More on Female Protagonists: What Should Women be Doing?

In almost all forms of modern entertainment the creators are trying to add more feminist characters. But my question is, are they doing this right? When we imagine an empowered woman in a movie, we imagine a girl who can fight just as well as the boys. A girl who can handle a gun and do karate. Although I believe we should show women doing the same things men generally do, I don’t think we should advertise feminist characters as women who can beat people up. A good example of this is Ocean’s 8. These are all great female characters. They’re only goal throughout this movie is to steal a very expensive necklace. And these are supposed to be women that little girls look up to. We’re trained to think that it’s cool to be a criminal. Maybe if these women were framed as villains it would make more sense. Yet these are our heroes. You may say that these are anti-heroes but in order to be an anti-hero you need a dark past that motivates you to do bad things. Then at the end of the story the anti-hero learns the error of their ways. Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) is the only character in Oceans 8 with a real motivation.

She’s bitter after her husband betrayed her and put her in prison and she wants to carry on her brother's legacy. The other characters in this movie have no depth with their motivations being things like “getting away from their parents”. At the end of this movie they keep their riches and never once think “maybe we shouldn’t steal”.

Superhero movies are of course going to have violence in them. And I think in a case where there must be violence in a movie, the women should contribute just as much headsmashing as the men. Beyond Marvel, DC, Star Wars, and horror movies I believe we need more realistic movies that can still portray strong women. In telling us that swords and guns makes a female character helpful to the feminist agenda, modern entertainment is further popularizing violence and slowing down our already gradual crawl towards a world without violence.

Honestly how hard is it to make a feminist movie without any bloodshed or brutality? Of course there are books like Angie Thomas’s “The Hate U Give” that need violence to prove the authors point. Or the book “Heartless” by Marrisa Meyers which is about the journey her hero faces that turns her into a tyrant anti-hero. These are both examples of times when foul play is necessary but not overdone.

When a little girl goes out into the world, she needs role models that can show her how to truly succeed as a woman.

Hermione Granger, although a wizard, is a shining role model in her way of working to excel in school no matter how much she’s made fun of. The actress who plays Hermione Granger, Emma Watson, is an avid feminist herself. My favorite quote of hers is “Feminism is about giving women choice. Feminism is not a stick with which to beat other women with. It’s about freedom. It’s about liberation. It’s about equality.”

“Hidden Figures” not only had 3 strong female characters but was literally based on a true story. Same with “On the Basis of Sex” based on the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Feminism should be the idea that one day, any women can achieve her dreams.

When I think of feminism I do not believe it should delay the progress of any other form of social justice like race equality or gay pride. Especially not the ever looming goal of John Lennon’s timeless song “Imagine”.

“I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will be as one.”

Sincerely,

Flora