7 Underrated Feminist Characters
Nikita. Sarah Connor. Ellen Ripley. Lara Croft. Cataleya. And of course, the lone female of the Avengers franchise without her own film: Black Widow. These are a select few from the handful “action girls” that have exploded on screen.
The problem with the Action Girl — besides the name isn’t Action Woman — is that these ladies become so powerful that they’re flawless. Perfect. Unbeatable. If there’s any lesson that we learned from any narrative that a perfect, strong hero is boring. Sure, watching a woman kick butt and take no prisoners is awesome, but let’s not mistake “strong women” to “strong character”.
In fact, before the boom of Strong Women à la Black Widow, there were some excellent female characters in pop culture. Some of them can fire a gun properly and can kick you into next week. Some can’t. All, however, are unappreciated feminist icons.
*In no particular order
1. The Female Companions of Doctor Who (Television, 2005 revival)
I’m not listing Clara here simply because I haven’t seen her season. But the other ladies? Without a question are they strong women.
In the fifty years of airing, Doctor Who has cycled through several companions of different sexes, ages and even species. But since 2005 the main companions have two traits in common: all are women, and all choose a life of unknown adventure.
The companions all come from wildly different backgrounds: Rose barely finished high school and works as a shop girl, while, on the other end Martha, is a middle-class med student. While with the Doctor, they not only grow into better people but shape the universe itself with whatever talents they bring to the table. Donna once saved the day with her amazing typing and temp skills.
Some of them do have moments where they kick butt — especially Amy when her husband is threatened — but they’re also incredibly human. Rose, Martha, and Donna have to deal with their annoying family and missing them while they’re gone. Amy makes a selfish choice in running with the Doctor on her wedding night without letting her fiancé know. But each woman is never pigeon-holed in Doctor Who, and all end up changing the world on the large or small scale when they leave the good Doctor.
In the immortal words of the show: I think they look like giants.
2. Elle Woods (Legally Blonde, 2001)
Elle Woods was feminist before I knew what feminist was, to be honest. Frankly, the film was so hilarious, I bet viewers everywhere forgot she was too.
Here’s a girl who could easily skate by on her beauty and a degree in fashion merchandising, but when the love of her life says she’s not serious, she moves heaven and earth to get him back. And when it becomes apparent that Warren is a jerk? She forgets about boys all together and hits the books harder than before. Forget the fact that she scored a 178 out of 180 on the LSATs and got into Harvard on her first try. It’s more than that Elle is forced to prove herself over and over again to dismissive classmates and tough professors.
She’s put down for being her bubbly, shopaholic and spa-going self, but in the end, it’s these same traits that get her the inside track on Brooke Taylor-Windham’s case and ultimately the confession.
Let’s face it: Elle Woods taught us more than just the proper hair care for perms; she taught young ladies everywhere you are more than what people see you as.
3. Carrie White (Carrie, 1976)
When the movie starts with a first period and ends with a bloodbath, it has to be symbolic.
Carrie White begins the film as a shy young girl who unexpectedly gets her first period and is understandably freaked out by what her body is doing. The pelting of tampons and pads and her beloved mother’s lessons on “the curse of blood” is because women are weak certainly do not help.
But instead of letting her religious mom and and the popular girls defeat her, Carrie comes into her own. Instead of living in fear of her womanhood (ahem, I mean her telekinesis powers), she learns to control them by herself. Carrie’s determined enough to solve her issues alone and to be a normal girl.
In the end, Carrie is no longer ashamed of her powers and uses them to break free of her mother’s religious teachings by declaring, “It has nothing to do with Satan, Mama. It’s me.”
Of course, Carrie ends tragically with the title character murdering her classmates and mother before eventually killing herself. But, hey, don’t forget that Carrie White becomes a force to be reckoned with because of her period. Menstruation does make the patriarchy uncomfortable, but Carrie’s makes her the patricarchy’s worst nightmare come to life.
4. Morticia Addams (The Adams Family, 1991)
Let’s talk about the queen of having it all.
Morticia Addams is filthy rich as evidenced by the swank estate, has three delightfully creepy children, and most defining of all — a healthy sex life with Gomez. Whether it’s the fire pokers and leather straps or lovingly calling each other pet names, it’s never a question to the viewer that Morticia and Gomez love each other. In fact, their kinky sex life isn’t really played as something taboo; it’s played as something the couple does regularly and with open communication. Her kids even know what sex is by the time their little brother is born.
Morticia also steps up and becomes the sole breadwinner when the Addams family is kicked out and Gomez is incapacitated. Later, she’s the one who takes initiative to bring Fester back into the fold, even withstanding (enjoying) torture along the way.
And who could forget Morticia’s golden rule: Wednesday could dance naked in the town square, enslave people and be burned by the stake like other feminist heroes in the family…. but college first!
5. Clarice Starling (Silence of the Lambs, 1991)
Interestingly, Starling is the only woman on this list that does kill the film’s typical bad guy and save the girl.
She’s also the lone woman in the FBI’s “boy’s club” that manages to take a crack at Hannibal Lecter to find a missing girl and comes out on top. The premise of the film is Jack Crawford calls up a female trainee that’s “barely old enough to rent a car,” instead of a seasoned agent and offers her up to the most notorious serial killer ever lived. Crawford doesn’t even tell her what exactly she’s facing against as that’s saved for a psychiatrist to tell her seconds before meeting Lecter.
She’s just seen as a plaything by the men she’s surrounded by: Chilton swarmily makes a pass at her, Crawford belittles her in front of others while pulling the “secret friend” schtick, and Lecter crudely suggests that her superiors want to screw her. Clarice, however, never backs down. She stares down Hannibal, she shames him for his disgusting words, and when he asks for painful memories she gives unflinchingly honest accounts that forces him to look away first.
In the end, it’s Clarice and her roommate that gets a lead on Buffalo Bill by piecing Hannibal’s information. It’s Clarice that uncovers his hideout and takes him on with nothing more than a gun in the dark and wins. The FBI just managed to take credit by association.
6. Anne Shirley (Anne of the Green Gables, 1985)
I know this is a cheat, since it was published as a book and been adapted over and over again, but it’s worth saying again.
So Anne starts off as a happy-go-lucky girl that gets shipped off to a new home to ostensibly help around the Cuthbert farm. What’s kind of overlooked in the middle of hilarious shenanigans (like hair turning green) is that Anne hasn’t exactly had an easy life before adoption. Her previous guardians neglected her education, often forgot to feed her and exposed her to violent behavior. Instead of hardening from her experiences, she chooses to overcome them and lives life with complete joy and imagination. Not to say she’s a complete pushover, as she gives Gilbert Blythe a piece of her mind when he teases her.
But you have to respect that Anne knows exactly what she wants and completely goes after it. She wants to go to college at Nova Scotia? Anne works hard to be the stop student to earn scholarships to get herself there? She wants the perfect, idyllic romance? Anne turns down a proposal and goes out and finds a man that fits her dreams.
Of course, Anne does put her family above her own desires, like staying at Green Gables to support her adoptive mother. She also becomes mature enough to realize that real life will never be perfect and chooses love in the end.
7. The Golden Girls (Golden Girls, 1985 -1992)
Picture it: Miami, 1985. Three completely different women become roommates and one is forced to bring in her snarktastic mother after her nursing home burns down. The catch? They’re all grandmothers. (Well, one’s obviously a great-grandmother).
Obviously, none of these ladies kick butt in the literal way, but the premise alone torn down feminist stereotypes. Past their thirties, all women still have active romantic and sexual lives. All of them are working girls: brainy Dorothy works as a substitute teacher, kind Rose starts out as a grief counselor, vampy Blanche is an assistant at an art museum and Sophia goes through a slew of part-time jobs. All live active lives in joining clubs, planning charity events, even starring in a local play.
Individually, these ladies use their own strengths to tackle issues we still handle today. Dorothy uses her snark to tell off her Anti-Semitic friend, while simple-minded Rose knees a possible mugger in the “safe deposit box” after being attacked before. Self-proclaimed sex-maniac Blanche refuses to sleep with her professor to get an easy A in order to achieve a promotion (Here’s the scene from :59 to 1:45). And like any true companions, they learn and grow from each other — like Rose learning that AIDS is not a “bad person disease” or Sophia coming to terms that her son is a transvestite.
Whatever these girls need, day or night, they really were family and challenged viewers with their perspectives of life.
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