Discussion: Strong Female Characters

[strangetomato]

This is mostly for will_o_whisper, since we've had many a deep, meaningful conversation on the topic (and the same goes for beyondheroism__ and smjoshsims), but I thought it might be of interest to a number of you that I can thing of offhand, and maybe even more. It's this article from the latest metafandom post, titled Ladies, Please (Carry On Being Awesome) by sarahtales. It's more discussion on the idea that we hold female characters up to a different standard than male characters. There's also a link to another article within that one about the Bechdel test, which includes lists of series/stories that pass it (even mentioning videogames such as FFVI, an old favourite of mine).

In particular, I love the example of "Harriet Potter" from this article. Wouldn't Harry most likely have been universally loathed if he were a female protagonist? I really think there's a lot of truth in that. I'm reminded of our conversation on the same topic (Will_o and I), where I mentioned that I thought my take on Frances J. Worthington III would most likely be received very differently if he were female. We (female consumers of stories, more specifically) seem to have a much higher tolerance for bullshit from male characters. Being selffish, whiny, brooding, and/or shy (not to mention the other extreme of assertive, aka bitchy) take on a whole different flavour when the character is a female.

The Sims 2 is more limited when it comes to actual storylines for characters, given that it's an open-ended videogame where you're only given a backstory, but I think it does give us some good examples of strong female characters (depending on how you take them, since it places the gamer in the driver's seat). We are pretty lacking in a female equivalent of Don Lothario, though (there are female romance sims, but none that are linked to so many lovers, with a fiance and all), and I wonder if the term golddigger would even come up if Dina Caliente were male and Mortimer were female. Heheh - imagine that! (How do people relate to that gender-switched Plesantview you can download from MATY? The idea intrigues me, in that it really shouldn't make that much of a difference, should it? But it does.)

Personally, I'm just as interested in "weak" female characters, because the idea of all female characters having to be completely in control and kickass (but not too kickass) is very limiting and also unrealistic. By "strong", I mean well-developed and rounded, for better or worse. Like the author of the article, my own beef with the whole concept presented in the example of the female Harry Potter is that the dominant parameters for a strong female character are often very limiting. I want to see all kinds of female characters, especially weak and messy ones, shown in a sympathetic light. And maybe even as the main character, once in a while.

ETA: Same goes for female villains. I love a good ruthless female bad guy, but I guess that's sort of obvious by now.

 

Anyway, I thought it might be of interest to some of you. Feel free to discuss in the comments, if ya wanna.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Interesting discussion. One of the things I like with Sims is that it's very gender neutral in a way really. There's the description for premade sims, of course, but they act the same when you play, right? So when it comes to sim-stories, I think I feel the same way about a character whether it's a male character or a female character. I haven't read all of S, HWC yet, but I like the women in that story so far (your writing helps, of course). And for what it's worth, I've never felt anymore sympathy towards Don than I feel towards the Caliente sisters.

(A genderswitched Pleasantview does sound interesting, though.)

Except for that, I guess I am guilty of judging female characters more. I think it's because I'm worried about them perpetuation stereotypes, like someone else mentioned. There's also the fact that female characters are often so sexualized, though. Harriet Potter would probably be safe from that, since HP is for kids, but turn a guy from a more mature story into a lady, and suddenly she's sexy, even if he weren't. Not that every female character has to be unattractive to be likeable, but it's as if a female character is put into a role, the role is quickly fetishized some way, and that annoys me.

(Sorry for the anonymous comment, but I have no lj for the moment.)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

No need to apologize! ^_^ I'm glad you (and all the others who posted) weighed in with their take on it. That's what makes it an interesting discussion.

I like the point you've made about sims themselvs being fairly neutral. In Sms 2, there are very few things that are limited to one gender or the other (the obvious exceptions being makeup, facial hair, hair styles, and clothing options, though obviously the latter is for practical reasons like body shape, and there are hacks and cc to deal with the others).

I also completely agree with the idea (as was mentioned a number of times) that we judge female characters more harshly because we're wary of them representing all women, and perpetuating stereotypes that all women are that way. This is unfortunate, because we should view a character as a single person, and maybe they fall into stereotypes in some ways, or are traditioal to their gender, but they're an individual.

I see the need for the "kickass" female character, as some have mentioned, because we've gone so long without seeing that as an option for women characters, but I like the idea of a female being worthy of our attention in astory, even if they are a more traditional sort of gal, or a less flattering character type.

[(Anonymous)]

True. It's nice to see a female character kick ass, but not every character needs to do that. Heck, I often like wussy male characters (although if they are too spineless, that can be annoying), so it is unfair of me to be harsh on a wussy female character.

[will-o-whisper.livejournal.com]

pst, men can wear all the makeup. There are even a couple premades who start the game with it. ;p

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Oh, you're right, aren't you? All the Maxis makeup does work for males. What am I thinking about, then? Is it some cc makeup that doesn't work for the males? I remember noticing something about that.

[will-o-whisper.livejournal.com]

Some cc makeup can be pretty hit-or-miss as to who can wear it so that's probably what you're thinking of. :) I've definitely come across stuff (mostly blushes and eyeshadows iirc) women could use but men couldn't. Not so much vice versa, though.