Annoying Cliches about Strong Female Characters

Hiya, Internet friends. Soooo, today, I wanted to talk about one  of the many, many, many, many, many, many reasons we watch movies and read books…….awesome female characters. 

I mean, male characters are awesome, too but today we’ll be talking about my favorite types of females, some awesome examples, and annoying cliches.

Annoying Cliche #1: The Invincible Female Has to be A Super Tomboy

I don’t think I’ve ever met a female who had all ‘masculine’ interests. I don’t think I’ve met a man who has all ‘masculine’ interests. That’s because humans are complex and don’t go into two categories. For example, I love fashion, doing my hair and makeup [sometimes], painting and drawing, pop music, adorable, fluff-faced, squishable animals, and dolls. Those are kind of stereotypical feminine interests. I also like sports, action movies, being outside, and things like screenwriting, business and directing, which men tend to like more than women. Acting seems kinda like about the same number of men and women like it.

Anyway, the point is that a character could like pastel colors, Disney Princesses and sewing/knitting and still pretty much always wear jeans and a T-shirt. Or a character who 

likes fashion, makeup and hairstyling can be a super-tough warrior. Or neither.

Because interests aren’t necessarily ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’, they’re just things people like.

One of my favorite examples of this is Elle Woods from Legally Blonde. Elle adores shopping, clothes, hair, makeup, and manicures. She’s head of her sorority, and wears pink all the time.

And yet she’s also a smart, hardworking lawyer. Liking pink dresses doesn’t make her any less of a lawyer, and she proves that no matter how feminine someone is they can still be awesome.

A more balanced version of this type of character is Evie from Descendants.

Evie loves fashion, sewing, and doing her friends’ hair/makeup. She also has her own business, is a talented chemist and isn’t bad with a sword. 

Annoying Cliche #2: A Character Has To Be Physically Strong to be Strong

Uh….okay, even a person doesn’t have to be physically strong to be strong.

I don’t hate this cliche as much as other people since I am pretty strong and coordinated. I play sports, I do exercises and I can lift lots of heavy things but I know lots of amazing people who despise sports. It doesn’t make them any less strong just because they’re not a fighter.

One good example of this is Jemma Simmons from Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 

She’s smart, strong, compassionate and perfectly capable of handling many challenges. She’s not much of a physical fighter but she’s still an awesome character.

Skye [also from AoS] is another good example. While she becomes more of a fighter after Season One she couldn’t fight at all for awhile. However, her kind heart, cleverness and way with computers has saved the day on multiple occasions. 

Again, that’s not to say that women can’t be fighters. I mean, I could go on all day about how many awesome female fighters there are [Sarah Walker, Black Widow, Melinda May, Bobbi Morse, Eve Baird, Okoye, Ruby Roundhouse, Kara Thrace, Ziva David etc. etc.]. It’s just saying that physically strong doesn’t make someone strong.

In fact mentally strong people are the strongest [this doesn’t mean they can’t additionally be physically strong].

This is one of the things that make an amazing character.

Wanda Maximoff is my favorite example of this. At first she was a villain working with Hydra [and for good reason] once she realized what Ultron was really doing she started working with the Avengers, and it cost her. Pietro Maximoff, her brother and the only person she had left died. 

She could have blamed it on the Avengers but she didn’t. She knew what they were doing was right.

At the beginning of Infinity War Wanda was happy with Vision,........and then Thanos had to come ruin everything. In the end, Wanda herself had to kill Vision then watch him come back to life only to be killed again. Thanos then turned her into dust, and when she came back in Endgame Wanda still stuck to helping the Avengers, and kept fighting Thanos.

Even though she had everything taken away from her she still kept fighting. She still survived. 

She didn’t give up, she just tried harder. And that is one of the things that makes a strong character.

Annoying Cliche #3: The do-one-thing character

This. Gets. So. Annoying. It happens with male characters, too.

The majority of people are not just good at one thing. People have more than one personality trait as well. 

Like, the character who exists just to be the smart one. Really? That’s all you do.

I think the character who has the biggest mix of personality traits and hobbies is Abby Sciuto from NCIS. Abby is a very perky, very energetic, Goth who works as a forensic scientist for NCIS. She tends to be the sweet one but she has a feisty side, as well.

Her hobbies include going bowling with nuns. All in all, Abby had very diverse interests.

A show that balances this perfectly is the reboot Battlestar Galactica.

Lots of characters have something that contradicts something else about them.

For example, Kara Thrace is the best Viper pilot there is. She’s incredibly tough, sassy, loudmouth-y, sarcastic and reckless. Throughout the first season she’s also the most emotional. And she’s actually a very talented artist.

Caprica Six is also a good example. She’s the extremely beautiful femme fatale. However, unlike Head Six Caprica has a lot of different layers. Sure, she’s attractive but she’s also kind, brave, clever, and very perceptive. In other words she’s more than just a pretty face.

Totally Amazing Females I Didn’t Mention

Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff [The Avengers]

Laura Roslin [Battlestar Galactica]

Carla Baxter [Burn Notice]

Katniss Everdeen [The Hunger Games]

Cady Longmire [Longmire]

Victoria Moretti [Longmire]

Number Eight/Sharon Valerii [Battlestar Galactica]

Carol Danvers [The Avengers]

There’s wayyyyyyy more but those are the ones off the top of my head.

Alright, that’s a wrap. My sisters and I are going to make slime now. I’ll post more soon!