Creating Female Characters
Female characters, especially in movies, have been butchered. Do you want to make a good female character? It's a delicate operation.
Remember five things.
1) She's not a sex object. The moment a female character gets naked, or her privates are described, she's a sex object. Sensual hints turns her into a plaything for sickos to fantasize about. If you don't describe a man's privates, then you certainly don't describe a woman's.
2) She's not a man. Making her act like one actually makes her annoying. You can't turn red into green. If you try, you end up with something muddy. Women are physically weaker than men. If there is a physically strong woman, there is always a man somewhere who will be stronger. It's a fact of life.
Example 1: Vasquez from "Aliens." Vasquez is badness unleashed without having to say so. You don't have that stupid conversation of "You need protection," and "I don't need protection." In case you didn't catch it, her lover is that giant blonde guy, and he has all confidence in her.
Example 2: Miss Perkins from "John Wick." The perfect jerk. I laughed when she got shot. She gave no quarter, and in return received none, and she accepted it. There was no "you wouldn't hit a lady, would you?" She wasn't a crybaby, she didn't ask for standards to be lowered or raised for her.
Example 3: Dolly Levi from "Hello Dolly!" Talk about the most conniving character ever. Scheming in woman's fashion, she'd outwit Lara Croft, Rey, and Carina Smyth any day without breaking a nail.
Example 4: Leia Organa from the original Star Wars trilogy. The perfect balance between power and femininity.
3) A woman is not a statement for people to use like a billboard. I've read books and watched movies and video games about women who are supposedly strong. For some reason that means they're hitting people and getting away with it. They're bossy, and people cower. That's called plot armor and bullying on a whole new level. A woman jumping into a fray with nothing but a stick against a bunch of guns, and then wins, makes you as a writer look like a complete idiot.
Bad Example 1: Beverly from the "It" remake. That girl was not real. Somehow she doesn't fear It, somehow she doesn't get hurt when she gets her hand cut, and she was turned into what I call a "wise mother."
Bad Example 2: Lightning from Final Fantasy 13. How do those twig arms smack the giant Snow to the ground? Why does she get to slap everybody and nobody retaliates? Yeah right. We would all break her stupid face.
Bad Example 3: Disney's live action Cinderella. A farmer girl who obviously kills animals to feed her evil stepmother is shrieking against the prince about hunting. What did that animal do to him? Nothing more than what the animals she killed did to her. Or does she not kill at all? What are all those animals on the farm for? Artistic portraits? If anything, she's the cruelest because she's their friend. Disney obviously used her to scream against hunting
4) She's an emotional creature. That means she's not stoic, no matter what her facade is. A woman's brain is one mass, so her emotions are in everything that she does. If you want a heroine, remember her emotions. If you want a villain, remember the emotions. You have to remember that she can also control them, unless she has her period and hasn't taken her happy pills. Play with the emotions based on what you want.
Example: Ella from "The Glass Slipper." She's probably the most realistic Cinderella ever made. She's dramatic, angry, and a spitfire with issues. She doesn't have some high ideal of being "always kind." She wasn't raised that way. At five her mother died and she's been mistreated ever since.
5) She's human. She's prone to stupidity, she has weaknesses, sometimes she can't think clearly. She can make bad decisions and suffer for them. Not everyone she knows will like her. Sometimes she insults people on accident. She doesn't have a perfect body like the magazine models. Not every woman puts on make-up, or even knows how.
Example 1: Miss Hannigan from the original "Annie." She had personality, no class, and made me chuckle from beginning to end.
Example 2: Joanna Stayton from "Overboard." This character went through a serious learning process. She had her strengths and weaknesses, but was hilarious throughout.
Example 3: Evelyn from the first "The Mummy." Evelyn's the funniest character in the movie. When movie makers took that away, the other movies ended up being lackluster at best. She had her own fire and nobody had to make way for her to shine.
With that said, a sign that you've made a bad female character is if you have to take the fire from another character in order to make her shine.
Good Example: Willie from "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom." Willie took airhead to the next level and bounced off of Indiana with perfection.
Bad Example: Talia from The Dark Knight Rises. They had to turn Batman into a crying wimp and Bane into her puppy dog to make her look good.
Some editors want writers to follow the rules for vampires, werewolves and zombies. It's the same if you're going to make a female character. Follow her rules and you won't end up with a bootleg version of a woman.
Remember five things.
1) She's not a sex object. The moment a female character gets naked, or her privates are described, she's a sex object. Sensual hints turns her into a plaything for sickos to fantasize about. If you don't describe a man's privates, then you certainly don't describe a woman's.
2) She's not a man. Making her act like one actually makes her annoying. You can't turn red into green. If you try, you end up with something muddy. Women are physically weaker than men. If there is a physically strong woman, there is always a man somewhere who will be stronger. It's a fact of life.
Example 1: Vasquez from "Aliens." Vasquez is badness unleashed without having to say so. You don't have that stupid conversation of "You need protection," and "I don't need protection." In case you didn't catch it, her lover is that giant blonde guy, and he has all confidence in her.
Example 2: Miss Perkins from "John Wick." The perfect jerk. I laughed when she got shot. She gave no quarter, and in return received none, and she accepted it. There was no "you wouldn't hit a lady, would you?" She wasn't a crybaby, she didn't ask for standards to be lowered or raised for her.
Example 3: Dolly Levi from "Hello Dolly!" Talk about the most conniving character ever. Scheming in woman's fashion, she'd outwit Lara Croft, Rey, and Carina Smyth any day without breaking a nail.
Example 4: Leia Organa from the original Star Wars trilogy. The perfect balance between power and femininity.
3) A woman is not a statement for people to use like a billboard. I've read books and watched movies and video games about women who are supposedly strong. For some reason that means they're hitting people and getting away with it. They're bossy, and people cower. That's called plot armor and bullying on a whole new level. A woman jumping into a fray with nothing but a stick against a bunch of guns, and then wins, makes you as a writer look like a complete idiot.
Bad Example 1: Beverly from the "It" remake. That girl was not real. Somehow she doesn't fear It, somehow she doesn't get hurt when she gets her hand cut, and she was turned into what I call a "wise mother."
Bad Example 2: Lightning from Final Fantasy 13. How do those twig arms smack the giant Snow to the ground? Why does she get to slap everybody and nobody retaliates? Yeah right. We would all break her stupid face.
Bad Example 3: Disney's live action Cinderella. A farmer girl who obviously kills animals to feed her evil stepmother is shrieking against the prince about hunting. What did that animal do to him? Nothing more than what the animals she killed did to her. Or does she not kill at all? What are all those animals on the farm for? Artistic portraits? If anything, she's the cruelest because she's their friend. Disney obviously used her to scream against hunting
4) She's an emotional creature. That means she's not stoic, no matter what her facade is. A woman's brain is one mass, so her emotions are in everything that she does. If you want a heroine, remember her emotions. If you want a villain, remember the emotions. You have to remember that she can also control them, unless she has her period and hasn't taken her happy pills. Play with the emotions based on what you want.
Example: Ella from "The Glass Slipper." She's probably the most realistic Cinderella ever made. She's dramatic, angry, and a spitfire with issues. She doesn't have some high ideal of being "always kind." She wasn't raised that way. At five her mother died and she's been mistreated ever since.
5) She's human. She's prone to stupidity, she has weaknesses, sometimes she can't think clearly. She can make bad decisions and suffer for them. Not everyone she knows will like her. Sometimes she insults people on accident. She doesn't have a perfect body like the magazine models. Not every woman puts on make-up, or even knows how.
Example 1: Miss Hannigan from the original "Annie." She had personality, no class, and made me chuckle from beginning to end.
Example 2: Joanna Stayton from "Overboard." This character went through a serious learning process. She had her strengths and weaknesses, but was hilarious throughout.
Example 3: Evelyn from the first "The Mummy." Evelyn's the funniest character in the movie. When movie makers took that away, the other movies ended up being lackluster at best. She had her own fire and nobody had to make way for her to shine.
With that said, a sign that you've made a bad female character is if you have to take the fire from another character in order to make her shine.
Good Example: Willie from "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom." Willie took airhead to the next level and bounced off of Indiana with perfection.
Bad Example: Talia from The Dark Knight Rises. They had to turn Batman into a crying wimp and Bane into her puppy dog to make her look good.
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