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Girls Need Role Models: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"I think the major problem here is that women were clamoring for 'strong female characters', and male writers misunderstood. They thought the feminists meant [[Action Girl|Strong Female]] Characters. The feminists meant [[Rounded Character|Strong Characters]], Female."''|[http://www.overthinkingit.com/2008/08/18/why-strong-female-characters-are-bad-for-women/ Overthinkingit.com]}}
Media has had a bit of a struggle with trying to come up with usable female characters, particularly in children's programming. The main culprit behind this is the prevalence of [[The Smurfette Principle]]. If a male character is the default, then the only characters that can really have "quirks" are male characters, since the majority of the female characters will end up being [[The Chick]]. [[Unfortunate Implications]] and [[Double Standard]] ensue.
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The pitfalls of this are in the perception. Female leads in shows like, say sitcoms, are still relatively rare. As a result, the foible of a female lead character is going to stand out a lot more than a similar foible from a male lead character on another show. A female character, as long as this is a rare thing, will always stick out for better or worse. Usually for worse—a female character must be better written and have more plausible flaws than her male counterpart. Otherwise, she's likely to stick out as being filled with stereotypes. It's likewise tempting to make the female character [[Positive Discrimination|better at everything]] to avoid such allegations.
Obviously, the best way to remedy the problem is to make female characters more common—that way, flaws really aren't that big a deal. The first paragraph singles out Western media for good reason—Japanese comics pioneered the [[Shoujo Demographic]], and shows accessible to girls are ubiquitous today. Girls in Japan don't really have to worry about role models because there are enough characters, good and bad, that they avoid [[Unfortunate Implications]] to a greater degree (and yet ironically Japan lags behind the West on many other gender issues). Metrics such as the [[
Compare [[You Are a Credit to Your Race]].
{{examples}}
== Comic Books ==
* [[Wonder Woman]] was created by a psychiatrist that thought this. Of course, the kinds of girls he had in mind were into bondage and swinging, so one would have to wonder if this is a [[Broken Aesop]]...
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* Comics and music critic Douglas Wolk once wrote a series of reviews under the secret identity of clueless Comics Journal intern Jess Lemon. "Jess" tears into a ''Vampirella/Witchblade'' crossover when her apologist brother claims that it has strong female characters: ''"When people say they want strong female characters, they don't necessarily mean strong in the sense that they can lift things."''
* The original Larry Hama-penned GI Joe comic from Marvel is well regarded by feminists, citing that the female character's gender was not a focus, and the fact that their gender did not define them or their positions on the team.
== Film ==
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** Padme Amidala has her big career, can fight with the Jedi and clone troopers and refuses to even be with Anakin throughout Attack of the Clones even if she does wear pretty dresses.
** And some still are not happy. True, they are pretty much [[The Smurfette Principle|the only female characters in the entire series]], but that's rather why this trope came about in any case.
* Liz Hoggard openly invokes the trope [https://web.archive.org/web/20101210182944/http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/liz-hoggard-revenge-of-the-lifesavvy-over40s-1909603.html in her review] of [[Tim Burton]]'s ''[[Alice in Wonderland (film)|Alice in Wonderland]]'', noting that what makes Alice a "good role model" is that "she is not girlie", according to her. Clarification is desperately needed for this, as the linked review does no such thing - "Girlie" in the review refers specifically to the archetype of the [[Damsel in Distress]]. A role that Alice does not fall into despite being quite conventionally feminine. At no point is it claimed that [[Real Women Never Wear Dresses]].
* Andie Anderson from ''[[How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days]]'' wants to be a serious journalist.
* Sara Melas's boss in ''[[Hitch]]'' says that she is so good at her job.
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* It appears that [[The Powers That Be]] working currently on the film of ''[[The Hobbit (film)|The Hobbit]]'' are fully aware of this trope. Many fan eyebrows have been raised on the revelation that Evangeline Lily will be playing a film-only character called "Tauriel," and she is an "[[Action Girl|elf warrior-maiden]]." Granted, the alternative is to abide by the book, which hasn't got a single female character to its name, but fans are still prickly—not least because "elf warrior-maiden" are three prime [[Mary Sue]] buzzwords.
* [[Quentin Tarantino]] claimed, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L2ukSJFgCM in a rather amusing exchange with a local film critic], that girls aged 12+ should watch ''[[Kill Bill]]''.
== Literature ==
* In an [https://web.archive.org/web/20140302125046/http://www.us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/bridget_joness_diary.html interview] regarding her novel ''[[Bridget Jones|Bridget Jones' Diary]]'', Helen Fielding remarked upon the idea of a comic female protagonist being controversial for this reason, whereas no man ever took [[Jeeves and Wooster (novel)|Bertie Wooster]] as an insulting stereotype of the entire male gender. A derogatory stereotype of English fecklessness, sure, but not a stereotype of men.
* [[Tamora Pierce]] says that this is one of her primary reasons for writing, and almost all of her main characters are strong [[Action Girl]] type characters. Specifically, Kel in Protector of the Small is meant is held up as a Role Model for Girls in universe by Alanna (the heroine of the first [[Tortall Universe]] series).
* Clearly one of the aims of the ''[[Kiki Strike]]'' books. Indeed, in the first book, ''Inside the Shadow City'', not one of the major characters is male.
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* [[Phryne Fisher]]; as her creator [[Kerry Greenwood]] has said, "But Phryne is a hero, just like James Bond or the Saint, but with fewer product endorsements and a better class of lovers. I decided to try a female hero and made her as free as a male hero, to see what she would do."
▲== Live Action TV ==
* Originated with ''That Girl'' and ''[[The Mary Tyler Moore Show]]'', though it was arguably justified in those days. Back then, the leads started off their show by [[She Can Turn The World On With Her Smile|Turning The World On With Their Smile]].
* The whole premise of ''[[Ugly Betty]]''. Compare with [[Yo Soy Betty, la Fea|the original]] [[Soap Opera]] version, where some of the heroine's actions are somewhat questionable, and its point was to [[Inverted Trope|invert]] the [[Beauty Equals Goodness]] pattern in soap heroines.
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* Amongst the younger female characters of ''[[Downton Abbey]]'' there is Sybil and Gwen. Whilst Mary and Edith partake in the [[The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry]], Anna pines hopelessly after Mr Bates, and Daisy is relentlessly manipulated by Thomas, it comes as a relief to watch Sybil and Gwen form an inter-class friendship based on Gwen's desire to become a typist and Sybil's interest in women's emancipation.
* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'''s Major Samantha Carter has been cited as one of the greatest female roles in science fiction for a very good reason - she always held her own with "the boys", and aside from one rather embarrassing speech in the pilot episode (after which actress [[Amanda Tapping]] put her foot down and said, "Okay, women don't talk like that,"), rarely made a big deal about being a woman unless someone else made an issue of it first. She was smart, she was a [[Badass]] [[Action Girl]], and she was a real character with real flaws and real emotions. And on top of that, she had one of the firmest friendships in the show with Dr. Janet Fraiser, which was based not on mutual romantic woes but on common interests and real regard for each other.
== Video Games ==
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* ''[[Saints Row 2]]'' + 3 approaches this trope from the other direction by being completely indiscriminate. The fact you might be female pales to the fact you might, for example, have blue skin, luminous green tattoos and be roughly the shape of a pear. No-one will care, except for the odd comment in the 2nd game calling you the toughest chick they've ever met. By the third game there's plenty of female characters inhabiting the main cast, the main thing that subverts the 'you too, can be a chaotic, violence-loving psychopath!' message, is how [[Stripperific]] most NPC females are.
== Web Comics ==
* [[Parodied Trope|Parodied]] by [[Hark! A Vagrant]] [http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=311 here] and [http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=336 here], as part of a joint project with Carly Monado and Meredith Gran.
== Web Original ==
* The ladies from [[The Nostalgia Chick]] take from [[Absolutely Fabulous]] in this regard. You've got [[Slapstick Knows No Gender]], plenty of [[Black Comedy]] including rape jokes, neuroses, pretentiousness, egos, stalking and just plain hilarious evil all round. And with that in mind, you can understand why Lindsay Ellis would get pissed off when the [[Women Are Wiser]] [[Misaimed Fandom]] keeps on popping up despite all of this.
== Western Animation ==
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** Some episodes focus on female role model-style characters e.g.: Wendy's [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] when she beat the crap out of Cartman due to his mocking of breast cancer sufferers.
* The DVD commentary on ''[[The Boondocks]]'' points how many critics complain about the lack of [[Magical Negro|"perfect" Black females.]] The crew points out that a change in gender does NOT make you perfect.
* The [[Barbie]] movies (of all things) have done a surprisingly good job at creating strong female leads, as well as subverting all of the most common complaints about the [[Disney Princess]]es. The heroines always have interests and hobbies, and female friends with whom they pass the [[
* On the first day of June, 2009, a female writer at NPR wrote [https://web.archive.org/web/20131020111306/http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2009/06/dear_pixar_from_all_the_girls.html this blog post]. In it, she innocuously mused aloud that, since [[Pixar]] has created so many memorable female characters in their films, it would be nice if, for a change, one of them got to be the ''lead'' role in a film rather than a supporting character. And while 2012's ''Brave'' (formerly Bear and the Bow) '''will''' have a female lead, she's a [[Everything's Better with Princesses|princess]], and the writer wanted something more original. Hilarity ensued. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100811040839/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/06/10/ask-pixar-to-make-a-movie-about-a-girl-why-thats-just-p-c-b/ This thankfully level-headed writer] summarizes the "Pixar Needs Women" debacle very nicely.
* Tiana of ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]'' has to deal with being the first African-American [[Disney Princess]], and early reviews say she's the best role model yet. She has a specific goal, (as opposed to "finding love" or [[Rebellious Princess|"more"]]) which she works her ass off to achieve despite the disadvantages that come with being a black woman in 1920's [[The Big Easy|New Orleans]]. But of course she gets criticism for being [[Unpleasable Fanbase|too much/not enough]] like the other princesses, for [[Real Women Never Wear Dresses|wearing a sparkly dress in the promotional materials]], and getting married.
* Though before Tiana, we had ''[[Mulan]]''. She took on the burden of going to war, was one of the best fighters, saved the day and the romance was underplayed. Not to mention, the only time she wore a fancy dress was a disaster and she never wore makeup thereon, either in the movie or the merchandise.
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* Darla "The Geek" in the animated series of ''[[Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'' was originally meant to be male. The sex change occurred because the TV network asked for a positively-identified female character.
* The female heroes in ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' and ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'' won positive response for actually having relevant roles in the ongoing storyline and even getting their own plots and episodes devoted to them. However, the pilot episode of the latter was sharply criticized for focusing on the four male members of the team and not including any women until the final few minutes.
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' churned out strong female characters by the boatload. Starting with [[The Chick|Katara]], the headstrong waterbender from the [[
** [[The Chick|Katara]] starts as a rather typical example of [[The Chick]], but later events force her dark side to come out later on. She also, despite much pressure from the fan base, remained indifferent to [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]] and ended up with someone who was a [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]] like her. [[Badass Adorable|Ty Lee]] also has her [[Moe]] qualities, but this comes more from [[Freudian Excuse|feeling unwanted as a child]] than her gender role.
** The sequel series, ''[[The Legend of Korra]]'', continues this trend, with the creators taking the risk of pitching a female protagonist. It's paid off.
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* Kitty Katswell in ''[[Tuff Puppy]]'' being kickass [[Action Girl]] and the most competent and [[Only Sane Man|sane]] agent in T.U.F.F.. With a sensible and stylish [[Spy Catsuit]] go with.
* The [[Bratz]] movies and tv show have four female main characters. We have Cloe, the beauty whiz and sometimes nervous wreck; Sasha, the sassy music connoisseur who's also a bit of a control freak; Jade, the fashion maven who can be a bit over the top; and Yasmin, the yoga master who is too shy for her own good. Most of the 'special' characters (the ones that only show up in one movie or episode) are female, as well as the reoccurring villians. Did i mention that the Bratz run their own bestselling magazine ''and'' that they're still in high school? Despite the complaints about their clothes not being age appropriate, they are great role models.
== Real Life ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
[[Category:Action Girl]]
[[Category:Women Are Delicate]]
[[Category:Gender and Sexuality Tropes]]
[[Category:Double Standard]]
▲[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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