lowering the bar for strong female characters?
i keep seeing tweets referencing this article in thedissolve about strong female characters, and it keeps leaving me with this weird elephant-in-the-room feeling. especially when i get to the end and it says that a good test for whether an allegedly strong female character is a good one is whether you would want to be her.
why are all of the women the article talks about supporting characters?
i mean, i agree with all the stuff the article says, but... when i think about strong female characters i don't think about rita in edge of tomorrow. i think about maleficent in... maleficent. or charlie in revolution-- literally the hero on the classic "hero's journey," trying to save and protect her sick younger brother. i'm all in favor of strong female supporting characters also (like charlie's mother in revolution, say). but i'm not sure that "would you want to be her?" is necessarily the right test for supporting characters.
is the article's emphasis on supporting characters because the author thinks that gender parity in media has advanced so far that there's no shortage of strong female protagonists? i don't think i agree.
why are all of the women the article talks about supporting characters?
i mean, i agree with all the stuff the article says, but... when i think about strong female characters i don't think about rita in edge of tomorrow. i think about maleficent in... maleficent. or charlie in revolution-- literally the hero on the classic "hero's journey," trying to save and protect her sick younger brother. i'm all in favor of strong female supporting characters also (like charlie's mother in revolution, say). but i'm not sure that "would you want to be her?" is necessarily the right test for supporting characters.
is the article's emphasis on supporting characters because the author thinks that gender parity in media has advanced so far that there's no shortage of strong female protagonists? i don't think i agree.