Irregular’s Intel – Strong Female Characters: On Their Own Terms

I often shy away from writing about strong female characters because I worry that I’ll come off as sounding like “that guy”. Strong females have always been around and I know that they are not new. But we are now in a time where female leads aren’t really a novelty anymore and I love it. I am happy to live in a world where my niece will see women in movies leading combat units and going toe to toe with galactic level threats and no one will even blink an eye. I love that we live in a time where we scoff at anyone who thinks that a strong female lead is a marketing ploy. From Breanne to Jyn Erso, you can not deny it – the age of the geek has finally shown the world what we’ve known all along: women are as tough as their male counterparts… and in some cases tougher!

I grew up watching a bit of Japanese animation and many times women were either commanding officers or at least the executive officer of a unit. It wasn’t odd to me to see Lieutenant Uhura on the bridge of the Enterprise. If anything, I wondered why women weren’t on the front lines with the men – #1 I watched A LOT of news and #2 I wasn’t your typical kid. But as I grew older, I learned how the world worked. It still didn’t make sense to me. I grew up in a single parented home and watching my mom handle two jobs like a champ resulted in me raising the bar, I guess.

At any rate, here we are. Female superheroes are no longer cheerleaders to their male counterparts. They have deep and complex stories and a swelling fanbase that is the same as male characters. And, especially on sci-fi TV, women are owning it and are twice as tough and ruthless, not because “they have to be in a male dominated world” either. Go check out Dark Matter and Killjoys to see what I mean. While you’re at it, check out the latest season of Game of Thrones to see a slew of strong females, each with their own motivations, tearing it up on the small screen. Do I even have to mention Star Wars? Didn’t think so!

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