32 Of The Most Striking Examples Of Female Characters In The Media, Done Completely Right

So, recently, a thread appeared in the AskReddit community, the author of which, user u/Piyushmessi10, asked the question: "Who is a well-written strong female character in a movie or TV show?", and in more than a week, it has collected over 3.5K upvotes and nearly 1.5K various comments.

From Sarah Connor to Ellen Ripley, from Buffy Summers to Katniss Everdeen - please meet perhaps the most comprehensive gallery of strong female characters in popular culture, collected especially for you by Bored Panda based on a detailed study of this viral thread!

Interestingly, the characters that are most often found in netizens' answers are usually heroines of fantasy or sci-fi movies. Does this mean that in works based on real life, it is more difficult for the author to create a heroine who would be both a multi-faceted personality and a strong person?

Probably not - it's just that in a fantasy story the heroine has to face obstacles that better reveal her strength of character. And, of course, they look much more spectacular on the screen. After all, the average viewer finds it way more exciting to watch a battle against Aliens than, for example, mundane everyday life.

Although, believe me, in everyday life such strength of character can actually reveal that any alien monster, when faced with it, would run away in horror, getting tangled in its own tentacles.

By the way, returning to the principles that characterize the gender impartiality of plots, we can also recall the so-called "Smurfette Principle,” introduced in 1991 by the poet and critic Katha Pollitt. According to this principle, in most plots where a group of heroes act, there is only one female character.

Well, Smurfette herself, Miss Piggy, Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, Penny in the early seasons of The Big Bang Theory, April O'Neil in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Black Widow in The Avengers... the list goes on and on. Needless to say, these plots would probably fail the Bechdel test, too.

But these are all fairly recent plots, and in more classic works, strong and well-written female characters were even harder to find. In fact, in the entire Lord of the Rings novel, there are only two female characters who actually have their own actions and lines: Eowyn and Galadriel (Arwen is almost never present in the book text).

The most interesting thing is that Galadriel, probably one of the top five strongest characters in The Lord of the Rings, received so little attention from the author. On the other hand, in the recent series about the Rings of Power, the legendary elf got a lot of attention - and it can't be said that it did her any good, right?

In general, in order to create a truly outstanding female character, endowed with a strong character, mighty will and bright intelligence, one needs to... well, basically, just be an outstanding author. And, of course, have the desire to overcome the stable patterns that have reigned in culture for centuries. Some have succeeded, and some, alas, have not.

Be that as it may, please feel free to scroll this selection to the very end, and add your own ideas of some well-written strong female characters, if we somehow missed someone, in the comments below. After all, as Ellen Ripley once said: "Unless somebody has got a better idea...”