Stop watching this video already.

"Don't make a great female character, make a great character that happens to be female" -some wise person

As a woman, it doesn’t feel empowering or inspiring. It feels patronizing and pitying. They need to stop doing this

"Ya'll hate on Rey just because she's a strong woman" Meanwhile Ahsoka, Leia and Padme are some of the most beloved and iconic characters in Star Wars history

We have Ripley from Aliens franchise being this strong and powerful women. We don't complain about it. Why? Because the writing is so good

The worst part is when they get called out for bad writing they pull the sexism card to cope for their lack of skill

I think the irony of the "sexism" card is that they are ultimately defending writers not respecting women enough to put real effort into their characters and arcs

The problem I have with a lot of these characters is, that they are just so unlikable. They are annyoing, arogant, narcistic, all traits that you rather see in villian - because they make a character unlikeable. The writers use the traits they see in "toxic masculinity", but somehow think that a strong character has to have them in order to be strong, thereby completely sabotaging their own agenda.

A better comparison scene for the bullying is Harry Potter. His mistreatment at the hands of the Dursleys is explained very quickly - they value normalcy, which Harry is decidedly not. He is bullied by his relatives and, as a result of their deception, pretty much everyone around him considers him the problem and so they mistreat him too. Not only is the treatment given a reasoning, we later find out the reasoning is nuanced and find out even later just how much deeper it went than we were initially led to believe… to the point that there were scenes relating to the mistreatment that were actually impactful and surprising all the way until the final movie/book. It goes even further in that it was a narrow reflection of a broader issue in the world at large. On that broader scale it was a large factor in Grindelwald’s motives which ultimately led to WW2. What seemed like a simple thing was actually a major plot point… whereas RoP? “Please like our Mary Sue because she endured some inexplicable childish bullying”

As a girl I have always thought that those movies failed because of sexism, not in the sense that audiences didn't like it, but in the sense of not creating new characters, just female versions, not creating complex characters, just make them perfect. It's like 'a woman has to be perfect' 'a woman is superficial ' 'a woman is not worth the effort of writing a good characters' and 'women are so dumb that this is all it takes to sell a movie'

“Write characters to tell a story not prove a point” Great line!

Edge of Tomorrow is one of my favorite movies of all time, but has gone very overlooked. Thanks for giving it and it’s amazing characters the love they deserve!

I like how the Entire Message of Mulan that men and women are different but still strong in different ways, BUT that when brought together and working with each other, relying on each others strengths thats when you can do anything.

I like how no one hated Gamora... Despite she being the 2nd strongest Physically and strongest In Overall Combat.... Because she was written perfectly in the guardians of the galaxy franchise..

People don’t hate strong and independent women they hate “I AM A STRONG AND INDEPENDENT WOMAN”

Mulan vs Mulan is an amazing study in how to do a character right vs terribly. I'm kinda glad the live action exists purely for the clear juxtaposition.

"blue eye samurai" is a great example of well written female character if anyone's interested

good ol' hollywood thinking that a strong woman needs to be more like a man, instead of making a real character EDIT: This comment was written at like 2 am in a few seconds, and I have notifs muted so I didn't see all the replies. To clear up confusion, I do mean man as specifically the self absorbed toxic masculine stereotype that is still common in media. A blending of traditional femininity and masculinity is needed for a truly good male or female character, and no gender is bound to a single set of values or way of life.

As a child girl, one of the female character I liked the most was Elizabeth Swann from Pirates of the Caribbean. She went from an innocent girl afraid of pirates to one of the most badass pirates of the franchise. Shame to the writers for her character arc in Dead Men Tell no Tales. It felts like going backward.

This is true for all characters no one wants a perfect flawless character.

It’s really not that hard to write a well-written strong female character. You just gotta do what you would do with a male character. It’s really that simple.

Remember folks: the gender of the character does not matter, as long as it is good writing.

A man named Clifton Duncan once said; "Audiences don't hate diverse characters. What they hate is being slammed as bigots for rejecting bad work from pretentious, unskilled activists posing as writers. If the demography of your characters becomes more important than the story, your story will probably suck."

I clearly remembered I said to myself " Black Widow is so cool, she is my favourite character now". Nowadays, Disney is shoving the idea of FEMALE characters are super strong and just to be themselves and everything will be fine. There is no character arc, they are just too strong plus all male character are dumb shxt

This video is such a breath of fresh air, it's a well-informed and good faith critique of a very real problem that exists in female character writing that doesn't just spiral into genuinely misogynistic ramblings like 90% of "anti-woke" clickbait youtubers. This is exactly the kind of content we need.

It's always the sudden shift from total victimhood to total power that feels forced and doesnt make sense.

Hermoine Granger is a good example of a well written female character IMO. She saves Harry and Ron on multiple occasions with her intelligence and sacrificial attitude. That's a strong character to me.

Ripley from Alien. Vasquez from Aliens. Strong female characters but in different ways and both loved by the audience. Sarah Conner in T1 and T2. Trinity in Matrix Serenity Underworld The Fifth Element

As a male I love characters like Leia, eowyn, Vi, Katness etc because they are well written it just feels like Disney and other companies just try to make instantly talented women who have to hate guys to seem strong

As a male that scene of Mulan climbing the pole with those gold medals is so inspiring and gives me chills to this day

Writers: *Give a woman some random op ability, make her a girl boss, write her to be unlike ably sarcastic and obsessively goal oriented, give her some quick one liner about how bad men are, make her the instigator in some halfhearted love session* Yeah this is awesome Watchers: Who is she as a person? why is she here? why does she have this power? are there drawbacks to this power? Why is she so snarky? Does she not care about anyone? Why do her powers break all the rules of the powers we set into place previously? Writers: Obviously it flopped because men don't want to watch a strong woman.

Honestly, so well said. This is exactly how I feel. These characters are shallow and unrelatable. Give me a character with real flaws. The reason why we like any main character or hero is because of the humanness in them, not because of the superhuman powers they possess. These modern portrayals of women don't need to earn anything. It's just handed to them. That's not real life. And you're so right that the much better and more realistic message is "I'm not enough but I can still do great things." That's an actually relatable message. I'm a women and I really don't like these movies. It's not because of sexism, it's because of bad character writing.

Great Video, so much effort put in! refreshing to see something so well thought out and planned.

I suspect a lot of the hatred for these characters is actually due to the writer's own entitlement. Blaming the audience for not liking your characters because the character is a woman is just a laughably bad excuse for the writer. A poor craftsman blames his tools. Where's my hero's journey? Where's my engaging conflict? Where's my fun character moments? Am I excited to even see this character on screen?

This is easily the best take on why the trend of "powerful female characters" is bad. It's not because they're women. It's because they're _lazily-written_ women.

People saying these shows get bad reviews is because they’re women and not because of bad writing NEED to watch Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. Movie brimming with heart, soul, and emotion. About a disfuncional family, misunderstandings let to foster and grow into hatred, and the meaning of feeling comfortable or complacent with your current self. Absolutely wonderful piece of media.

I didn't even have to watch the entire video to give you a like. Just the title alone says it all. Movies these days lack the story sustenance that older movies had. Like you said, OP and sfx are the standard for every movie these days. Thank you, thank you, thank you. 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏

Katniss Everdeen is another example of a well written female protagonist. She's talented with the bow at the start, but we learn she had to be to hunt for food to feed her family. She didn't just pick up a bow one day and oh look she hits a bullseye every time. In the arena she makes mistakes, she gets physically hurt either by her own decisions or the other children succeed in their attacks against her. She feels emotional pain constantly. When she becomes the Mockingjay we know she's just being used. She's a figurehead. Other people, including men, are just as competent or even more than her. Their talents shine through. She needs and gets their help. She doesn't do everything by herself defeating everyone invincible without a scratch.

The animated Mulan is the best disney princess. The live action Mulan is a fraud.

Kill bill 1 and 2: great character, has lots of flaws, vulnerability, works her ass off. Love those movies.

"I can't carry it for you - but I can carry you" One of my favourite lines in The Lord of the Rings, glad you added that one.

A perfect example comes from two characters in the same works, Ahsoka Tano and Rey. We watched Ahsoka grow from this overconfident and inexperienced padawan to a Jedi through struggles and lessons learned through her journey. Rey didn’t do shit to earn her status

Mulan was my favorite Disney princess as a kid because no prince had to save her instead she saved her country, while at the same time falling in love with a man that was still stronger than her. She had to learn to fight but she was smarter than everyone. She used her gender as a way to trick her enemy's because no one suspected a women to fight, and she won! The live action remake removed all the things that made Mulan unique and amazing.

The best example of a strong female character comes from 1979, Ridley Scott's Alien and the sequel Aliens. Ripley is the female protagonist and holy shit does she earn her status and earn her feat. It's an incredible movie, with incredible characters. Amy Dunne from Gone Girl is another amazingly written female character. She embodies the persona she is meant to play. The girl from Barbarian is also an amazingly written character.

Many of us have been thinking it, but you broke it down and visualized it. Thank you.

It's not just Vi, all of the women in Arcane are so well written and have such varied personalities and looks but without being forced, they are all so well thought out and important to the story they want to tell. And last but not least, they don't make the male characters stupid or useless so that they shine more, on the contrary they are on par and have interesting interactions between them.

Let’s be honest, Mabel from Gravity Falls had a better character Arc than most of these live-action Disney heroines. Katara and Toph? Not even a competition, those two were incredible.

I completely agree with everything in this video. It is the very essence of why I haven't bothered with mainstream movies and television series for well over a decade now. Writers today are either no good at writing, or they are shackled by so many requirements from various stakeholders that they are trying to check off boxes more-so than working on a good story. For entire shows, this wouldn't necessarily be a problem if we were back in the late 90s or early 00s, but because the modern streaming era has dictated that every production has to be a singular story, it means that we only get one story which will without a doubt have all these flaws. Worse still, these stories of like 10 episodes tend to have about as much story or plot development as around four episodes in the old era, as all the other time is wasted on making sure there are cliffhangers at the end of every episode and tons of side-quests and character drama. Back in those days, we might have been inundated with a lot of 40ish minute stories that were quickly and cheaply produced in a very repetitive format (think stuff like Star Trek, for example), but it was often surprising how the major complaint was that 'this should have gone on for longer' and that things weren't explored to their full extent. How is it even possible that most singular episodes of those old shows were more interesting to me than entire seasons of modern garbage? It is because of bad writing. The whole season is not allowed to fail. Audiences might get confused if it gets too confusing. Cliffhangers are needed to keep people watching. We need to squeeze in romantic sub plots for at least one major character to turn a scifi mystery into a space drama. And since I already referenced Star Trek above, I might as well point out how they ruined the philosophical and thought-provoking aspects to just turn it into a sci-fi action movie. It is ALL of this same garbage that makes women featuring strong women terrible, but it happens in a different way. Nothing is unique and has to be the same as something else. We cannot risk doing anything unpopular with audiences, so we need to cater to the ideals that will do good in marketing blurbs. Coincidentally, I believe that this is also why the live action adaptation of One Piece is so strong. It stayed true to its source material in all the important ways. Rather than stretching out a plot for the sake of drama, it overwhelmed viewers with developments and moments that defined the characters and the world they were in. Despite being silly and weird and 'just go with it' to the extreme, it managed to make audiences cry over simple things that were part of a clever narrative whole. It was a show where every character is an iconic trope in their own right, and yet they are utterly unique and lovable unto themselves going far beyond the stereotypes you might want to pidgeon-hole them into. Its biggest turning point for the female character was the exact opposite of the modern trend (despite being a 20+ years old story!) because this strong, female lead who betrayed person after person to accomplish her goals broke down in despair and after a lifetime of struggling on her own, finally learned to ask a friend for help. But even that was not framed as the hero rescuing a damsel, but as a display of mutual trust and reliance, since even the 'hero' is immensely flawed and will need her help in turn. I think modern audiences may not really be exposed to good writing anymore in an era where books are antiquated and everything

Arcane S1 was a masterpiece, even if you don't know the game. If you did play League of Legends, there are many moments in which you become that Leo DeCaprio sitting on the chair meme. Like how Vi got her gauntlets (which is awesome that she doesn't immediately have them). Or when Jayce uses his hammer, utilizing moves shown in the game for years. Or how Viktor was before he became a machine, a weak and feeble genius with the desire to live after a life of struggle and being from the Undercity. Even at the end when Mel may have possibly used the Locket of the Iron Solari, making me wonder if she knows Leona somehow and if Leona will be introduced (who is one of the most badass characters btw). Mel's mother being a ruthless but caring mother shows the duality in her heart. All the characters are so well written, even those who are are sacrificed in the show like Sky, the young woman with a crush on Viktor. How she loves him for his genius and mental fortitude, even though Jayce is also there. She died a tragic death. A sweet, pure, innocent young lady died trying to save her idol without hesitation. I love that show, and love the diverse cast of "real" people in it.

Vi lost her family twice, grew up in a place where people are regularly beaten up by the police and dragged to prison without a trial, was locked in a cell for about 6 years where she was brutally beaten by guards, had to watch her home turn into a drug infested criminal underworld and she bears a giant burden due to what happened to her sister. Through out all of this, she didn't loose sight of who she is, stayed loyal to her loved ones and prioritized their well being over hers. As Vander said "You've got a good heart, don't ever loose it." That's a great character right there.

Emily Blunt is a prime example of an actress who consistently plays a fleshed out strong female lead

Fun fact: Hailee Steinfeld played Kate Bishop & was the voice actress for Vi in Arcane. She appeared in a few short films as a kid before her breakout role in True Grit, which earned her a (well-deserved) Oscar Nomination for Best Supporting Actress at 14. She’s a real one. Even in her sillier, campier productions she almost always elevates the material. Only thing she’s done that I’ve seen & really didn’t like was Dickinson.

Thank you for mentioning Arcane! I didn’t think I’d be hooked with its story alone. Jinx and Vi are one of the best written characters in a series I’ve seen in a while and I didn’t even notice right away that they’re women, let alone an animated series! It was because the writers, like most good writers in any medium, didn’t shove it to our faces that “women protagonist/antagonist = empowerment”. They were met with so much challenges and growth throughout their journey and the side characters actually played important parts and grew their development as well.

For me the problem begins when the writers want to create "strong female leads." When I hear that I already know it's gonna be bad. I don't want to feel like I'm watching a strong female lead. I just want to watch a character. The minute you put a label on a character you have already doomed yourself

_"Audiences hate bad writing, not strong women."_ *NAILED IT.* You will not find a single man who hated Ellen Ripley, or Sarah Connor, or the 2017 Wonder Woman.

You said what needed to be said, perfect. And near the end when you named characters Rita and Evelyn played by Blunt I just thought for a second - yeah she nailed both and made them recognizeable for me. Similar with Ellen Ripley from Alien, Arya Stark from GoT, T-X from Terminator 3, or Martha from Pieces of woman. Not all lead characters but good ones who happened to be female and werent forced up us.

"Salt" movie was also a good example... it was supposed to be played by Tom Cruise, but was then played by Angelina Jolie... it didn't matter because the character and the story was good!

It's really sad when the directors and writers resort to "people hate strong female characters" whenever their films end up failing. That defense itself is just weak.

Emily Blunt perfectly encapsulates what a female lead role should be. From a Quiet Place to Sicario, etc

Perfect narration, perfect editing and obviously, perfectly said. Master samwise, the name is fitting.

Amy adams in arrival is a great example of how to write a compelling female character. She struggles and overcomes challenges, is smart and can problem solve, has real emotions and deals with death, etc. Emily blunt in sicario is great as well

another thing i love about Vi in particular in Arcane, is that she doesn't always win. Even when she does, she gets her shit kicked in. she has to struggle to win, she bleeds. Same with Cait at the very end of Season 1. they don't win, and they suffer or struggle, and each have unique flaws within their personalities.

For me Jyn Erso is, in so many ways, the character that Rey should've been. Conflicted, complex, full of uncertainty, and yet still strong and heroic. It's no surprise that audiences really liked Rogue One- because the female lead was a human being, not a billboard.

As a woman, yes. We had so many strong female characters before the "strong female character" archetype became a thing. Ripley in Alien was strong. The women in Lord of the rings were strong. The classic Disney princesses and leading ladies were also strong. They may not have all had physical strength, but they used their skills to overcome flaws and problems, to survive terrifying situations, to support the other heroes, to help save the day. They were all inspiring in their own ways, and the way they use their strengths without needing to sacrifice being feminine was inspiring. It teaches little girls that you don't have to be masculine to be strong.

I always right characters without a gender when I first start out. That way, I am literally incapable of writing a “look she’s a strong woman hardy-har” nor can I right a “haha man stupid woman smart”

I feel like Emily Blunt is really good at picking well written female main protagonists. She did it in Edge of Tomorrow, Sicario and Quiet Place.

Toph is one of the best example of how to write a "girl boss" that is likeable and overpowered. She is funny, emotional, vulnerable, powerful and easy to root for. I love the contrast of her introduction to the series where she destroys a bunch of "men" at there own game to only be beaten by the least manly person ie aang. Seeing how this upset her and showed the audiences although she is powerful she can still lose, and we get ad an audience get to explore her arc as a character, not as "gotcha" one off moment.

"Are you kidding? I dont think the writers of She-Hulk would understand how men would typically act to a 7'+ tall assertive woman. They'd utterly simp for her and beg her to step on me."

Its nice to hear someone say something positive about Hawkeye. Yes it had its flaws but at least kate had to be repeatedly saved by the experienced hero and wasn't automatically good, despite her skills.

Sophie in Howls moving castle always struck me as the embodiment of a strong independent woman cuz despite all the crap she put up with. She was still kind and empathetic towards others and influenced them to be better.

Calling fans sexist or racist because they dont like your art is simply a coping mechanism by talentless hacks to protect their fragile egos.

Yep. So glad to see people are speaking out against this Disney garbage. I love all the comments here. It gives me hope that audiences demanding good writing will win out against all the terrible fluff that Disney and other giant media outlets produce.

"you are not enough but you still can do great things, they may not bring you glory, they may even bring you pain and suffering, but if you put the good of others before your own needs and wants, you will find true and lasting happiness" such a great line, absurdly great line

Man, Edge of Tomorrow is such an enjoyable movie. Emily Blunt's character's OP status is logically explained AND used to further the plot all while showing her as a really skilful, knowledgable badass who's still vulnerable underneath the battle-hardened exterior. Cannot believe professional writers don’t learn from examples like that

As a women myself, I completely agree with this video. Recently, Disney has been making stories in the idea that all strength, power and abilities come naturally and don’t require hard work or great sacrifice- which is just total nonsense. They must think that a character is automatically likeable just because they are a strong women against the world. No, if you want me to like any character, man or woman, I need to see their struggles and hardships, and how they learn and grow off other people. -Not just having a moment of self-belief and then defeating the villain single-handedly.

Frozen is a good example of a Disney movie where they got it right. Their main characters struggled and grew, and people generally liked the movie as a result of it. Sadly they haven't been able to walk down that formula and their live action films.

I'm glad I watched this. You've expressed the thoughts on the matter I couldn't put into words. I've felt bad for being critical of some of these characters, thinking I'm being sexist somehow. Which, if we're being honest, is their defense sometimes for continuing to prop up these badly written characters. I always try to be mindful to be fair, but it's difficult to know where to draw the line.

Like most people I really don't care if you are white, black, asian, man, woman... if you suck as a character I don't like you.

Haile Steinfield definitely has some of the best well written female leads in her projects ( Vi , Kate , Gwen, etc)

Brave and Frozen 1 (kinda) are great examples of well-written female leads imo.

Remember Aśoka’s first season/episode in clone wars people hated her. Then she slowly got to earn to be a Jedi. They didn’t know how to make that character at first but they had time, patience, and ability to actually make Asoka one of the best Jedi in Star Wars.

"a character arc flatter than the state of Kansas" is my new favorite line for summing up my disappointment for poorly written characters lol

Rey: “people hate me because im a strong female character!” Leia: “No”

I’m glad to see a bit of Hawkeye love. Of all the Marvel shows that came out that year, I liked it most.

Kill Bill is one the best movies I've watched as a teen, and i didn't think one time about the character being a woman

Let’s give Elizabeth Swann a shoutout too. She’s fine and not lazily written. Also adapted to her environment in a realistic way

Funny thing is Hollywood nailed the formula for strong female characters decades ago. Look at Princess Leia, Ellen Ripley, Sarah Connor, etc. All strong, all feminine, and most importantly, all well-written. But we all know how much Hollywood values writers, so the likelihood of seeing characters like them in the future is slim.

"Create characters to tell a story, not to prove a point." The entire video summed up perfectly.

Dont forget Sarrah Connor and Ripley. Two of my favorite "strong female" characters.

A character I don't see mentioned enough in this train of thought is Elizabeth Swann from Pirate of the Caribbean. She's courageous and has some team leader spirit, but doesn't know how to hone that, isn't fully physically experienced yet, and is somewhat bound by the expectations and norms for someone raised in English nobility. The cracks start to show at the start of Dead Man's chest, and by the movie's end she's full-blown pirate the moment she leaves Jack for dead with only a sliver of remorse. By continuing to prove herself physically in combat, she eventually comes into her own as the Pirate Queen in At the World's End's finale.

Gwen Stacy from the Spider-Verse films is also another well-written female character. I'm really happy Lord and Miller didn't try to make her some strong badass who's so tough and can handle everything. No, they made a sincere, relatable, sweet and confident character. One whom you can wholeheartedly relate to in her journey and emotional vulnerabilities because of how real of a character she feels. And I freaking appreciate it!

Loved kate bishop simply because she acknowledged hawkeye. Imagine seeing a super human time traveler with an indestructible shield, a literal god, A giant behemoth and say “The guy with the bow and arrow is cooler” He is in my eyes and seeng Kate basically protégé and eventually equal him was really cool to watch since we see her struggle with trick arrows and CQB at the start, then at the end she grabs an arrow from hawkeye’s quiver smoothly and just as smoothly takes out a van coming right at them.

it is funny how Disney claims that Starwars fans hate strong female characters. According to my knowledge Ahsoka and Asajj Ventress are two of the absolute favourite characters of the exact same people that Disney claims hates strong female characters.

I've always loved Mulan 1999. Not specifically because she is female, but because of how much she grew as a character. She went from having a disadvantage and she developed and learned and even found a way for her own upbringing and disguising to become an advantage in the final battle.

I love how Disney nonchalantly blames its audience for its failures. “Write characters to tell a story not prove a point” Great line!.

This video needs to be seen by producers and writers. I love good heroine plots. Love it in books too.

disney learning that you don't have to make males look horrible compared to female characters is like a dream come true. In my opinion, disney is definitely bias against men

To summarize: what makes characters interesting is their flaws and how relatable they are, not how perfect they are.

I just watched the new Puss n Boots movie yesterday and told my girlfriend exactly this! I said "this is how you write a strong female character!" And she completely agreed with me

That scene in aliens where Ripley is getting ready to go save newt is a fantastic piece of acting for weaver and she doesn’t even utter a word.