It is easy to name movie characters who would be considered “strong female characters”. Katniss, from The Hunger Games. Elsa and Anna from Frozen. Rey from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It seems that strong females are popping up in many movies and genres, showing that Hollywood is slowly making themselves more diverse. Yet, I still find I have some issues regarding some female characters. First, let’s look at what many movies consider to be a strong female character.
She’s usually white, and skinny. The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Fifth Wave and The Force Awakens; all these movies showcase a white, pretty, usually skinny woman who can fight for what she wants and kick butt. With many of these characters, I think it would be nice to see different races, showing that any woman can kick butt if she wants. I also think that some characters should be more muscular or curvy. For example, in The Hunger Games, Katniss is someone who eats a lot of meat, spends most of her time doing hard labor, and when she gets put in to the Games, she has to fight for herself. So wouldn’t it make sense for her to be muscular?
I’m sure Jennifer Lawrence (who plays Katniss) has muscles, but they don’t seem very noticeable. There aren’t many female characters who have noticeable muscles. Even in the Clint Eastwood film, Million Dollar Baby, Hillary Swank, who plays a boxer, doesn’t have very noticeable muscles. Portraying women with muscles would show that we can be just as strong and powerful as men can be.
She’s usually nice-looking. Of course, most actors and actresses are good-looking, as it can be a “requirement” for the job. But do they really have to look so good? Both males and females always look perfect. And obviously, make up in movies is used to make them look that way. But there are points in a movie or TV show where the actors should look normal. It is unrealistic to have someone wake up in the morning with their hair looking perfect and their face shimmering from make up. In movies that have the character working and sweating, it only makes sense if they aren’t wearing make up.
She’s usually troubled. This one is almost always a given. In movies like The Hunger Games, what I do like is that there is a male character that is equally or even more so troubled than the female. However, it is easy to make female characters anxious, or depressed. It makes for a good plot. For example, in a lot of romance movies, the anxious or depressed female will be “saved” by the confident and sexy male. This also harms the male characters. Males are expected to be strong and not have much (if any) emotion. In a lot of movies, they are simply a shoulder to cry on, or they are the rescuer. If males were allowed to be emotional in movies, then maybe more males would feel better being emotional in real life.
As for females, maybe we could be portrayed as the rescuers or the shoulder to cry on sometimes. It will show that we can be strong and helpful as well. I think the best movies, though, have both. Movies like The Sixth Sense, which have a very troubled and sad boy with an anxious and upset mother. In that movie, they both help each other with their issues. This is the essence of a relationship- they rely on balance. Everyone wants their partner to love and respect them, and to help them with their problems. So why do so many movies show one-way relationships?
She almost always has a love interest. While I’m not at all against relationships and the support and confidence they can provide, does every movie where there is a girl and a boy have to end with them getting together? What if they just stayed friends? Or what if the boy fell for someone else? Sometimes, strength comes from being alone, or it comes from inside oneself.
The woman doesn’t always have to have a love interest. Maybe she realizes that she enjoys being single, and she finds strength in herself. Love interests are fine, and they are a good side plot, but do they really need to be apart of almost every movie?
And lastly, she always has a happy ending. This one is obvious. Hollywood movies don’t usually end badly. Both male and female characters obtain their so called happy ending. Sometimes, these endings seem too perfect. But that’s just the way Hollywood is. So, maybe, we should change the format of a “strong female character” before they all become similar, cliché, and worst of all, boring.
