This month I
wasn’t sure what I wanted to write about. It happens. Sometimes I am full of
ideas and other times, not so much. I turned to my trusty resource bank, the
internet, to see if reading a few good writing blogs would suddenly ignite some
inner hidden spark. Not sure that happened, but I did come across an article I
found interesting in one of those “not sure how I feel about this kind of
ways.” Maybe that just happens to me, but I doubt it.
I focused my
reading on character development. I think with the endless amount of Halloween costume ads
and commercials right now I have characters on the brain. So I googled “strong
characters” just to see what would pop up and happened upon a blog post by a
woman named Sophia McDougall entitled “I Hate Strong Female Characters.” Well
that got me intrigued! A female blogger raging against strong female
characters? I had to be missing something.
I reviewed
her post to find McDougall’s issue is more about how women are either strong or
weak and very little in between. In her opinion, labeling women as strong puts
them in a box, continues to isolate, and prevents audiences from seeing
them as equals to their male counterparts. It’s a rather long post but if you
would like to check it out, here you go: http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2013/08/i-hate-strong-female-characters
And now my
thoughts, for whatever they're worth. I found a good portion of this blog post rather frustrating. McDougall primarily focused on women’s strengths only in regard to
their physicality - their ability to punch, kick, fight, etc. It was not until the very end that
she finally connected strength with broader (and more important) ideas of
peace, intelligence, compromise, resilience, perseverance, and commitment.
When I think
of strong female characters, Charlie’s Angels don’t come to my mind. Neither do
any of those superheroes. To me, strong characters include the likes of Jane
Eyre, Hermione Granger, Anne Frank, Prim Everdeen, and Jo March.
What makes a female character strong in your opinion? Got a few favorites?
You are right that a strong female character goes beyond being physical strength. Characters with physical disabilities can also be strong. In the book "The Miracle Worker," Annie Sullivan, herself slightly impaired, showed strength of character and determination when she taught Helen Keller.
ReplyDeleteExcellent example Donna! Both women faced tremendous challenges but persevered. "Miss Spitfire" is an excellent book about Annie Sullivan and her journey working with Helen.
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