Female Characters in Books and TV Shows

Hi everyone!! It's been a little while but I finally finished this blog post and I hope you guys like it!!

During Comic Con weekend that was last week, I was seriously peeved about two things. Supergirl, and the new female Doctor Who and it got me thinking about female/male characters in not only books but in TV shows (and movies). So here is my rant about Supergirl and female characters and Doctor Who that may or may not be messy and impossible to understand and without a real main point where also praise the Wonder Woman movie just a little too much ;) I Hope you like it!

I can understand there being a lot of female protagonists in YA/MG books. From my standpoint there are a lot more female writers then there are male. Or if I'm wrong then the ratio is at least equal. As a girl myself I've written a few male POV's, but to be honest I prefer to write from a female's POV because I know how a girl thinks because I am a girl. I think a lot of other writers are the same, though some of them have the gift to be able to portray both male and female characters accurately and well. But more or less, a male writer will usually write male protagonists and female characters will usually write female protagonist. In the book industry there is also the fact that there are a lot more female readers especially in the YA market then there are male readers. Therefore publishers will publish books that will cater to the much larger female audience. So, I can understand why there are a lot of female protagonists and POV's in the YA and MG genre. But there are also a more or less equal amount of male protagonist. The first to come to mind is Percy Jackson and Rick Riordan has done amazing things for young male readers. There's Percy Jackson and Jason and Nico and Chase and Carter Kane. There's the Eragon series and Harry Potter (obviously). So young male readers aren't lacking, at least not as much as they are in the TV industry. This is the era of the female protagonist/heroine. We've got Katniss, Tris, Wonder Woman and many others. But specifically in the TV industry we have Clary Fray from Shadowhunters, Kara Danvers from Supergirl and now the first female Doctor, amongst many others. This isn't really my main point... just something that I'm pointing out and exploring and researching on my own but as I thought about it, it was very interesting at just how many female characters came to mind and that there was almost an equal amount of male characters that came to mind for me too. You just have to search a little harder for those male characters that can sometimes come from obscure yet awesome books that not a lot of people know about (which I excel at which is probably one of the reason why I know of so many great male characters in the MG/YA and adult genre).

Supergirl and the Doctor are the two characters I want to focus on because I have a problem with both of them.

I don't think there is anything wrong with female protagonists/heroines in the entertainment industry. I wouldn't mind if people made less of a big deal about oh my gosh, did you see that movie? It was so good because it had a female protagonist in it and she was so strong and brave and a great role model for girls. My thought is, so is that the only thing you noticed about that movie? Is that really it? That's all that made the movie good? Who cares about a decent plot, dynamic secondary characters, a meaningful theme. No, as long as you stick a strong female protagonist on the front cover people'll eat it up, especially feminists who can't seem to appreciate anything else about a book or movie or TV show other than the fact that it has a female protagonist that is so strong and smart and empowering to girls. Sorry, but as a writer, I don't care if you're protagonist is male or female, I don't care he or she looks like. I care about the protagonist and the secondary characters being real and vulnerable and dynamic. I care about being able to emphasize and like them. They have to be likeable and they have to be good and the plot has to be well done and if there's a good theme thrown in too then that's even better.

Take Wonder Woman for instance. I'm gonna be honest with you guys, I adored that movie! I saw it twice in theaters and loved it both times. And guess what? It wasn't because it had a female director or because it was meant to be an "empowering" story for woman. No. It was because Diana Prince was an amazing character. Kind-hearted, sweet, gentle, loveable and likeable but fierce and strong in the way that she defends the helpless and fought side by side with soldiers to help them win a battle they were losing.

Best. Scene. Ever!

 What I resonated the most was her compassion and extreme empathy. It pains me when I see people hurting or injustice in the world or something that isn't right and Diana was the same way. You could tell on her face how painful it was to see those soldiers and village people suffering and in her case, she could do something about it and so she did. The secondary characters (Steve anyone??) were funny and great and just as three dimensional as Diana. Because the plot was so well done and so good. I was entertained and enjoyed watching the movie thoroughly.

But let's start with Supergirl, shall we? I liked the first season. It was good. It wasn't amazing. Not like the first seasons of The Flash and Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow. But it was good and Kara was a likeable character. But this last season? Look, I don't agree and didn't like the whole Alex and her female cop girlfriend thing. I didn't like that at all and they didn't even do it well! It felt rushed and forced which made me not like it even more. But besides that, Kara went from likeable to whiny and annoying and she has completely turned me off from the character of Supergirl. During the entire season, everyone kissed up to her, bowed down to her as if she was some kind of perfect goddess who can do no wrong. Poor Mon El became her biggest worshipper. Doing her bidding and hanging onto her every word, changing himself for her. At first it was sweet but by the end I found myself agreeing with his mother, the villain! about how Mon El I better than Kara and doesn't deserve her. The one phrase that comes to mind when thinking of the second season of Supergirl was the time in Buffy when Willow pretty much said Buffy needed to be brought down a few pegs. Kara needed to be humbled in this season and it didn't happen.

Someone needed to knock her down more than a few pegs. They needed to break Kara, make her bleed and realize that she isn't some sort of goddess, that she isn't perfect, and that she needs to stop being so self-righteous. When she sent Mon El away (first of all Team Flash, Arrow, and Legends would have found a loophole to save him. I mean really. If two people love each other so much that they can't live without each other then they would have found away) I really didn't feel sad. I felt sad for Mon El that he had to leave this girl he loves but I really hope if he does come back that he'll have realized how not great Kara was to him.

I was holding out hope for the third season but after seeing the trailer for it, I won't be watching Supergirl anymore. Not only for all the sickening amount of feminist propaganda but also because Kara is still! On her high horse! The trailer made it sound like she didn't regret her decision to let Mon El go without a fight. She pretty much said how she's so much better than him and stronger than him because she let him go and because he wouldn't have been able to make that decision. It was awful and a total turn off. Plus, the only thing that made the trailer epic, was the background music. The scenes and stuff just seemed really kind of boring and lame compared to the trailers for Arrow, The Flash, Legends and the new Black Lightning. I just don't understand why so many female characters that writers try to make strong end up being annoying and self-righteous and sickeningly full of themselves. By the end of Buffy, she was the same way. It's like the writers are too afraid to pit their protagonists against real villains that are formidable.


Too afraid to tear their female protagonists down, rip them apart and humble then like what happened on The Flash and Arrow this season. Oliver and Barry didn't even need to be humbled and punched down a few pegs and yet Prometheous destroyed Oliver, mind, body and spirit. Savitar put Barry through hell in the past season. And Supergirl? All she did was whine and complain and beat people up and lose a boyfriend she didn't really love. So, uh, yeah. I guess writers of strong female protagonists are too afraid to write a villain or character arc that might damage their poor protagonist's feelings. I guess, those strong female protagonists aren't as strong as they think because they can't take a beating and go through hell like Oliver and Barry have. Their too busy tearing people down, complaining, punching stuff and advocating for feminism. I wish writers like those who wrote Buffy (sorry Joss Whedon I do like you and you are a genius writer) and Supergirl can understand that female protagonists can be vulnerable and broken down so they can be built back up. That they can still be strong while working side by side with a strong male character too (like in Wonder Woman with Diana and Steve). That female protagonists can be strong and still respect male characters (again like in Wonder Woman with Diana and Steve).

And that is one of the reasons why there should not be a female Doctor. Because Doctor Who has turned into a feminist statement. The Doctor ended for me with Eleven.

My fave!!

 I couldn't get into Twelve and I didn't particularly like Clara. So it's not like I'm going to stop watching Doctor Who because of the female Doctor. But... to me anyways, changing the face of and some of the personality of the main character every few seasons you need something that ties all them together to make the watcher's brain understand that those character's are all the same character in mind and spirit and I feel like that binding factor that made the Doctor one character despite the many faces and actors was that he was a guy. So now to have a female doctor kind of jolts me from the fact that this is the same character, if that makes sense. Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if she turned into a self-righteous, full of herself, "strong female" protagonist. I sincerely hope that doesn't happen, I'd hate to see Doctor Who go downhill because I know there are still lots of people that watch and are more devoted than me to the TV show.

So there ya go. My rant about Supergirl and the new Doctor and female characters in general and how writers need to stop being so kind and nice to their female characters. Stop giving them a break and making their lives so easy! Check out the fifth season of Arrow, the third season of The Flash, all the seasons of The Vampire Diaries and the Originals and both of Shannon Messenger's books, the Let the Sky Fall series and the Keeper of the Lost Cities series. All of those writers let their characters go through hell so that they can be changed and come out stronger and more heroic and better versions of themselves.

Hope you all have a great weekend!!