Strong female characters in film

[inspectordickins]

They gave her nothing, NOTHING to do in The Force Awakens. Such a let down.

I was so disappointed too, she has a lot of potential, could be the new female Bobba Fett.
The whole movie was a disappointment anyway, hopefully they have worked their asses off for the next one!

 

[phallic_deity86]

re: wonder woman, I'm not terribly worried about her backstory. Whether she's the daughter of a god, or formed from clay, or whatever, that's more to do with how she came into existence and less do to with who she is.

What I do hope is that she's not just straight combat skills. Her fight scene in Batman -vs- Superman was very entertaining, but as someone who doesn't read comics, by take on Wonder Woman is really derived from her representation by Linda Carter... a hero who had the strength to fight, but the presence of mind to know that diplomacy was a preferred method.

I have a ton of respect for superheros who work tirelessly to avoid fights. Linda Carter's wonder woman was one. Bill Bixby / Lou Ferrigno's incredible hulk was another.

My brutaly honest prediction is that WW will be a prefectly decent film that I will have mostly forgotten in a week or two. But that's like 95% of comic book movies for me I suppose.

 

[inspectordickins]

I have to mention Fiona Gallagher from Shameless.
She's a great depiction of the modern, strong and independent woman.

 

[TexanStar]

They gave her nothing, NOTHING to do in The Force Awakens. Such a let down.

I'd rate her character in the force Awakens as worse than nothing. She ends up basically being a traitor for sheer cowardice. For all her combat experience, someone threatening her with a gun is enough to make her undermine the entire empire... wut?

 

[phallic_deity86]

I'd rate her character in the force Awakens as worse than nothing. She ends up basically being a traitor for sheer cowardice. For all her combat experience, someone threatening her with a gun is enough to make her undermine the entire empire... wut?

I hate to say it but the female characters in the new SW movies have been a bit shallow and uninteresting. I'm hoping Rey gets a lot more development in the next one.

 

[TexanStar]

why.. see sexism and the fact that moldy, money-heavy fan boys are still making all the movies
ya just have to see the backlash from characters like Furiosa and Rey to know women are being hobbled by systemic sexism

Lisbeth Salander, Clarice Starling, and Ellen Ripley were all written by men. That's not to suggest that only men are writing them, but rather to open a few follow-up questions.
1) If men are capable to sometimes write well developed, smart, intriguing, competent, powerful female characters, is it really so rare? It's not like any of these movies was commercial flops. All of them were the start of film franchises (Dragon Tattoo has 3 movies overseas anyways, though a new one is scheduled here in the USA as well). You would think for sake of $$ alone we should see more.
2) To what extent are there women writing these characters and they're not making it to film (either they're living out their lives only as book characters, or screenplays are getting rejected).
3) To what extent do you think female characters are dying in the translation from print to film? Marie St Jacques is in the bourne Identify novel. She's a competent and smart economist who's invaluable to Jason Bourne's success in the novels by way of her skill with international banking. In the translation to film, she has a car. That's literally her whole contribution in the film, she has a car and Jason Bourne needs a ride and pays her a lot of money for one.

Are there strong female characters you're aware of in print that didn't survive the translation?

Am I being too picky in who I consider to be powerful role models (there's Hermione Granger, for example, but I guess I'm put off by the direction the books / film went (if it were up to me, Harry and Ron would both be dead in a ditch from sheer incompetence and Hermione would've saved everyone because she's the only one of the three who knew what the hell she was doing).

 

[XL_Lingam]

Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep

 

[950483]

Domino Harvey.

 

[MickeyLee]

on the lit tip: check out God's War by Kameron Hurley from the Bel Dame trilogy
she kicks so much ass and is a strongly present character
not a female character who could be male but for a set of pronouns
awsome!

Syfy TV: River Song.... i mean, River Song. you don't get much cooler

 

[marinera]

Marge Gunderson in Fargo.

Judi Dench in 007 Skyfall.

Kathy Bates in Misery, if sociopathic characters are allowed.

 

[Beedie Tijii]

Am I being too picky in who I consider to be powerful role models (there's Hermione Granger, for example, but I guess I'm put off by the direction the books / film went (if it were up to me, Harry and Ron would both be dead in a ditch from sheer incompetence and Hermione would've saved everyone because she's the only one of the three who knew what the hell she was doing).

That was very much the feeling I got from Hermione in the books as well as the movies though, so at the very least you cannot really say that the novels have been translated badly. On the other hand, while Emma Watson was adequate in the role, on the page you get a sense of the irony of Hermione being the most capable core character, yet not the protagonist -- as if it were written that way for the sake of those willing to look for it. I am not the biggest fan of the Harry Potter books by any means -- if anything, I have read too much serious literature to think of them in critical terms -- but I will say that they were written by a British single mother, and it shows. Bear in mind also that the books are about growing up, at their core, and so depict Hermione maturing faster than her male friends. They are pretty realistic in terms of the way that they show her relationships with various people. I actually haven't seen all of the movies, but I would imagine that this element might not be as clear, especially as the actors began to get quite a bit older than the characters they were portraying.

3) To what extent do you think female characters are dying in the translation from print to film? Marie St Jacques is in the bourne Identify novel. She's a competent and smart economist who's invaluable to Jason Bourne's success in the novels by way of her skill with international banking. In the translation to film, she has a car. That's literally her whole contribution in the film, she has a car and Jason Bourne needs a ride and pays her a lot of money for one.

I was sort of annoyed by how she was sort of a cardboard cutout romantic interest who was just killed off early on in the second movie. Very disposable character. Had no idea that her analogue in the novels was so different, but somehow knowing this makes me want to judge the movies more harshly.

 

[deleted1048037]

Here's a few strong characters

1.) Melina (Total Recall)
2.) Evelyn Salt (Salt)
3.) Alice/Alicia Marcus (Resident Evil)
4.) Mildred Pierce
5.) Libby (Double Jeopardy)
6.) Elektra (Marvel Comics)
7.) Xenia Onatopp (Goldeneye -James Bond)
8.) Leslie Crosby (The Letter -Bette Davis)
9.) Alex Forrest (Fatal Attraction)
10.) Lara Croft

 

[1046021]

Judy Parfitt - Dolores Claiborne

 

[TexanStar]

I was sort of annoyed by how she was sort of a cardboard cutout romantic interest who was just killed off early on in the second movie. Very disposable character. Had no idea that her analogue in the novels was so different, but somehow knowing this makes me want to judge the movies more harshly.

Yes. In the books she's highly skilled / competent and integral to Jason Bourne's success (whereas in the movie, all he needs is a car and pretty much anyone would've worked as a paid driver).

The book character isn't perfect, but it's definitely an example where intelligence/competence/skills/etc of a female character in print are significantly watered down for a movie and where the spotlight is adjusted to shine more directly on the male lead.

 

[TexanStar]

Marge Gunderson in Fargo.

Judi Dench in 007 Skyfall.

Kathy Bates in Misery, if sociopathic characters are allowed.

Ah yes, I love Marge Gunderson. She's another strong, well written, well developed character. I'd consider her closer to my Ripley on a pedestal than Clarice Starling actually.

 

[Liberaltexan]

This is getting more into who's the biggest badass which isn't really along the lines of what I was getting at. No one is going to write down Clarice Starling, for example, as some kind of combat badass. She's a rookie FBI agent who doesn't even live through her simulated combat drill (she forgets to check the corners). It's not the kind of strength I meant.

If I could phrase it this way, I have a daughter. I could suggest that Ellen Ripley or Clarice Starling are good role models to strive for. There is an approach they took in facing dillemmas and finding solutions... they used their brains... they had to deal in a realistic way at times with resistance / interference from men, etc.

Leloo is not a role model... none of her success is earned. She's just inherently genetically superior. She doesn't think her way through any of her challenges, she's just programmed to know the answer from the outset (or else magically absorbs the answer, matrix style, through a computer). Leloo kicks a lot of ass, but she's not what I mean when I talk about strong characters (same goes for the women flying through the air in the X-men and resident evil movies). There's not a lot of "character" to them at all, they're just women in skimpy outfits imbued with a lot of superpowers to beat up bad guys (which is fun to watch, but not particularly challenging to write. I think any of us in this forum could write up a sexy woman who beats up the bad guys with superior physical strength and reflexes).

I agree completely with TexasStar, it is very difficult to find female personalities in movies that are as developed as Ripley was. As the mother of two girls, I find the lack of fully developed characters sadly lacking.

 

[rtg]

I have to mention Fiona Gallagher from Shameless.
She's a great depiction of the modern, strong and independent woman.

Sometimes.. she also makes a lot of stupid decisions. But she does well when she needs to step up for her family.

 

[marinera]

Luc Besson' Nikita should also fit in.

 

[inspectordickins]

Sometimes.. she also makes a lot of stupid decisions. But she does well when she needs to step up for her family.

Yeah she does, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that she wants to make up for lost time, having to take care of such a family leaves no time for being young, wild and free!

 

[rtg]

Sorry haven't read the whole thread so I'm just going to post about who I think are strong / independent female characters.

Michonne from the walking dead.

Donna from suits is amazing. There's a few independent, ball breaker women in that show.

Daenerys Stromborn from GOT (my fave character) and Arya Stark.

Hannah and Jessa from girls... though I don't think they are particularly good role model.

Deb from dexter. Can't stand her though.

Norma Bates from Bates Motel. She's also a nut job.

I guess I'm realising that a lot of strong female characters in modern tv shows are also unlikeable... whereas the strong men characters are generally developed to be liked. Imo. Women are often portrayed as unstable / emotionally unstable (aside from my first few examples).