Amazing women in SF fandom
Apr. 27th, 2009 11:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayThis isn't a meme yet, but I suspect that it's turning into one and I couldn't resist. This was posted in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fandomsecrets over the weekend and triggered a huge discussion of female characters in SF. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
misscam's response here was brilliant and I've now seen a few people list their amazing, strong female characters so I had to join in.
Donna Noble, Doctor Who. I am so predictable, but she's one of the first characters that comes to mind. She's strong, she learns just how brilliant she can be, she doesn't take anything lying down and in Turn Left we saw that all she needed was circumstances to find her inner-awesome. It's not dependant on the Doctor. I still haven't forgiven RTD.
Ace McShame, Doctor Who. She killed a Dalek. With a baseball bat. She blew stuff up with homemade explosives. She got ridiculously excited about rocket launchers. She killed Cybermen with gold coins and a sling shot. She could be so incredibly vulnerable (see Curse of Fenric, Ghostlight et al) but always came through it stronger. It seems entirely appropriate that she was destined to become a Time Lady if the show had continued.
Tegan Jovanka, Doctor Who. She accidentally wandered into the TARDIS and, after he initial WTF-ness, proceded to be awesome and help to defeat the Master. Yes, she spent the first few adventures trying to get back to Heathrow, but when she was given the chance to stay on Earth, she didn't. She was loud and bossy and sometimes rude, but she was brave and caring and funny as well. Bonus points for leaving team TARDIS when she needed to, rather than getting killed or left behind by accident.
Sarah Jane Smith, Doctor Who and SJA. It is hard to express the sheer awesomeness of Sarah Jane. She's smart and brave and curious, which is how she hooks up with the Doctor in the first place. There are times when she's scared, but never times when she lets her fear get in the way of doing what needs to be done. OK, yes, there were a few poor fashion choices (pink dungarees? Seriously?) and the writers needed to find better cliffs for her to fall off so that it looked slightly less lame to be rescuing her from small hillocks, but I blame that on 70s TV budgets. In the recent series she has matured but still saves the world regularly with a sonic lipstick. She's a mother, not just to Luke, and she isn't afraid to let her chicks go out there and save the world as well.
Susan Ivonova, Babylon 5. There are no words to express my love. Susan doesn't take crap from anyone, she stands up to the biggest, nastiest aliens out there and she can be sort of diplomatic if she has to be. Although she is very much attached to her Russian heritage and that can inform her 'diplomacy' at times. She sleeps in slinky nightwear and could probably drink Garibaldi under the table, if the vodka was good enough. I think Ivonova was the first character that I wanted to "be" when I was a teenager.
CJ Cregg, The West Wing. My mantra for the last few years has been "I want to be CJ when I grow up". TWW is filled with wonderful female characters, but CJ outshines them all. She's smart and sassy and strong, at times she can be a total dork, and Josh is afraid of her even if he won't say it out loud. Her conscience regarding lying to the press is what kept her out of the loop sometimes, but she's got the strength of character to overcome that when she needs to as Chief of Staff. I want to be CJ when I grow up.
Miranda Bailey, Gray's Anatomy. She's tough and scary and really short, but she can do all that and be a caring person at the same time. Is some of that scariness to overcome the disadvantage of being female in a male profession (and really short)? Totally. Do I care? No, because she's tough without turning into a man in skirts and can be beautifully feminine with pride.
Hermione Granger, Harry Potter. Try to imagine what it must have been like for her those first months at Hogwarts. Yes, she's excited about the magic and the spells and the history and all, but underneath? Who wouldn't be terrified to discover that everything you thought you knew about the world was wrong. She doesn't curl up and cry or run away, she grasps everything with both hands and doesn't flinch when Harry and Ron's adventures sort of roll over her. By book 7 she's the one that knows what to do and puts things together. She survives terrible things and comes out more awesome. Where would Harry and Ron be without her? Probably dead, with Voldemort ruling the world.
Alanna of Trebond and Olau, Tortall books. For the first two books she's disguised as a boy and through that discovers what kind of woman she wants to be. Then she goes out into the world and is awesome for the second half of the series. She can compete on equal footing with the boys and finds ways to compete when her size is against her. Despite the early years disguised as Alan, she never becomes a man in skirts character. Her romances are sweet and about strengthening her rather than becoming an attachment to a man.
Kerowyn, By the Sword and other Valdemar books. She's tough and smart and she has a magic talking sword. Kero knows what she wants and she does it. She's also able to accept it when life takes unexpected turns and take full advantage of new opportunities. There aren't many female mercenary characters out there and they are often the hard-bitten, faintly nasty sort of bit-characters that appear as opposition to our hero. Kero is the herione and she's brilliant for it.
Connie Beauchamp, Holby City. Not SF fandom, but HC has a teeny tiny fandom out there somewhere, I'm sure. Connie can be a complete bitch, a caring friend or a loving mother. She can be all three at once sometimes. Husband betrays her? She sniffles for three seconds and then goes for revenge. Connie can be more ambitious than is good for her, she hates being reminded of her roots and she makes bad decisions for bad reasons as often as for good reasons. We've watched her use men to further her career, but we've also seen her heart broken when she allows someone to see her vulnerability so we understand her. She's a character that is fun to watch because even when you're hating her, you know that you'll love her again in two weeks' time.
I know that I've missed a few and people will probably remind me of them as soon as I post this, but these are the immediate ones that come to mind. So who are your strong, amazing female characters?
ETA: OMG, how could I have forgotten Buffy? And Faith? And Willow? Hell, the entire female cast of Buffy deserve their own accolades. Then there are Kira Nerys and Jadzia Dax from DS9, although Dax is slightly more problematic because how do you classify a symbiote currently in a female body but previously in a male one?
fandomsecrets over the weekend and triggered a huge discussion of female characters in SF. misscam's response here was brilliant and I've now seen a few people list their amazing, strong female characters so I had to join in.Donna Noble, Doctor Who. I am so predictable, but she's one of the first characters that comes to mind. She's strong, she learns just how brilliant she can be, she doesn't take anything lying down and in Turn Left we saw that all she needed was circumstances to find her inner-awesome. It's not dependant on the Doctor. I still haven't forgiven RTD.
Ace McShame, Doctor Who. She killed a Dalek. With a baseball bat. She blew stuff up with homemade explosives. She got ridiculously excited about rocket launchers. She killed Cybermen with gold coins and a sling shot. She could be so incredibly vulnerable (see Curse of Fenric, Ghostlight et al) but always came through it stronger. It seems entirely appropriate that she was destined to become a Time Lady if the show had continued.
Tegan Jovanka, Doctor Who. She accidentally wandered into the TARDIS and, after he initial WTF-ness, proceded to be awesome and help to defeat the Master. Yes, she spent the first few adventures trying to get back to Heathrow, but when she was given the chance to stay on Earth, she didn't. She was loud and bossy and sometimes rude, but she was brave and caring and funny as well. Bonus points for leaving team TARDIS when she needed to, rather than getting killed or left behind by accident.
Sarah Jane Smith, Doctor Who and SJA. It is hard to express the sheer awesomeness of Sarah Jane. She's smart and brave and curious, which is how she hooks up with the Doctor in the first place. There are times when she's scared, but never times when she lets her fear get in the way of doing what needs to be done. OK, yes, there were a few poor fashion choices (pink dungarees? Seriously?) and the writers needed to find better cliffs for her to fall off so that it looked slightly less lame to be rescuing her from small hillocks, but I blame that on 70s TV budgets. In the recent series she has matured but still saves the world regularly with a sonic lipstick. She's a mother, not just to Luke, and she isn't afraid to let her chicks go out there and save the world as well.
Susan Ivonova, Babylon 5. There are no words to express my love. Susan doesn't take crap from anyone, she stands up to the biggest, nastiest aliens out there and she can be sort of diplomatic if she has to be. Although she is very much attached to her Russian heritage and that can inform her 'diplomacy' at times. She sleeps in slinky nightwear and could probably drink Garibaldi under the table, if the vodka was good enough. I think Ivonova was the first character that I wanted to "be" when I was a teenager.
CJ Cregg, The West Wing. My mantra for the last few years has been "I want to be CJ when I grow up". TWW is filled with wonderful female characters, but CJ outshines them all. She's smart and sassy and strong, at times she can be a total dork, and Josh is afraid of her even if he won't say it out loud. Her conscience regarding lying to the press is what kept her out of the loop sometimes, but she's got the strength of character to overcome that when she needs to as Chief of Staff. I want to be CJ when I grow up.
Miranda Bailey, Gray's Anatomy. She's tough and scary and really short, but she can do all that and be a caring person at the same time. Is some of that scariness to overcome the disadvantage of being female in a male profession (and really short)? Totally. Do I care? No, because she's tough without turning into a man in skirts and can be beautifully feminine with pride.
Hermione Granger, Harry Potter. Try to imagine what it must have been like for her those first months at Hogwarts. Yes, she's excited about the magic and the spells and the history and all, but underneath? Who wouldn't be terrified to discover that everything you thought you knew about the world was wrong. She doesn't curl up and cry or run away, she grasps everything with both hands and doesn't flinch when Harry and Ron's adventures sort of roll over her. By book 7 she's the one that knows what to do and puts things together. She survives terrible things and comes out more awesome. Where would Harry and Ron be without her? Probably dead, with Voldemort ruling the world.
Alanna of Trebond and Olau, Tortall books. For the first two books she's disguised as a boy and through that discovers what kind of woman she wants to be. Then she goes out into the world and is awesome for the second half of the series. She can compete on equal footing with the boys and finds ways to compete when her size is against her. Despite the early years disguised as Alan, she never becomes a man in skirts character. Her romances are sweet and about strengthening her rather than becoming an attachment to a man.
Kerowyn, By the Sword and other Valdemar books. She's tough and smart and she has a magic talking sword. Kero knows what she wants and she does it. She's also able to accept it when life takes unexpected turns and take full advantage of new opportunities. There aren't many female mercenary characters out there and they are often the hard-bitten, faintly nasty sort of bit-characters that appear as opposition to our hero. Kero is the herione and she's brilliant for it.
Connie Beauchamp, Holby City. Not SF fandom, but HC has a teeny tiny fandom out there somewhere, I'm sure. Connie can be a complete bitch, a caring friend or a loving mother. She can be all three at once sometimes. Husband betrays her? She sniffles for three seconds and then goes for revenge. Connie can be more ambitious than is good for her, she hates being reminded of her roots and she makes bad decisions for bad reasons as often as for good reasons. We've watched her use men to further her career, but we've also seen her heart broken when she allows someone to see her vulnerability so we understand her. She's a character that is fun to watch because even when you're hating her, you know that you'll love her again in two weeks' time.
I know that I've missed a few and people will probably remind me of them as soon as I post this, but these are the immediate ones that come to mind. So who are your strong, amazing female characters?
ETA: OMG, how could I have forgotten Buffy? And Faith? And Willow? Hell, the entire female cast of Buffy deserve their own accolades. Then there are Kira Nerys and Jadzia Dax from DS9, although Dax is slightly more problematic because how do you classify a symbiote currently in a female body but previously in a male one?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-04-27 04:06 pm (UTC)Tiffany Aching (Hat Full of Sky / Wintersmith)
Zoë Washburne. There is unlike to be any fix you can't get out of if you can work out what Zoë would do. Failing that, just do the opposite of what Mal would do and you'd probably be fine too.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-27 04:17 pm (UTC)Tiffany is made of awesome :-)
And how could I have forgotten Zoe? Of course, how could I have forgotten all the female characters in Buffy as well...
no subject
Date: 2009-04-27 04:25 pm (UTC)And so with you in wanting to be Ivanova when I was a teenager. Oh, who am I kidding, I still want to be Ivanova.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-27 05:42 pm (UTC)Mostly I want to be CJ when I grow up, but there is still a little voice inside that wants to be Ivanova because she kicks ass completely.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-27 04:39 pm (UTC)Of course you can take a pick from several in new Battlestar Galactica, particularly Laura Roslin and Admiral Cain.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-27 05:43 pm (UTC)My list...
Date: 2009-04-27 05:09 pm (UTC)Major Eden Sinclair (Doomsday) - does not give a fuck what she looks like, does not kick ass in designer evening dresses, does not pout and roll into bed with all the blokes... But IS responsible for the most awesome car chase since To Live & Die in LA. I adore her. ♥
Dana Scully - *rewinds XF back to S1 Deep Throat & S4 Tunguska/Terma* The woman had more balls than Mulder and Skinner combined. I remain sulky to this day that she was stuck with Mulder, when one season with Krycek would've taken the Conspiracy out completely with the combined awesome.
Marion Ravenwood (Raiders of the Lost Ark) - I refuse to believe Kingdom of the Crystal Skull happened. I did not spend most of my childhood wanting to BE just half as cool as Marion Ravenwood for George Lucas to ruin it with his little wimmin attitude to characterisation!
Harriet Makepeace - without her and her tendency to get smashed and kiss her car goodnight there would be no Alex Drake. She's still the goddess of the pointy finger and made wearing men's clothes acceptable in a bought-it-not-stole-it sense. Basically, way to make the tall kid who had to wear boys' shirts and jumpers for the arm and body length feel pretty. ^.^
Miss Parker - The only reason I made it through 2 seasons of The Pretender and why I still, to this day, want a pair of steel-heel stilettos. If I spent most of my childhood aspiring to be just a bit like Marion Ravenwood - Miss Parker was what I aimed for through my late teens: Elegant but hardcore.
Princess Leia - She pwnd Star Wars and was the first female character I saw who made me go 'Oh cooooooool! *_*' because she was TINY and gobbing off to Vader, Tarkin, everyone tbh. :-D
Re: My list...
Date: 2009-04-27 05:46 pm (UTC)But I can't believe that I forgot Leia and Scully. Donna has edged her way into joint favouritest companion ever with Ace because of her sheer powers of awesome. RTD is a bad, bad man whom I shall never forgive. Not never.
Re: My list...
Date: 2009-04-27 06:28 pm (UTC)Sinclair & the car chase (the entire film is overblown, excessive and silly - I LOVE IT)
1:15 of nothing but Miss Parker being win.
I'm not counting Makepeace 'cause Dempsey & Makepeace was crime/action, not sci-fi.
Donna & Ace is totally a tie-break. And I hear you on RTD. Though I still haven't forgiven him for two seasons of girls-skipping-through-the-daisies-with-Timeboy-like-♥_♥ *grabs sick bucket*
Re: My list...
Date: 2009-04-28 06:07 pm (UTC)I was perfectly able to cope with S1 and S2, right up until the end of S4 when Rose revealed that she'd been searching for a way to return to our universe (despite the world-ending potential) and then got given a happy flowers ending. Then I sort of lost a fair bit of respect for the character.
Donna and Ace are both totally awesome. Someone needs to write the fic where they join forces and save the universe through being amazing (and having convenient homemade explosives).
no subject
Date: 2009-04-27 10:14 pm (UTC)I also like Detective Olivia Benson from Law & Order SVU. She's one very tough woman who handles her issues with wisdom and intelligence. She can be vulnerable when appropriate. She isn't a sap, doesn't fall for manipulation, and she goes out of her way to help people far past the duties of her job. I can say the same thing about Detective Alex Eames on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. :)
no subject
Date: 2009-04-28 06:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-27 11:41 pm (UTC)It would take even longer to list the ones who started out cool and ended up kinda "eh" - Laura Holt and Catherine Chandler come to mind - but to say there have been no strong heroines in ever? WTF?
Everyone listed above, and Cagney and Lacey to boot. Also Catherine Willows.
ETA: How could I forget Amanda from Max Headroom? And every female character in Eureka?
no subject
Date: 2009-04-28 06:14 pm (UTC)I actually find it hard to get engaged with a show or a book that doesn't have at least one good, strong female character. Perhaps some people have a blind spot when it comes to female characters? They seem willing to forgive traits and characeristics in male characters that they bash female ones for and that's something that I just don't get.
I'm loving all the examples people are adding of characters that I'd either forgotten or haven't seen the source material for :-)
no subject
Date: 2009-04-28 11:18 pm (UTC)Yeah, these have been highly educational threads!