddyCatALSO - 11 hours
|
|For a while (?maybe still???) woman and nonwhite astronauts were
|referring to themselves as "Uhura's Children." 4 were on the
|Challenger (sorry that was a life-changing incident for me.)
|u/yancyfry6 - 9 hours
|
|That's because she literally had a hand in recruiting the first
|women, black woman, and black men, herself after her Trek career
|was done. She knew them. Paramount did a documentary on her.
|There's also this recruitment video she was in. They wanted more
|minority NASA candidates, so she became spokesperson for the
|cause. https://plus.nasa.gov/video/nichelle-
|nichols-1977-recruitment-film/
|u/Overly_Long_Reviews - 10 hours
|
|Nichols was very close with Judith Resnik. I mentioned in another
|comment that there was a recent fantastic documentary on Nichols.
|The part where she's being interviewed about Challenger and
|Resnik was heartbreaking.
|u/ScytheSong05 - 12 hours
|
|"Mama! There's a black woman on the TV and she ain't no maid!" --
|Whoopi Goldberg
|u/vonshiza - 9 hours
|
|And Whoopi made it a goal to be on star trek one day. And we can
|thank Lucille Ball for OG Star Trek.
|u/nsfbr11 - 9 hours
|
|Educate me about Lucy and Star Trek
|u/Maximum-Captain-485 - 8 hours
|
|Her and her husband owned the studio that did Star Trek. She
|backed it so that it even got a second go at a pilot.
|Source: https://www.startrek.com/en-un/news/how-lucille-ball-
|helped-star-trek-become-a-cultural-icon
|u/ScytheSong05 - 8 hours
|
|Yep. DesiLu Studios for Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball.
|u/jmptx - 10 hours
|
|Let’s thank the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr for convincing Ms
|Nichols not to walk away from the role of Uhura.
|u/allywillow - 12 hours
|
|And Sam Carter in SG1
|u/MachineOutOfOrder - 10 hours
|
|You know, you blow up one sun and suddenly everyone expects you to
|walk on water
|u/Zediac - 10 hours
|
|After the first season or so. The first season was a little too
|cliche on the "um, actually a strong, capable woman" thing.
|Especially that off world Huns episode, *Emancipation*. The
|writing in general for the first season was a little not the best.
|It quickly got much better, though.
|u/Overly_Long_Reviews - 10 hours
|
|I think most Stargate fans pretend that Emancipation (the
|episode, not the concept) doesn't exist. The episode is so bad
|that it doesn't appear in syndication. I do have a soft spot for
|some season 1 episodes, but it definitely has not aged well and
|was pretty rough even when it was airing. I briefly met Amanda
|Tapping and saw her speak at a small convention many many years
|ago back when the series was still airing. She seemed really nice
|and professional. She did a wonderful job interacting with fans
|and answering questions.
|u/Vaivaim8 - 9 hours
|
|As bad as the first few seasons were, it was extremely
|entertaining to see the writers trying to tie ancient
|civilisations with goauld/ancients/some random alien race. It
|was as if they hired the ancient alien guy from the history
|channel.
|u/Overly_Long_Reviews - 9 hours
|
|Season 1 in particular had several very good episodes. But
|also some truly terrible ones. SG1 is one of those shows
|that more often than not skewed okay to bad, but the okay
|episodes were entertaining. And every once in a while there
|would be an episode like Heroes Part 2 (in season 7) and
|Window of Opportunity (season 4 and in my opinion the best
|time loop piece of media in existence) that made it all worth
|it. I was skimming over the episode summaries for season 1
|just now. Yes it had Emancipation, Hathor, and all the
|surprising nudity in Children of the Gods but it also The
|Torment of Tantalus, Thor's Hammer, and Enemy Within. I also
|have a soft spot for The Broca Divide, the episode that
|introduced Fraiser. Season 1 would also introduce the
|Antarctica Stargate and Cassandra. And had some really good
|early moments for Teal'c.
|u/Lead-Forsaken - 10 hours
|
|I'm re-watching X-files atm and I was thinking that by making her the
|sceptical medically trained person instead of the crazy believer, it
|really works so well.
|u/RedWestern - 11 hours
|
|The original, animated Mulan. They don’t make the mistake of having
|her just walk onto the training ground with the other rookies and just
|automatically know everything and be the best. She falls on her ass and
|generally gets the shit kicked out of her just like everyone else. And
|by the time she becomes a competent fighter, her comrades are all
|competent fighters with her. But she still has that little bit of an
|edge to her due to her intelligence. My point being, she’s “done
|right” because she’s actually believable.
|u/iceariina - 10 hours
|
|"I don't think I can do this." That was so real and refreshing. She
|wasn't out to prove that women can fight too, she was there to save
|her father.
|u/Valor816 - 9 hours
|
|I thought it was refreshing to see a female character experience
|the transformation montage too. So often they get denied that, "I
|can't do this, wait maybe I can, oh yay I can do this" arc.
|u/Playful_Mind_8835 - 9 hours
|
|Honestly my favorite movie montage!
|u/klaw14 - 8 hours
|
|Let's get down to business!
|u/Snopes504 - 8 hours
|
|To defeat the Huns!
|u/EeSeeZee - 7 hours
|
|Did they send me *daughters?*
|u/stratosfearinggas - 7 hours
|
|When I asked for sons!
|u/kiingof15 - 6 hours
|
|You’re a spineless, pale, pathetic lot
|u/Captpan6 - 6 hours
|
|But you can bet before we're through
|u/TheBerethian - 7 hours
|
|Best song for one too
|u/pcard2256 - 8 hours
|
|It's such a classic hero's journey moment, and it’s nice to see a
|female character get that same badass training montage without it
|feeling forced or patronizing. Mulan really earned every punch
|she threw
|u/Furydragonstormer - 9 hours
|
|There’s also something more powerful and inspiring in putting it
|like that. Deliver a message of “you’ll never know unless you
|try”
|u/Kuato2012 - 9 hours
|
|>So often they get denied that, "I can't do this, wait maybe I
|can, oh yay I can do this" arc. Well that requires the character
|to fail and struggle at first. Not exactly compatible with the
|girlboss being the most girlbossest girlboss to ever girlboss.
|u/greentea1985 - 7 hours
|
|The problem with girlbosses is something that superheroes and
|action heroes dealt with a few decades ago. If a character is
|perfect in everything they do, they are boring. Flaws,
|struggles, and stakes are what makes a character interesting.
|When you write these characters as perfect, it makes the dull
|and uninteresting.
|u/Takemyfishplease - 9 hours
|
|That scene in Moana is strong too, after the Rock ditches her and
|says the ocean was wrong picking her. But then she does, and we
|get that bangin’ song too.
|u/standbyyourmantis - 9 hours
|
|I love that scene so much. She has her moment of doubt, and her
|grandmother even comes to her and acknowledges it was a lot to
|ask of her, reassures her that she's still loved and valuable,
|and gives her permission to go home if it's too hard. Then she
|gets the chance to remind herself of what she's done and who she
|is, and decide that it's not the ocean that called her to this,
|it was herself. It also occurred to me *today* that her name
|being "Moana" (which means 'ocean') means at the end of the song
|when she says "I am Moana" it also means "I am the ocean."
|u/TrueDeadBling - 5 hours
|
|> when she says "I am Moana" it also means "I am the ocean."
|The amount of times I watched this movie with my little sister
|and I've just now realised this 😂
|u/Wheres_MyMoney - 4 hours
|
|How Far I'll Go is an absolute banger both as a Disney song and
|as not a Disney song.
|u/pcard2256 - 8 hours
|
|Her vulnerability in that moment made her character even more
|powerful. It wasn’t about proving a point; it was about her love
|and determination to protect her family. That realness is what made
|her such a great protagonist.
|u/rkgk13 - 9 hours
|
|Mulan's major advantage is her ability to think outside the box. The
|way she Macgyvers solutions for doing her chores in the first scene
|was a great way to show that creative problem solving is Mulan's
|gift. I love that every success she has in the movie is tied to this
|trait. It's not that she's an impervious girl boss. It's that she
|thinks different.
|u/pcard2256 - 8 hours
|
|perfect reminder that being clever is just as powerful as being
|strong
|u/FUTURE10S - 4 hours
|
|Being strong doesn't give you the title of Disney protagonist
|with the highest confirmed kill count.
|u/Bakoro - 8 hours
|
|>It's not that she's an impervious girl boss. It's that she thinks
|different. Thinks different, *without* being quirky/kooky/wacky
|and cutesy.
|u/amican - 7 hours
|
|Understanding the difference between "You will need them both to
|succeed" and "you have to carry the dead weight."
|u/canadianlongbowman - 10 hours
|
|Exactly, that was such a fantastic portrayal because she had to
|overcome her limitations, compared to her male counterparts. She
|wasn't always successful from a physicality standpoint, but what's
|inspiring about the film is that her grit and determination to
|achieve a higher good is what carries her through, and that
|automatically makes her a noteworthy, universal character. No chip on
|her shoulder as to her motivations, and no condescension on the part
|of the writers.
|u/ShangWesternGeolo - 9 hours
|
|The live-action version, on the other hand, tries too hard to make
|Mulan a "girl boss" by giving her innate superpowers in the form of
|magical chi. This undermines her growth and robs the story of its
|central theme: the triumph of determination over adversity. Instead
|of showing a relatable character who rises to the occasion, it
|presents a dull, one-dimensional figure whose path is predetermined
|by her abilities. It’s a flat narrative that lacks the emotional
|depth and relatability of the original.
|u/qfrostine_esq - 10 hours
|
|They did her so dirty in the live action.
|u/One-Inch-Punch - 10 hours
|
|Yeah, the live action Mulan really pissed me off. Like it's not
|even remotely the same story. Why?
|u/Doom_Cokkie - 8 hours
|
|Honestly, live action. Mulan really showed me how far we as a
|society strayed from the meaning of a strong woman. I mean, how
|would any little girl relate to that movie. Hell, any woman. Oh
|yeah, you can do whatever you set your heart to as long as you
|were born with all the talent for it!
|u/qfrostine_esq - 9 hours
|
|I thought the story that a woman can be strong with strength,
|hard work, and grit was far more interesting than magical girl
|uses super powers.
|u/ceelogreenicanth - 9 hours
|
|Also she doesn't win in feats of raw strength which I don't think are
|good most of the time anyway as a character trait for men even. She
|wins with bravery and cunning. Universal traits we should all aspire
|to.
|u/cupholdery - 9 hours
|
|All of this! She never tries to win with brute force because that
|wouldn't be possible. So she uses intellect and strategy to cause an
|avalanche, thereby getting the highest kill count of any Disney
|protagonist lol. Then, even in a one on one fight with the big bad,
|she chooses to side step away to get him off balance rather than do
|some unrealistic She-Hulk power move. Too bad about the live
|action.
|u/Unnamedgalaxy - 9 hours
|
|They also put this story in the forefront rather than letting it take
|a backseat to the romance like every other Disney princess movie.
|And I'd even say the "romance" was handled well. Instead of just
|being star-crossed and liking each other because they are hot they
|actually like each other because of their strength of character and
|it's not actual romance until the last moments of the movie. It was a
|relationship built on admiration instead of school girl type crush.
|The writers really constructed an amazing character driven story.
|u/gingerzombie2 - 8 hours
|
|You trusted Ping. Why can't you trust me?
|u/TheyStoleTwoFigo - 8 hours
|
|My absolute favourite Disney *scene is the "Decision" scene, her
|finding her resolve under the Guardian Dragon statue in the
|thundering rain(which I only later in my adult life interpreted as
|her being the actual Guardian Dragon "awakening" to protect the
|family), the camera angle of her footsteps walking to that bomb ass
|synthesizer was a total boss moment, the elegant way she held the
|incense and the little ritual/prayer she performed to the ancestors
|for her safe journey, her reflection on the sword as she draws it to
|cut her hair, everything, everything made it such an epic moment. The
|cinematography, the dramatization, the symbolization, everything was
|so damn good.
|u/Regular_Ability116 - 9 hours
|
|The writers even opt for a bit of realism when she outright gets
|kicked out of the army cuz she couldn’t physically keep up with the
|men. She re-earned her place by proving her intelligence and
|persistence (when she retrieves the arrow).
|u/oishster - 7 hours
|
|I also loved that Mulan’s never actually shown as hating being
|feminine - she wears feminine clothes at the beginning, and when
|she’s supposed to go see the matchmaker, it’s not the clothing or
|appearance she has a problem with, it’s stifling her own personality
|and opinions. Also, when she first joins the camp of men, she’s
|clearly bad at pretending to be masculine. They think she’s a weirdo
|when she’s posturing and boasting, but accept her when she’s more
|honest about herself. However, the movie DOES have a bit of not-
|like-other-girls-ish tendencies because there are so few female
|characters other than Mulan, but in general is very pro-feminine
|characteristics in a way that was kind of advanced for the 90s. I
|loved that at the end when she takes down Shan Yu, she’s actually
|dressed in a feminine way, and she counters his giant wicked-looking
|sword with her sweet feminine little fan. SO much cool symbolism
|there!
|u/burnt_toasst - 13 hours
|
|Clarice in Silence of the Lambs
|u/Methzilla - 12 hours
|
|It's great because the movie acknowledges her strengths, weakness and
|challenges as a woman. Often lazy writers make a woman character
|strong by just making her more masculine. Clarice is a decidedly
|feminine lead (petite, soft spoken, etc) yet still a complete badass.
|u/Ezira - 12 hours
|
|I love how it acknowledges her challenges too. She's not constantly
|complaining "ugh, men 🙄" to the audience, we're just shown her
|actual world. The shot of her in the elevator at the beginning of
|the film is one of my favorites.
|u/Methzilla - 12 hours
|
|Absolutely. No amount of social equality can ever account for the
|image of that elevator scene. It's great.
|u/abqkat - 9 hours
|
|I'm 6'F and that scene really pointed out things that I'm
|pretty insulated from on professional settings. Now, it goes
|the other way for me, where I'm "intimidating" just for
|existing.. but that scene prompted me to ask some of my smaller
|friends about their experiences and how being physically small
|can make people treat you small in affect
|u/TransBrandi - 6 hours
|
|> She's not constantly complaining "ugh, men 🙄" to the audience
|Honestly, I think that some of this is more a symptom of media
|spoon-feeding the audience in general. Rather than just showing
|them. Like if they want to make a comment about how women are
|treated in the work place you can just have a scene of male co-
|workers belittling her in some way and her reaction to it. She
|doesn't need to turn to the camera, roll her eyes and then make a
|comment about men.
|u/macacolouco - 13 hours
|
|Also, Dana Scully in The X-Files (inspired by Clarice).
|u/Firelord_11 - 12 hours
|
|I fucking love Dana Scully. I know people always talk about the
|"Dana Scully Effect" on women, but even as a guy, I really admire
|and have been influenced by her. I think one of the hallmark of a
|well written female character is someone who has appeal regardless
|of gender.
|u/Jeramy_Jones - 11 hours
|
|IIRC all STEM jobs and FBI saw increased female enrollment post
|XFiles.
|u/CheekyMunky - 13 hours
|
|This is the top answer imo. In the book particularly. The movie did
|a fine job of translating, and Jodie Foster played the character
|well, but a always there's a lot of subtext and inner conflict in the
|books that gets lost in movie form but adds a lot of depth to
|Clarice's character.
|u/Expressdough - 12 hours
|
|Michelle Yeoh in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. She’s not a one
|dimensional, no emotions having badass trope of a character. Her
|femininity wasn’t cut in order for her to be “strong”. She’s a whole
|human being.
|u/essenceofmeaning - 5 hours
|
|Michelle Yeoh in everything! Also Everything Everywhere All the Time
|- flawed, complex, loving, angry, funny, just absolutely incredible.
|I’ll watch every single movie she’s in.
|u/cafezinho - 6 hours
|
|And she's really the center of this story, more so than Chow Yun Fat.
|Yes, it's as much about this unrequited love between his character
|and hers that makes it heart-breaking. There is a similar kind of
|character of Maggie Cheung in Hero. This is told almost Rashomon-
|style as each recollection of the story comes close to the truth.
|It is basically about how Tony Leung's character decides that having
|an emperor, ruthless as he may be, is good for China (which is not
|exactly a great message, but interesting in its moral choice), but
|for that emperor to be effective, the heroes have to die so as not to
|always present a constant threat. And, of course, the movie is
|amazingly beautiful. There's a similar theme (but not to the same
|degree) in Watchmen.
|u/odd_lightbeam - 6 hours
|
|And, importantly, she has a fully-fleshed out and complex
|relationship with another woman - and it's not a relationship just
|about a man, it's actually about the conflicts between their
|different stages in life. The differences of their perspectives are
|because basically they have opposite life experiences and opposite
|desires. Shu Lien wasn't a privileged noble with obligations, she
|survived a "career" as a fighting woman and wanted to settle down and
|retire with the man she loved - because she wanted to, not because
|she had to. Jen was a privileged noble girl who wanted to control her
|own destiny for a change, to have adventure and passionate sex with a
|(very hot and young) scoundrel. Their fights are about these
|clashes, symbolized in the sword. It's literally named the Green
|(jade) Destiny in the English version. The older, mature woman is
|telling the girl to be responsible while lecturing her about what the
|right thing to do is (chasing her and trying to get take back the
|Destiny). Jen refuses to be told what to do, and refuses to give up
|her right to self determination (the fight in the dojo, after which
|she literally tells Li Mu Bai "not another lecture!"). Notice that
|their relationship and conflict is not about a man.
|u/thebelsnickle1991 - 13 hours
|
|Ellen Ripley in Alien. She’s the OG.
|u/fulthrottlejazzhands - 13 hours
|
|I rewatched Aliens incidentally a few days ago. Ripley is not just
|one of the best female protaganists in film, she is one of the best
|full stop.
|u/FromundaCheeseLigma - 13 hours
|
|I guess she didn't like the cornbread neither
|u/StarChaser_Tyger - 11 hours
|
|It's because she was written as a character first, not 'how many
|feminist stereotypes can we jam into this?'. She is a character
|that happens to be a woman, not a woman character.
|u/Midstix - 9 hours
|
|If I recall correctly, Ripley was not gendered in the original
|screenplay.
|u/girl_im_deepressed - 8 hours
|
|According to the screenwriters O'Bannon and Shusett: **they'd
|intentionally written all the roles generically; they made a
|note in the script that explicitly states, "The crew is unisex
|and all parts are interchangeable for men or women." This freed
|Scott, Selway, and Goldberg to interpret the characters as they
|pleased, and to cast accordingly.**
|u/JoystickMonkey - 6 hours
|
|That is fucking rad. Thanks for sharing that bit of info.
|u/Unnamedgalaxy - 9 hours
|
|I've read that all the characters were written blind of gender
|and how they were cast ended up just being by chance. Any
|character could have been different
|u/AVeryFineUsername - 10 hours
|
|When she’s going to go rescue Newt you can tell she’s scared, but
|resolves to do it anyways. A character with true bravery with a
|strong will to overcome fear and do what needs to be done. Every
|other character would have written newt off as dead
|u/ska2oosh - 13 hours
|
|Ellen is honestly one of the best examples out there fr. They wrote
|her character really well for sure.
|u/Independent_Lack_658 - 13 hours
|
|Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor.
|u/Jahaangle - 13 hours
|
|Stabbed through the shoulder, one hand reloading her shotgun, almost
|taking out the T-1000 herself only to run out of ammo. Her first
|instinct is to protect John before the T-800 shows up. That scene
|is brilliant.
|u/Heiminator - 11 hours
|
|Icing on the cake is that John can immediately tell who the fake
|Sarah is in that scene. Cause his mother would never dare to risk
|his life to save her own.
|u/pcard2256 - 8 hours
|
|That moment is *chef’s kiss.* John just *knows* because no one
|loves you like your mom, especially when she’s willing to turn
|into a one-woman army to make sure you’re safe. Fake Sarah didn’t
|stand a chance!
|u/MonotoneTanner - 11 hours
|
|Wow good point amazing observation
|u/SayNoToStim - 12 hours
|
|Her escape from the mental institution is one of the best scenes in
|film, across any genres. Watching the cause of all of your problems
|walk around the corner just as she's escaping from those said
|problems is going to break anyone, and two minutes later she's
|leaning out a car window as it drives shooting at the T1000.
|u/XchrisZ - 12 hours
|
|Her yelling at John to get back under the bullet proof vests
|while shooting out of the back of a moving vehicle. Such a great
|example of a mother being a mother and a bad ass.
|u/JonDCafLikeTheDrink - 9 hours
|
|She's a bad-ass mother
|u/Heiminator - 11 hours
|
|Full agree. When I was a kid I thought the intro and the ending
|were the coolest parts. As I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that
|Connor breaking out of the mental hospital is the best part in
|one of the best movies ever made. Few other scenes in all of
|cinema make me physically wince like the one where she beats the
|security guard with the broken broom handle during her escape.
|u/DeluxeTraffic - 11 hours
|
|If you watch the extended edition then that broom handle
|beatdown is actually incredibly satisfying
|u/Grimdotdotdot - 12 hours
|
|It is _very_ hard to pump a shotgun with one hand. The lady was
|_strong_.
|u/GoblinKing79 - 10 hours
|
|Did you see Linda Hamilton's guns in that movie? And I don't mean
|the firearms.
|u/mlaislais - 8 hours
|
|I watched T2 before the first terminator so when I finally
|watched the original it took a lot of convincing to get me to
|believe it was the same actor.
|u/nanie1017 - 4 hours
|
|Right!! She was so soft and vulnerable in the first film, and
|such a trauma hardened person in the second. The scene where
|the T800 comes out of the elevator and she skids to a stop
|while running to escape is SO good. She goes from a totally
|focused, organized and resourceful badass to a complete
|puddle of fear in a split second.
|u/A_of - 6 hours
|
|Yeah I remember her getting jacked for the second terminator,
|she really looked like a rebel fighter.
|u/robodrew - 5 hours
|
|She worked so hard for that because of Arnold and when she got
|on set he said "'I cant believe that son of a bitch is fucking
|more cut than me" lmao
|u/IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES - 12 hours
|
|T1 to T2 is quite a change for the character too T2 was my first R
|rated movie. I was 8 or 9 and my grandmother took me as my cousin
|said I’d like it and it wasn’t inappropriate for me. Gram said “oooh”
|loudly when Sarah was doing pull-ups.
|u/Gram64 - 11 hours
|
|But it makes sense, she was just a normal 80s girl, and then with
|everything that happens in T1, you aren't just going back to your
|old life no matter how it ends.
|u/McMetal770 - 5 hours
|
|It's easy to forget that the events of T1 take place over only a
|few days. One moment she was waiting tables, then the surreal
|"You're dead, honey" moment happens, and then everything in her
|life turns upside down and changes forever. She almost dies
|countless times, loses everyone she cares about, learns about the
|horrific future that awaits humanity, falls in love, becomes
|pregnant, loses that love, and kills a seemingly unstoppable
|monster. That's a lot of shit to happen to a person in a
|lifetime, much less a week. And then in between the events of T1
|and T2, she has to somehow put herself back together mentally and
|dedicate the rest of her life to saving humanity, knowing that
|she will die trying. Even when she loses custody of John and is
|imprisoned in the mental ward, she never loses her will to carry
|on. As soon as she knows John is in danger, she improvises a plan
|on the spot, busts out of the place, and then carries on the
|fight. The mental and emotional fortitude it would take to turn
|the nightmarish trauma of the first film into the driven, steely,
|relentlessly competent woman we see in T2 is unimaginable.
|u/GrallochThis - 11 hours
|
|Sounds like Gram had an awakening
|u/PrestigiousBar5411 - 12 hours
|
|YES. I can rewatch T-2 all day. One of the greatest films ever made
|u/FartKilometre - 8 hours
|
|It still blows my mind how well it holds up today from when it came
|out in 1991. Its an absolute showcase for good practical effects.
|The very first scene, with the single endoskeleton crushing the
|skull and looking around felt way more menacing and dangerous than
|the army of CG skeletons shown in T3.
|u/DJLJR26 - 11 hours
|
|"A few days before we start shooting [director] Jim Cameron says to
|me, let's all get together and have a nice dinner," the actor
|recalls. "Linda comes in and then she takes her sweater off and I'm
|looking at her arms. Veins on the biceps and then the triceps —
|everything was like a bodybuilder except miniature." "I said, 'I
|cant believe that son of a bitch is f---ing more cut than me,'" the
|actor recalled with a smile. She put so much work in to look the
|part that a former mr universe was impressed. She killed it in that
|role.
|u/burtsdog - 13 hours
|
|She may not have been the 'main' protagonist but Rachel Weisz as Evelyn
|in The Mummy (1999) was for me the perfect mix of feminine, brains and
|grit. Just loved her. And she wasn't a mary sue either. She make
|mistakes.
|u/KGBFriedChicken02 - 12 hours
|
|Follow up, it would have been real easy to create some sort of
|relationship drama for her and Rick for the sequel, and instead they
|made them a happy, successful, married couple that comunicates their
|issues like healthy adults, raising a well adjusted, well mannered
|son, all while hunting and killing an ancient evil for the second
|time in a row, and none of it feels even slightly under done.
|u/ChurchyardGrimm - 12 hours
|
|That dynamic is absolutely all I want from media, I am so tired of
|getting-together stories and have a powerful need for secure
|married couples being affectionate BAMFs together.
|u/ArcadianBlueRogue - 10 hours
|
|that's one of the reasons the latest Spider-Man comics run is so
|popular. We get an older Peter and MJ in a healthy relationship
|being super supportive of each other and raising their kids. It's
|amazing
|u/ChillinChum - 9 hours
|
|You mean the writers have stopped being so sadistic to
|spiderman?!
|u/ArcadianBlueRogue - 9 hours
|
|I mean, the Amazing run still has that crap. Ultimate
|Spider-Man has a happily married Peter supporting MJ and her
|fully supporting him. They got two kids and it''s not a bunch
|of "keep everything secret from the family" stuff going down.
|Been a great run so far.
|u/Unicornmayo - 12 hours
|
|The first two movies are so damn great.
|u/Stillwater215 - 11 hours
|
|I wish they would make a third…
|u/vonHindenburg - 8 hours
|
|I also love that they come up with a totally reasonable way for her
|fop of a brother to be useful. Sure he's an alcoholic party boy
|who hates getting his hands dirty, but he was on the shooting team
|in school and can snipe with the best of them.
|u/The_Paprika - 6 hours
|
|This is going to sound very random but this is one of things I love
|about the How to Train Your Dragon series. Once Hiccup and Astrid
|get together you see them have a very healthy relationship over the
|next two movies.
|u/BigRedTeapot - 12 hours
|
|I…. Am… A librarian!
|u/MonsiuerGeneral - 12 hours
|
|Ah. I know. You’re wondering... what is a place like me doing in a
|girl like this?
|u/SnidgetAsphodel - 12 hours
|
|One of the my favorite movie lines. She's fantastic haha
|u/lyerhis - 11 hours
|
|No lie, I think that scene is what makes The Mummy one of my
|favorite comfort-watch movies. Just the completely oblivious,
|drunken pride she has about being a librarian makes me so happy
|every time.
|u/SirRuthless001 - 10 hours
|
|One of my favorite lines in the entire movie. The way her face
|lights up with pride as she proclaims her profession lol. Great
|movie.
|u/javerthugo - 11 hours
|
|Patience is a vir-tue!
|u/Yesitmatches - 11 hours
|
|Not right now it isn't!
|u/ArcadianBlueRogue - 10 hours
|
|This is a good answer. She has every bit as much agency in 1 and 2 as
|Rick does. I rewatched the first one when it came back to theaters a
|few months ago and it holds up so well. Just a super fun movie and
|she and Brennan are so great in it.
|u/JJBrazman - 12 hours
|
|Rachel Weisz is always fucking great. Have you seen her in the
|Lobster? She’s such an original soul.
|u/Paxa - 13 hours
|
|Kim Wexler
|u/ItsEarthDay - 13 hours
|
|I never realized just how strong her character was until she moved to
|Florida and became a shell of the person she used to be, where she
|became just an average person. Then, you see her old strong self
|flare up when she returned to Albuquerque.
|u/Specialist_Egg7117 - 10 hours
|
|I think her moving to FL was an example of how strong of a person
|she was actually. She had actual remorse for what she did, and
|knew she didn’t deserve to practice law anymore. She resigned
|herself to a simple life intentionally, unlike Jimmy, who was
|addicted to chaos.
|u/the_pounding_mallet - 10 hours
|
|I think that’s why fun and games is my favorite episode. Kim
|makes her decision while we see Saul, Mike, and Gus not be able
|to change.
|u/Shirtbro - 11 hours
|
|The decision to substitute Miracle Whip for mayonnaise is not taken
|lightly
|u/badger_and_tonic - 11 hours
|
|Yep. Yep. Yep.
|u/SpicyAfrican - 11 hours
|
|A travesty that Rhea didn’t get an Emmy for Kim Wexler.
|u/Sonjicak - 10 hours
|
|Or the whole show in general, didn't get a single one
|u/Intelligent_Grade372 - 10 hours
|
|Lalo and Kim deserved multiple noms and multiple wins.
|u/khaleesi_me_maybe - 7 hours
|
|isn’t that dumb? i believe it holds the record for most
|nominations without winning. because this is the bad timeline!
|u/Never_Gonna_Let - 10 hours
|
|Yeah, obviously Bob Odenkirk is a phenomenal actor, it's a big
|chunk of why he got some movie deals and the spinoff happened in
|the first place. But his character wasn't as complex as Wexler.
|She maintained that moral compass while doing some incredibly
|immoral things, and all the conflicts, all the pride, sadness and
|anger, guilt, fear were palpable when she was acting. Michael
|Mando and Jonathan Banks deserve shoutouts too, but one of Rhea's
|three Emmy noms should have brought home the win. She did such a
|good job expressing a lot of complicated emotions in a character
|that was written with a lot of depth. I thought at the very least
|she'd see more work after such a kickass performance. Only thing
|I've seen her in since was Kite Man: Hell Yeah (where she voiced
|the insect queen). That lady can act! She should do it more.
|u/CabbageStockExchange - 11 hours
|
|One of the most complex characters I’ve seen. She’s definitely a
|great example of a strong female protagonists done right. I always
|think of that line she says early on “You don’t save me. I save me”
|u/GeneralFuzuki7 - 12 hours
|
|Started watching for Saul and stayed because how great kim was in
|that show
|u/aretaker - 10 hours
|
|I’m watching it now and trying to perfect my Kim Wexler ponytail.
|u/finally_wintermuted - 10 hours
|
|For my money, that’s a ponytail worth risking it all.
|u/CaptainFilmy - 9 hours
|
|It's really as much Kim's story as it is Jimmy's
|u/GeneralFuzuki7 - 9 hours
|
|100000% true. It was a great insight into how jimmy became Saul
|Goodman, and without Kim it wouldn’t have turned out the same.
|She was one of the most interesting parts of the entire show.
|Seeing how her character developed over the seasons and her
|relationship with jimmy was just perfectly crafted. I’d have
|watched a Kim spin off if it was even possible to do.
|u/hellomolly11 - 10 hours
|
|I finished Better Caul Saul about a year ago and I still think of how
|composed and disciplined Kim Wexler is, and how much compromising it
|must have taken for her to live a new, mundane life in Florida. She’s
|actually inspirational in her professionalism and dedication.
|u/explicitlarynx - 10 hours
|
|I don't think any female role I've seen in my life has even come
|close to Kim Wexler.
|u/Appropriate-Dig-7080 - 12 hours
|
|Great shout out. Phenomenal character and show.
|u/Flat_Entertainer_937 - 8 hours
|
|The only correct answer. I love that her draw to a “bad guy” isn’t
|daddy issues. It’s a poor upbringing. Which is directly paralleled by
|Jimmy’s relationship with his mom. It’s SO rare that a woman gets to
|be equally as damaged as the protagonist, and actually be the good
|guy in the end. Without ever being a delicate little flower.
|u/deusasclepian - 11 hours
|
|One of the best and most interesting woman characters ever written in
|my opinion
|u/danklinxie - 12 hours
|
|Chihiro in Spirited Away… she starts out as a scared little girl who
|needs protection from those around her to becoming someone who, through
|her own decisions and courage, finds clever ways to protect herself and
|her loved ones.
|u/Tsuhume - 5 hours
|
|Maybe its me but I like Chihiro in the ways that she doesn't change.
|She grows as a character but she always feels like herself. Even in
|the final scene, she holds her parents because she is unsure and a
|little scared. Its moments like these that separates her and cement
|her position in the zeitgeist.
|u/ZTH-Yankee - 13 hours
|
|Samantha Carter from Stargate
|u/bitemark01 - 9 hours
|
|They were originally going to have her in a more revealing outfit
|than the guys, but the actor protested, saying something along the
|line of: this this is the military, we would all be wearing the same
|thing. Which I think ultimately helps with the show's credibility.
|u/KesselRunner42 - 9 hours
|
|IIRC, they had to be strict about her hair style/length too because
|they were trying to be realistic to what she'd be allowed in the
|military
|u/HookDragger - 6 hours
|
|Considering it was EXTREMELY well backed by the US Air Force,
|they made sure to portray it as great as possible... but also not
|100% unrealistic in how people look and act.
|u/VampireFrown - 6 hours
|
|Indeed (ayy), every episode had an Air Force consultant on set.
|u/MajorNoodles - 6 hours
|
|The actual Air Force Chief of Staff was in one episode
|u/Jerithil - 5 hours
|
|Two different Chief of Staffs appeared in episodes.
|u/No_Potato5806 - 8 hours
|
|I didn't know this, that makes her even cooler knowing the actress
|did that
|u/Paula92 - 9 hours
|
|Vala Mal Doran too. At first I didn't take her seriously because, oh,
|she's the sexy alien fanservice girl. But then she grew out of it as
|she got used to Daniel treating her like a person and friend.
|u/TheSnackWhisperer - 12 hours
|
|Way too far down this post.
|u/TrappedInABoxByMimes - 10 hours
|
|Exactly what I was gonna say.
|u/zyh0 - 9 hours
|
|I like how during the one season when she was in-charge of Atlantis,
|she defeats the Replicators, defeats Michael and his hybrids, and the
|Wraith are in-fighting. As Jack O'Neill said it best when the
|Atlantis team came to rescue him "Next time., bring Carter!!"
|u/SmallBol - 10 hours
|
|Same with Dr Weir. And Teyla. Great female characters in the Stargate
|series'
|u/DaMosey - 13 hours
|
|All the Ghibli protagonists
|u/Soulerous - 13 hours
|
|I was going to say this. The female stars in Hayao Miyazaki’s films
|have concerns and fears, yet they also have the courage and strength
|to press through adversity and succeed. They are stoic at times, and
|emotionally expressive—even to the point of tears—other times. They
|are real, flawed, relatable, heroic, and have noticeable character
|progression and true strength. Some of the best examples of strong
|female characters.
|u/Kelter82 - 12 hours
|
|And their indentites/successes/motivations do not revolve around a
|man.
|u/kharmatika - 12 hours
|
|Absolutely. “I am a little girl and I’m going to set out to start my
|own business and make my way on the world using my ~~creativity~~
|magic but OH NO I have been struck by ~~depression and
|disillusionment with adulthood~~ a magic sucking flu! Guess I’ll rely
|on my community for support, find productive ways to keep moving and
|visit a woodsy lesbian crow woman for a few weeks to do art therapy,
|and eventually ~~come out of this depressive episode~~ get my magic
|back! Such a fucking g amazing story, she’s granted so much autonomy
|as a character, all her decisions feel important, and her challenges
|feel big enough that it’s significant when she is able to overcome
|them. THAT is how you write strong women.
|u/PlaguesAngel - 11 hours
|
|Was that supposed to be a metaphor…am I silly? I think I’m silly.
|I’ve watched it so many times and never took it as a metaphor….im
|silly
|u/TheTwistedToast - 10 hours
|
|I think Kiki's delivery service is absolutely a metaphor for
|depression
|u/DandyLyen - 9 hours
|
|I felt it was more burnout in general. "Flying used to be fun,
|until I started doing it for a living..."
|u/oilofotay - 6 hours
|
|1000% this. When Kiki visits Ursula (her artist friend) she
|even talks about artists block and burnout and how she fights
|through it.
|u/hannah_joline - 10 hours
|
|I think lots of people today will also relate it to burnout as
|well.
|u/2020popcicle - 9 hours
|
|You just blew my mind. I watched this movie so much as a kid and i
|could NOT figure out why it resonated with me
|u/FZ1_Flanker - 12 hours
|
|Nausicaä is one of my favorite characters in any piece of media!
|u/blvcklite - 11 hours
|
|Nausicaa, Mononoke, and Chihiro are a legendary trio
|u/Delicious-Tachyons - 12 hours
|
|Question for you that it's semi-related. Is Mononoke a protagonist?
|She's kind of one side of an argument about industrialization but
|she's also a total badass.
|u/SwampgrotSage - 12 hours
|
|Ashitaka is the protagonist of Princess Mononoke, as he comes first
|and it is largely his perspective through which we experience the
|story. San (the wolf princess) and Lady Eboshi are both supporting
|cast, but they are great, well-rounded female characters
|nonetheless.
|u/greywolf2155 - 8 hours
|
|> San (the wolf princess) and Lady Eboshi are both supporting
|cast, but they are great, well-rounded female characters
|nonetheless. Add in Toki (the woman who is kind of the
|unofficial leader of the women working the bellows) and you have
|three "strong female" characters that are all strong in
|*different* ways Great fucking movie
|u/NeitherSparky - 8 hours
|
|Miyazaki was at one of the San Diego Comic-Cons I went to. During the
|Q&A a girl asked him why so many of his protagonists were girls. His
|(translated) answer was “Because women are beautiful, and they are
|strong.”
|u/Sudden-Suggestions - 13 hours
|
|Chrisjen Avasarala (The Expanse) - intelligent and ambitious,
|unapologetic, but also capable of personal reflection and growth.
|u/Vexonte - 13 hours
|
|That show and book series just has generally well written characters
|all around.
|u/Cambot1138 - 12 hours
|
|The most notable thing is how much thought and effort that went
|into minor and even single appearance characters. It always feels
|like you’re just seeing another whole persons story intersecting
|with the main characters. Examples: the big guy who helps Naomi
|load the Weeping Somnambulist, the Doctors Without Borders guy who
|wants to get into Eros, Lieutenant Lopez, etc.
|u/Vexonte - 12 hours
|
|Its like how bioware used to make character that acted as
|characters within themselves, introspections on their greater
|cultures, and introspection on the tropes they represent.
|Expanse has the added benefit of understanding how characters
|work on a systematic level. Hey, beurucrats exist let's
|demonstrate how an effective one works. Hey you can't have a
|single character run every aspect of the ship. Here is how skill
|pools are divided among the 4-man crew, and how Amos and Miller
|demonstrate greater intelligence as characters that would be
|useally be relegated to the dumb jocks.
|u/AYASOFAYA - 13 hours
|
|Yeah all of the women in that show were good, but Avasarala is a good
|example of how to do this without making her physically strong as a
|trope.
|u/Icandothemove - 8 hours
|
|They all are, except Bobby. Even Drummer who's a certified bad
|ass too isn't super powered. She's just tough as fuckin nails.
|u/timtheonly - 13 hours
|
|Try not to put your dick in this. It's fucked enough already.
|-Chrisjen Avasarala
|u/Fearlessleader85 - 12 hours
|
|"Where are you going with this?" "WHEREVER I GODDAMN LIKE!!" -
|Avasarala
|u/Afalstein - 12 hours
|
|The thing is just how sudden that line is. Avasarala has been
|polite, reserved, demure in the proceedings up to that point, and
|then in a moment she immediately establishes that she's not in
|the least fooled by this charade. She knows the Martians are
|rolling over for a reason and can't do anything to stop her.
|u/Fearlessleader85 - 12 hours
|
|Yep, just "Sit down and shut up, little boy, I'm not playing
|your game." Fucking brilliant. And then right back to sweet
|grandmother.
|u/McMew - 12 hours
|
|"Where are going with this line of questioning?" *"Wherever I
|goddamn like!"*
|u/ChronoLegion2 - 13 hours
|
|Bobbie Draper too
|u/doctor_7 - 13 hours
|
|Shit, I think every woman in that entire show is power house.
|u/GuestCartographer - 13 hours
|
|This. Naomi and Drummer were both badasses who got shit done.
|u/LMurch13 - 12 hours
|
|I loved Drummer.
|u/RizInstante - 11 hours
|
|I'd follow drummer anywhere
|u/Beneficial-Truth8512 - 7 hours
|
|Same she was such a good leader character
|u/bickspickle - 9 hours
|
|Cara Gee played the part so well too.
|u/mr_blanket - 10 hours
|
|My Bossmang. Beltalodah!
|u/Fthku - 12 hours
|
|I liked show Naomi in the first season, but I felt like she got
|really annoying in later seasons. Book Naomi is great, though.
|u/blipblewp - 11 hours
|
|When I need to be brave at work I listen to Drummer's speech on
|the bridge of the Behemoth and then I go kick ass.
|u/Luxuriousmoth1 - 12 hours
|
|It's great because they all embody different forms of "strong
|female protagonist". They're not just a female character written
|as a guy. Avasarala is cunning, politically devious,
|extravagant, and fiercely dedicated to doing what she believes
|needs to be done to protect earth. Naomi Nagata is brilliant,
|motherly, and while she hates being party to violence, she
|understands it's importance. Bobbie is tough, dedicated,
|patriotic. She believes in the dream of Mars, and we see her grow
|as a person though the series.
|u/Fappy_as_a_Clam - 11 hours
|
|>Avasarala is cunning, politically devious, extravagant, and
|fiercely dedicated to doing what she believes needs to be done
|to protect earth. And she was as well spoken as a poet. The
|way she said things was incredibly thought out and and almost
|like lyrics to a song. Her character was an amazing wordsmith.
|At least she was in the books.
|u/Kettrickan - 8 hours
|
|>And she was as well spoken as a poet. The way she said
|things was incredibly thought out and and almost like lyrics
|to a song. Her character was an amazing wordsmith. She is
|married to Arjun after all. His farewell haiku to her in book
|2 is one of my favorite parting sentiments of all time.
|Almost brought me to tears first time I read that chapter. >
|If life transcends death > Then I will seek for you there >
|If not, then there too
|u/Arbiter_89 - 12 hours
|
|+1 for both of these but especially Draper. I think all the women
|in the Expanse are exceptionally well written. I can't read this
|thread any further because I need to avoid spoilers.
|u/SluggishPrey - 12 hours
|
|I also really liked Camina Drummer. On the surface she's cold and
|practical, but her motivations are altruistic. I love the way she
|negotiates the line between pragmatism and idealism.
|u/Stampy77 - 11 hours
|
|It's absolutely mad when you hear the actress speak in real life.
|Really shows how class she was in the role.
|u/dravas - 7 hours
|
|Listen up. This is your captain. And this is your ship. This is
|your moment. You may think that you're scared, but you're not. That
|isn't fear, that's your sharpness, that's your power. We are
|Belters. Nothing in the void is foreign to us. The place we go, is
|the place we belong. This is no different. No one has more right to
|this. None more prepared. Inyalowda go through the ring, call it
|their own, but a Belta opened it! We are the Belt! We are strong,
|we are sharp, and we don't feel fear! This moment belong to us! For
|Beltalowda!
|u/SapphireWych - 12 hours
|
|Came here to mention The Expanse! Currently reading the series (and
|concurrently rewatching the show) and the female characters are so
|well written, while also being completely unique to one another.
|They're all powerful in their own environments and don't let anyone
|steamroll over them.
|u/skipskedaddle - 11 hours
|
|The expanse generally. Avasarala, Naomi, Drummer, Bobbie - all well
|balanced in context.
|u/CallMeKolbasz - 11 hours
|
|She's incredible both in the book and in the show. Shoutout to
|whoever cast Shohreh Aghdashloo for her character, because she's a
|perfect fit. Honestly, the Expanse is a prime example of how to do
|things right.
|u/petethecanuck - 11 hours
|
|Just don't call her Chrissy.
|u/Driftmoth - 11 hours
|
|I am the Secretary General, not your favorite stripper!
|u/arena_alias - 10 hours
|
|You can be both.
|u/Mercury756 - 11 hours
|
|She was just amazing. I could also just listen to Aghdashloo recite
|the ingredients on cereal boxes, she has such a great voice.
|u/AlluringRocketry - 13 hours
|
|Elle Woods
|u/Raktoner - 13 hours
|
|I love how feminine she is. An absolute girly girl and yet she
|totally rocks as the main character. And when the other girl thinks
|she's trying to sleep with the professor but instead they actually
|just talk it out instead of use miscommunication as a plot device?
|Such a good movie.
|u/leobubby - 12 hours
|
|Yes 🩷 So happy this movie came out when I was 13 years old, her
|persona and the way she handled being girlie and pinkish and
|intelligent at the same time was so fundamentally important for my
|self development. I can be girly and funny and interesting AND
|smart all at the same time and I will not let anyone dull my shine!
|u/trauma_queen - 11 hours
|
|And her innate kindness shows throughout the movie as well! It
|comes off as true security - not feeling the need to put others
|down or act superior, lifting others up! I am in a male dominated
|profession, and I am so grateful that where I work currently, the
|women are team players , secure, kind, and genuinely support one
|another. Elle woods is interesting and smart and girly... And the
|antithesis of a mean girl. I love that most of all
|u/Tackybabe - 10 hours
|
|I had a group of students who bleached / highlighted their hair
|blonde and had long nails and had … elaborate makeup - and this
|was at maybe 14 years of age… those girls consistently got the
|highest marks in the class and they had good attitudes and they
|were involved in extracurricular activities - I don’t know how
|they found the time, but they excelled at everything!
|u/ska2oosh - 13 hours
|
|This!! Especially since this is such a real issue so many women
|face. If they had made “miscommunication” a plot device it would
|have completely ruined (or at least taken away from) the
|powerfulness of the movie.
|u/bug--bear - 9 hours
|
|I love that in the musical it's Vivian, who _did_ assume a lot of
|shit about Elle, that sees the situation for what it is (Callahan
|being a creep and trying to force himself on Elle), goes to
|encourage and apologise to Elle, and dumps her fiancee for making
|fun of the poor girl who just got assaulted by their professor
|Vivian will never be feminine the way Elle is, but she genuinely
|tries to reach out to her through fashion in Legally Blonde –
|Remix ("and you look great in dark blue!" + "you've got the best
|freaking shoes!") because she recognises that it's important to
|her to be seen as both intelligent and girly
|u/ms-anthrope - 12 hours
|
|I love when girlie girls are portrayed as tough and smart and
|strong.
|u/truecreature - 8 hours
|
|Same. Most of the time when people try to write badass female
|characters in their works, they think that means a gruff tomboy
|who could just as easily have been written as a male character
|instead. As if women can't be strong without being masculinized.
|u/nowhereman136 - 11 hours
|
|She's also legitimately smart at the beginning of the film. She's
|president of her sorority, on the Dean's list, and scores a 179 on
|the LSAT, which puts her in the 90th percentile. This all before
|she even steps foot into Harvard
|u/rmk2 - 12 hours
|
|I love how she’s a girl’s girl and empowers the women around her.
|Never catty or competitive, even when she could have been
|u/EatYourCheckers - 12 hours
|
|I love how she is kind and nice. She could have been written as a
|stereotypical stuck up bitch but she tries to be friendly to
|everyone.
|u/Rooney_Tuesday - 10 hours
|
|I’m struck by this every time I watch it. There are so many times
|she could have been petty or rude back to people who were rude to
|her, but she never was. Just an all-round good person who was also
|not a doormat. ETA Except the time she said, “I don’t use that
|word. You must have heard it from Vivian.” But we can give that a
|pass because let’s be honest: Vivian would totally call someone a
|dyke. Elle was just being honest there.
|u/jaygeebee_ - 9 hours
|
|Also, “when I dress up as a frigid bitch, I try not to look so
|constipated” was ice cold but also well deserved haha
|u/Vexonar - 8 hours
|
|I think it shows when people are pushed to their limits,
|they're not afraid to show claws. Sometimes, you have to.
|u/jimmyhoke - 10 hours
|
|Elle Woods is a brilliant character because she’s the inverse of
|the stereotypical dumb blonde.
|u/ska2oosh - 13 hours
|
|LOVE Legally Blonde, one of my favorite movies of all time. I love
|the progression of her character. Plus, the musical is an absolute
|banger.
|u/BrettAmbler - 11 hours
|
|Met my wife doing this musical!
|u/50isthenew35 - 10 hours
|
|One of the few fond memories I have of my dad, an attorney, was
|that he loved Legally Blonde & Elle Woods, oh how he giggled.
|u/kharmatika - 12 hours
|
|When I was a kid, that was my favorite movie. I wanted to be a lawyer
|because of her. Then later I wanted to be a mathematician. Then a
|chemist. Finally, I ended up going into Cyber Security. I got my
|husband a job at my company after COVID, and one night, he had to
|stay late with 4 other guys, to work on an issue that had bricked
|network connectivity for a clients EMR software. I thought I’d go be
|a good wifey, and bring him some hot chocolate and dinner. That was
|my express purpose of making the trip out there. I get there, and
|they’re all working, and I ask what the issue is. “Oh the Dentrix
|server will NOT get LAN connectivity to their endpoints. We’ve tried
|every fix we can think of, it’s configured identically to everything
|else, it should be working!” Me: *does a google search* Dentrix’s KB
|on that error code says to take down WDF. You already tried that I
|assume.” 5 men and a combined 30 years of IT experience looked up at
|me in that moment and realized they’d committed the ultimate male sin
|of forgetting to ask directions. 2 clicks and it was resolved. In
|that moment, I felt something wash over me and realized what I had
|been looking for my whole life. I hadn’t wanted to be Elle Woods,
|Lawyer. I’d wanted to be Elle Woods, woman whose femininity is an
|asset to her masculine driven career. And I got it. If I hadn’t
|decided to play good wifey and come give my hubby a kiss, 5 people
|would have been working there all night. Nothing better than
|achieving your 8 year old self’s goals.
|u/FixinThePlanet - 10 hours
|
|This was very rewarding to read
|u/obligernotupholder - 10 hours
|
|I love this for you 💖
|u/Richard_D_Lawson - 12 hours
|
|I actually liked her way better in Legally Blonde : The Musical. She
|had a better character arc and her romance with Emmett had more of a
|chance to grow and develop. And they accomplished all that without
|lessening how strong a lead she was.
|u/Thrwwymc - 13 hours
|
|Buffy the Vampire Slayer
|u/SmackedWithARuler - 13 hours
|
|She’s powerful, funny, witty, affable and resourceful. She’s also a
|bad student due to her slayer duties, looked down on by many peers,
|sometimes awkward and indecisive, makes rash or chaotic decisions at
|times.. She’s well-rounded with flaws and strengths so she’s
|powerful but not Mary Sue incredible at everything. SMG was also
|absolutely perfectly cast as her.
|u/photomotto - 12 hours
|
|Buffy got beaten around by opponents more powerful than her
|sometimes, but in the end she still won, not because she's all
|powerful, but because she out-smarts her enemies and accepts the
|help of her friends. She's not unbeatable nor undefeated (homegirl
|died twice after all), so when she still manages to win it feels
|deserved.
|u/SmackedWithARuler - 12 hours
|
|Definitely. She was allowed to be beaten. Such an important thing
|that she had failings and weaknesses which required her to
|develop, adapt and accept help. She doesn’t just “girl boss”
|through everything.
|u/Icy_Card5893 - 10 hours
|
|yeah she was even almost taken out by a standard day player
|vampire a few times. job is dangerous.
|u/TheHammer987 - 10 hours
|
|Her best scene. Looking her mom in the face: "do you think I want
|to do this?! Do you have any idea how lonely it is?! How
|terrifying!? Don't pretend like you didn't know. How many times
|have you washed blood out of my clothes!?"
|u/Psyker_girl - 13 hours
|
|100% Buffy was allowed to be feminine, enjoying hobbies
|traditionally seen for women, and was allowed to be soft-hearted and
|emotional but determined and ruthless when needs be. She was a
|badass, without having to be hugely jacked or macho etc.
|u/KiltedLady - 11 hours
|
|"Don't worry. I've patrolled in this halter *many* times."
|u/Twistedjustice - 10 hours
|
|She just wanted to date and shop and hang out and go to school and
|save the world from unspeakable demons. You know, girlie stuff
|u/Jota769 - 13 hours
|
|Me: “I swear to god if Buffy isn’t the top answer…” Top answer:
|Ellen Ripley. Me: ugh, all right… 2: Buffy Fuck yeah
|u/RoccoTirolese - 10 hours
|
|Is kinda sad that both are 20+ years old media...
|u/ska2oosh - 13 hours
|
|100% this. Buffy is such a badass and so well written.
|u/Safety_Drance - 13 hours
|
|It's one of my favorite shows of all time because of how well
|written she is. She's up there with Drummer from The Expanse as to
|how to write a good female character.
|u/ChronoLegion2 - 13 hours
|
|I know Joss Whedon isn’t the most popular guy right now, but back
|when he was respected, he was asked why he kept adding strong female
|characters to his shows. “Because people keep asking me thing
|question”
|u/Serenity-03K64 - 12 hours
|
|I love all the characters in dollhouse too.
|u/ejp1082 - 11 hours
|
|It's still so perplexing to me that he turned out to be such a
|creep given the way he churned out well-written female characters
|across so many franchises that really set the gold standard for how
|they ought to be done. Buffy is a stand-out feminist icon, but
|pretty much all the female characters in Buffy, Angel and Firefly
|were complex, strong, and fully realized three-dimensional
|characters who nonetheless embraced their feminine qualities. It's
|just really hard to square that (as well as statements like the one
|you quoted) with what we know about him now. I don't know what the
|lesson from that is other than people are weird.
|u/Xyex - 11 hours
|
|Just because you're a toxic asshat of a bully doesn't mean you
|can't like strong women.
|u/ChronoLegion2 - 11 hours
|
|People and their art aren’t necessarily the same
|u/Knick_Knick - 13 hours
|
|I'm not overly fond of the movie overall, but Emma Thompson's character
|in Love Actually.
|u/Orcapa - 12 hours
|
|Her strength to carry on for her children was amazing. I love it when
|she bucks up with a stiff upper lip and puts on face to make her kids
|happy. The acting is phenomenal.
|u/Celtic-Brit - 12 hours
|
|That's why >!Snape got killed, he cheated on Emma Thompson !<
|u/NeganTheVegan - 11 hours
|
|She plays Trelawney and the husband who actually cheated on her in
|real life played Lockhart. Also love the spoiler tag still going
|after 17+ years!
|u/misslilley - 9 hours
|
|Spoiler tag? After all this time? ..... always.
|u/Celtic-Brit - 11 hours
|
|I know. I am hoping Trelawney is watching that scene from
|afar.😂😂. Emma Thompson refused to be on the set at the same time
|as Kenneth Branagh or Helena Bonham Carter.
|u/NeganTheVegan - 10 hours
|
|Oh yeah I forgot about the final part, the co-cheater being
|Bellatrix! Also, knowing this, I would not have casted Kenneth
|Branagh, he is not even good-looking enough to play Lockhart
|lmao
|u/acanadiancheese - 10 hours
|
|To be fair, Lockhart actually appears before Trelawney in the
|books and the movie. They never overlapped in the movies at
|all.
|u/NeganTheVegan - 9 hours
|
|Ah true they skipped St Mungo's in the movie
|u/acanadiancheese - 9 hours
|
|I honestly wish they hadn’t because I really though it
|added a lot to Neville’s story, but yep
|u/joanne122597 - 12 hours
|
|the strength she had to pull her shattered life together and do happy
|family. that is the one story of that movie that brought me to
|tears. she was strength personified.
|u/Ancient-University89 - 13 hours
|
|Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) in Fringe is my go to example of a strong
|female protagonist
|u/Magic_Fred - 13 hours
|
|Same. She seems like a real actual woman. I love that she dresses
|like an FBI agent. She has sensible hair and shoes and a realistic
|amount of makeup for someone to wear to work. She's a total bad ass
|and while she has romantic plots, her story isn't just about how she
|relates to the men in her orbit. I started watching Blacklist and I
|couldn't get past how much it seemed like a shit Fringe (despite
|James Spader being incredible) because the female protagonist was
|just so piss poor when I compared her to Anna Torv
|u/SecondSaintsSonInLaw - 8 hours
|
|All of this. I also think Peter Bishop is one of the least toxic male
|characters to ever exist. I really feel for him trying to come to
|terms with the Olivia/Fauxlivia situation. And the “What’s your
|daughters name?! *BANG*” is still one of the most thrilling scenes
|I’ve ever seen. Peter is THE MAN! Easily one of my all time favorite
|series
|u/OctopusParrot - 10 hours
|
|Criminally underappreciated show.
|u/SaintPeter74 - 7 hours
|
|I loved that they low key put Peter as the "damsel in distress" role
|too. She was badass in ways that he was not.
|u/facevalue83 - 13 hours
|
|Dana Scully in X-Files.
|u/WaywardMind - 13 hours
|
|President Laura Roslyn from Battlestar Galactica.
|u/Hoalatha - 12 hours
|
|Many of the women in BSG were incredibly written strong characters,
|but Laura was the best. I like that she doesn't have to be carrying a
|gun or punching people in the face to be considered strong.
|u/Delicious-Tachyons - 12 hours
|
|I'd say a caricature version of Starbuck is what the shitty writers
|of today feel is a strong female character. Take Starbuck's kickass
|attitude and subtract any flaws and make everyone like her and
|there you go. You've created a new Disney character lol
|u/we_are_sex_bobomb - 11 hours
|
|99% of the time the problem with strong female characters is that
|they’re just totally focused on their mission and they have
|nothing else going on in their life. They come across as flat.
|That’s definitely not the case with Starbuck. She’s an amazing
|pilot who is also nursing a crush on her dead fiancé’s kid
|brother, she’s got mom issues, and she definitely has undiagnosed
|ADHD. There’s a lot going on there.
|u/captbollocks - 11 hours
|
|Starbuck is the perfect example for this list. Everyone was so
|angry when they switched genders from the original BSG, but she
|shut everyone up after her first performance.
|u/Firelord_11 - 12 hours
|
|I like her because she's a female leader who doesn't pull any
|punches. She wasn't afraid to make difficult or controversial
|decisions to protect her people. I don't always personally agree
|with what she did, but I can't deny that every single decision she
|made was calculated to ensure the survival of the human race and
|that it *worked*\--and that's something I can massively respect her
|for.
|u/mrg80 - 13 hours
|
|Beautiful. And together with Adama, one of the best love stories I've
|ever seen in TV.
|u/Random-Cpl - 11 hours
|
|Laura Roslin is an amazing character. She goes from this naive
|schoolteacher who got into politics to (correctly) advising a
|Commander that he was going to have to kill a rogue Admiral in like 2
|seasons. By the end she’s the leader they all depend on.
|u/bread_idiot_bread - 12 hours
|
|Fiona from Shrek. She was willing to admit when she was in the wrong
|and grow personally, stood up for herself and her friends and didn't
|get sucked in by the pretty boy show off, she actually kicked his butt.
|u/One_Prune_6753 - 13 hours
|
|Veronica Mars
|u/the_real_dairy_queen - 12 hours
|
|Underrated show, underrated character, underrated comment. That was
|such a good show!
|u/Beginning_Film7975 - 11 hours
|
|Underrated actor. Loved her in Good Place too
|u/PvtSherlockObvious - 7 hours
|
|She's at the very top of my "phone book list," those actors I'll
|watch in absolutely anything just because it's them.
|u/schorschico - 13 hours
|
|Amy Adams in Arrival
|u/JimTheJerseyGuy - 12 hours
|
|Such an awesome film. Even more so because the short story it is
|based on is, itself, awesome and they managed not to shit all over it
|and instead craft a beautiful movie around it.
|u/calvin73 - 11 hours
|
|Watched this with my kiddo this summer. At the end, kiddo said,
|“She knew?? *The whole time*??” Absolutely incredible film.
|u/Capital-Fennel-9816 - 11 hours
|
|Even more heartbreaking is the book, where the incident with her
|daughter is totally avoidable (an accident), rather than an
|unavoidable medical issue. It really drove home much she knew and
|had to accept to grow the aliens mode of thinking. And also fully
|explains the husband's disdain for her.
|u/Breakspear_ - 12 hours
|
|Ted Chiang, baby!!
|u/pepperjones926 - 11 hours
|
|So I watched that movie knowing nothing about it when I was about
|seven months pregnant. It DESTROYED me. I sobbed for about an hour
|afterwards. It was so beautifully done, but man - it hit HARD.
|u/Wormverine - 13 hours
|
|Judy Dench as M
|u/SquashyDisco - 11 hours
|
|**M :** You don’t like me, Bond. You don’t like my methods. You think
|I’m an accountant, a bean counter more interested in my numbers than
|your instincts. **James Bond :** The thought had occurred to me.
|**M :** Good, because I think you’re a sexist, misogynist dinosaur. A
|relic of the Cold War, whose boyish charms, though wasted on me,
|obviously appealed to that young woman I sent out to evaluate you.
|**James Bond :** Point taken. **M :** Not quite. If you think for
|one moment I don’t have the balls to send a man out to die, your
|instincts are dead wrong. I have no compunction about sending you to
|your death. But, I won’t do it on a whim. Even with your cavalier
|attitude towards life.
|u/popejupiter - 8 hours
|
|Anyone else hear Dame Dench's voice reading her lines? God what a
|woman!
|u/Warhammer517 - 9 hours
|
|M: Bond, come back alive.
|u/stray1ight - 9 hours
|
|The "Evil Queen of Numbers" fuckin CRUSHED that role. The
|exchange you posted is among my most favorite things in cinema.
|u/Dependent_Cricket - 12 hours
|
|“And Bond… … don’t ever break into my house again.”
|u/ChronoLegion2 - 13 hours
|
|“God, I miss the Cold War!”
|u/Far_Dragonfruit_1829 - 11 hours
|
|" Utter one more syllable and I'll have you killed. "
|u/ska2oosh - 13 hours
|
|I LOVED Judy Dench in the James Bond movies! Such a badass.
|u/Hot-Negotiation3470 - 13 hours
|
|Xena-warrior princess.
|u/BonhommeCarnaval - 11 hours
|
|Lalalalalalalalalala!!!
|u/Ok_Blackberry_284 - 10 hours
|
|Xena and Gabrielle
|u/10Panoptica - 11 hours
|
|She has many skills.
|u/ladyforgravy - 11 hours
|
|How do I get this closer to the top of the list. Xena is the absolute
|best
|u/flicky2018 - 12 hours
|
|Scrolled too far for this
|u/masiker31 - 11 hours
|
|Wednesday and Morticia Adams. They both are strong willed, confident
|females who don’t give an F about what other people think about them.
|u/EndAlternative6445 - 13 hours
|
|Sidney Prescott
|u/Tidder802b - 12 hours
|
|* [Lisbeth Salander](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1132620/characters/nm
|0636426/?ref_=tt_cl_c_2)
|u/stinky_cheese33 - 13 hours
|
|Does Frieren count?
|u/Apex_Konchu - 12 hours
|
|✅ strong ✅ female ✅ protagonist Yeah, I'd say she counts.
|u/Peptuck - 9 hours
|
|Her *clone* is so powerful it gets a Dark Souls boss cutscene intro.
|u/frozrdude - 11 hours
|
|Might as well count her disciple Fern, in as well.
|u/tommoex - 11 hours
|
|Fantastic example. I've got to say every character is well done. No
|one is especially flashy looking but they all have such unique
|personalities, with strengths and flaws.
|u/darryledw - 12 hours
|
|beat me to it, she is such a well written character because she is
|badass/ interesting but the writers don't mind making her look
|foolish and gave her flaws, I particularly like how lazy she is in
|the morning lol. Something most modern Hollywood writers don't have
|a clue about
|u/KP_Wrath - 10 hours
|
|I think part of it is that as a character, she’s nearly immortal,
|powerful enough to screen against most things that could kill her,
|and with 1500+ years under her belt, many things would be mundane.
|Well, until her epiphany at the beginning of Beyond Journey’s End.
|u/Benskien - 7 hours
|
|"what is 10 more years" *Angry fern noices*
|u/joepanda111 - 9 hours
|
|And because the story is set in the present, long after the hero
|journey, and her long age, it’s believable why she’s so powerful.
|She’s also not solving all the problems. Instead she often relies
|on support from others, as well as propping up the next generation
|to handle things on their own. It’s like a passing of the torch
|story, while also helping her learn to appreciate the bonds she
|makes and fully understand how little time she has with them.
|u/Verzweiflungstat - 13 hours
|
|Avatar doesn't have a female protagonist, but all of its female
|characters are great
|u/ska2oosh - 13 hours
|
|God yes. Katara, Toph, Suki… all of them are great examples of female
|leads done right.
|u/Verzweiflungstat - 13 hours
|
|Great because they are all different, are all strong and overcome
|their own struggles, and none of them had their femaleness erased
|in the process. A lot of the time, when writers try to make a
|'strong female character', they just make her heartless, callous
|and, well, masculine. That's not the case in Avatar. Suki is part
|of an all-female fighting squad that uses nimbleness to its
|advantage, Katara had to grapple with having to basically mother
|her older brother. Toph was kept at home as if she was a fragile
|little princess. Even with Azula, who *is* callous and efficient,
|there is a shown moment where it is shown that she was dismissed by
|her uncle for being female. Zuko got a dagger from Ba Sing Se,
|Azula got a doll. This treatment may be part of what fueled her
|ambitions. It's great.
|u/TomNookTheCook - 10 hours
|
|“I treated you like a girl, when I should have treated you like a
|warrior.” “I am a warrior ... but I’m a girl, too.”
|u/Rozeline - 12 hours
|
|I don't think that was Iroh dismissing her as a girl, I just
|don't think he trusted her with a knife and was hoping a doll
|might bring out a bit of kindness, because even as a child she
|was a vindictive little sociopath.
|u/Eternal_Bagel - 11 hours
|
|Yeah pretty sure he knew back then that she was too much like
|her dad and that’s not the kind of kid you gift a knife
|u/Dreadgoat - 4 hours
|
|My favorite is Toph because she's basically an inversion of the
|poorly written heroine. We get introduced to her as a tomboy
|badass rowdy gal who just pretends to be feminine to appease her
|family. We see little glimpses of weakness and insecurity here
|and there, but for the most part the character can be naively
|interpreted as "tough guy with a vagina" Then like 9 episodes
|in she comes out with a terrifying question: "Am I pretty?" And
|she you can tell she is ready for her soul to be destroyed by the
|answer. More afraid of that answer than any of the deadly threats
|she faced without flinching.
|u/WigglumsBarnaby - 12 hours
|
|This is so funny because I thought they meant Avatar by James
|Cameron and I was like "oh yeah Zoe Saldana and Michelle Rodriquez
|kill it in that movie." But yes, the last airbender has incredible
|female characters. I think Korra does as well.
|u/Krail - 12 hours
|
|I'd still call them protagonists. Aang is obviously the *main* one,
|but the story focuses on Katara almost as much as him.
|u/lilacsprinklee - 13 hours
|
|LESLIE KNOPE.
|u/Pink_Flash - 13 hours
|
|And Diane Lewis. She's a middle school vice principal, she doesn't
|screw around.
|u/Funandgeeky - 12 hours
|
|Diane Lewis deals with hormonal psychopaths all the time. I love
|her with Ron Swanson.
|u/enixius - 9 hours
|
|"Yes I want the cuffs off. I want this to be a fair fight." It
|was at that moment that (Tammy 2) knew she fucked up.
|u/WineAndDogs2020 - 8 hours
|
|Xena truly is the only woman capable of "taming" Ron Swanson.
|u/thepluralofmooses - 12 hours
|
|Season 2 and beyond Leslie Knope is a wonderful character. I’m glad
|they got rid of whatever was going on in season 1
|u/steveofthejungle - 11 hours
|
|Yeah. Making her female Michael Scott was not the move
|u/Flavahbeast - 8 hours
|
|but Michael Scott also became more likeable after season 1
|u/highapplepie - 10 hours
|
|I actually think it’s the Mark character that hurts the early
|seasons.
|u/GeorgeStark520 - 8 hours
|
|Yup. Having Mark play the straight man in a town full of weirdos
|really brought the show down. I love how later they leaned into
|the wackiness of Pawnee.
|u/LilSebastainIsMyPony - 10 hours
|
|Leslie Knope is amazing.
|u/SirVeritas79 - 13 hours
|
|Geena Davis as Samantha Caine in The Long Kiss Goodnight.
|u/KoshiaCaron - 13 hours
|
|Geena Davis--no, screw it, ALL the main cast in A League of Their
|Own. Dottie and Kitt having their own ambitions and feelings about
|baseball while also having to contend with the tensions of sibling
|love and rivalry? Mae looking for a way to remake her life, and Hooch
|finding purpose and acceptance when she couldn't get it the
|traditional way? It's nuanced and real. I CRY WITH BETTY SPAGHETTI
|EVERY GODDAMN TIME. Such a great movie and great characters.
|u/SirVeritas79 - 13 hours
|
|Valid AF. That a woman could be strong yet vulnerable. IDK why
|that’s such an anathema in modern movie making.
|u/rangerj1901 - 13 hours
|
|Samus Aran, in any game besides Other M, we don't talk about Other M.
|u/IntercomB - 13 hours
|
|On paper I liked the idea of a younger and more vulnerable Samus with
|PTSD from Ridley. The problem comes when you put the game in the
|timeline and realize that, by that point, Samus has forced species
|into extinction, destroyed multiple planets, and has beaten
|(sometimes killed) Ridley multiple times. I don't think seeing him
|come back once more would make her feel like the powerless little
|girl she once was when she already know she can just dunk on him like
|every other instances.
|u/Krail - 12 hours
|
|Yes. As dumb as her characterization was, that scene in particular
|bugs me so much. It could have worked if this was the first time
|she ever fought him. I could see them playing it as her losing
|her shit that he keeps coming back no matter how many times she
|kills him, letting her guard down because she's going guns blazing.
|Given the life she's lead, I'd expect her PTSD to look more like
|Rambo than "Scared Little Girl."
|u/ClubMeSoftly - 9 hours
|
|I really liked the portrayal we got in Dread. Kraid shows up,
|screams in her face, and her only reaction is "how many times do
|I have to teach you this lesson" Raven Beak is choking the
|life out of her, and her reaction is incredible rage that unlocks
|her Metroid DNA. But also, earlier in the game, Quiet Robe
|shows up, and she sits and listens like she's a little girl
|again, hearing a story from Old Bird.
|u/captbollocks - 11 hours
|
|The twist in the first game when you only realise the hero a woman
|when she takes her helmet off at the end of the game was a genius
|move and brave for 1986 where it was always male protoganists in the
|gaming industry.
|u/YNot1989 - 13 hours
|
|Chrisjen Avasarala and Bobby Draper
|u/_amosburton - 10 hours
|
|Really most women in the expanse series: naomi, camina drummer, nancy
|gao, monica stuart, anna volovodov, even clarissa mao in her own
|right. Gotta be some of the best sci fi in decades. I love the show
|and i love books more.
|u/BlitheCynic - 10 hours
|
|Don't forget Camina Drummer.
|u/Cheeseboarder - 10 hours
|
|“Don’t go sticking your dick in it, Holden. It’s fucked enough
|already”
|u/ZotMatrix - 13 hours
|
|Lagertha in Vikings
|u/Porrick - 11 hours
|
|My favourite part of that is how she's essentially unchanged from the
|original saga. Saxo Grammaticus wrote her as an example of the moral
|degeneracy of the pre-Christian heathens - "look, they let their
|*women* do their fighting and rescue them in battle and command
|armies, isn't that gross?" Completely by accident, he wrote a really
|good 21st-century feminist hero! Same thing happened to a lesser
|degree with Queen Medb in the Táin Bó Cúailnge from Irish mythology -
|it was also first committed to the page by a Christian scribe with a
|strong editorial slant, and he also wrote Medb as a really great
|female antagonist! Medb and Lagertha are my favourite characters
|from that whole period of medieval European literature. And the TV
|show gets Lagertha pretty much exactly right. My only complaint is
|that they left out how she meets Ragnar while freeing herself from
|brothel slavery (he's also in the dungeon and she releases him on her
|way out). The main change they make from the source material is that
|they keep her in the story for longer. In the original saga she fucks
|off to be Queen of Norway (I think she does that in the show too -
|but in the saga after she murders her new husband for not being brave
|enough, she just takes his throne and stays there, occasionally
|sending Ragnar some troops when he needs help).
|u/benabramowitz18 - 13 hours
|
|Evelyn Wong in Everything Everywhere All at Once
|u/Samstarmoon - 8 hours
|
|Best mother-daughter movie ever but I can’t get my mom to freaking
|watch it bc the butthole stuff at the beginning triggers her to much.
|u/Ogodnotagain - 12 hours
|
|Did anyone say Princess Leia?
|u/admiraljkb - 9 hours
|
|My wife was ecstatic when Star Wars came out. The freaking princess,
|instead of falling down or fainting, took charge of her own rescue.
|That was huge for her. Then Leia snarks them a lot too the whole
|time instead of the "my hero" lines normally done. Huge paradigm
|shift that allowed women to be normal heroes/characters visibly out
|front afterward in SciFi.
|u/Lasdary - 10 hours
|
|She had to save her rescuers' asses. And does it like the badass she
|is
|u/Use-of-Weapons2 - 11 hours
|
|Loved her at the beginning of ESB particularly. In control and
|authoritative under very stressful circumstances, and yet still
|finding time to worry about her friends and put Han Solo in his place
|over and over again.
|u/GonzoRouge - 9 hours
|
|Can't remember where I saw it, but there was the juxtaposition of
|her introduction as a damsel in distress to when she gets rescued.
|She immediately calls out Han and Luke for being kinda terrible at
|playing knight in shining armor with a half baked plan and takes
|the lead from the get go. It's a pretty wild subversion of the
|trope when you think about it.
|u/pinesolthrowaway - 8 hours
|
|I’ve posted on here about it before Star Wars puts her in
|traditional damsel in distress situations, but every time she’s
|in them, she’s never actually a damsel in distress. The second
|she has an opening, she takes it, every single time Take ROTJ
|for example. She’s literally enslaved by Jabba, and what does she
|do the second she has an opening? She uses the literal chains of
|her enslavement to strangle Jabba! She doesn’t need a full blown
|rescue, she just needs opportunity She’s exhibit A of a well
|written, strong female protagonist
|u/Ok_Blackberry_284 - 10 hours
|
|General Leia "Hutt Slayer" Organa.
|u/RedditT0M - 13 hours
|
|Furiosa from *Mad Max: Fury Road*—she doesn’t need a tragic backstory
|speech or a romantic subplot to prove her worth. She just drives into a
|post-apocalyptic wasteland, kicks ass, and liberates people while
|rocking a metal arm like it’s no big deal. That’s the kind of energy I
|aspire to bring when I tackle my inbox on a Monday morning.
|u/mama-dingus - 11 hours
|
|My hot take is that I felt the role was miscast in the new “Furiosa”
|installment in the series. The movie was still pretty good but Anya
|didn’t hold a candle to Charlize’s performance.
|u/sonic_tower - 12 hours
|
|I aspire to be her on Monday morning. In reality I am Scrotus.
|u/kindrudekid - 13 hours
|
|That scene where Max cannot aim with the sniper and they are down to
|one bullet and gives it to her is the best. Without any dialogue you
|can see she is basically thinking “great this guys dick measuring
|contest is gonna get us killed” And then even max is like yeah she
|is the boss, in the end we both want to be free…
|u/IAmTheFlyingIrishMan - 9 hours
|
|This isn't at all how I think the scene is supposed to be read and
|kinda insults their mutual respect. In my mind it's supposed to
|show that Furiosa trusts Max to make the shot. She was the one that
|handed him the rifle to begin with and let him take 2 out of the 3
|available shots without a word. She was going to let him take the
|last shot because she trusted him to do so, even though she knew
|she could make the shot herself. You can see her move with unease
|after the second shot, wanting to say something, but she lets Max
|make the call. There's no reason to think she wouldn't say
|something given what we've seen of her in the movie so far. Max has
|seen her proficiency with the rifle already, realizes she's the
|better shot and hands her the rifle. They know and respect each
|other's skills, it isn't about who's the boss, or who's got the
|bigger dick, it's about two very capable and skilled people working
|together toward a goal.
|u/HeartonSleeve1989 - 13 hours
|
|Ellen Ripley from the Alien franchise and Sarah Connor from the
|Terminator franchise.
|u/gordonfactor - 12 hours
|
|Captain Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager
|u/afiefh - 12 hours
|
|Also Belana and Seven from voyager. And Kira and Dax from DS9.
|u/AOKaye - 11 hours
|
|Thank you! Love our strong DS9 women too!
|u/trickster9000 - 13 hours
|
|Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender
|u/Small_Nugs_in_Jugs - 9 hours
|
|Almost every female character in Avatar. Every top fighter is female.
|The Kyoshi warriors, Azulas minions, Katara and the blood bending
|lady. The best man hunter in the world is the dope ass chick with the
|giant lizard mount. There are so many amazing female characters in
|that show!!!
|u/not-strange - 8 hours
|
|More to the point, she’s disabled, and while she can use it to her
|advantage. She’s also weaker at times because of it. When they were
|in the desert and she couldn’t feel vibrations, or when they’re
|flying on Appa. Or when she’s hanging from Sokka in the finale, all
|she can see is his fear, she doesn’t know how far she is from the
|ground, she only knows that he’s scared, but she trusts him. She
|knows he wouldn’t let her get hurt as long as she’s breathing.
|She’s a badass character who has weaknesses and strengths, and she’s
|perfectly written
|u/shimmertoyourshine - 13 hours
|
|Tiffany Aching.
|u/Use-of-Weapons2 - 11 hours
|
|Granny Weatherwax for me. She just takes no shit from anyone.
|u/nunya_busyness1984 - 10 hours
|
|I'm a Gytha Ogg guy. Granny can Headology anyone. Gytha can
|Headology Esme
|u/JerseyGirl4ever - 9 hours
|
|All of Pratchett's witches. And Angua. And Sybil.
|u/GuadDidUs - 9 hours
|
|Don't forget Cheery! And Monstrous Regiment. Pratchett is such a
|treasure.
|u/arctic_penguin12 - 13 hours
|
|Lucy MacLean from Fallout
|u/Vegetable-Set-9480 - 9 hours
|
|Oh yes. I’m not a gamer, so my only introduction to the world of
|Fallout has been the show. I loved how she is a total naive idealist
|(well trained in a sort of academic way, and knowledgable about the
|theory of fighting, but far more clueless in real world settings)
|And kind of has constant mental breakdowns and total worldview-
|shattering experiences that change the way she sees herself before
|she begins to become kick ass. And it takes her forever to become so
|kick ass and tough. It isn’t some 3 minute timelapse montage of her
|training with some wise tutor and suddenly becoming awesome at
|everything. Her transition from innocent to capable takes a long
|time, has many setbacks, causes her immense emotional upheaval,
|breaks her down, she fails often, and she doesn’t come out unscathed.
|She becomes a very different person by the end of it.
|u/Deadpoulpe - 12 hours
|
|Any woman written by Terry Pratchett, really. My favorite is Granny
|Weatherwax tho.
|u/13SpiderMonkeys - 13 hours
|
|Vin from Mistborn! Or Jasnah Kholin from the Stormlight Archive!
|u/DangTaylor - 10 hours
|
|Lotta great ladies in the cosmere, honestly. Shai from the Emperor's
|Soul and Sarene from Elantris are awesome too.
|u/No-Body8448 - 13 hours
|
|Offbeat choice, but Helen Hunt's character Carol in As Good As It Gets.
|She deals with all the crap life has handed her, constantly cares for
|her son, deals with a horribly difficult man, and manages to maintain
|her sunshine and cheer in the face of it all. She lays down strict
|boundaries and gets right in Melvin's face when he crosses the line.
|She doesn't allow herself to get pushed around, but she doesn't retreat
|into being a bully either. She's amazingly patient and loving, and I
|love her.
|u/burtsdog - 13 hours
|
|Elinor Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility (1995). So strong, charming
|and thoughtful. What a lovely person.
|u/Afalstein - 12 hours
|
|She's not what people will think of, but absolutely, yes. She held
|her family together when everyone else was falling to pieces.
|u/SubatomicSquirrels - 11 hours
|
|Jane Austen created some incredible characters
|u/ChanSungJung - 13 hours
|
|Clarice from The Silence of the Lambs She stands up for what she
|believes in and sees things through. She calls her superiors out on
|their behaviour and being treated differently for being a woman. She is
|one of my favourite characters in all of cinema because of her
|tenacity.
|u/Tom-Pendragon - 12 hours
|
|Avatar the last airbender. Katara was GOAT.
|u/SneakyAbyssinian - 13 hours
|
|Katara from ATLA. And NOT the live-action!
|u/Red_Like_Ruby - 8 hours
|
|There is no live action in Bah Sing Sei
|u/GroshfengSmash - 10 hours
|
|Leela, Futurama
|u/sillygreenfaery - 12 hours
|
|Xena Warrior Princess
|u/Vargsvans - 13 hours
|
|Erin Brockovich
|u/Scorpiodancer123 - 12 hours
|
|Hell yes!!! Badass in film and reality.
|u/RecoveringRed - 13 hours
|
|Emily Blunt in Sicario.
|u/zeebious - 12 hours
|
|Probably my favorite because she’s not portrayed as a super human
|capable of taking down men twice her size. She also doesn’t show
|disdain for her feminine qualities. However, she’s unquestionably
|tough as nails and smart as shit.
|u/Toby_O_Notoby - 10 hours
|
|There’s a show on paramount called Lioness starring Zoe Saldana as
|a special forces operator. The whole point of the show is that
|there are situations where having a woman on your team could be
|advantageous for going undercover, etc. On one of the latest
|episodes they get into a firefight and she naturally holds her own.
|Later she’s yelling at the CIA/Delta guy who got them into the mess
|and hauls off and hits him. He just looks at he for a second and
|shrugs before he knocks her on her ass. I liked the fact that she
|can hold her own with guns but they acknowledge that in a fist
|fight Zoe Saldana isn’t beating up some spec ops guy.
|u/Content-Passion-4836 - 10 hours
|
|She was also good in edge of tomorrow.
|u/ImmigrationJourney2 - 13 hours
|
|Selene In Underworld
|u/Electronarwhal - 13 hours
|
|Both Jinx and Vi, whichever one you count as the main protagonist of
|Arcane.
|u/mofnladie - 11 hours
|
|Vi seriously makes me want to pick up boxing, what a bad bitch I love
|her.
|u/Enkundae - 6 hours
|
|Her first fight with Sevika in season 1 is one of my favorite
|fights in animation. Not flashy, no real powers or anything on
|display. Just an incredibly well animated street brawl. Also
|whoever designed and animated Vi deserves a medal. Fuckin hell
|those arms.
|u/DemostenesWiggin - 6 hours
|
|Both are, after all, it's their story. Also, every single female
|character in Arcane is so good! Male characters too, but the female
|characters are just perfect in their own way.
|u/Hedgehog_Insomniac - 11 hours
|
|Jo March.
|u/pretendimcute - 10 hours
|
|Brienne from game of thrones. She was a large, strong and capable
|warrior and could dispatch people with ease. She was not unrealistic
|however. If enough guys took her on in a fight she could get
|overpowered and has been taken hostage as well. So she wasnt portrayed
|as a ridiculously OP girlboss who cant lose. She was handled in the
|same way as a strong male character would have been except with the
|barriers unique to being a female knight
|u/Dzanibek - 13 hours
|
|San in Princess Mononoke
|u/Blackdragon1221 - 10 hours
|
|One of my favourite films, and San is awesome. I do, however, feel
|like Lady Eboshi is the most compelling character in the film. She
|has understandable motivations, even if you don't always agree with
|them. She leads with competence. She can be powerful and
|intimidating, but also compassionate. She can sympathize with others,
|both friend and foe. She is not irredeemably evil. A perfect
|antagonist for the type of story that the film is telling.
|u/haileyskydiamonds - 12 hours
|
|The ladies of *Steel Magnolias* and *Fried Green Tomatoes*. Siddalee
|and the YaYas in the NOVEL version of *Divine Secrets of the YaYa
|Sisterhood*. Katniss Everdeen, The Hunger Games series Mattie Ross,
|*True Grit* Ree Dolly, *Winter’s Bone* Anne Shirley, *Anne of Green
|Gables* Astrid Magnussen, *White Oleander* Abilene Clark, Minny
|Jackson, and Celia Foote, *The Help*
|u/tomaesop - 13 hours
|
|Disney's **Moana**. Y'all don't have kids? That girl speaks truth to
|power, finds evidence, heads off on a dangerous trek, saves the world
|(basically), returns home and makes her small town better. And the
|whole time there's no distraction from any romantic interest.
|Badass.
|u/Bweeze086 - 12 hours
|
|Oh man that moment where she just belts out "I AM MOOAAANNAAAAA!"
|Goose bumbs everytime. Such a powerful moment of self realization.
|u/ska2oosh - 12 hours
|
|Truly a great example, Disney did Moana right with her character.
|Great example for young women. I’d argue this with a lot of the
|more modern Disney princess movies, honestly. Most of them are very
|strong characters, whether they have a love interest or not.
|u/kjerstih - 12 hours
|
|Lani in Lilo & Stitch is also a great example. She became the legal
|guardian of her little sister Lilo at a young age when their
|parents were killed in an accident. She had to sacrifice a lot and
|become an adult fast to keep what was left of the family together.
|u/ska2oosh - 12 hours
|
|Lani is a PERFECT example. She’s truly one of the best examples
|of a female protagonist and a great example for young women. Back
|in the days before Netflix, my family bootlegged the entire TV
|series so we could watch Lilo & Stitch at any time. Her character
|has stuck with me my entire life, how dedicated she is to her
|family and how much she loves her sister.
|u/weirdwolfkid - 11 hours
|
|I think Nani was only like 19 in the movie. She was VERY young,
|and grieving her parents while trying to learn how to BE a parent
|to a traumatized child.
|u/Nashatal - 12 hours
|
|Merida is pretty great too in my opinion.
|u/ska2oosh - 12 hours
|
|Absolutely Merida counts! Mulan, Pocahontas, and Meg from
|Hercules as well. And maybe not to the same extent as the others,
|but Belle from Beauty and the Beast fits too!
|u/Nashatal - 12 hours
|
|Meg is awesome! Need to rewatch that movie. Oh and while we are
|at it: Elsa and basically every woman in Encanto.
|u/ska2oosh - 12 hours
|
|Yessss, and I’d argue Anna too! The second movie is a given,
|of course, but even in the first one Anna proves that despite
|being sheltered (and very naive) she would do anything,
|including leaving the castle (for the first time!!) in a
|frozen waste land to help her sister. It’s exactly as Anna
|says in the second movie when Elsa says it’s too dangerous
|for Anna to come: “I climbed the North Mountain, survived a
|frozen heart, and saved you from my ex-boyfriend. And I did
|it all without powers. So, you know, I’m coming”
|u/xallanthia - 12 hours
|
|Rapunzel! Maybe the most traditional love story of the modern
|bunch, but she’s still a great character whose story is advanced
|and deepened by Flynn, but not defined by him.
|u/AnneBoleynsBarber - 12 hours
|
|Capt. Kathryn Janeway in *ST: Voyager.* There's the right way, the
|wrong way, and the Janeway. Only Nixon could've gone to China, and only
|Janeway could've made a deal with the Borg and lived to tell the tale.
|She's smart, capable, sensitive to the needs of her crew, morally
|resilient, willing to protect the vulnerable, and able to make
|difficult decisions under trying circumstances. Forget cruising through
|the galaxy on a five-year mission with room for 400 or 1500 crew, she
|was basically stuck in space on a glorified Federation Winnebago that
|was never intended for long-haul voyages. And she got the ship home in
|the end. I have a soft spot for James Tiberius Kirk, I really do, but
|Janeway would've eaten him alive.
|u/roguefrog - 13 hours
|
|Charlize Theron in anything. Fury Road, Atomic Blonde, Old Guard, etc
|u/PurpleIsALady1798 - 13 hours
|
|I cannot wait to for the next Old Guard movie. I’m *so* ready.
|u/WassupSassySquatch - 13 hours
|
|The Bride and O-Ren from *Kill Bill*.
|u/Funandgeeky - 12 hours
|
|Their duel, and the lead up to it, is epic moviemaking. It’s the best
|fight of the entire saga.
|u/WarriorJax - 12 hours
|
|Eowyn
|u/Plenty_Pie_7427 - 8 hours
|
|“I am no man.” Iconic. Love her.
|u/admiralholdo - 11 hours
|
|I loooooove that she ends up with Faramir. One of my favorite
|literary couples of all time.
|u/Resident_Second_2965 - 13 hours
|
|Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn is pretty fantastic.
|u/limbodog - 13 hours
|
|Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
|u/spicysanger - 13 hours
|
|Captain Janeway from star trek voyager
|u/youlookyummy - 12 hours
|
|Jolyne Kujo
|u/MemeOverlordKai - 13 hours
|
|Akane Tsunemori from PSYCHO-PASS
|u/Weary-Fan9678 - 13 hours
|
|Mizu from Blue Eye Samurai. The whole show is incredible
|u/MikeMazook - 12 hours
|
|The princess as well, two very different, very well done
|protagonists.
|u/butholemoonblast - 12 hours
|
|That show is art. I was trying to get my coworker to watch it and
|explain it’s a cartoon but it never feels like a cartoon.
|u/alltherobots - 10 hours
|
|The puppet show episode is the only time I’ve ever seen a *three-
|timeline* simultaneous reveal in a show. I had to sit quietly for
|like 10 mins after that.
|u/Routine_Service6801 - 13 hours
|
|The girl from Prey (2022) is well developed, strong, she literally
|fights predators without falling into the sassy boss girl archetype.
|u/SnidgetAsphodel - 11 hours
|
|Oh yes I loved her. She also was allowed to make mistakes, learn from
|them, and use her wits.
|u/moonbeamlight - 13 hours
|
|Viola Davis in How to Get Away with Murder. She is incredible.
|u/yancyfry6 - 8 hours
|
|Why is your penis on a dead girl's phone? That whole make-up removal
|scene...With so many comments about how pretty and feminine
|characters are... I think that was very well-done and courageous.
|Still a woman without the beautifying stuff.
|u/IronChefJesus - 12 hours
|
|Rogue, Storm, even Jean Grey in between deaths. And those are just
|some examples. Overall the Xmen characters are great.
|u/Waste_Atmosphere_967 - 13 hours
|
|Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games
|u/DIEHOBOCOLLECTOR - 12 hours
|
|Yes she is mentally strong enough to support her family and volunteer
|instead of her sister, she fights, falls in love tries to protect her
|loved ones with all her might but she also has human sides , makes
|mistakes or be depressed. I just love her character , there aren't
|enough of this type of characters
|u/strauss_emu - 12 hours
|
|I'm surprised I had to search for this comment for so long. She's one
|of the best female characters ever
|u/Balance4471 - 12 hours
|
|Same! I was scrolling through to find her.
|u/wwaxwork - 13 hours
|
|Amy Dunne in Gone Girl. Protagonist doesn't mean good person and I
|like that you can relate and even cheer at some of the points she makes
|but also understand she is very much not a good person.
|u/hiveechochamber - 12 hours
|
|She's a great example of great female characters do not have to be
|good people.
|u/Some_Shame9545 - 13 hours
|
|Lots of them in Fargo universee
|u/pnellesen - 13 hours
|
|Ripley.
|u/jwagne51 - 12 hours
|
|Gracie Hart from Miss Congeniality.
|u/The_Nunnster - 11 hours
|
|Princess Leia from the Star Wars franchise
|u/LittleBraveButton - 10 hours
|
|Olivia Benson from Law and order svu, I mean, 25 seasons! She's my
|hero
|u/lallifelix - 13 hours
|
|Saidie Adler in Red Dead Redemption.
|u/Numerous-Pipe9196 - 13 hours
|
|Commander Shepard
|u/frodiusmaximus - 12 hours
|
|Captain Janeway.
|u/DominicPalladino - 12 hours
|
|Marge in Fargo. Smart. Kind. People trying to dupe her and she accepts
|them for who they are but then sees through it. Bad ass takes down the
|killer while pregnant. But also a great wife.
|u/lawnguylandlolita - 12 hours
|
|Fleabag
|u/HerbaceousMongoose - 13 hours
|
|Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West.
|u/cookerg - 12 hours
|
|Olivia in Law and Order SVU
|u/Worth-Possibility369 - 10 hours
|
|Can’t believe this is so far down!! Detective Olivia Benson is the
|definition of strong female protagonist
|u/Capybara_Squabbles - 12 hours
|
|Sailor Moon
|u/Comfortable_Ad2908 - 12 hours
|
|Lilo from Lilo and Stitch
|u/SnoeLeppard - 10 hours
|
|Might be an odd one, but Marta from Knives Out.
|u/ShadedBloonm - 2 hours
|
|I'd say Jessica Jones from the Netflix series. She's flawed, complex,
|and powerful without losing her vulnerability. She tackles real issues
|like trauma and recovery while still kicking ass. It's refreshing to
|see a character who's not perfect but still incredibly strong in her
|own way.
|u/Shrikeangel - 13 hours
|
|Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
|u/BeautifulArtichoke37 - 13 hours
|
|Captain Janeway
|u/Peeeing_ - 12 hours
|
|Michonne
|u/PeriwinkleShaman - 12 hours
|
|Scarlett in Gone with the wind.
|u/Cat-guy64 - 12 hours
|
|Coraline Jones (Coraline). I also funnily enough think The Other Mother
|in that same movie is an excellent female antagonist.
|