Worst Movie/TV female roles?

[Vworp Vworp]

So, I haven't seen the Ghostbusters remake. I don't have an issue with it's existence, my childhood remains unscarred and I still love the original. I also generally favour female led movies and TV shows. I just know that based on every trailer and every clip released so far, plus what I've seen of Feig's previous work, that it's not for me.

I have, however, been checking out the reviews and articles regarding it's release, mostly out of curiosity and given that it has been quite a big topic of discussion. One of the issues I noted, from some of those who didn't enjoy the movie, was the perception that every male character in the film is portrayed in a negative light, be that as related to a particular character's intelligence, personality, motivation whatever. The counterpoint to this argument has been that this is simply redressing the balance from numerous movies where there is not a single positive female character.

So that got me thinking. Is that true? Are there movies (or TV shows) out there that do not feature a single 'positive' female role? Obviously, going back to the 80's and earlier, the answer to that is clearly going to be yes. But what of more recent examples?

Naturally, one thing to point out here is that people might have very different standards as to what constitutes a positive role. It's likely, for example, a lot of people wouldn't be nominating Mikaela from Bay's first two Transformer movies, on the basis that she's ostensibly just eye candy. Buuuut, she does get stuff to do. She helps Bumblebee and saves Sam amongst other things. Whilst there can be an argument for how she's filmed and written and pretty much everything else, she does get to make a positive contribution to each of the movies she is in.

So how about Lord of the Rings? Obviously this is kind of a cheat, given that whilst the movies are recent, they're adapted from novels written a very long time ago. And whilst the original trilogy is something of a sausagefest, there are female character in the movies, most of whom who are represented in a strong manner. Indeed, the irony with all of Jackson's Middle Earth movies is that the one female character created specifically for the movies, apparently to balance out the testosterone a little, turned out to be the worst female character in the entire series. being reduced from kick-ass Elvish (thankyouverymuch) warrior to generic romantic interest and damsel in distress over the course of just two movies.

When it comes to TV, when you think of female characters getting the short straw, you naturally think of Supernatural. And that's understandable. But even despite the show's 100% record of killing off and/or turning evil every recurring female character, when said characters have been on the show, most of 'em have been written OK.

On the other hand, there's Chuck. A show that initially had an awesome kick-ass, competent, intelligent female character. A character who was then reduced to being Chuck's love interest and occasional fridgee whenever a season finale came around. Indeed, without spoiling anything for anyone yet to see the final series, her final arc is about something that explicitly happens to her, and yet all the drama primarily comes from how this incident will affect Chuck.

So what other examples are there? What are those movies/TV shows that follow the (alleged) Ghostbusters model of 'demoting' one gender? Or which individual roles did a bad job with a female character?

[Agent Z]

For movies, I'd say a lot of the Superman films. And Elektra in the Daredevil movie.

For tv, I'd say Lana Lang for seasons 4 - 8 of Smallville.

[CliffHanger2]

So, I haven't seen the Ghostbusters remake. I don't have an issue with it's existence, my childhood remains unscarred and I still love the original. I also generally favour female led movies and TV shows. I just know that based on every trailer and every clip released so far, plus what I've seen of Feig's previous work, that it's not for me.

I have, however, been checking out the reviews and articles regarding it's release, mostly out of curiosity and given that it has been quite a big topic of discussion. One of the issues I noted, from some of those who didn't enjoy the movie, was the perception that every male character in the film is portrayed in a negative light, be that as related to a particular character's intelligence, personality, motivation whatever. The counterpoint to this argument has been that this is simply redressing the balance from numerous movies where there is not a single positive female character.

So that got me thinking. Is that true? Are there movies (or TV shows) out there that do not feature a single 'positive' female role? Obviously, going back to the 80's and earlier, the answer to that is clearly going to be yes. But what of more recent examples?

Naturally, one thing to point out here is that people might have very different standards as to what constitutes a positive role. It's likely, for example, a lot of people wouldn't be nominating Mikaela from Bay's first two Transformer movies, on the basis that she's ostensibly just eye candy. Buuuut, she does get stuff to do. She helps Bumblebee and saves Sam amongst other things. Whilst there can be an argument for how she's filmed and written and pretty much everything else, she does get to make a positive contribution to each of the movies she is in.

So how about Lord of the Rings? Obviously this is kind of a cheat, given that whilst the movies are recent, they're adapted from novels written a very long time ago. And whilst the original trilogy is something of a sausagefest, there are female character in the movies, most of whom who are represented in a strong manner. Indeed, the irony with all of Jackson's Middle Earth movies is that the one female character created specifically for the movies, apparently to balance out the testosterone a little, turned out to be the worst female character in the entire series. being reduced from kick-ass Elvish (thankyouverymuch) warrior to generic romantic interest and damsel in distress over the course of just two movies.

When it comes to TV, when you think of female characters getting the short straw, you naturally think of Supernatural. And that's understandable. But even despite the show's 100% record of killing off and/or turning evil every recurring female character, when said characters have been on the show, most of 'em have been written OK.

On the other hand, there's Chuck. A show that initially had an awesome kick-ass, competent, intelligent female character. A character who was then reduced to being Chuck's love interest and occasional fridgee whenever a season finale came around. Indeed, without spoiling anything for anyone yet to see the final series, her final arc is about something that explicitly happens to her, and yet all the drama primarily comes from how this incident will affect Chuck.

So what other examples are there? What are those movies/TV shows that follow the (alleged) Ghostbusters model of 'demoting' one gender? Or which individual roles did a bad job with a female character?

Are you talking about Liv Tyler's character in lotr? I haven't seen those movies in awhile but when was she a damsel in distress? And how does becoming a romantic interest a reduction?

[sneakyflute]

I guess female characters aren't supposed to express love.

[Vworp Vworp]

Are you talking about Liv Tyler's character in lotr? I haven't seen those movies in awhile but when was she a damsel in distress? And how does becoming a romantic interest a reduction?

Indeed, the irony with all of Jackson's Middle Earth movies is that the one female character created specifically for the movies, apparently to balance out the testosterone a little, turned out to be the worst female character in the entire series.

Arwen is in the books. Tauriel isn't.

I guess female characters aren't supposed to express love.

You guess wrong.

[simbob4000]

The new Ghostbusters movie has to be pretty high up there. Wigg, McCarthy, and McKinnon didn't have characters to play; this is either by way of the script, them getting out of character while riffing, or both. It 's probably the script, as there aren't any characters in the movie, but those three just doing whatever doesn't help the situation. Those three are some of the worst because they're just so badly written.

[cadet]

Kate Capshaw's character Willie in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: spoiled, shallow, useless.

[Vinsanity]

Any other girl in Arrow bar Felicity? :P

But seriously Denise Richards' James Bond character. A Nuclear Scientist? Also those kick ass Bond Girls that never end up kick ass and instead are background.

[AndrewCrossett]

So how about Lord of the Rings? Obviously this is kind of a cheat, given that whilst the movies are recent, they're adapted from novels written a very long time ago. And whilst the original trilogy is something of a sausagefest, there are female character in the movies, most of whom who are represented in a strong manner. Indeed, the irony with all of Jackson's Middle Earth movies is that the one female character created specifically for the movies, apparently to balance out the testosterone a little, turned out to be the worst female character in the entire series. being reduced from kick-ass Elvish (thankyouverymuch) warrior to generic romantic interest and damsel in distress over the course of just two movies.

IMO the Hobbit movies had much bigger problems than Tauriel, but I thought Jackson made a good call when he expanded Arwen's character and gave her much more agency and personality than she had in the books (in which she was basically a prize for Aragorn to win).

Tolkien is hard to figure out. On the one hand, his books were very heavily weighted to a male cast (The Hobbit book had not a single female character in it.) But the female characters he did create are some of the best examples of strong women in fantasy literature: Eowyn, Galadriel, and Luthien (from The Silmarillion).