Making a list, checking it twice...
Inspired by a bit of the comment chain in the previous post, I decided to do a little research on female roles in some of the all-time most popular films.
For the sake of brevity (and not biting off more than I can chew on this!), I've condensed series or sequels down to a single entry, and I'm only listing prominent female characters, not ones that show up in just a scene or two and then disappear. Characters who don't have a lot of screentime but figure heavily in the plot or mythos I'll include.
Also for the sake of shorthand, I'm going to label these characters with some archetypes (that I've... just invented.) Chances are you could probably break these down further, and I know most of them also have some TV Tropes labels, but this is what makes the most sense to me.
So...
The Archetypes:
1. Damsel in Distress: Does little more than act as an object or prize for the hero to rescue
2. Eye Candy: She may have some lines and even a bit of a personality, but the main reason she's there is for the camera to get good, long shots of her cleavage
3. Action Babe: Also known as the Babe in a Brass Bra. Basically the same as the eye candy, but imbued with Mary-Sue-like powers of combat. Despite things like not wearing proper armor or being far too small to wield the size of the weapons she uses.
4. The Girlfriend: Sometimes also a DID, The Girlfriend is the hero's sweetheart back home, or the one who puts him back together so he can live to fight another day. The entirety of her existence relates to how she interacts with her dude.
5. The Long-Suffering Wife: The older version of The Girlfriend. This one also tends home fires and bebehs and occasionally gets a speech or two in which she harangues her husband for putting their family in danger. See also: Long Suffering Mother
6. The Black Widow: The bitch goddess villain. Sometimes one of the only roles an older woman gets, but usually populated by a dangerous beauty type.
7. The Shrew: A lesser Black Widow and the evil side of the Girlfriend or LSW/LSM. This is the domestic villain--the woman who makes Our Hero's life miserable by doing stereotypically evil things like wanting to marry him or make him go to school or something.
8. Miss Lonelyhearts: May be a protagonist and even a complex character, but the essence of the story being told about her is her Quest for Love. Does she have a career? We have no idea. Does she think about something other than That Guy? Doubtful.
9. The Brood Mare: Actual personalities should not be had by women who are pregnant or who may become pregnant.
The List
Data from Box Office Mojo's all-time domestic box office chart
1. Titanic: Rose
Classic Miss Lonelyhearts. Rose is a spitfire, but ultimately, her whole story is about Jack rescuing her from her poor-little-rich-girl life. Oh, and drowning.
2. The Dark Knight/Batman Begins: Rachel
The Girlfriend. She has a job, but it's more or less irrelevant. She also plays a DID on occasion.
3. Star Wars/ESB/Jedi: Leia
Depending on the film, Leia oscillates between The Girlfriend, DID and Action Babe
4. Shrek/2/3: Fiona
The Girlfriend (later LSW) who's secretly Action Babe. Credit for at least letting her remain an ogre.
5. E.T./Mom
LSM
6. Ep. 1/2/3: Amidala
Sure, she's a queen, and a politician, and a good fighter on occasion. But really? We all know she's there just because she's Darth Vader's girlfriend and Luke and Leia's mom. Combo Girlfriend and Brood Mare.
7. POTC Trilogy: Elizabeth
The Girlfriend who occasionaly ventures into Action Babe territory. Half the plot of the original rests on who she wants to marry. Sheesh.
8. Spider-Man 1/2/3: Mary Jane
The classic Girlfriend if there ever was one.
9. Transformers 1 & 2: Did she even have a name?
Eye candy. Pure eye candy.
10. LOTR Trilogy:
Arwen: The Girlfriend, with just a brief side venture into Action Babe (thankfully clothed).
Eowyn: Saved from Action Babe status by wearing real armor and getting filthy, and from Miss Lonelyhearts status by pining away for combat as much as she pines away for Aragorn. A fairly decent character, in general.
Galadriel: Though she's given only a fraction of this status in the films, she's a very powerful older (WAY older) woman, whose husband is her sidekick. Just the barest hint of a Black Widow, but otherwise well-drawn.
11. The Passion of the Christ: Mary Magdalene
The Girlfriend. (Oooh, did I just go there? Yes, yes I did...)
12. Jurassic Park: Ellie & Lex
Both of these female roles are great. Ellie doesn't dissolve into girlish screams and wait for rescue, nor does she pine away for love. Her career is very important to the plot. And Lex? Is just badass for being 14. Probably some of the best-drawn female roles in an action movie.
13. Finding Nemo: Dory
It's very rare to find a comic female sidekick role. Very nicely done. Now if Pixar would just write a story with a female protagonist...
14. Forrest Gump: Jenny and Mama
The Girlfriend and LSM, respectively
15. The Lion King: Nala
The Girlfriend
16. Iron Man: Pepper
LSW--without even the benefit of the certificate
17. Harry Potter: Hermione
The HP series has many other female roles, some of which fall into easy archetypes (Black Widows and Shrews, for instance, and a few Girlfriends and DIDs), but it's managed to also create some good major roles among the girls and women. Hermione is the most prominent, of course. Although her know-it-all-ness is sometimes portrayed as a bad thing, overall, she's quite well drawn, despite occasional lapses into Miss Lonelyhearts territory. Also nice is Luna Lovegood--a truly unique girl character who isn't remotely defined by any boy.
18. Indy 4: Marion & Irina
It's a damned shame that they turned a great character like Marion into a LSW/LSM. Yeah, she had her DID moments in the earlier films, but she was still fairly self-sufficient. And then she just got subsumed in her relationships to Indy and Mutt. Sad. Irina, of course, is a classic Black Widow, and a waste of Cate Blanchett.
19. Independence Day: Did they even have names?
Faceless Girlfriends and LSWs galore
20. The Sixth Sense: Lynn
Haven't seen this one, but I'm going to go out on a limb and call LSM.
21. Up: Ellie
While it could be said that the whole plot revolves around Ellie, she's still not drawn as a full person. LSW/Girlfriend, at best.
22. The Chronicles of Narnia: Lucy and Susan
Both of these girls are actually fairly good, despite the misogyny of their creator. Susan, unfortunately, goes slightly boy crazy in PC, but it's fairly minor overall. It's a pity, however, that they're not really protagonists. The plot doesn't revolve around their emotional arcs, but rather those of their brothers.
The White Witch, on the other hand... Now there's where you see Lewis' hatred of women. Hoo boy. That's some Black Widow there.
23. Home Alone: Kate
LSM
24. The Matrix trilogy: Trinity
Trinity is very close--oh, so close--to avoiding the pitfalls of Action Babery. Carrie-Anne Moss isn't a teenage girl dressed in next to nothing, for instance. But there's still all that latex, and she still exists primarily as Neo's sidekick and love interest, and has very little personality of her own.
25. Meet the Fockers: Ugh
Girlfriend, LSW, LSM
I considered going beyond the top 25, but looking further down the list... There really aren't any highlights. And the saddest part is that the only female protagonists in the entire top 200 are Miss Lonelyhearts. The first appearance by a non-ML protagonist? Sister Act, at no. 220. Sigh... (Also, I find it interesting that most of the well-rounded female characters are girls. Apparently growing boobs robs one of autonomy...)
By way of disclaimer, since I'm sure someone's going to take offense: I'm not saying that the above films are bad. Some are, some aren't. Some are actually very good. But it's really kind of depressing that so few of them have female characters who aren't defined almost exclusively by their relationships to men: Either to the men in the film, or to the male viewers in the audience.
This is, of course, just a small cross-section of film. The top moneymakers are virtually all large-scale action films, and smaller dramas and comedies--with male or female protagonists--don't make that much money anyway. (Which is in itself kind of sad, but that's another post.) Still, I think it's illuminating. And ennervating.
For the sake of brevity (and not biting off more than I can chew on this!), I've condensed series or sequels down to a single entry, and I'm only listing prominent female characters, not ones that show up in just a scene or two and then disappear. Characters who don't have a lot of screentime but figure heavily in the plot or mythos I'll include.
Also for the sake of shorthand, I'm going to label these characters with some archetypes (that I've... just invented.) Chances are you could probably break these down further, and I know most of them also have some TV Tropes labels, but this is what makes the most sense to me.
So...
The Archetypes:
1. Damsel in Distress: Does little more than act as an object or prize for the hero to rescue
2. Eye Candy: She may have some lines and even a bit of a personality, but the main reason she's there is for the camera to get good, long shots of her cleavage
3. Action Babe: Also known as the Babe in a Brass Bra. Basically the same as the eye candy, but imbued with Mary-Sue-like powers of combat. Despite things like not wearing proper armor or being far too small to wield the size of the weapons she uses.
4. The Girlfriend: Sometimes also a DID, The Girlfriend is the hero's sweetheart back home, or the one who puts him back together so he can live to fight another day. The entirety of her existence relates to how she interacts with her dude.
5. The Long-Suffering Wife: The older version of The Girlfriend. This one also tends home fires and bebehs and occasionally gets a speech or two in which she harangues her husband for putting their family in danger. See also: Long Suffering Mother
6. The Black Widow: The bitch goddess villain. Sometimes one of the only roles an older woman gets, but usually populated by a dangerous beauty type.
7. The Shrew: A lesser Black Widow and the evil side of the Girlfriend or LSW/LSM. This is the domestic villain--the woman who makes Our Hero's life miserable by doing stereotypically evil things like wanting to marry him or make him go to school or something.
8. Miss Lonelyhearts: May be a protagonist and even a complex character, but the essence of the story being told about her is her Quest for Love. Does she have a career? We have no idea. Does she think about something other than That Guy? Doubtful.
9. The Brood Mare: Actual personalities should not be had by women who are pregnant or who may become pregnant.
The List
Data from Box Office Mojo's all-time domestic box office chart
1. Titanic: Rose
Classic Miss Lonelyhearts. Rose is a spitfire, but ultimately, her whole story is about Jack rescuing her from her poor-little-rich-girl life. Oh, and drowning.
2. The Dark Knight/Batman Begins: Rachel
The Girlfriend. She has a job, but it's more or less irrelevant. She also plays a DID on occasion.
3. Star Wars/ESB/Jedi: Leia
Depending on the film, Leia oscillates between The Girlfriend, DID and Action Babe
4. Shrek/2/3: Fiona
The Girlfriend (later LSW) who's secretly Action Babe. Credit for at least letting her remain an ogre.
5. E.T./Mom
LSM
6. Ep. 1/2/3: Amidala
Sure, she's a queen, and a politician, and a good fighter on occasion. But really? We all know she's there just because she's Darth Vader's girlfriend and Luke and Leia's mom. Combo Girlfriend and Brood Mare.
7. POTC Trilogy: Elizabeth
The Girlfriend who occasionaly ventures into Action Babe territory. Half the plot of the original rests on who she wants to marry. Sheesh.
8. Spider-Man 1/2/3: Mary Jane
The classic Girlfriend if there ever was one.
9. Transformers 1 & 2: Did she even have a name?
Eye candy. Pure eye candy.
10. LOTR Trilogy:
Arwen: The Girlfriend, with just a brief side venture into Action Babe (thankfully clothed).
Eowyn: Saved from Action Babe status by wearing real armor and getting filthy, and from Miss Lonelyhearts status by pining away for combat as much as she pines away for Aragorn. A fairly decent character, in general.
Galadriel: Though she's given only a fraction of this status in the films, she's a very powerful older (WAY older) woman, whose husband is her sidekick. Just the barest hint of a Black Widow, but otherwise well-drawn.
11. The Passion of the Christ: Mary Magdalene
The Girlfriend. (Oooh, did I just go there? Yes, yes I did...)
12. Jurassic Park: Ellie & Lex
Both of these female roles are great. Ellie doesn't dissolve into girlish screams and wait for rescue, nor does she pine away for love. Her career is very important to the plot. And Lex? Is just badass for being 14. Probably some of the best-drawn female roles in an action movie.
13. Finding Nemo: Dory
It's very rare to find a comic female sidekick role. Very nicely done. Now if Pixar would just write a story with a female protagonist...
14. Forrest Gump: Jenny and Mama
The Girlfriend and LSM, respectively
15. The Lion King: Nala
The Girlfriend
16. Iron Man: Pepper
LSW--without even the benefit of the certificate
17. Harry Potter: Hermione
The HP series has many other female roles, some of which fall into easy archetypes (Black Widows and Shrews, for instance, and a few Girlfriends and DIDs), but it's managed to also create some good major roles among the girls and women. Hermione is the most prominent, of course. Although her know-it-all-ness is sometimes portrayed as a bad thing, overall, she's quite well drawn, despite occasional lapses into Miss Lonelyhearts territory. Also nice is Luna Lovegood--a truly unique girl character who isn't remotely defined by any boy.
18. Indy 4: Marion & Irina
It's a damned shame that they turned a great character like Marion into a LSW/LSM. Yeah, she had her DID moments in the earlier films, but she was still fairly self-sufficient. And then she just got subsumed in her relationships to Indy and Mutt. Sad. Irina, of course, is a classic Black Widow, and a waste of Cate Blanchett.
19. Independence Day: Did they even have names?
Faceless Girlfriends and LSWs galore
20. The Sixth Sense: Lynn
Haven't seen this one, but I'm going to go out on a limb and call LSM.
21. Up: Ellie
While it could be said that the whole plot revolves around Ellie, she's still not drawn as a full person. LSW/Girlfriend, at best.
22. The Chronicles of Narnia: Lucy and Susan
Both of these girls are actually fairly good, despite the misogyny of their creator. Susan, unfortunately, goes slightly boy crazy in PC, but it's fairly minor overall. It's a pity, however, that they're not really protagonists. The plot doesn't revolve around their emotional arcs, but rather those of their brothers.
The White Witch, on the other hand... Now there's where you see Lewis' hatred of women. Hoo boy. That's some Black Widow there.
23. Home Alone: Kate
LSM
24. The Matrix trilogy: Trinity
Trinity is very close--oh, so close--to avoiding the pitfalls of Action Babery. Carrie-Anne Moss isn't a teenage girl dressed in next to nothing, for instance. But there's still all that latex, and she still exists primarily as Neo's sidekick and love interest, and has very little personality of her own.
25. Meet the Fockers: Ugh
Girlfriend, LSW, LSM
I considered going beyond the top 25, but looking further down the list... There really aren't any highlights. And the saddest part is that the only female protagonists in the entire top 200 are Miss Lonelyhearts. The first appearance by a non-ML protagonist? Sister Act, at no. 220. Sigh... (Also, I find it interesting that most of the well-rounded female characters are girls. Apparently growing boobs robs one of autonomy...)
By way of disclaimer, since I'm sure someone's going to take offense: I'm not saying that the above films are bad. Some are, some aren't. Some are actually very good. But it's really kind of depressing that so few of them have female characters who aren't defined almost exclusively by their relationships to men: Either to the men in the film, or to the male viewers in the audience.
This is, of course, just a small cross-section of film. The top moneymakers are virtually all large-scale action films, and smaller dramas and comedies--with male or female protagonists--don't make that much money anyway. (Which is in itself kind of sad, but that's another post.) Still, I think it's illuminating. And ennervating.