Carina Chocano, a freelance writer who I stumbled across while researching the term, actually believes that the use of 'strong female characters' in television and literature can potentially be a bad thing. This threw me off guard a little - all of my other research was telling me that the use of strong female characters provides such a strong message to young girls, and is nothing but beneficial to their development.
“Maybe what people mean when they say ‘strong female characters’ is female
characters who are ‘strong,’ i.e., interesting or complex or well written –
‘strong’ in the sense that they figure predominately in the story, rather than
recede decoratively into the background. But I get the feeling that what most
people mean or hear when they say or hear ‘strong female character’ is female
characters who are tough, cold, terse, taciturn, and prone to scowling and not
saying goodbye when hanging up the phone” - Carina Chocano
This quote made me think a bit. Specifically, it made me think of one television character -
For those who have never seen the show before, this is Breaking Bad's Skyler White, the wife of the show's main character. When looking at the list Pat Heine offered, Skyler literally fits all of the criteria -
- Displays a variety of emotions
- She grows and changes
- She is courageous and intelligent
- She wrestles with problems and significant issues
- She is (undoubtedly) moving away from traits such as passive, weak, frightened, dependent, etc.
- SHE IS STRONG.
So why do I completely resent her? I would show up at school the day after an episode aired, and the talk around the school would be how nobody can stand Skyler because she's always getting in the way, and complicating things.
Is she a good role model?
Chocano says no. She says that strength in females has an increasingly negative image because television and movies often show strength in women as bitterness or anger as a means for standing up for one's own beliefs.
In a recent study of men and women's responses to strong women in television, it was discovered that both men and women have negative views towards women who appear to take on psychological characteristics and traits that we are used to see in men (we say that men are agentic and women are communal).
The study did, however, also discover that men and women see nothing wrong with women holding powerful positions as long as they aren't "assigned masculine characteristics."
“You know what’s better than a propulsion
engineer with a sideline in avionics whose m-aterial instincts and beliefs in
herself allow her to take apart an airborne plane and discover a terrorist plot
despite being gaslighted by the flight crew? A girl who reminds you of you.” - Chocano
