Strong Women Characters in Films/ Which Ones Have Them?

At some point in my maturity, I realized that this nation was never a patriarchal society. Men have been the figure-head. But, if his woman put him in the dog house, he was ready to listen to anything.

A few weeks ago, there was a discussion about the mom or the nan of a prince having influence. Being close to the prince all of her life, she was able to exact great influence on him. The kind of influence he would carry with him into his adulthood when he would be required to make decisions.

There has always been a subtle power that women have held over men and this power has helped guide his decisions. In some cases, she has downright made the decision for him.

Having said all that to answer your question, I love when women are portrayed as strong, self-sufficient and independent. Most women are anyway. And always have been. If a woman took a vacation from her husband of, let's say, five years, where is he going to be? In a week, pizza boxes will be stacked by the garbage can, clothes will fill the hamper in the bedroom and dishes will be piled up in the kitchen. Some guys can take care of themselves. But, I'm a bachelor. I have to take care of myself and that's the way my apartment looks every once in awhile. Can you imagine what it would look like for a guy who isn't used to it?

Women seemed submissive years ago, Leave it to Beaver kind of thing, and that's how they were portrayed in film. But, with everyone yelling about false stereotypes and negative portrayals, I think it's fun when a movie comes out with the sexy, independent woman. The one you want, but you can't have because she don't need you and your approach was your first mistake. You thought she did. The new Charlie's Angels come to mind about right now.

MichaelAllen- I definitely agree about women having power, but it was always second hand power. Often the woman was "the power behind the throne", with the man taking the credit.

I think that the difference now is economic. With women working, many at lucrative professional careers, many women no longer have to hang on to a man for financial security, as in the past. As a result, young women are free to take life on their own terms.

In fact, at one point in our history, if a woman was the only heir, she was required to find a man to transfer her ownership of property. I'm aware of the struggle. So, I love it when a woman is portrayed as someone ready to take life on her own terms. To me, it makes her more desirable. I'm not the kind of guy who would be intimidated by a woman who can think or act on my level or on a higher one. I find it sexy.

But, there would be plenty of people who would even say that's my form of diminishing the value of it. Sometimes, you just can't win.

It's a fascinating subject, that we really could discuss at length. But for the point of this thread, which films have you seen that have starred self-actualized, independent women? What did you think of the portrayal?
Do you think that the film is a reflection of women becoming more independent?

Antonia's Line, The Piano, Daisies, My Brilliant Career, Strange Days are all films by women directors which deal with female empowerment and generally positive character portrayals.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon has strong female leads (though with a strong male, too, of course).

The films of the Japanese master Kenji Mizoguchi have as their main theme the suffering and oppression of often self-sacrificing women. Generally this acts to draw attention to the problems rather than recommending a modern feminist solution or showing the women as strong enough to overcome societys' burdens, though My Love has been Burning (1949) offers a more positive outcome.

Carl Dreyer the great Danish director also had a sympathetic and perhaps more genuinely progressive attitude to women, going back as far as the 1920's with films like Master of the House, in which a strong woman sets about sorting out a younger woman's bullying husband. Of course his Passion of Joan of Arc has an icon. In his last film Gertrud (1964), the eponymous heroine rejects male relationships that don't live up to her own standards of love and decency, and becomes self-sufficient.

I had mentioned Charlie's Angels earlier and I still hold fast to that. But, I think I know more of what you mean now.

Eddie, well anything Whoopie Goldberg does. Even The Color Purple explores the awakening of a lady who had all her life been under a man's thumb. I'm not sure it was going for this, but the statement it made as far as this conversation is concerned would have to be along the lines of women finding themselves and eventually doing something about it. There is also the strong network women seem to be able to create amongst themselves. A Steel Magnolias sentiment, only the main character in that was a strong, independent character with traditional women values.

Sex and the City also comes to mind off the cuff. I believe the four women are accurately portrayed as independent because they each take their bumps and bruises coming in and out of independence just as we all do. And they each have a crossfire of traditional values with contemporary perspectives, which makes for a more realistic representation. A heroine would have everything figured out and would never deal with confusion. A human would make mistakes and have internal conflicts.

I can just hear Beavis and Butthead laughing over the fact that I just said, "heroine."

anything with Katherine Hepburn

Meryl Streep has played strong characters

Sally Field was strong in Steel Magnolias but her problem is that everytime she has to express a breadth of emotions she reprises her part in Sybil......

I believe it was in "The First Wives' Club" where Goldie Hawn delivers the line:


Unfortunately, I think she's mainly right. See:
(a) Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman"
(b) Julia Roberts in "Stepmom" and
(c) Julia Roberts in "Erin Brockovitch" for examples.

It's not easy to break out of those roles. So many writers (probably female as well as male) still see women in classic Madonna/whore imagery. "Pretty Woman" sort of turns that idea on its head, but the bottom line is that JR is more of a Madonna than a whore in it, the old classic "hooker with a heart of gold" which Mae West used to play.

Even the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which I love, falls into this. Arwen is the babe. Galadriel is kind of mystical but more like the Mom. And Eowyn the sorta warrior princess falls into the district attorney role. They just wear prettier costumes, but the main gist of it is the same.

I just watched both Lara Croft movies. I think she fits the bill.
I loved Elizabeth with Kate Blanchett, but historically she was an anomally, especially for the time.

Aliens and almost anything with Sigorny Weaver.

Just for the record, the actual line from The First Wives Club is: "There are three roles for women in Hollywood.. babe, district attorney and Driving Miss Daisy."

There are many non-Hollywood-produced and foreign films that I have seen that have a very large range of roles for females to play, depending on the director's liking. However, I think Hollywood has more of these sterotypes that you are referring to because Hollywood has its own set of culture and values associated with it and making cookie-cutter movies with these cookie-cutter roles (esp. female) is how they believe they will make money. Many hollywood films are made for the intention of making profit, not for provoking thought, as do the independent/foreign movies I've seen.

For a woman who is just herself with nothing to prove, no "I am WOMAN hear me ROAR", I always think of Marge (Frances McDormand) in Fargo. She's not big bad cop lady, she's not sexy cop-lady, she's not fight the cop-lady stereotype....

She's just a woman who's 7 months pregnant, has a sweet husband, and goes to work everyday. It's as if your mom just had to go around and look for people in woodchippers and then comes home and has a nice conversation over coffee with you.

There's more to life than money, you know. Don't you know that?. And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day...Well...I just don't understand it.

Loved Meryl Streep in the River White. Or anywhere else, for that matter.
And the Little Women and Sense and Sensibility. Strong women, even though they are stuck in their gender roles in the 19th century. DOn't have to be a leading figure to be strong.
And and I loved the woman cop in Fargo - especially how she made her husband feel he was a hero for putting out a 3c stamp while she arrested a murderer!

Thelma & Louise (but Hollywood had to punish them at the end)

Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal

Mystique and Storm in the X-Men movies

I'll keep thinking...

Batman Returns --- Catwoman.
LOTR -- Arwyn

Not just Katharine Hepburn. There were a few women who played strong characters. Rosalind Russell and Bette Davis come to mind.

Oh, just remembered Kathy Bates in Dolores Claiborne. That was one strong woman.

STELLA in How Stella Got Her Groove Back, BERNADETTE in Waiting to Exhale which also included the Babe, the Mom & a character mixed w/ babe & strong woman. (both Angela Bassett)

JACQUELINE (robin givens) Boomerang

GI JANE (demi moore)

Definitely Sigorney Weaver in Aliens. She was such a powerhouse of strength and determination. Thank god they didn't make her dress up in spiked heels and whore makeup. It seems whenever a woman is featured in an action movie, whether she's the hero or not, she always has to look like a playboy bunny. It's nice to every once in a while come across some variety. Not to mention realism.