You know about the Bechdel test, right? It's the famous and very simple test that is used today to assess the gender bias of films, TV series and books. It's actually very simple - to pass this test, the plot must have at least two female characters who, in one of the scenes, would talk about something not related to men.
According to statistics, just more than half of the movies ever made meet all three criteria of this test. But today, we’ll talk about something else - well-written and strong female characters in popular culture. By the way, yes, if we consider the Terminator a male character, then Sarah Connor will not pass the Bechdel test... But let's take everything in order.
More info: Reddit
#1
Ellen Ripley in Alien
Image credits: Piyushmessi10
#2
Ripley is the ultimate Queen. Gotta add Scully from the X-Files. Smart, level headed, can take care of herself and kick a*s when needed.
Image credits: Cowcat0
#3
Emma Peel.
Image credits: Spock-1701
So, recently, a thread appeared in the AskReddit community, the author of which, user u/Piyushmessi10, asked the question: "Who is a well-written strong female character in a movie or TV show?", and in more than a week, it has collected over 3.5K upvotes and nearly 1.5K various comments.
From Sarah Connor to Ellen Ripley, from Buffy Summers to Katniss Everdeen - please meet perhaps the most comprehensive gallery of strong female characters in popular culture, collected especially for you by Bored Panda based on a detailed study of this viral thread!
#4
Clarice Starling.
Image credits: AJerkForAllSeasons
#5
Leia Organa.
Image credits: ImperatorRomanum
#6
Tv? Sarah Conner from the Sarah Conner Chronicles.
Movie? Sarah Conner from the Terminator movies
No matter the format, or who played her she always kicked a*s and was smart as hell.
Image credits: Successful-Ad4251
Interestingly, the characters that are most often found in netizens' answers are usually heroines of fantasy or sci-fi movies. Does this mean that in works based on real life, it is more difficult for the author to create a heroine who would be both a multi-faceted personality and a strong person?
Probably not - it's just that in a fantasy story the heroine has to face obstacles that better reveal her strength of character. And, of course, they look much more spectacular on the screen. After all, the average viewer finds it way more exciting to watch a battle against Aliens than, for example, mundane everyday life.
Although, believe me, in everyday life such strength of character can actually reveal that any alien monster, when faced with it, would run away in horror, getting tangled in its own tentacles.
#7
You picked the GOAT op
I’d add Furiosa, Clarice Starling and Marge Gunderson.
Image credits: Indoorsman101
#8
Buffy Summers. Incredibly brave, honest, smart, kind, but still a teenage girl having to deal with teenage girl problems like popularity at school, homework & grades, being a good big sister, dating boys (most of whom are vampires), a hellmouth at her high school, and trying to save the world from the apocalypse.
Image credits: puppiesandrainbows3
#9
TV - Carol in The Walking Dead
Trinity - The Matrix.
Image credits: Pheerandlowthing
By the way, returning to the principles that characterize the gender impartiality of plots, we can also recall the so-called "Smurfette Principle,” introduced in 1991 by the poet and critic Katha Pollitt. According to this principle, in most plots where a group of heroes act, there is only one female character.
Well, Smurfette herself, Miss Piggy, Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, Penny in the early seasons of The Big Bang Theory, April O'Neil in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Black Widow in The Avengers... the list goes on and on. Needless to say, these plots would probably fail the Bechdel test, too.
#10
Emily Blunt in Edge of Tomorrow & Sicario.
Image credits: Skoofer
#11
Olivia Dunham in Fringe.
Image credits: Krinks1
#12
Kim Wexler, Better Call Saul.
Image credits: Zealousideal-Pay3937
But these are all fairly recent plots, and in more classic works, strong and well-written female characters were even harder to find. In fact, in the entire Lord of the Rings novel, there are only two female characters who actually have their own actions and lines: Eowyn and Galadriel (Arwen is almost never present in the book text).
The most interesting thing is that Galadriel, probably one of the top five strongest characters in The Lord of the Rings, received so little attention from the author. On the other hand, in the recent series about the Rings of Power, the legendary elf got a lot of attention - and it can't be said that it did her any good, right?
#13
Geena Davis in the Long Kiss Goodnight
Amy Adams in Arrival
Jackie Brown.
Image credits: delifte
#14
Delenn, Susan Ivanova, Lyra Alexander- Babylon 5.
Image credits: TUGBoat85007
#15
Jyn Erso.
Image credits: thehound48
In general, in order to create a truly outstanding female character, endowed with a strong character, mighty will and bright intelligence, one needs to... well, basically, just be an outstanding author. And, of course, have the desire to overcome the stable patterns that have reigned in culture for centuries. Some have succeeded, and some, alas, have not.
Be that as it may, please feel free to scroll this selection to the very end, and add your own ideas of some well-written strong female characters, if we somehow missed someone, in the comments below. After all, as Ellen Ripley once said: "Unless somebody has got a better idea...”
#16
Seven of Nine, especially in Star Trek: Picard.
(Honorable mention to Catherine Janeway).
#17
Some of my favorites:
Camina Drummer - The Expanse
Kira Nerys - Deep Space Nine
Dana Scully - The X-Files.
Image credits: AbsolutelyNotAPossum
#18
The women from the people who wrote The Office/Parks and Rec/Brooklyn 99 and The Good Place.
Specifically Leslie Knope.
Image credits: Mysterious_Travel669
#19
Alice in Resident Evil and the Bride in K**l Bill.
Image credits: Dan_flashes480
#20
I always loved Leeloo in Fifth Element.
Image credits: KyorlSadei
#21
Laura Roslin - BSG.
Image credits: loulara17
#22
Beatrix Kiddo and Oren Ishi
Strong willed, skilled, flawed, vulnerable and able to overcome their disadvantages.
Image credits: sWo97
#23
Katniss Everdeen.
Image credits: TremontRemy
#24
Jessica Jones in the Netflix show.
Image credits: pman13531
#25
The quick and the dead.
Ellen, played by Sharon stone. .
Image credits: secondphase
#26
Andor (all the female characters).
Image credits: GargantaProfunda
#27
Murphy Brown.
Image credits: ChessTiger
#28
Veronica mars! villanelle and eve polastri and carolyn martens! lorelai gilmore! emily gilmore!
Image credits: neisaysthis
#29
Kira Nerys in Deep Space 9
CJ in the West Wing.
#30
Bo Katan.
Image credits: Il_Magn1f1c0
#31
Maude Lebowski.
Image credits: glib-eleven
#32
Tv: Princess Caroline from Bojack Horseman.
Image credits: Mexican-Kahtru
