“I want [female characters] to be allowed to be weak and strong and happy and sad – human, basically. The fallacy in Hollywood is that if you’re making a ‘feminist’ story, the woman kicks ass and wins. That’s not feminist, that’s macho. A movie about a weak, vulnerable woman can be feminist if it shows a real person that we can empathize with.” —Natalie Portman makes a spot-on observation in Elle magazine about a hurdle female characters often face—namely, that if you’re not an ass-kicking, fearless warrior princess then you get some of your feminist points taken away.
Remember, folks, the “strong” in “strong female character” doesn’t—or shouldn’t, anyway—mean “strong” in a physical or emotional sense. A strong female character is one who’s strongly written, with her own personality, agency, motivations, fears, and goals, whatever those happen to be. Because female characters, like all characters, should be written as complex human beings (except when they’re not human). Imagine that.
(via: Digital Spy)
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