I think there's a form of subversive sexism where characters derived from the stereotypical male heroes are forced onto women as "strong characters".
Do you feel like Ellen Ripley is stereotypically male in presentation?
I'm going to leave Aliens 3 and onwards out (cuz I didn't really care for them), but I can't feel this way about her presentation in either Alien or Aliens.
Alien: Her strengths and weaknesses aren't attributes typically associated to a gender. Moreso than any of the other characters on the team, she's the
pragmatic one. Even faced with an unknown (the alien), she approaches the situation from start to finish from a position of sensibility. Face-hugger attached to a crew member? Don't let that fucker on the ship. Ship's computer acting squirrelly? Execute an authority override and find out what messages it's actually receiving. The crew is presented with problems, and she's the one who tries to think through them sensibly and logically and her strength is drawn from that in combination with a willingness to fight for the best outcomes rather than always submit to superior officers who have bad ideas.
Aliens: Her character in this film seems based on female archetypes, not male ones. Though she retains the same pragmatic aspects from the first film, she slips into maternal and caregiver roles in this film as well, not just with Newt (where it's more overt), but also with some of the marines. Her sense of empathy is presented as a strength. She's not a physical powerhouse like Vasquez. She does pilot that loader, but that's a skill rather than raw physical prowess.
