It used to be that when one thought of stock characters in film and TV fantasy, several archetypes came to mind: a noble hero, an amusing sidekick, a wise old man, a monstrous villain, and, of course, the damsel in distress.
In short, men acted while women watched.
If a woman had any power of her own, this was likely due to her being a wicked sorceress, because if a woman is independent, then it certainly means she must be evil. For centuries, this was the accepted paradigm.
But then something happened.
Most contemporary fantasy fans know the story: in 1995, Xena: The Warrior Princess jump-kicked onto the airwaves, featuring a lead heroine armed with a razor-sharp Aerobie and a biting wit, sword-fighting and ululating her way across our television screens each week. Xena was a new breed of fantasy heroine. An anti-damsel-in-distress, Xena was unequivocally tougher than most of the men with whom she engaged in battle, and indeed often rescued less able men from danger, subverting the old gender roles. For a genre packed to the gills with helpless maidens, she was a breath of fresh air.
Two years later, another iconic fantasy heroine staked out some new ground. Buffy the Vampire Slayer reintroduced the world to Buffy Summers, first seen in the flop 1992 film of the same name. Armed with an arsenal of medieval weapons and a collection of puns of debatable merit, Buffy hacked and slashed through hundreds of creepy crawlies throughout the course of the series, with nary a hair out of place.
Both shows ended their runs in the early 2000’s, but their popularity remains, as evidenced by their legion of fans and annual conventions held in their honor. But it is in their influence on female characters in contemporary fantasy that one can see how the legacies of Buffy and Xena truly endure.
And that influence is vast. When one takes a look back at some classic fantasy films, one can find a slew of weak, flaccid women who exist for no other purpose than to be rescued and to titillate the male viewers. Take, for instance, the exquisitely beautiful but woefully foolish Lili (Mia Sara) in Ridley Scott’s 1985 film Legend. She sure looked great standing next to that unicorn, but ultimately her character was little more than a plot device to spur her companion Jack (a pre-thetan Tom Cruise) into action.
Harry Hamlin was a dashing Perseus in Clash of the Titans, while his bride-to-be Andromeda (Judi Bowker) mostly sat on the sidelines until the final act, when she was set to be sacrificed to the Kraken, a sea monster. Fortunately Perseus saved the day by swooping in on a winged steed. (You really can’t ask for a better entrance.)
We all know The Princess Bride is a grand romantic swashbuckling adventure, but was it really so great for Princess Buttercup (Robin Wright Penn)? Throughout the film she gets captured, recaptured, force-married, and ultimately rescued by her handsome Westley (Cary Elwes). Surely she was itching to take part in some of the movie’s infamous swordfights.
Antiquated, pre-feminist ideas of women perpetuate these movies. And they were made in the 80’s! Fortunately for female characters and the men who love them everywhere, the advent of a world post-Xena and Buffy promised a new beginning.
And it has begun. Nowadays, women do get their shots in, almost as a rule. Name a fantasy movie made since the late 90’s, and chances are it has a strong female lead.
Who can forget the gravity-ignoring aerial antics of Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) and Jen (Ziyi Zhang) from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? Twice these characters dueled one-on-one with no men in sight. Both women prove themselves to be fighters at the top of their game, besting almost all of the men they come into contact with.
The re-imagined Catwoman, universally panned though it was, featured a new take on the character (played by a mannequin that bore a striking resemblance to Halle Berry) and endowed her with some seriously brutal capoeira skills, which makes you wonder how Eartha Kitt managed to pull off all that cat-crime just by being sexy.
The X-Men movies are filled with strong women unafraid of throwing down even with the likes of Wolverine, such as Mystique (Rebecca Romijn) and Deathstrike (Kelly Hu). Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) led a charge to retake her castle in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, and held her own in a gladiator pit in Attack of the Clones.
Keira Knightly gets honors for playing two fierce ladies: Elizabeth Swan in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and a seriously buffed-up version of Guinevere in 2004’s King Arthur.
Another double-header is Kate Beckinsale. She kicked some serious fang as Selene in the Underworld movies, and it was fun to watch her at least try it shock some life into the corpse that was Van Helsing.
And then there’s the big mama of all genre pictures. In December 2001, a tiny, low-budget indy film called Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring upped the bar for not only fantasy films, but movies in general. Adapted from one of the most beloved books of the 20th century and THE seminal fantasy story against which all other fantasy stories are judged, Rings sharply divided its audience by its handling of a particular character. In the book, the elf Arwen appears briefly in the house of Elrond, and has hardly enough time to register with readers before she is gone, only to return at the conclusion of the story, some 1000 pages later. For the movie, they didn’t just reinvent the character, they actually gave her something to do.
In the text that J.R.R. Tolkien put down, at one point the endangered hobbit Frodo is rescued by an elf named Glorfindel, who takes him to safety. Afterwards, Glorfindel disappears and is never seen again. Wanting the audience to grasp her significance in the greater scheme of the story, the filmmakers decided to have Arwen sub in for Glorfindel, providing a hero moment for the elf, even allowing her to draw her sword and challenge a host of demonic wraiths all on her own. (In another adaptation, a cartoon by Ralph Bakshi, it is Legolas who performs this rescue. Somewhere in adaptation purgatory, Glorfindel is shaking an angry fist.)
It should be noted that also featured in the Rings trilogy is the shield-maiden Eowyn, who in the final film really opens a can, killing both the pterodactyl-like Fell Beast and the powerful Witch-King. But this was no post-feminist story-tweaking: it’s right there in the book. Perhaps Tolkien, with all of his creative vision, had an inkling of the world to come.
Women have come a long way towards equality in the fantasy genre, but there are still miles to go. Numerous as the examples of strong females may be, there still persists the image of the damsel in distress, and how many of the characters listed above did their fighting while dressed in ridiculously revealing outfits? Here’s hoping the trends laid down by Buffy and Xena only continue to grow. Let’s let women kick ass and not be forced to do it in an outfit that requires any double-sided tape. We’re all looking at you, Red Sonja remake…
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YESS! I’ve been waiting for an acticle like this! Good job!
And all hail Xena and Buffy!
Nice job. And the change is soooooooo long overdue. Curious about the Scarlett Johansen (sp?) project “Amazon.”
What about Charmed? That featured Three women who saved the world, it’s like Buffy times 3. Plus, the show lasted longer than Buffy did.
It’s true. (But while I know that show has its fans, I didn’t find it NEARLY as good as Buffy…different ballpark, IMHO.)
It’s true that Charmed has its strong fanbase, but the show never made the cultural impact that Xena and Buffy did. Those characters became icons that non-fans could immediately recognize, thanks to their near-ubiquitous presence in pop culture. Charmed certainly took its influence from those shows, but I don’t think it ever reached their level. But good point about it focusing on three female leads - clearly by the time it was being pitched, studios understood that fans could get behind strong female protagonists in a fantasy series.
And while they were certainly powerful and fought, it wasn’t with weapons or their bodies. I think Brent was focusing on the physical warriors.
Not only that but they where basically Glindas…Aka good witchs, and I think the point of the artical was that women don’t have to be witchs to be powerful.
That and also in that show, most of the time the “innocent” or Damsel in Distress was also a women, and many times one of the three leads. In Buffy and Xena really the only reaccurring Female “Damsels in Distress” (Willow & Gaberil) both grew out of that role and became heroes in thier own right.
Isn’t it funny how once something changes, you totally take it for granted? Which isn’t to say there isn’t more changing that needs to happen.
Very Very True!
Maybe YOU take it for granted, Oprah!
I hug each and every one of those female warriors tightly to my chest. There aren’t nearly enough of them for me! Look at military movies–what have we had besides G.I. Jane and the character Meg Ryan played in, what was it, “Medal of Honor”?
Nope. Not near enough female warriors for me. I don’t take any of them for granted.
The problem with Military Movies is the Military itself. Any “realistic” portral of the Military(US atleast) won’t have many Female warriors because the morons in charge can’t figure out that a woman can pull the trigger on an M16 just as well as a guy can. No if it is Fantacy military (Like the upcomming GI Joe movie) then not only should there be strong women, but they are a MUST, remember Lady Jane and Barroness regularly bested the guys both in sparing matchs and real fights.
I remember reading the whole “No man can kill me/I am no man” moment for the first time and smiling at the thought that Tolkien wasn’t using a misogyinstic vocabulary, he was being sneaky with literally meaning a man won’t kill the wraith!
I was also one of the Ring fans who was very happy to see Arwen get a bigger part. It took me so long to read through the trilogy the first time, school books getting in the way, that I completely forgot the character by the time she arrived and was left completely confused why Aragorn wanted this random elf chick when the epically awesome Eowyn was right there!
One of the fastest ways to interest me in a new series (tv or book) is tell me the lead is a strong interesting female, or well anything but the traditional straight, white male!
I know some people were upset by the Arwen rescuing Frodo change, but I think it makes soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much more sense, and frankly, makes the LotR stories soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much more accessible to women.
That, and the removal of Tom Bombadil were Peter Jackson’s best edits from books to movies! There were many brilliant things he did but these are easily my big two!
Christine, you and I were separated at birth.
So we start the trend in 1979, with Marion Zimmer Bradley writing The Mists of Avalon, and then doing everything in her power to promote feminist fantasy in print during the eighties, peaking the trend in books during the 90’s. Simultaneously, comics see the reformation of the X-Men and the creation of Kitty Pryde, perhaps the world’s first most fully realized teenage female comic character. The long-term success of books and comics with strong female protagonists finally convinces the more expensive media to dabble with them, and Xena and Buffy are born.
And now, now that it seems like the world is finally starting to accept the concept of a strong woman in fiction and in real life, now along comes Twilight.
“I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.”
HA!
Spit me tea there, Eris.
And you’re right that MZB deserves mucho credit. Also le Guin and a few others who were banging the drum early.
I think you hit the biggest reason why I’ve had such a hard time even considering the idea of reading the Twilight series. For example, Kelley Armstrong is an urban fantasy author whose _Women of the Otherworld_ series, and now her YA series, feature kick-butt, strong willed women a la Buffy. I don’t think I could find that vampire fluff satisfying even if I tried. (I may still read them if I get the chance, if only so I know the references!)
When I was a kid, fantasy books, nevermind fantasy books featuring _girls_ were impossible to find, so stumbling on Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce in my school library was like finding pure gold.
:applause:
This is precisely what I feel about Twilight!
Twilight is, in my opinion, no more of a threat than ordinary romance novels, or Gossip Girl and its ilk.
Let’s face it, there are always going to be those of us who have been fed and have bought The Recipe. Some of us will look at what else is out there and decide The Recipe is crap, as we have, and some will go on with it all their lives. We just keep on offering alternatives to wider and wider audiences.
One thing I’ve noticed about Twilight is that, mixed among all the cooing and sighing, is the counter-arguments from teenaged girls who are calling Edward a controlling, emotionally abusive creep preying upon a girl who is a seventh his age, and Bella as a submissive, empty-headed dolt with no will, ambitions, or plans of her own. Not adult women–other teenaged girls. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before, and it makes me damned happy. It gives me hope. Twilight is just the sensation of the moment. Next year it will be something else.
Brent, what about the princess in Kurosawa’s “The Hidden Fortress”? Or Angela Miao’s character in “Enter the Dragon”? Or are those not quite fantasy?
Tammy
When I wrote this article, I was specifically referring to the influence that Buffy and Xena had on the current crop of fantasy heroines in film. Female warriors did sporadically pop up every now and then before these shows aired, of course, but that wasn’t the focus of this piece.
The Hidden Fortress is a thing of beauty, and you just made me realize how much I need to watch it again! So thanks for that.
Hilarious. And too true.
And let me add - what a fantastically written article!
Thank you! And I’m right there with you on Twilight…just can’t get excited about reading it.
In the literary world, credit should also be given to Robin McKinley. She’s been writing about Girls Who Do Things (instead of just watch) since Beauty was published in 1978. Notable examples can be found in The Blue Sword, The Hero and the Crown, and (more recently) Sunshine. Tamora Pierce is another author who has been writing about women warriors for years (Alanna was first published in 1982). It’s great to see how the seeds planted by authors like Robin McKinley, Tamora Pierce and Marion Zimmer Bradley (already mentioned above) have inspired great works of female fronted fantasy.
Oh… and great article by the way
Hooray for woman warriors! As a female soldier in the US Army, I have a particular affinity for them.
Growing up I always loved (and still do love) Tamora Pierce’s Alanna series, and I watched Xena faithfully. Someone else above mentioned Kelly Armstrong and Robin McKinley, both of whom I have read and loved. I think perhaps having strong female role models like this are what gave me the power and courage to join the Army.
Oh, and Kiera Knightly has 3 credits to her name, IMO- the two you already mentioned, and the little-known TV special, “Princess of Thieves”, in which she plays Robin Hood’s butt-kicking daughter.
Nice! Didn’t know about Princess of Thieves. Sounds like a camp classic.
Btw, we have an interview with Tamora Pierce coming very soon. (I’ve met her a few times, and we worked on a book together, and she is just the nicest person imaginable.)
On Keira Knightly (who is one of my favourite actresses!)
As long as I won’t be struck by a lightning spell, you could consider non-fantastic roles too - I think the first movie I saw her in, Bend it Like Beckham, featured a very strong “go girl-power” theme to it. And, of course, while I haven’t seen “The Duchess”, isn’t it about “fem power” in a time when it was discouraged and forced to be subtle?
Re: “The Duchess,” that’s how it was billed, as a woman triumphing over adversity and standing up for herself and kicking ass in life and politics. I don’t know the story of the person the movie is based on, but she loses HARD in the movie. It’s a very cognitively dissonant experience: you think you’re going to see a movie with a strong female lead, and while I can’t deny that she is strong to make it through all the crap she goes through over the course of the movie, in the end you’re watching a strong woman losing to her husband on nearly every major battle they have. The outfits are fantastic, but it’s kind of painful to watch. She seems to make her peace with it all in the end, but it’s not the triumph implied in the publicity.
Hm. I think it is based on a true story (or at least a historical story) so I don’t know how much they could have actually changed. Was the movie any good at least?
And also, I just remembered since they’re both mentioned in the article - although she was not really known at all at that point, Keira Knightly also played beside Natalie Portman in SW: The Phantom Menance as Sabé, Padmé’s bodyguard and double as the Queen. Apparently their mothers couldn’t tell them apart after makeup. Interesting!
The Duchess was based on the real Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire - the key word however is based. The film did not go near doing her justice.
Yes the late eighteenth-century was by today’s standards a hugely sexist place. However in the court circles women were expected to be highly educated, Georgina spoke several languages and was well aware of the latest writings from scholars such as Baudelaire as shown through her decision to breastfeed her children ala the noble savage (a nasty and racist theory but one that was in vogue in Paris and through the Duchess in London). She was at the centre of Whig politics and campaigned for Charles Fox in the 1785 election. Her extravagant lifestyle was a large part of her identification as a Whig – they were all drunken degenerate gamblers. Also the affairs that both her and her husband had were expected during much of the eighteenth-century. In fact if you were not having an extramarital affair you would not be considered fashionable – upper class marriages were ones of connivance (on both sides) and once an heir was produced faithfulness was not expected.
Sorry mini rant over.
I also thought the article was excellent.
Actually Baudlaire was a French poet born in the 1820s and you probably mean Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
I mean *Baudelaire ofc, pardon.
Having done a large chunk of growing up with Xena and (to a greater exent) Buffy on my tv I feel very lucky. Though fantasy writers seem to often go with strong female characters too. I can think of quite a few I read growing up, determined to find strong role models who could more than hold their own. Oh, and Tamora Pierce, I love your books!!
Tim,
You have a beautifully written article on a subject of which I have little knowledge. Yet I found myself interested in what you had to say. A job well done. If I read an article on a subject I’m really not interested in and find it interesting, that is really good writing. Kudos to you, Tim. Great writing.
Thanks for the kind words, Marilyn!
Well said - maybe we can hope that one day all of us of either gender will just be free to be completely who we are, in real life as well as fiction. Here’s to strong and vibrant heroines!
Great article. For those who are Joss Whedon fans, The Signal podcast recently did a great article about feminist characters in “Firefly” and “Serenity.”
The article made the argument that the pendulum had swung a little too far, from helpless damsels-in-distress to flawless superwomen. In Firefly, the women are strong, each in her own way, but not perfect. And it’s those flaws, that complexity that give the female characters equality with men.
http://river.serenityfirefly.com/s5/e4
Sounds like a great article, but I can’t find it through that link. What am I missing?
Never mind. I found it.
Cool article.
My first exposure to a female character who was more than just a “damsel in distress” was Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman in “Batman Returns”. That is until Xena: Warrior Princess made her debut on “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” as a fairly stereotypical “femme fatale” who used her body more than her brains or brawn to obtain what she wanted.
Thankfully the character was fleshed-out (and also fleshed-in since she no longer used her flesh to get her own way) in her follow-up appearance (”The Gauntlet”) before finally becoming the well-rounded character we saw in her spin-off series (ignoring the episode of Hercules where she appeared to have been possessed by the spirit of a perky cheerleader (Buffy is that you?) and spent the majority of the episode “cheering on” Hercules and pining for his muscles (”Unchained Heart”)).
I do have to wonder about the reference to Keira Knightly as “seriously buffed-up” though. The poor girl continually looks like she would be blown-away by the slightest breeze and that was particularly noticeable in King Arthur when she appears wearing two litres of blue paint with a few leather straps covering her pink bits.
Just going to throw in my two non-movie/tv cents. I’ve seen a decent number of strong female leads in the Forgotten Realms fantasy series. Liriel, from the Starlight and Shadows trilogy? Tough, smart, and mischievous. She does her own thing, regardless of what people think of her. And Midnight/Mystra from the Avatar series? She becomes one of the most powerful deities in the universe and even takes on a god once or twice by herself.
FR will probably never be adapted, but that we have a lot of books showcasing strong females is a good sign. Eventually movies and tv will catch on, but while we wait we can always read.
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