Cherry Bomb: Strong Female Characters vs "Strong" Female Characters" Part I

Like tea, most female characters in fiction comes in two flavors: strong and weak. Since the advent of third-wave feminism, however, there are a surge of "strong" female characters in fiction, whether it's in literature or TV, and they tend to lean towards the hard-hitting kind, with physical prowess, no non-sense attitude, and brash personality.

Basically, they become more 'masculine'.

Now, I'm not saying these ladies aren't strong as a character, or that masculine women are somehow less of a woman. In the hands of a good writer, these characters can come alive into complex people with flaws and a story right before our very eyes.

But there is a trend that I see, a worrying trend I might add, to transform these characters into a one-note character. "Strong" women in TV and books these days are just that; strong. They do not have any other purpose to the story other than to break walls and take names (which is an awesome thing, to be honest) and then get killed five minutes later. They shun emotion and everything girly, ridiculing women who are into fashion and make-up (therefore, those who are more 'feminine' than them), further promoting the notion that us women have to fight against each other. They proudly claim they do not have any female friends, that they love hanging with guys because they don't have as many drama as girls (nevermind the fact that these so-called 'brotherhoods' often have fights over girlfriends and video games the could generate as much, if not more, drama). Women are stupid and emotional, they say, and lacks the sophistication of men.

You can see why this kind of thinking can be a problem, especially since most of these characters crop up in YA/Romance fiction. And then that's not touching the whole glamorization of violence. Full disclosure: I'm a pacifist and I don't appreciate the way that YA novels these days have fights and battle as their main shtick. I know that's a really common way to put some action into your book and make it more interesting, but there are ways to write a good and gripping book without having a fight every two pages. And international peace discussion is thrilling too! I mean, how many people can actually say that they help prevent WWIII by  inviting Russia and America's leader over for dinner? That's riveting stuff, folks! The sauce of your steak determines if people die!

And one of my main problem these kind of "strong" characters is that they rarely have some kind of an emotional response to the consequences of their own action. Human beings are not meant to hurt each other (no matter how those pessimists think), and if they do, they'll likely to have serious mental issues. You can't just blowup a building and the only thought you have is whether or not the Main Love Interest has feelings for you. Even the most hardened and experienced warriors have a high chance of developing PTSD, and you expect me to believe a sixteen year-old girl goes about her life without a care after killing hundreds of people?

Of course there are people who thinks about burgers and ducks before they snipe someone in the head; people cope in different ways. But the thing with these characters is that they do not feel anything. Oh, their inner monologues is filled with purple prose about how Main Love Interest makes them feel all funny inside and they don't like it because Warriors Aren't Meant to Have Emotions, but they are mostly flat characters, unable to comprehend or display any emotion besides anger and selfishness. They cannot have any emotions, ever, because they are awesome and they are strong and emotions are flaws and if they have flaws then they are not strong. They sometimes have a tragic past that cements their position as rebels in society, and a convenient Freudian explanation to why they have such hard personality.

Generic cookie cutter backstory and Mary Sue-like perfection (though they try to deny) does not make a "strong" character. Ironically, the writers effort to differentiate their female characters from the others have resulted in bland characters that are strong only in their physics and weak in everything else.

There are a lot of things that I have in my mind about this issue, particularly how the media and fandom treats flawed female characters and the thinking that "nonviolence=weak" that is so present in many YA novels and their fandoms. But this is ten o'clock, I have yet to brush my teeth and do my prayers; I shall have to bid goodbye for now and see you next time.