The Strong Female Character

We’re all familiar with the classic female Hollywood tropes. The damsels in distress, the love interests, the femme fatales, the woman who’s ‘fridged’ at the start of the movie to drive our heroic male protagonist on his valiant quest to save the world. All of these representations deprive women of any agency within the story, and are hardly emblematic of the real world we live in. Movements like feminism have created demand for a more diverse array of women on our screens, who aren’t present to serve men’s interests, both on and off screen.

Enter, the strong female character.

She’s bold, stoic, and sometimes battle hardened. She can be intelligent, witty and speaks her mind. They have the potential to inspire women to go beyond the traditional ideas of what it means to be a woman. One of the earliest examples would be Ripley from Alien, who is still an impeccable woman in cinema. Not only does she make difficult decisions (or at least try to – she’s ignored by a man in the first film and his ignorance to her choice is what LEADS to the alien festering and having the chance to destroy the rest of the ship), she doesn’t sacrifice her femininity doing it. What Ridley Scott started in the first Alien, James Cameron only continues in Aliens, with Ripley’s femininity being represented by her desire to protect a young girl, and yet, her bad-assery is never compromised by it: in fact we get to see more of it through this relationship.

"...they challenge perceptions of what a woman should be, they have agency, their own wants and desires, and they’re not afraid to be themselves..."

Growing up, I loved characters like Mulan, Hermione Granger, and Princess Leia. To me, they embodied everything I strived to be – independent, smart and generally badass. To this day, if there’s a woman in a film who’s funny, witty or a little bossy (bonus points for a proclivity for ass-kicking), she’ll likely be one of my favourites. Think Okoye in Black Panther, Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada or Molly and Amy from Booksmart.

These characters are great – they challenge perceptions of what a woman should be, they have agency, their own wants and desires, and they’re not afraid to be themselves, usually in a patriarchal world.

"...she cannot afford to show any weakness, as she’s in a male dominated space..."

However, in recent years, I feel that the idea of a ‘strong female character’ has become another example of tokenism. Women kicking ass and looking good doing it simply isn’t enough. Some feminists have pointed out strong female characters often possess typically male traits – physical strength, aggression, and are emotionally closed off.

The first Avengers movie for instance has Black Widow – she fights, she’s sarcastic, shows very little emotion and she’s essentially seen as ‘one of the boys’. Arguably, she cannot afford to show any weakness, as she’s in a male dominated space (both within the film itself and within the genre of superhero movies). Yet, she represents the problematic nature of some ‘strong female characters’ present on our screens, especially in these types of genres.

"When we stop framing femininity as a weakness, representations of women on our screens can become more realistic and diverse."

These women are rarely given space to exhibit more typically ‘female’ characteristics, and their ‘strength’ becomes their only defining feature. Alignment with more masculine ideas creates the sense that femininity is somehow inferior. In an attempt to create characters less steeped on misogynistic stereotypes, some filmmakers go too far the opposite way and suggest that femininity itself is a bad thing. These women have the potential to give off a very ‘not like other girls vibe’ which is a problematic idea to perpetuate.

Strong female characters don’t have to be like this. Look at Elle Woods (Legally Blonde) for example. She overcomes adversity (that is largely in place because of people looking down on her unapologetic femininity) and proves she can get the job done, never ONCE sacrificing who she is in the process. When we stop framing femininity as a weakness, representations of women on our screens can become more realistic and diverse. Strong female characters have the potential to be empowering, but it’s important that female audiences feel represented by these characters in a variety of ways and that they are not reduced to yet another simple stereotype.