SimonDoom
Kink Lord
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2015
- Posts
- 19,108
Can't remember when I've seen a multi-faceted, well-written character in movie or TV to be honest. It's all "strong female protagonist", bland, stoic, good at everything and especially when a man is around. Fuck that trend. I mean, I'm all for strong female characters (read my shit!), but what happened to the Susan Ivanovas or Captain Janeways? Were they not strong female characters? Multilayered even? Why this insane obsession to turn everything with boobs into a total, perfect, infailable and most of all INSUFFERABLE bitch? Is that really the kind of woman young girls should look up to? Not the caring, compasionate, yet capable person Beverly Crusher was? If you want the tough woman instead, how about Ellen Ripley? She got shit done without being one-note perfect. Or the utter ass-kicker Rita from Edge Of Tomorrow who still left room for the male lead in their movie? There's your layered female characters, strengths AND flaws make a well-rounded character. Moments of growth and weakness make the person so much more likable.
I really don't want to incite a flame war, but I'm so utterly tired of Rey, Galadriel, She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, live-action Mulan and all the other girl bosses rammed down my throat. They are carbon copies of the same bland mold. Speaking of Rita, played by Emily Blunt:
You're talking about the "Mary Sue" phenomenon, and I totally agree with the examples you've given. The characters burst forth on the camera nearly perfect and strong, like Athena from Zeus's head, and as a result there's no interesting character arc or development. Compare and contrast the character arc of Luke in the original trilogy with that of Rey (who's basically just a female reboot of Luke) in the last one. Luke's character arc involves reversals, self-doubt, defeats, mentorship, meaningful interaction with other characters, and learning. Rey just kicks ass from the get-go. Boring.
I thought the three main female characters in Six Feet Under--Ruth, Claire, and Brenda--were all interesting, multilayered characters with good and bad features who stood apart on their own as interesting people apart from how they interacted with the male characters.
More recently, Beth Harmon in Queen's Gambit was an interesting, multi-layered character. Her chess success stretched believability, given her background and lack of real competition at an early age, but her character otherwise was definitely not a Mary Sue. She had both good and bad qualities and many ups and downs in her life. She had to deal with death, being an orphan, parental rejection, alcoholism, being an outcast, sexist treatment from male opponents, etc.
Elizabeth Jennings in The Americans was a great character, well-played against type by the girl-next-door actress Keri Russell. She plays a Russian spy living undercover as a suburban mom in America in the 1980s. She's a true believer and vicious killer but also a caring mom. It's a great show, highly recommended. Her husband Phillip, played just as well by Matthew Rhys, is also complex, and somewhat less committed to the cause, even though he's just as effective a spy and killer.