I came across an interesting article today that asked lgbt people of examples of people in movies that represented them well. Representatioms of trans women tend to be overly focused on external representation (makeup, wearing dresses etc.) and sexuality. which doesn't really work for me so I decided to turn to cisgender female representations in cinema as I thought I might find a better example there. That's when it truly hit me, it is so hard to actually find inspirational portrayals of women in context of being an intellectual. In fact, the best sources of inspiration tend to be representations in children's books and films. Disney Princesses, Young adult fantasy books such as Harry Potter and Matilda and some fantasy movies such as Star Wars. I remember before I realized that I was trans, I was always deeply disturbed by the representations of women in the music industry. Popular women singers pretty much always sing of finding love and relationships, they nearly never sing about finding meaning and helping others, or changing the world for the better. (This is in contrast to disney songs that do deal with such themes.) The sad thing is that our need to turn to childhood heroines for inspirarion influences perceptions of femininity and leaves an impression that femininity has a certain level of immaturity to it. It doesn't help that raising children and conecting to them often involves adopting behavior that the children respond to. Because gender roles and expression are something that many of us are trying to understand better, I thought that it might be helpful for us to discuss the ways film and other representations influences our perceptions of gender and of men and women by extension.
I feel you on this. In movies and shows directed at kids, romance and sexuality is often secondary to the story at least in the ones i've read and watched, not front and center like with shows and movies directed at adults. My favorite characters were always guys, but on occassion i really liked a female character as well. I hated Ginny from harry potter, i liked Hermione because she was smart and outspoken and more relatable, i felt. With Disney movies i never got into the princesses but i did like Mulan. With Game of Thrones (totally not a kids show but it is fantasy!) I loved Dany. With anime and cartoons, it was characters like Katara from Avatar the Last Airbender. Anime and cartoons will have the type of women and girls that i more easily relate to and see myself in - strong, intellectual, and driven and not just by romance. Basically, i like strong, smart female characters who sure they might like someone, but that's not their driving force. And that's hard to find, sometimes. With most of the shows my mom watches they're all mothers with husbands and kids or women dating men wanting kids and i just can't ever find myself in anything she watches.
I'm lucky because I've always found female non "stereotypical" (in a negative way) characters to identify with. I actually had a moment of doubt days ago because I identify with many female characters. So here's a list of films for Eveline xD > Still Alice (mostly because there's Julianne Moore, sorry xD - and she's a linguist) > Avatar > Hunger Games > Alice in wonderland (that one with Depp) > Fantaghirò (it's italian, but I hope you find translation/subtitles) > The Lady (about Aung San Suu Kyi) > Arrival [I didn't see it yet, but I know the topic and will see it soon] > Pope Joan ...the list will go on as I'll remember other titles.
However I must admit that my list has mostly teenager-aimed films and that some of them have characters who cross boundaries in terms of "living as females" (ex. Pope Joan).
I liked Korra and Asami, from characters that are not mentioned yet. Azula and her two teammates. And Kuveira, speaking of villains. Toph. And despite her skimpy outfit, the Major from Ghost in the Shell. And a lot of other women in anime. Like Princess Mononoke and the mother wolf. I'm quite skewed in terms of films I watch and characters I like, because I always identified as more of an action girl. Still. The girl in Leon the Professional. Princess Leia. Rey. Padma. I liked the women in Avatar: Neityri, Trudy and Dr Augustine. Petra and Valentine in Ender's Game. The main character of Gravity. Amelia Brand in Interstellar. Miss Marple. Lucy and Susan in the Tales of Narnia. Dana Scully. Abby in NCIS. Daria Morgendorfer.
Generally i like male characters more than the female ones but for me it's Leia and Rey from Star Wars, Hermione, Ginny and Luna from Harry Potter, Arya, Nasuada and Angela from Eragon and most of the girls in Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus.
I'm glad I decided to make female protagonists (and technically antagonists) for both of my stories. I've got male characters too, but we need more female representation.
