Are “strong female characters” becoming a cliche?

[mathew101281]

Are they all starting to feel kind of samey? Are they all starting to follow the same story beats and story arches?

[PCN24454]

On the outside, very much, but as with a lot of characters and concepts that are seen as "generic", you might not notice that if you're invested in their story.

[CSTowle]

Yeah, agree with PCN. If the story is good it doesn't matter if it's the 10,000th time you've seen the charming rogue or the mustache-twirling villain or the evil corporation's actions killing innocents. Sure, I groaned at that one scene in the last Avengers movie but less because I'm tired of the cliche as it was too on the nose. Then again, it really wasn't for me.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

The point is that strong female characters [I]should be a cliché.

And obviously you can have various kinds of those characters just as with men you have "tough guy" change from era to era, like all the James Bond actors are 'tough guys' but each of them represent masculine aesthetics particular to the period reflecting changing mores and so on.

[Username taken]

It’s not really a cliche.

In the situations where you have tough guys, the expectation is that we should have tough women- in this case the strong, female characters.

I mean, in real life there are a number of tough women. Hollywood and the media as a whole just decided to ignore them for whatever reason.

[mathew101281]

It’s not really a cliche.

In the situations where you have tough guys, the expectation is that we should have tough women- in this case the strong, female characters.

I mean, in real life there are a number of tough women. Hollywood and the media as a whole just decided to ignore them for whatever reason.

But in movies their are more then one type of tough guy. I’m not sure that’s the case for tough women

[Zelena]

On the outside, very much, but as with a lot of characters and concepts that are seen as "generic", you might not notice that if you're invested in their story.

The point is to create complex and compelling characters…

Meggan Braddock can be seen as a sweet and charming young woman. But when riled, she is as tough and as strong as any badass women… Rachel Summers has a tough exterior but she has frailties…

Good authors show that reality is more than appearances.

[Jackalope89]

Well, I have nothing against having a strong female character, even as the lead. Series like She-Ra (the 2018 series), Kipo, etc show that having such is not a bad thing.

They're strong (literally and metaphorically in She-Ra's case), but still have room for growth, but have enjoyable personalities. And the first Wonder Woman film, while Diana is a great person, she's thrown into a world completely different from her own. Where, despite being a warrior society (but taught compassion as well), she was incredibly sheltered and naive to the outside world.

But then you get into things like what Disney has been doing with female leads in recent years. The most recent example being Mulan. From the get go, she has no flaws and everything goes her way. There's no character growth. She doesn't become better. She's already top of the list (acting aside, at least). Honestly, the animated film did a far better job with Mulan as a character than the live action did.

Anyway, the point is; strong female characters can most certainly work. But written with no flaws and nowhere to grow as a character, with everything (like respect or positions of great authority) simply given to them, with no work involved, it is off putting. And yes, the same goes for male characters too. Probably the biggest thing I've heard of when it comes to this situation, is when wanting to write a male or female character; don't focus so much on the gender at first, but on what makes that character tick.

[Agent Z]

If anything is becoming cliche, it's people complaining about strong female characters.

[CosmiComic]

If anything is becoming cliche, it's people complaining about strong female characters.

Exactly. Every time a female character is stoic or isn't a total girly-girl, people complain. IMO the problem is probably male writers simply not making the effort to flesh out female characters

[mathew101281]

Exactly. Every time a female character is stoic or isn't a total girly-girl, people complain. IMO the problem is probably male writers simply not making the effort to flesh out female characters

I feel its because writers confuse strength with personality. Strength is a character descriptor not a personality trait.

[worstblogever]

If anything is becoming cliche, it's people complaining about strong female characters.

100% co-signing on this.

[CosmiComic]

I feel its because writers confuse strength with personality. Strength is a character descriptor not a personality trait.

Then they should say "well-written" characters. But aside from that, female characters are still criticized for stepping outside of some gender norms. And while i don't like bland or underdeveloped female leads at all, I'd still prefer female characters actually being the leading roles rather than just mostly side characters and damsels in distress

[DrNewGod]

But in movies their are more then one type of tough guy. I’m not sure that’s the case for tough women

When I first opened this page, I was in full disagreement, but I can see your point that there may be less effort given to making each strong woman character distinct from others of the same trope than there is for males of a similar trope. It seems to me that's been something actresses have complained of for generations about the range of parts available to them. It's probably better than it was, but not yet equitable.

[CosmiComic]

When I first opened this page, I was in full disagreement, but I can see your point that there may be less effort given to making each strong woman character distinct from others of the same trope than there is for males of a similar trope. It seems to me that's been something actresses have complained of for generations about the range of parts available to them. It's probably better than it was, but not yet equitable.

Isn't that just due to writers not caring as much about female characters?