I just stumbled upon this fantastic article "We're Losing all our Strong Female Characters to Trinity Syndrome" by Tasha Robinson.
It says that despite the trend in Hollywood, most "Strong" female characters in movies are little more than props and plot devices to advance the development of the male character. These characters are boring an uninteresting, or at least they become so as the story progresses. This is something I've been thinking for years, but I've never spelled it out as clearly as Tasha. I call it "Princess Leia Syndrome." In Star Wars, Leia is strong, capable, and talks back to Han Solo. Their love is sealed, however, after Leia is rendered helpless and is forced to wear chains and a bikini - and Han Solo can perform the traditional role as her savior and protector. This is the pattern I see most often in many genres of films; a female character is only strong until she needs a man to be strong for her, and then they fall in love.
Here is Tasha's list to see if a "Strong" female character is actually not:
Most of my TF stories are female-centric, in that I'm describing female characters doing most of the changing most of the time. But (happily) I don't think they usually exist as static objects, as mere foils for the male character or objects to gaze at. Am I right?
What do you think? Do you feel like Hollywood (and most books) generally allow female characters to fall into the pitfalls described by Tasha? Do you feel like having characters with more depth than is allowed for in this list adds value to a story? What do you like to read in terms of gender roles?
It says that despite the trend in Hollywood, most "Strong" female characters in movies are little more than props and plot devices to advance the development of the male character. These characters are boring an uninteresting, or at least they become so as the story progresses. This is something I've been thinking for years, but I've never spelled it out as clearly as Tasha. I call it "Princess Leia Syndrome." In Star Wars, Leia is strong, capable, and talks back to Han Solo. Their love is sealed, however, after Leia is rendered helpless and is forced to wear chains and a bikini - and Han Solo can perform the traditional role as her savior and protector. This is the pattern I see most often in many genres of films; a female character is only strong until she needs a man to be strong for her, and then they fall in love.
Here is Tasha's list to see if a "Strong" female character is actually not:
- After being introduced, does your Strong Female Character then fail to do anything fundamentally significant to the outcome of the plot? Anything at all?
- If she does accomplish something plot-significant, is it primarily getting raped, beaten, or killed to motivate a male hero? Or deciding to have sex with/not have sex with/agreeing to date/deciding to break up with a male hero? Or nagging a male hero into growing up, or nagging him to stop being so heroic? Basically, does she only exist to service the male hero’s needs, development, or motivations?
- Could your Strong Female Character be seamlessly replaced with a floor lamp with some useful information written on it to help a male hero?
- Is a fundamental point of your plot that your Strong Female Character is the strongest, smartest, meanest, toughest, or most experienced character in the story—until the protagonist arrives?
- …or worse, does he enter the story as a bumbling fuck-up, but spend the whole movie rapidly evolving past her, while she stays entirely static, and even cheers him on? Does your Strong Female Character exist primarily so the protagonist can impress her?
- It’s nice if she’s hyper-cool, but does she only start off that way so a male hero will look even cooler by comparison when he rescues or surpasses her?
- Is she so strong and capable that she’s never needed rescuing before now, but once the plot kicks into gear, she’s suddenly captured or threatened by the villain, and needs the hero’s intervention? Is breaking down her pride a fundamental part of the story?
- Does she disappear entirely for the second half/third act of the film, for any reason other than because she’s doing something significant to the plot (besides being a hostage, or dying)?
Most of my TF stories are female-centric, in that I'm describing female characters doing most of the changing most of the time. But (happily) I don't think they usually exist as static objects, as mere foils for the male character or objects to gaze at. Am I right?
What do you think? Do you feel like Hollywood (and most books) generally allow female characters to fall into the pitfalls described by Tasha? Do you feel like having characters with more depth than is allowed for in this list adds value to a story? What do you like to read in terms of gender roles?
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