CJ Cherryh did a much better job addressing the characterization problem over ten years ago, and TV Tropes recently encapsulated the problem of weak female characters falsely advertised as “strong” under the header of “Faux Action Girl”…

(Ironically enough I’m currently rereading an old Alistair Maclane thriller and I think it passes the Bechdel-Wallace test – two named female characters who are friends talking about how to thwart the bad guys’ plot, one of whom has already managed to get a clue out so far. And they’re both secretaries – which is the source of the older one’s abilities to thwart the baddies: shorthand as a secret power.)

As I was responding to detourne_me and my post was immediately after the post I was referring to, I didn’t consider it necessary to use his/her name in my post, but you, Farty McPoopyPants, indeed have a point.

And while your name is Farty McPoopypants, had you ever considered putting the ‘Mc’ in front of the first name, becoming McFarty Poopypants? Sorta rolls off the tongue a little better that way, IMHO.

I hope that you’ll extend me the same respect and dignity in using my full name in referring to my posts;)

I think that’s one of the things that mlawski was getting at.

The person who wrote this column is Lisa Fortuner.

In the interest of having less confusion, please try to mention them by their names.

Also, it shows a bit more respect if you use their name instead of saying he or she or original poster.

Yup, I was almost going to say that the original blogger dismantles her own argument by mentioning T2 and a few other great movies like Kill Bill (did she really forget Aliens in her list?)

But I wanted to keep in mind that stuff like T2 is an intelligent movie while the major franchises that she and I have mentioned are well, as ideologically complex as He-Man.

I’m sure that Michael Bay will take these suggestions under advisement and add the complexity and nuance that people will undoubtedly demand in Transformers 2 by including Arcee. :p

The original blog made some good points and others that I completely disagree with. Like dismissing the “nice guys finish last” syndrome as strictly male fantasy where the “nice guys” are actually jerks too. Well, I’ve seen this topic discussed by other women and some of the explanations they offer acknowledge that the phenomenon does exist, and that “nice” is still perceived as “weakness” by some, including women.

Honestly, I can disprove that concept with ONE movie. Terminator 2: Judgement Day. So studios CAN make giant blockbuster’s with strong female leads…

Now on-topic, What the original poster and you seem to forget is that the movies that she has problems with are big budget blockbusters, specifically the Transformers, Star Wars, Indiana Jones and James Bond franchises. Asking fair, balanced and respectful representation in these movies is like asking your puppy not to piss on your rug. Sure, it would be grand if they listened, but it’s just not in their nature.

In the original blog the author makes a tremendous list of great female roles, and yes there are hundreds of other great movies with awesome female characters too. It’s not as if I am asking her to be happy with that list. I just want to point out the fact that there ARE alternatives from the Hollywood schlop that she has problems with.

It also seems to me that she may be doing the right thing already. That is, not watching a movie like transformers until a year or two after it comes out, but going to see Kill Bill or Deathproof in theaters and buying DVDs of films like Lady Snowblood or Sympathy for Lady Vengeance.

Perhaps that is why so many find the works of Alan Moore and Grant Morrison so compelling—the stories are being told by people who have experiences that most of us would never have. Same with Hunter S Thompson and Papa Hemingway.

Or, in the case of writers like Chuck Austen, Ron Zimmerman and Reginald Hudlin, they don’t know it at all, regardless of the characters’ genders, which is why all their heroes are glorified Mary Sues/Marty Stus, and all the other characters exist only to glorify their awesome.