Strong Female Characters, My Own Definition | I Should Be Writing

beatwritersbane:

While I agree with the sentiment in this post, I will not be encouraging readers to agree with everything in it, for what could be a mildly petty reason.

She condemns the Princess Bride for Buttercup’s character and how she is written… but it does not seem that she understands that the movie is meant to be a stereotype of these sorts of stories, and is meant to show her in a ridiculous light and make viewers realize the faults with this particular characterization, while poking fun at it.

In addition, I do not believe that EVERY female character needs to be strong at every moment. Much like real women, there are going to be issues and events that many will not be able to kick ass when we are saddled with them. I can swat a mouse with a broom right out the door, I will grab a snake and throw it away, but give me a spider and I run screaming to the other side of the room.

This does not mean I am a weak and stereotypical girly girl because one animal sends me for the hills, or that if I was a character that it would be out of character completely or I would become weaker. This means that I am just utterly terrified of spiders. And rightly so, as I was bitten by a rather large one as a child and have been terrified of them since.

She has a good definition, but I believe her argument is rather flawed in essence. I still encourage everyone to read this, however, to see where they stand.

I do agree that we need better female characters, ones that are stronger and less stereotyped. But if every character that is female is strong in every aspect of her life, that is unrealistic because everyone has weaknesses regardless of gender. Everyone is flawed in some way, and I got the feeling that she is missing the point of some of the characterization in this particular movie. (for clarification, I am not a huge fan of it either. I just like it.)

I do, however, agree with her sentiments of the one moment with Buffy and Spike and the lead female for 28 Days Later. It was missing the point of TPB that annoyed me.