Quotes / Feminist Fantasy

Comic Books

"Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman."

— Professor William Marston, creator of Wonder Woman, 1943

No, but…can we just take a moment to appreciate how incredibly awesome this comic-book series was? Apart from the plot and story and fantasy and magical-girl thing with powers and stuff.
I’ll make a list:
- strong (realistic) female characters? [x] check.
- racial representation? [x] check.
- portrait of different and deep personalities with real virtues and flaws? [x] check.
- portrait of teenager’s real problems such as: social anxiety, family problems, insecurity, low self-esteem etc? [x] check.
- realistic view of love and romance? [x] check.
- portrait of intricate complex relationships and conflicts [x] check.
- lessons about dream-accomplishment, self-acceptance, forgiveness, strength, loving, fear-overcoming…?[x] check.
- in general, an incredibly good mashup of incredibly positive role-models, and lessons that any early teenage girl (or boy, or anyone, actually) should have? [x][x] double check.
This is one comic series I’m so going to give to all of my young cousins and my future daughters-sons whatever. It feels terrible that is so incredibly underrated and that is not as influential outside Europe as it was here. I remember these girls giving me an incredible childhood. Seriously, If you have never read these, you totally should. The comic books are still out there at some stores, and the scans are online and easy to find.
These are the kind of stories that should have more repercussion and fame.

— fxkinwaifu tumblr, as seen here about W.I.T.C.H.

"Almost exclusively, until the last couple of years, Wonder Woman has been written by and drawn by men, and Wonder Woman is a classic exercise, I think, in watching how men, through the decades, are trying to handle the ideas of women and equality through this character."

— Phil Jimenez, Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle

Films — Animation

When Encanto had multiple different female characters with incredibly varying personalities and they were all portrayed as strong and important in their own ways, when they said Luisa is “beauty and brawn” and showed how the pressure put on her gave her intense anxiety and it was okay for her to not be the strong one all the time, when they had Isabela realize she didn’t have to be perfect all the time and she could make beautiful things without focusing on every detail and she didn’t have to put herself through an unhappy marriage just to make the family happy, when they had Julieta be genuinely supportive of Mirabel and doing her best to make her feel important and included despite everything and it was stated that Mirabel gets her spirit from her, when they had Pepa be intensely emotional but wasn’t shamed for it and her husband loves her unconditionally and they have a supportive and happy relationship, when Dolores was soft and quiet and honest to a fault and was allowed to want a relationship/marriage without being shamed for it or told she just needed to be a #StrongIndependantWoman and it shows she can be herself while still being loved, when Alma was allowed to have huge faults and problems but also all her motivations were clear and she clearly loved her family and her people and wanted to do best by them, when Mirabel was allowed to be genuinely awkward and impulsive and only wanted a gift in order to make her family proud and not to make herself look good but also was allowed to have her own sense of pride and refuse to make herself small for the benefit of everyone else but her and did everything she did out of the pure love in her heart that she has for everyone and brought her family together just by being full of love and being able to tell them that they didn’t have to do this all alone and her family realizes that she’s just as important as the rest of them and in the end she is shown as the head of the family aND

— This post on the women from Encanto

I love that Encanto is the story of a female hero, and has a majority female cast, without falling into these annoying tropes of children's movies with female heroes.

Once upon a time, the hero of a movie was going to be a man, and the female protagonist wasn't going to be a hero but a passive object waiting for his kiss to wake her up or his bravery to save her from the tower. We've had this conversation many times as a culture, but, it's true! Then through the 80s and 90s onwards, it became more common to have female heroes that save the day. Which is great! Young girls need heroic rolemodels too! And these are the movies millenials and zoomers more often grew up with. But, they seemed to usually have these tropes: She is heroic in a masculine way, and basically just the girl version of stereotypical male heroes. You see this from Wonder Woman ("Supergirl/Spider-Girl" syndrome), to Captain Marvel, to even say Mulan to an extent (although that movie still kicks ass). There is of course nothing inherently wrong with this—there can be physically powerful women who go to combat etc. to save the day with their muscles and strategic brilliance. But the fact this is the standard for female heroes doesn't do as much to add true life and diversity (look it's the same damn cliche story but she's A GIRL!!!) and imo sends the wrong message—that to be a hero, you have to "act like a man".

I love that Mirabel is brave and takes initiative and doesn't give up and saves the day while still being her feminine, dorky self. She doesn't need to be physically strong or have other stereotypical masculine qualities to save the day. She is pretty traditionally feminine and uses those feminine qualities to save the day—her humility, her patience, her ability to connect with children and make them feel protected and cared for, her ability to heal people emotionally like her mother does physically, her ability to empathize and lift people up and be the spirit of her community, without feeling entitled to glory or material reward or being competitive or petty or violent. These are all very feminine qualities, and that's great! The way Mirabel lifts up and inspires her sister and they end up singing a duet and embrace is absolutely beautiful and glorious and heroic in a way that really reminds you of what it looks like when women thrive in real life, and doesn't require her to sacrifice any of her femininity. You also see the same thing play out somewhat with Isabela and Luisa. Isabela doesn't need to be pretty and perfect 24/7 anymore, but she is still feminine, but she can be more than just feminine, and in so far as she is feminine, do it on her own terms not her grandmother's. And Luisa, who is strong, still goes through the same transition and learns to be more vulnerable (and her sisters say "so do I!" when she says she cries). The message isn't that to become "empowered" girls have to become tomboys—just be free to be more than one thing and most importantly who they really are and want to be as mutli-faceted individuals. Which can be a tomboy but in no way has to be.

The movie has a very hamfisted feminist theme. Again, there is nothing inherently wrong with movies having a "girl power!" message like say Mulan. But, it shouldn't NEED to have that message to have a female hero, and that shouldn't be the ONLY message. It does more to normalize female heroes, and we get more out of them, if they can just be movies that happen to have one and it isn't something that has to be highlighted like it's unusual or exceptional. (As if women still aren't individuals, but now exist to serve "womanhood" or the cause of feminism collectively instead of men.)

Encanto is a movie full of women and girls becoming empowered but still isn't about that which I think is great, because it's about the characters as humans and the important characters in the movie (who happen to be majority female) deserve that regardless of whether it serves a social cause.

The men are either villains or 100% comic relief. As media became more "progressive" in the late 20th century, the damsel in distress was replaced with dumb, useless, clumsy men for us to laugh at while Super Girl saves the day (while acting like masculine heroes). Or, dumb, strong, evil, sexist men for the female hero to beat up and prove wrong. The cliches and stereotypes of the past got a pallet swap meant to take men down a peg and let girls know they can also save the day while wielding a sword and riding a dragon. I think this is toxic for a few reasons, including some of the same ones listed above, and because it sends a pretty bad message about how to perceive and treat men, especially boys who aren't responsible for or even necessarily aware of those past tropes. But if you're more concerned about the feminist side of things, I think it's also bad for female empowerment, by sending the message that female empowerment is petty and zero sum and comes at the expense of men—feeding into and helping those who oppose it! And by normalizing toxic male behaviour. It says it isn't on men to be better: Men are there to be some combination of lazy and evil, and that's fine, because it's funny or because Super Girl will save you from them.

Encanto doesn't do this. It has women take the lead, as both the hero and the antagonist are women, but this isn't done at the expense of men and doesn't require men to be the villains or belittled. The movie starts with Pedro making a heroic sacrifice that sets the table for everything else, and he is remembered in an extremely positive way. The #2 protagonist that is essential to helping the hero of course is Bruno, a man, who turns out to have been unfairly maligned. Felix and Augustin are both great husbands and fathers (Augustin is sometimes comic relief but not in an excessive or mean way and also has good moments), and both are pretty masculine at points in a healthy way. Felix is a calm, stable, supportive presence for his wife who struggles with her emotions, takes the lead when they dance, etc. despite being shorter than his wife which isn't treated as important. She also changes positively using the advice her and Bruno give her. Augustin stands up for Mirabel to his mother in law and you can see before the dinner that Mirabel trusts him and he's always there for her as her dad. Even Marino, who is used primarily as a funny trope/stereotype-undermining character and gives some comic relief with his nose getting hurt, is presented sympathetically and not belittled or only used as comic relief. He is just a man who happens to be really romantic and sensitive, sometimes to a fault. Dolores sings about his virtues, and when he says "let's get married" and Dolores tells him to slow down it's still endearing and cute, not proof he is horrible for her too. He asks Mirabel if she's OK at dinner, and is the first among the townspeople to come help. Even the one male character they use to play with subverting stereotypes is still overall is virtuous and sympathetic! The men don't happen to make up the main hero of the movie or the majority of the cast, but the men in the movie are, like the female hero, just... there. As men and as people. They don't exist purely as a "stereotype pallet swap" or purely to be evil or have it pointed out that they aren't the hero. They're just there playing their part in the story and being awesome.

Summary: Encanto is a movie with a female hero and themes of female empowerment that isn't preachy and hamfisted about it, doesn't require the hero to be masculine, and doesn't belittle or villainize the men.

— This analysis post on Encanto

The Sea Beast is full of women characters, none that are reduced to be "the woman" pirate/sailor, the only woman in the gang (smurfette) or romantic tropes. Normally these type of stories are composed of entirely male ensembles, but just look at this group shot where you can see how diverse the characters are. They all look different and unique, from design to voice acting.

— This post about the women of The Sea Beast

Films — Live-Action

I love that she talked about the representation of strong black women: “they weren’t strong because they were angry, they weren’t strong because they were sad, they were strong because they were strong” that was dope!

— This comment about Black Panther (2018)

Literature

the lunar chronicles is honestly one of the best series for young girls (or grown women) to be reading because the wide variety in female characters can represent nearly everyone. there’s disabled girls, black girls, asian girls, curvy girls, feminine girls, masculine girls, mentally ill girls, girls who cry, girls who fight, girls who survived abuse, girls who love fashion, girls who love food, girls who love guns, girls who love technology, dominant girls, shy girls, brave girls, and they’re all beautiful and smart and worthy of love and they’re the protagonists, they hold the story, and the series could not exist without their presence.

— A post about The Lunar Chronicles

Live-Action TV

personally I find that Yellowjackets succeeds where other plane-crash-stranded media falls short. and it's because if you peel back the layers of other shows in this genre, the story is basically the same: people will do what they have to in order to survive, roles will reverse. Yellowjackets does this too, but Yellowjackets isn't about a plane crash and it isn't about survival. it's about the singular, violent, inescapable wilderness of girlhood, not nature. the wilderness is a backdrop and though the girls use it to tell their story (literally Van beginning an origin story in the season 2 trailer), it isn't... really that important. before they crash they were already icing their teammates out, betraying one another, surviving brutally through youth. being a girl is just like that. yeah, the setting and the strange magic helps reveal that story to the audience in a shocking and palatable and larger-than-life way, it brings to view what that complex inner world of girlhood really felt like. but it has something to say other than "people will do horrible things to survive". if you were ever a teenage girl, you already know that.

— This post about Yellowjackets

"The Wonder Woman TV show, particularly its first season, captured a sense of Wonder Woman perfectly, and what I mean by that is that Lynda Carter, the lead who played Wonder Woman, understood very clearly what that character was and what she was about, which was peace, which was about equality, which was about challenging gender norms, which was about power through strength, but strength of will."

— Phil Jimenez, Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle

Tabletop Games

The focus of this game, then, is character dynamics. It is not "The party of adventurers set out to destroy the dragon." it is "Brynn, Heylg, Bethan and their friends sought out the threat to their beloved kingdom and stopped it before more lives were lost." There is nothing wrong with either situation, it is just that one is better suited to Blue Rose. Because of this, there is more focus on group dynamics. Maybe Bethan, normally a strong independent warrior who fights for just causes, is also deathly afraid of fire from an incident in her childhood. Now fighting this dragon is not just a straightforward matter of defeating a beast; it is now a metaphor for overcoming fear even when you are normally strong and brave. It could be that Brynn's best contribution to this battle is not her magic to attack the dragon or her healing, but her ability to empathize with Bethan and bring out the warrior she is from the scared girl she was. If this dynamic is not that interesting to you, that's fine, the Blue Rose/AGE game will still let you kill the dragon, but something essential is missed.

— Timothy Brannan reviewing the "romantic fantasy" game Blue Rose

Other

Screw writing “strong” women. Write interesting women. Write well-rounded women. Write complicated women. Write a woman who kicks ass, write a woman who cowers in a corner. Write a woman who’s desperate for a husband. Write a woman who doesn’t need a man. Write women who cry, women who rant, women who are shy, women who don’t take no shit, women who need validation and women who don’t care what anybody thinks. THEY ARE ALL OKAY, and all those things could exist in THE SAME WOMAN. Women shouldn’t be valued because we are strong, or kick-ass, but because we are people. So don’t focus on writing characters who are strong. Write characters who are people.

— madlori tumblr, as seen here

i think we should start taking beloved archetypes for male characters and using them to make female characters. this woman is an asshole with a heart of gold. this woman is a loveable goofball. this woman is a cool but scarred lone wolf who just wants to protect people. this woman is a badass con artist who is always seen wearing an immaculate suit. this woman is a dilf

This woman is a sunglasses-wearing fighter pilot. This small-town girl dreams of adventure and finds more than she bargained for when mysterious strangers arrive in town. This woman is a womanizing super-spy. This woman is a brawny action-hero who drops witty one-liners while fighting. This woman is a slow-talking, straight-shooting cowboy.

— This post

Badass Women as Heroes. Badass Women as Villains. Badass Tomboys. Badass Girly Girls. Badass Single Women. Badass Married Women. Badass Young Women. Badass Older Women. Badass Wealthy Women. Badass Women from Poverty. Badass Working Women. Badass Women of Color. Badass Queer Women. Badass Androgynous Women. Badass Women with Disabilities. Badass Women with Mental Health Disorders. Badass Women as Spiritual Leaders. Badass Women as Military Leaders. Badass Women as World Leaders. Badass Women as Revolutionaries.

— This post

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