Women's Strengths Undercut: How are strong female protagonists truly portrayed?

                    Although often underrepresented in film, women play a crucial role in these narratives, as they provide a unique perspective and experience not provided by their male counterparts. Women are too often associated with a specific set of traits and roles in film, as well in society as whole, narrowing their opportunities to be represented. These women are strong, intelligent, and independent (on some level). Some well-known examples of today include Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games trilogy, Dr. Jean Grey from the X-Men series, and Ellen Ripley from Alien and Aliens, as well as many, many others. But for some reason, these powerful women have their strengths undercut or they are forced to share the spotlight with a male character. We look up to these women and herald them as heroes, which they are. However, we must look at how they are truly portrayed and the pros and cons of this portrayal and ask why this is, and what can be done for female characters of the future. 

                    How are strong female protagonists truly portrayed? Well, they have many positive attributes which make them heroes; they are strong, fearless, intelligent, and capable of leadership. Despite almost always being surrounded by men, they continue to exhibit these traits. Ellen Ripley of the Aliens films is a clear example. Ellen Ripley is an officer in the Air Force who is on a mission in space with a crew made up almost exclusively of men; the crew encounters a ruthless alien species in both films and she survives and plays a crucial role in saving others as well. Women are other portrayed as using their minds rather than brute force to resolve a problem; this is imperative because the intelligence of women is not always of much importance, in comparison with their physical appearance.

                    The negative side of films with strong female leads are troublesome. In almost all of these films, these women are surrounded almost exclusively by men, are ordered around by men, or their entire mission is focused on a man. One of the most successful films in recent years, The Hunger Games, includes a female lead. The Hunger Games is a film that is set in the future, a post-apocalyptic existence where teenagers are taken from their home 'district' (similar to a state within a country) and forced to fight to the death in a sickening entertainment event called the Hunger Games. The main character of this series is Katniss Everdeen- she exhibits self-sacrifice, smarts, strength and independence. She is a true hero. Despite the fact that she is this hero, she is ordered by men, the president of the capitol (the leader of all the districts and the Hunger Games) is a man, and in the most recent installment, she was saved by two men. In Aliens, Ellen Ripley is a fierce soldier and saves a young girl and one of her fellow crewmates in an intense sequence near the end of the film. The remaining survivors of a fight with vicious aliens, Ripley, a girl named Newt, a soldier Lt. Hicks, and a robot named Bishop, try to escape the last surviving alien; Ripley manages to fight this alien while Bishop flies a helicopter with Lt. Hicks to get Ripley and Newt out of the compound before a nuclear explosion kills them all. In the end, Bishop saves them, even when he is severely wounded. Despite all the work the movie has done to make Ripley a hero, the man saves them at the end of the film. What does this say about female heroes? That they can be independent, and strong, and single-handedly fight the sources of evil, but they still need to be saved by a knight in shining armor.

                   One major, serious problem with the way that female leaders are portrayed is how they handle power. Films often show that women cannot handle it, that they are overcome by what makes them strong and this ends up just tearing them down. They go mentally insane when they have too much of a good thing- this being power and independence. Examples include Dr. Grey from the X-Men films and Sarah Connor from Terminator II. Dr. Grey is an extremely powerful woman who is a born leader. However, her powers become too strong and she loses her ability to control them.

This is a troubling trope- showing that women cannot control their own power only discourages them from becoming leaders and society from accepting them.

                    One reason that women are not permitted to have the spotlight and the reason they always have to be saved by a man could be that many people are not comfortable with women truly being the hero. A female hero contradicts long-held beliefs about the role women are supposed to take and challenges the position of men in society, as superior leaders and saviors. Women are traditionally seen a servers in society; they are at the right hand of a man and support his mission. If a woman can lead on her own without a man, this role is completely changed. She is a leader and does not need a man in any capacity. This idea, although it may be moderately accepted, is an total reversal of long-held beliefs. It will take time for these ideas to wear away and for women to be accepted as leaders in their own right. The film industry, while presenting the public with female leaders, has failed to give these women the spotlight and the independence from men that they deserve. If they can do this in the future, maybe the public will be able to accept women outside of archaic roles and as leaders, both in film and in the real world.

Examples of strong female leads whose fellow lead cast is almost exclusively men, who are lead by a man, or their entire mission is focused on a man.

1.       Hermione Granger- the Harry Potter series

2.       Katniss Everdeen- the Hunger Games trilogy

3.       Dori- Finding Nemo

4.       Ariadne- Inception

5.       Princess Leia- the Star Wars films

6.       Elizabeth Swann- the Pirates of the Caribbean films

7.       Trinity- The Matrix

8.       Leigh Anne Tuohy- The Blind Side

9.       Fa Mulan- Mulan

10.   Sarah Connor- The Terminator and The Terminator II

11.   Ellen Ripley- the Aliens films

12.   Dr. Ellie Sattler- Jurassic Park

13.   Dr. Jean Grey and Rogue- the X-Men series

14.   Charlice Starling- The Silence of the Lambs

15.   Mary Poppins- Mary Poppins

16.   Marion Ravenwood- Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

17.   Baby- Dirty Dancing

18.   Lara Croft- Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

19.   Margaret Thatcher- The Iron Lady

20.   Annie Hall- Annie Hall

21.   Maggie Fitzgerald- Million Dollar Baby

22.   Lt. Jordan O'Neil- G.I. Jane

23.   Anna Leonowens- The King and I

24.   Meg Altman- Panic Room

25.   Queen Elizabeth I- Elizabeth

26.   Elizabeth Bennet- Pride and Prejudice

27.   Wendy- Peter Pan

28.   Dana Scully- The X-Files

and many more.