Entertainment just doesn’t have that same spark. I no longer watch Star Wars or Star Trek, and the latest cape movie within the Marvel Universe never even hit my radar. Or even DC Comics live-action or animated offerings of the last 10 years. What used to be a mainstay is now a ghost of former glory. Take the latest failure in the box office: The Marvels. Starring Brie Larson and that other movie I never watched. Captain Marvel.
A world of legacy stealers who never even earned the mantle.
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There is no likable factor to many male or female characters in the era of current year + whatever. It’s all soapbox for whatever list will hit the most with Hollowood’s idea of what people want. They peddle cardboard and expect people to eat it. They cater to the niche of niche and expect majority mainstream appeal.
Even though they hate men? They want all their female leads to be men but without any virtues. Thus, we get to the main topic:
Stonk Female Character.
It’s easy to find these. They are abundant. Must burn away any and all feminine traits because in this “era” of entertainment? We cannot have them love or care about husbands or kids. Nope. That’s “weakness” and undesired of action whamman!
Hint: The pre-1960s pulp adventures had plenty of feminine bombshells that were quietly competent. Able to hold their own with their male costars without emasculating them. They wouldn’t use brute force for force though. Many of them had to use guile but it never devalued them as characters.
Jirel of Joiry anyone? More need to read pre-1980s.
Cirsova Magazine publishes stories in that vein. Heroic Masculine alongside Temperate Feminine.
Lensmen. My goodness. In those stories, the women have different kinds of weapons to use vs what the men employ. There’s a reason why these old stories have them use FEMININE GUILE to get past certain hurdles.
- Primary Military mindset has a subconscious block about women.
IE: The Atlantis Spy Adventure within Lensmen. Checkpoints won’t search women as completely. It was why she was able to find and assist her male counterpart. It’s alright if a story utilizes this fact. Women aren’t as physically imposing. Social chameleon work!
If you want to understand how to make an absolute elemental evil villain? Look no further than Spensa from Skyward. Captain Manpants of the Dead Cinematic Universe. Their sheer level of nihilism and self-importance will make one assume that a righteous band of heroes will come by with Excalibur to behead those harpies.
They must hire beta readers that hit certain kinds of checkmarks. What they really need is readers with variations in tastes. Not everyone wants a “Man with Boobs” POV character. They are old hat. Even Xena wasn’t that kind of heroine. She used all the feminine traits she could muster to outwit opponents.
Anita Blake of Vampire Hunter infamy was just the tip of the Polluted Female Power Fantasy Iceberg.
A well-researched book about this whole attack on feminine archetypes? Boobs of Steel by J. Ishiro Finney!
The core traits of being a woman are attacked. Ishi states it plainly:
I know Mr. Sanderson can write perfectly viable female characters. Spensa’s allies of a certain chromosomal combo prove it. Which is why I like the Skyward Novellas a whole lot more than the mainline series.
Usually, the modern mode goes like this:
- Make them brash.
- Make them beyond competitive especially vs male peers.
- Rude. Obstinate. Quick Tempered. With no virtues to keep them in check.
- We can do everything! What side cast? We don’t need nobody! Not men! Not other women! We can do it all!
That last part is why it’s harder for modern “female” POV characters to graduate to the competence ring with John Wick, Doc Savage, and Sherlock Holmes. Those guys have viable side casts to shore up areas they aren’t experts in.
Plus old-style heroes usually liked their female leads feisty. A go-getter like Golden Age Lois Lane but she still enjoyed relying on Superman as a physical shield. Thoris for Carter in Barsoom. She was a social shark within that society that helped Carter become the Warlord he was supposed to be.
Women are keyed to being the velvet glove behind the man’s rough and tumble fists.
It’s acceptable to play into proper masculine and feminine roles.
Readers crave it.
No matter how much the Mainstream skinsuits tell you otherwise.
What do you think about the state of female characters in entertainment? Leave a comment and let us know.
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