Why Do Men Need Male Heroes?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ต.ค. 2023
- Bit of a different video this time. Just trying to discuss and explore this topic of gender and media and what it means for audiences to see themselves represented on screen or relate to the characters on screen. I think it's important to be able to relate to our heroes in some way, and Hollywood certainly thinks so, but how closely do we need to relate to them? Do we need heroes that share our gender, or is a female hero every bit as inspiring as a male hero?
Let me know what you think.
Also, this format certainly isn't permanent. I do intend to continue using my camera, but probably not as much in future videos that focus more on an actual product, rather than discussing ideas or themes. Let me know what you think about that, too.
#masculinity - เกม
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yeah its so distracting
MY EYES!
it has been great seeing your channel grow this year keep up the good work
having more representation isn't good being represented right is
race swapping is completely disgusting it's like giving minority people crumbs or leftovers
gender swapping isn't any better it's like saying a woman isn't a good character if she's not masculine
I don't like female strong characters because they feel no different than the man
what's the point of having a female character if you're going to make her masculine why not just watch a man
A wise man once said, Pleasing everyone is impossible. But pissing everyone off is easy.
I'm pissed by this comment🤣
@@franky.378I am so angry at this comment.
Oh really?
You have incurred my eternal wrath, random person.
A wise man once said "If you spend your life trying to please people, then you’ll be the most popular corpse in town."
Forget about Kratos, you just need some yellow spandex and you'd be a dead ringer for One Punch Man.
Hey, that's exactly what I thought! Great Minds Think Alike! 🤣
IMO the one most recent female replacement hero they did who isn’t horrible was Kate Bishop from the Hawkeye series. Kate didn’t in any way belittle or make Clint feel less than. She actually admired him, learned some things from him, connected with him, and ultimately felt like a natural passing of the torch.
And they actually allowed her to suck at first so her character evolution felt more believable. Kate and Clint also had good chemistry
Also, Hailee Steinfeld is batting 100 on roles. She's an amazing actress, and a perfect foil for Jeremy Renner in the series. Great chemistry.
Having her deeply respect Hawkeye and work hard to imitate him showed that the writers probably respected Hawkeye too. It allowed me to basically enjoy the show despite the numerous issues some have pointed out.
Kate's awesome because she's not there to outright replace him, she's there to learn from him, and, eventually, carry the torch.
@@justaghostinthesea this leaves a much better taste in the viewers’ mouth than if she was just another overpowered Mary Sue flagrantly stealing the spotlight
When it comes to strong women, Mulan and Ellen Ripley are the ones that come to mind when it comes to how to do them well. Mulan basically shows that in a male dominated field in the army she uses her intellect and out of the box thinking to achieve her goals and inspire the other troops in the process as well. In Ellen Ripley's case, she's a capable fighter and engineer, but in Aliens you can see her maternal character in terms of her reaction to her daughter's death in the beginning of the movie and her going toe to toe with the Xenomorph to protect Rebecca/Newt. These characters have been remembered fondly as the years went on because of the complex character and obstacles they had to face to get where they are in the end. That same complex character growth is something needed for every character if you want them to be worth remembering as the years go on. Not every character is gonna be for everyone, but that's fine, so long as you make them their own character.
cartoon
True for original cartoon Mulan. The live action Mulan is a great example of the opposite. She is an expert kung fu fighter from the beginning. Never really needs to use her intellect.
LA Mulan is basically deprived of any complexity and nuance that makes her character special. She was born special and the only "challenge" is not showing it off to the world, which doesn't truly relate to anybody.
Also want to shout out Dana Scully for being cool and collected as well as skeptic without being dismissive.
mrs brisby is also a strong female character
A more recent and well done example of well written characters (IMO) are Holga Kilgor and Edgin Darvis from D&D: Honor Among Thieves. Holga specifically shows that you can be both a strong badass woman, but also compassionate and caring while Edgin shows that a man's physical capabilities don't have to be their defining attribute. Additionally, it shows that a man and woman can work together as equals to accomplish goals without necessarily being forced into one extreme or the other of being a more-than-plutonic relationship or tearing out each others throats.
I thought Holga was annoying as fuck.
thats a really good point
Yeah I love that movie.
That movie wasn't very good. Holga especially was annoying, IMO.
Well let’s agree to disagree.
I think the correlation between "Strong Female Characters" and bad writing has something to do with writers viewing the use of a "female character"(tm) as a writing shortcut.
I think one of the biggest killers of creativity is the modern obsession with "relatable" characters. For my entire life I have never cared about being able to "relate" to a character! I want to be wowed, engaged, surprised, shocked, afraid, joyed, and saddened by characters. I don't need them to be like me. I'm not so self-centered I think that if a character isn't like me or relatable on some personal level it'll cause me to lose interest. A good example would be James Bond. I've seen all of the movies and I have begun to dive into the books and I can safely say Bond is a very different man from myself, there are very few times he's said or done something that I would. But I still love that character. He's larger than life, inspiring, witty, fun, and he lives a much more interesting life than I could ever dream to. That's what makes Bond so enjoyable and timeless, he's not supposed to be a common man, but an extraordinary man! In a time so obsessed with identity/"representation", it seems we've forgotten that often it's what we can't relate to that really excites us. Need proof? James Bond has been going strong for well over 50 years, he's popular the world over, and no one has ever been able to take away his license to thrill!
Maybe this is my ignorance, but I haven't seen anyone say that characters have to be like them in order for them to care about those characters. I think it's important to have characters that look and feel the way you do sometimes, as it does help with those characters inspiring and connecting with you. It's not always necessary, but it is a facet to how people latch onto characters, whether you realize it or not.
It's a sign of modern narcissism that people demand the other be like them in order to learn anything or be entertained instead of being able to learn from anyone. This isn't a new problem, but most modern media has things completely backwards, and we're seeing the problems that arise from catering to narcicissm instead of humility.
lmao who cares about James Bond? People are utterly bored of formulaic movies
OP clearly does, and that's perfectly valid. Even if Bond isn't my cup of tea, that doesn't mean I should make it known to the guy that I don't really care about a character he likes because he doesn't really contribute anything to a meaningful conversation. It's just toxicity for the sake of it.@@painunending4610
@@painunending4610 several people bud 😡
Your point about the crucial difference between self-sacrifice and self-actualization was absolutely on point. The most succinct explanation of the failure of modern "heroes" I've ever heard.
Thanks! "Heroes" like the new Mulan do technically act on behalf of others, but so much of it is also, if not primarily, for the cause of their own self-fulfillment, which just feels so shallow and void of meaning.
Genuine diversity is a diversity of personalities, approaches to life, and nuanced philosophies that are not stereotypes. It bothers me so much that diversity rants against stereotyping but presents such stereotypical flat characters. The lack of depth, the bad acting, and poor writing, is just making modern entertainment so boring and sad. I do not think it is wrong to ask for a majority of male heroes. Men need to be called to heroism more than females because a man has to step out of his comfort zone in order to be a hero. This is true for women too, but it is fun to have female heroes sometimes. But the hero role is more immediately relevant an appealing to the male ethos. Women have much less of the temptation to sit in their basement and become losers in society, but for men that is a real temptation in today's culture, and our heroes call us to be better.
Well said!
One of the most depressing things about “diversity” in modern entertainment is how shallow it often is. They only care about diverse *demographics* and physical characteristics. They show variety but only in the basic statistics of a person. And when they think the most important aspects of a person are demographics, the characters will usually be pure garbage.
We should have just as much heroines as with heroes. Women deserve to be treated as equal to men.
@@christophergillette7167 They don't much care for ideological diversity, either. Most of the time, when you have a "diverse" character, they are almost always presented with the ideology of being oppressed, which often makes me think that maybe Hollywood isn't all that interested in diversity.
@@badconnection4383 A term I have taken to heart is “performative diversity.” Many of these people believe in very little beyond their personal desires, preferences, and popularity. Diversity is just a buzzword to them. A way to maybe get more attention and an excuse to be nasty to anyone who criticizes their work.
Self-centered egomania and shallow pride have obviously been common in Hollywood for many decades, but I really think it’s getting worse, and they’ve lost the skill and artistry to hide it.
As a woman who LOVES LOTR, the original Star Wars trilogy and so many other SF, fantasy or really any kind of good written stories and characters, I absolutely agree with the critical need for those good stories and characters to be the first and main goal. And, in my opinion, that should be done independently of the question of gender. What I want to relate to are values, choices, struggles, etc... as a Human being. I thing there is much more in common to feel and relate to if you take humanity as a whole rather than teams of different genders with different aspirations (which is mainly due to social construction).
The questions of representativeness however are a different and real issue. I don't think it is a problem to relate to a character of a different gender (or ethnicity or sexual orientation for instance; it shouldn't be). Personally, when I am watching Star Wars, the character I relate to is not Leia (even though I really like her character) but Luke. In the same way, in any story, I would hope that a man could relate to any character, no matter the gender, as long as their values and character arcs inspires them. Even more so, I think it is healthy and important to relate to characters who are different from us, it improves our capacity of empathy and tolerance.
The tricky part is when those fictional characters influence the way we lead our own real life (and they do, stories shape the way we see the world and ourselves) because if you can never relate to someone who looks like you, or if the characters who look like you are always the same, it is way harder to imagine yourselves following certain paths (career, aspirations, choices...) and we end up in a vicious subconscious cage limited by what we think is made for us, what we are meant to be.
In summary, my point of view on the matter is that the cinematographic industry is facing two challenges: first, having well written characters whatever their gender (or even specie if you think SF) who anyone can relate to no matter our own personal gender; second, making sure anyone can find someone that resembles themselves so they can feel as legitimate as anybody to pursue or be whatever they want.
Here are some thoughts about heroic masculinity I think are worth adding to the debate:
th-cam.com/video/RKdT_d-_vYs/w-d-xo.html
Great work! This is a mucccch more nuanced analysis of the subject than before, and you came across very clear. I do not have much to add to your analysis; it was accurate and succinct.
As for the new format, I am glad to see you trying something new. Using the bookshelf as a background was much more engaging than only media clips, and a real background enables edits to pop out more.
Also, cool Sev and Boss helmets! Did you make those yourself?
Thanks! I appreciate the feedback.
I did not, sadly. I am far from a DIY'er, merely a collector of cool nerdy artifacts. My wife bought them for me for each of the last two Christmases. Found them on Etsy, I believe.
Even though I am a woman, most of my favorite characters from any media, tend to be male. It probably because I am very attracted to that virtuous masculinity. I also aspire to many of those same virtues, like loyalty, friendship, and self sacrifice, because they are not just masculine, but human, and I can achieve them in my own feminine way. So, I guess most of my favorite characters are male because the virtues I admire are most commonly well portrayed in male characters, for whatever reason.
Also, not even Lord of the Rings can reach everyone?
Dang it.
And I've got to say that as a man, some of my favourite characters in, for example, Tolkien's work, are female (which is saying something 'cause not many of them are). On top of her otherworldly beauty, I love Galadriel for her force of will, her defiance of evil and her ability to cultivate life and goodness in those around her. Eowyn I admire for her bravery and freedom, and I mustn't forget Luthien whose virtue is powerful enough to conquer the foulest monster. These are all immensely powerful characters, but their power is accompanied by meaning and love from their creator.
Another excellent video, thank you for stating the simplicity of we look for good stories with heroes that inspire us. To this day Mulan is my favourite disney movie, the love Mulan has for her father driving her to incredible actions and bravery is inspiring in a way that has always resonated deeply with me. Eowyn's bravery born from love for her uncle is another classic example and in the same moment this is what inspires Merry to fight as well. These two "lesser" characters showing their true merit while all the mighty men around them are dead or fleeing (for good reason)!
Please keep making these thought provoking videos on these topics, always love seeing your new videos pop up!
See, and this is one of the reasons why Arcane is so good. Yes, there are FANTASTIC female protagonists who form a wonderful emotional core for the story and are genuinely inspiring, but there are also FANTASTIC male protagonists who do exactly the same thing. Good writing makes for good characters and a good narrative that is incredible to watch and allows both males and females to shine. The women are given character and power and focus, but they aren't empowered at the expense of men. And the men get to display a wide array of positive and inspiring traits as well as realistic and relatable flaws without sidelining the ladies. Just a good story.
Also, instead of focusing on strong women... You might could focus on compassionate, loving, or encouraging women. I feel like you could make an impactful female character without just making them "strong"... women have better traits other than just being strong or leading above men... The should focus on what makes women special instead of just making them like men. That's just my thoughts.
I think one great problem is that the writers (and not good writers at that) are given the task to write a strong female character, which somehow results in them thinking that if the female lead has any flaw, which normally would be an essential part of any character, then they are not strong enough. Thus all those Mary Sue characters.
You mean the feminine strengths?
Revolutionary concept, pretty sure these new writers have never heard of those.
@@kangirigungi Writing a character without flaws means there is no room to show their virtues.
You know the endearing parts of the character, the part that gets you invested in them and their story.
While physically strong females are perfectly fine, it is important to also have females that exhibit strength in other ways, such as intelligence, resolve, and standing for what they believe in and for those they care about. Traits which are quite common and dont rely on being masculine.
That's like the astronaut's wife though, It would be part of the problem to portray women as just supporting roles to men. Are you suggesting a nurturing leader or a maternal figure to encourage the men while she cleans up after them? I think a good example of a female character would be Rosa Diaz. She is absolutely very strong, but she is not the emotionless female badass written out of fear of offending people. She encourages her friends when they need it, and seems to love the squad like family, even if she doesn't admit it. Rosa has your "feminine strengths" and individual strength without either conflicting with the other. The keyword that may save your point for me is "without JUST making them strong". Any character, regardless of gender, who is just strong and nothing else is a bad character written without depth or care.
Love the bookshelf: Sanderson, Tolkien, CCC all awesome books.
Yeah, that Sandershelf is full of amazing and well written female heroes like Vin, Tress or Yumi
Love me some Brandon Sanderson (obviously). I’ve had a Dalinar/Iroh video idea on my back burner for months now. One day…
Thank you, THANK YOU for making this video and putting out a very good perspective on this stuff.
What you talked about at about 9min in.... Yeah, can confirm that to some extent. So, as a nerdy woman myself, I hardly ever even NOTICED that most of the cast of a show or movie or book I liked was male, as long as they were written well and likable. It only ever started jumping out at me when people started yelling about it. What bothers me a lot more than an all-male cast is the writers getting self-conscious about it and struggling to add in a female to the team when a female character may not be what the writer is either good at, or enjoys writing. Proportion of gender in a cast has always seemed to me to be something that should arise naturally out of different writing styles, settings, and the real people that the writers have met that they're drawing inspiration form. My own writing project has a 50-50 split, but I only realized that when I sat down and did sums after the fact and I entirely view it as being due to the nature of the story I wanted to tell, and to having strong role models of both sexes in my life.
Absolutely! As I alluded to in the video, the film industry has been largely dominated by men telling stories about other men for pretty much its entire existence. The Barbie movie (again, whatever you may think of it) proved pretty definitively that you can have stories about the female experience, written and directed by a woman, go toe-to-toe with the biggest blockbusters.
Maybe more women need to take up screenwriting? I don't know. Obviously not all female characters written by women are going to be great (She-Hulk was largely written by a female writing team), but I get the sense that so many of the stone-faced, arms-crossed, emotionless female badasses are largely written by men who just... have no idea how to write women and don't want to offend their female audience by giving their heroine any flaws, and thus causing her to be devoid of any personality.
@@master_samwise That, or bitter, hateful women who feel a need to Correct Entertainment and Be On The Right Side Of Herstory. The things they produce aren't about a good story, they are about pushing a message.
"Folks need heroes, Chief. To give 'em hope" - Sergeant Major Avery Johnson
The "Of course they did" is real
Agreed
Yay, Republic Commando fan!
Good on you for filming yourself mate - you did well. I'm looking forward to seeing you grow in this!
i’m a man and i like male and female heroes obviously.
I love that arrangement of books in the background, many of them having female leads.
Brandon Sanderson writes great female leads, including 2 of the 3 most recent novels (which I'm guessing you've read).
@@master_samwise I've read the Mistborn trilogy, and I'm planning to read the others.
As a woman I can confirm that Theoden's speech has the same effect lol.
You made some really nice points and personally many of the characters I find most compelling and inspiring are men. I know mentioning Arcane is what many do when analyzing a poorly received female lead but it's so good at portraying many types of female leads who are deeply flawed but still written as women. So many say to write a good character and then choose the gender but of course there are differences. For instance, there were many issues I had with the recent 13th Doctor Who's era, mostly relating to poor writing but Jodie was rarely written as a woman. She did a good job but it shouldn't have been treated as it was nothing and I think it could be done right, and in a nuanced fashion but it just wasn't. I think it's rather cheesy to always talk about inspiring young girls with these characters when in reality a character can inspire, but in truth growing up characters like Ahsoka were so so important to me, and I do think that female heros have a place, they just have to earn it and still be women.
Great points!! Thank you for your perspective! What did you think of how they handled the Ashoka show?
@jamesmunn576 I enjoyed it quite a lot, but critically the more I think about it the less well it holds up. I feel like it didn't take any risky moves really, and the ending especially left me just not feeling much? I think Filoni has become overly reliant on the world he's already created and he doesn't branch out nearly enough (and this is coming from a huge fan of his work), but it's his first attempt so I'll cut him some slack. As for the 'female' perspective lol, eh, I didn't really get attached to Ahsoka or Sabine in this story (and I really disliked Hera. I think it was just her stiff performance idk. It didn't give the 'mom' energy I associate with the character). Anyway, I get why Ahsoka is so stoic since she was in Rebels, but I'm left not feeling a lot due to it, which is unfortunate since she's a favorite character of mine. Honestly I would have killed her in Rebels but that's a whole nother discussion lol. Honestly, I would have much preferred a Rebels follow up that was focused on Ezra and Thrawn's adventures together. Something where they begrudgingly have to work together to survive, and gain a cautious respect for the other seemed like such a fun direction to take it. Timothy Zahn even said in an interview that this is the direction he would have taken the story, and I was disappointed that after 10 years there was essentially no change in the characters and the new galaxy didn't feel nearly as interesting as it might have. Anyway I'm *so* sorry this was so long but I just rewatched Andor and it's left me reflecting on the shortcomings of the Ahsoka show lol. I still enjoyed it tho
@TheImmediatePastPrez I actually really appreciate the passion and detail you put in the response! Thanks! I would say as an older SW fan who grew up with the OT and prequel hate... (they are OK kids' movies) The move to short form Disney content has really damaged the brand far more than the actually bad sequels. It's SW's, so even when something isn't particularly good, people can still find joy and happiness from it! I really appreciate that! There is a lot of good to be found within Disney SW, and any fan should be pleased and happy for it! But, the writing is awful. Outside of Andor, which I could talk for hours about. Days. As someone who's seen a little bit of Rebels, the fans of that show should have gotten just the live action version of it... imagine if they brought in another writer with the same caliber as Tony/Team. It wouldn't even need to necessarily be 'adult'ish. It would have crushed with a Thrawn Return Arc. Add Baylan and Shin for extra mystery box's and bamn!
@@jamesmunn576 Agreed! I appreciate your positive outlook on things and I see it the same way. If people are enjoying it I'm happy for them regardless of my own reservations. I think too much emphasis is put on one person in control of these things when there needs to be an entire team of writers like in Andor. Honestly, Andor has forever changed my perception of Disney era Star Wars and I wish that more series would strive to be of that quality.
What do you mean 'still be women'?
People in this comment section have some messed up perceptions of gender. Glad you're not in the real world
The horrible cynical part of me can't help but wonder if so many of these big companies are happy to continue have poorly written women in their shows so that when these stories perform poorly, they can just say "well obviously audiences don't like movies with women leads" and contiue on with the Status Quo of only telling male dominant stories because it's easier.
I'm one of those people who was babyraging over black Arial and I was livid because it felt like none cared about or even understood my viewpoint. It's not that Ariel couldn't be black, but i didn't want her to be black. Now, i know that's something crazy to hear from a black man but i knew from the reveal that her skin color wasn't meant to add to the story but to try and cash in on my diversity. It would be one thing if changing her skin color while changing nothing else about the story could add to it but ultimately it adds nothing and it infuriated me that people saw this shameless cash-grab and just went "good enough". There's so many good black characters that get forgotten by time or get fucked by bad writing.
The big problem are the studios. During the strikes someone said that the studios aren't run by movie fans anymore, but by Silicon Valley type of people whose most important desire is to make money. We already knew that before the strike but it made it even clearer.
The studios coined the phrase "strong women" when they spoke about movies and since they were so very bad at actually displaying those women the phrase itself became bad. Nobody, really nobody wants what Hollywood displayed as strong women, that includes character that were basically written as a male but casted female, which usually won't work.
I would argue that it comes all down to writing creative and real characters, nothing else. And writers are totally capable of doing that, it's not a writer problem. Those characters can be weird, they can have superpowers, they can live on Coruscant or in Middle-earth, as long as they are based in reality.
Ms. Marvel was actually a great example because for me the show had a great first half and a disappointing second half.
They introduced Kamala as a girl who grew up in the world we watch and love for over 10 years. She loves superheroes just as much as we do. They introduced her family/friends, her relationship to her religion, what she loves and what she is struggling with, they developed a character that exists in the real world. She got her powers in the context of of all that and naturally struggled with connecting the two, they mirrored it with being a child of Pakistani parents, being a Muslim in the US and all the history that comes with that.
Of course Marvel/Disney lost all of that when they stumbled into the second half of the show where everythig was suddenly very rushed and standard Marvel-like action without any heart in it. The were no real consequences anymore, nothing mattered as long as it looked cool.
What makes Kamala a truly strong woman (not the Hollywood "strong woman") is that she wants to find herself in all the struggle she's going through, she wants to be goof, she want to protect people and make the right decisions, she also wants to be a good Muslim and a good daughter and she will work on balancing all that till the end no matter how often she fails. What she doesn't want is to show the men that she's also pretty strong and cool but also pretty enough to not frighten them.
When you hear people talk positively about Ms Marvel you can usually hear them talking about the first half of that show.
Nobody cares about "strong women", we want real people and strong stories, that's it.
Hollywood needs to start watching your videos😂. They could learn a LOT from you! Your spot on with this, keep it up.👏
Love the view of the bookshelf, as well as your grounded yet humble takes on the state of creative writing today. I'm trying to absorb as much wisdom on fictional writing as I can before teaching my first creative writing class next semester.
What I don't like is when people try to make a Strong Female Character™ by just making her an abrasive a**hole or deliberately not giving her feminine qualities. Women often are more empathetic and emotional than men. Those are not weaknesses. They're a different kind of strength. Making someone an arrogant, violent, entitled prick isn't making someone strong, you just made them a jerk that no one would realistically like. That's the second part. In a ton of these movies and shows the Strong Woman™ is just rude, selfish, arrogant, and callous, and yet everyone fawns over them at the same time. It's an unlikeable character with unrealistic interactions with other characters. It just doesn't work, and the numbers show it.
i dont care about if the main charecter is male or female just write me a good story
This entire video I was staring at the Mistborn series in your bookcase. A story that does a female lead really well.
Love me some Brandon Sanderson (obviously). Tress and Yumi from his recent novels are also excellent female leads.
I think you put all of that well. And I think you're absolutely right in terms of the need for male heroes and their importance to both our culture and any culture. (And if you're looking for some real life heroes, have you ever seen The Fat Electrician? I would highly recommend watching some of his biographies of real American soldiers. Truth can be even stranger than fiction).
I'm really looking forward to your take on God of War because I think you'll have interesting perspective on it. Definitely keep at it.
I don't know how you feel about recommendations, but given how you were talking about having a young child, he's maybe something you haven't seen: Ghosts (BBC version). The only male human in the cast sucks at self improvement and isn't very wise with his money. He's still figuring out how to adult. But when his wife nearly dies and then starts seeing ghosts haunting their home, he is a caring and supportive spouse, and both of them struggle with poverty and trying to make their dream business work. There's also a great Christmas episode focusing on him trying to find his place as his own father overshadows him. He becomes more responsible over time without losing his sense of playfulness, instead using that to his advantage as time goes on. And there are several male ghosts who provide positive and negative examples of the male experience from the kindly scoutmaster to the WWII Captain who never saw combat to the corrupt politician who may finally be learning the important of family, an issue he always campaigned on but never made time for. It's a comedy with a female lead, rather than an action flick, but it has a phenomenal cast of comedic actors and wonderful bittersweet plots.
And of course if you're into action, there's Squid Game that was super popular last year, along with the less talked about Alice in Boarderlands. Probably more up your alley in terms of action, but the characters are complicated and interesting (and both actually have diverse casts whose diverse backgrounds support the themes of the shows, rather than being a distraction from them).
On to critiquing your format because you requested it: I think you did a good job of standing and talking and presenting your material. You 're clearly not comfortable with it (maybe the being on camera aspect) yet, but I'd say you were at a B+ level. You'll definitely get there. And you speak clearly so that will make everything else come much more easily.
The one thing you could easily and immediately improve is your background. You have the bookshelf to one side (which is good and supports the kind of commentary you're doing), but then you have this flag that's hung to high to see clearly in the frame, and this big bare spot to one side of you that is just wall. I think if you lowered the flag so that we could see it better, that would fix the visual composition problem. Alternately you could get another, shorter bookshelf and park it there. Or do both. But yeah, just lower the flag into frame and you'd have less bare space and we wouldn't be wondering what the flag really looked like. You can leave the top up where we can't see it, blank space isn't entirely a bad thing, just you have a lot of it in proportion to the frame as a whole.
The other thing you could do is add slightly more visuals. It's just a lot of you standing in a static setting. Mixing in visuals will engage more members of the audience. for examples that I think handle it well, I already mentioned Fat Electrician. There's also Dominic Noble of The Book Was Better, Todd in the Shadows, and Folding Ideas, who apparently has studied film cutting. Anyway, I'm sure you've watched a lot of content as well, and maybe know other people who do documentary style reviews. But the point is I think you need a few more visuals in the mix to illustrate your points. But not being a film expert, I'm not sure if what I'm saying is really correct. It's partially an impression that I get.
Good luck.
Phenomenal video. It's refreshing to see a reasonable, logical individual recognizing the importance of having both male and female heroes without turning the whole issue into just another dimension of the culture war. Keep the great content coming please!
Exactly!! We need both male and female heroes. No need to put one group down. We all need one another.
I like the new format. Thanks for being sane in a somewhat crazy world. I see that Catechism :D Good job presenting truth in a digestible way to the world!
I think much of the current hesitancy/animosity surrounding [insert demographic] swaps comes from the feeling that they're done as shields against criticism of the writing rather than genuine creative decisions and people who take storytelling seriously don't care to have their analyses dismissed on the basis of phobeism.
For sure! That’s at least how the production companies seem to treat them when the product comes out.
I left a comment on the last video about the updated format, so I thought I'd give my thoughts on this one as well.
Overall, I think this is a big upgrade from your previous video. Everything just flowed a lot better, the fact that we got longer stretches of either you talking or of clips was a lot better than constantly jumping between the two. I think the next best thing you can do is work on your script reading. I personally still find it fairly distracting to have so many jump cuts, you shouldn't need to jump-cut between almost every sentence, sometimes even within a single sentence.
Just wanted to say you're doing a great job, and I do really appreciate the format updates; keep up the great work!
I'm definitely a fan of the new format. And thanks for the video! I appreciated the frustration of your previous piece, but this one seemed to articulate its point more thoroughly.
Great points! The more I have thought about it since your previously video, the more I have come to realize I am, as a woman, drawn to female characters. I still absolutely love make heroes and it won’t effect the likelihood of my watching or reading something, but there is something about a great female hero. I love seeing someone I can relate to and aspire to in a uniquely feminine way.
We need great female heroes. I don't watch a lot of movies but in grateful in the book world we have plenty of great ones. I think they need to be written for a story that needs being told and not part of some quota system saying we need X% male heroes or X% female heroes
@@Spoonishplsabsolutely!!
Speaking as an old Legolas fangirl (as in still a fan, but have long outgrown the squeeing stage), as much as I like Eowyn, I really watched LOTR specifically for Legolas. And I think a majority of females---I say *a* majority, not *the* majority---watched the films because of the attractive male characters. Women love strong (and handsome) men; evidently Hollywood appears to have forgotten that.
It goes both ways. Women like male characters they're attracted to and men like female characters we're attracted to. Feminists resent the fact that men don't find militaristic, warrior women to be attractive. But that's something we can't change. Men are biologically predisposed to find elegant and gentle women attractive
@@sivad1025 "Feminists resent the fact that men don't find militaristic, warrior women to be attractive." Demonstrably false. There are plenty of men who find physically strong and noticeably muscular women to be attractive. If you don't believe me, look up the muscle bars in Japan; they're basically Hooters but the gimmick is that the waitresses can bench press you, and that's just one example.
@ArcaneNrok I find it exceptionally hard to believe that this is true beyond a small minority of men. Obviously some men are gay and don't find any women attractive, but that's not representative of most men
@@ArcaneNroklet’s be real tho… Japanese dudes are weird 😂
Have you seen hentai? Some of that stuff is nightmare fuel. So yeah they’re not the best representative of our sex
Also enjoyed Kate Bishop and Hawkeye. They put in the work to tell a good story and develop characters.
Fantastic video. I felt very iffy about your takes in the previous video, but I 100% agree with everything you said here. I also appreciate that you acknowledge your own limitations and biases. You don't try to make definitive statements about things you're unsure about, which is something many people should take notes from
Thank you! This video was very stream of consciousness and lacked my usual structure, but that worked out okay I think. I don’t have all the answers and I think the format and structure of the video reflected that.
That's why we need a Cosmere adaptation ASAP.
Plenty of amazing male AND female characters in there to show Hollywood how it's done.
That’s Brandon Sanderson’s stuff, right? I’ve been thinking about reading some of it, I hear he’s an amazing author.
@@thatonepossum5766 Yep! The shelf at my arm level is all Brandon Sanderson books. I cannot endorse them enough.
I fear they would just ruin it though. Find a modern adaptation that brought something beneficial to the world.. I’ll wait.
I would absolutely love to see that, but in this day and age, I feel like Hollywood would just find some way to ruin it.
@@thecoastalalchemist7242 His Dark Materials and One Piece come to mind from the top of my head.
I like this new format, I personally prefer talking head or animated avatar to constant clip show, movie clips are great but when its the only visual in the video it can be become distracting. I like to see a person's face and expressions or the silliness of an avatar.
2:09 There are many reasons why this topic is so divisive and many of those reasons is that men either fail to care enough to express them, or simply don't really know how to do so without being blunt. And I can't blame most of them because it's typically not worth the effort. The reason I liked many of my escapist comic book stories was because they were unrealistic. They were idealistic at best which is why I loved them.
In an ideal world the best of both sexes would be exaggerated. That's precisely what many of these stories did. The men being hyper masculine and women being hyper feminine to the extreme. It made for great entertainment. Now, hyper masculine men is considered toxic, but women still like looking at men that have a hyper masculine body (6ft, 6pack, etc). Men however, still like looking at hyper feminine women, with a hyper feminine body. Coincidentally (it seems), comic book movies (which typically had a significantly large male consumer base because that's the demographic the content appealed to) now pushes feminine men, with hyper masculine bodies (the ladies still like to look), and masculine women, with not so feminine bodies.
It seems that these newer films and comics are now appealing to women so they can't appeal to men because seeing a powerful female character being vulnerable (part of being feminine) is not publicly acceptable. So now men are moving on to things that actually appeal to them. You know... movies and comics that still know how to depict hyper feminine women and hyper masculine men in equal doses rather than just the one that appeals to lesbian woman's power fantasy. We just want the option to experience a male power fantasy again. That would be great.
You know... because it's fiction. And it's a great escape from the terrible fucking dystopia we now live in.
Positive role models are important, if not in the real world at least in the fictional one.
Not sure why nowadays they want to discourage positive masculinity.
They keep making worse movies, turn a blind eye to all the negativity, and only see the "positives" (and focus on them) and think they're doing the right thing XD
Loved your answer to the main question, though I feel like it took you to long to get there.
Personally I like your format of movies clips better then directly talking to the camera. You have a profound gift for conveying ideas in your writing and your voice.
As always, these are ideas from a fan, not a critic! Looking forward to the next one!
This video, and videos like it, have helped me re-examine my male characters and provide them with a greater depth of character. It's in many ways similar to the path I took in order to learn how to properly write female characters, and I'm still learning more every day. Your videos have been a big help in both regards.
I will say that I personally like characters like wonder woman and storm more than she hulk and who ever replaced iron man because they are there own person not just old super hero but female.
An honest, open, and thoughtful examination. Bravo.
My thoughts, summaries, and additional points:
If we’re given no male heroes… the writers are sexist. Simple.
If numerous male heroes are downgraded, nerfed, humiliated, or marginalized purely to make room for eerily similar female heroes, the writers don’t respect the fans.
If someone is sick of “strong female characters,” it could easily be due to how poorly most of them are being written lately, rather than due to the concept itself. Many of these modern characters don’t even deserve to be called heroic, since they often seem deeply selfish and aren’t even challenged in meaningful ways.
Diversity purely for its own sake on the part of cynical producers is performative, hollow, and thus a turnoff to many.
In a perfect world, changing a character’s race should only matter if it makes it hard to recognize them. But we are frequently given a strong vibe that the change was not made with pure intent, and that leaves a very bad taste.
Relating to a character purely because they look like you is probably the most shallow (and potentially harmful) reason to connect with a character. Diversity should NOT be to give us one person in a cast we care about. It should teach us to relate to all people in some way.
Fans are the people who liked the way things were. Artificially forcing change is more likely to anger fans than to please them
Bad writing can absolutely ruin even the best-intentioned ideas
Excellent writing can make risky and unusual ideas compelling and popular
Continuing to pay terrible writers for terrible products while good writers are overlooked or bossed around is terrible for the art, so it is fair that it also be terrible for business.
I loved Pepper Potts from the very start of the MCU. Tony was perfectly written and deeply entertaining, but at the beginning Pepper was a 1000x better human than him.
If the Female Experience is valid, important, and worthy of thoughtful caring exploration, then there is something obviously wrong with those who deny the Male Experience the same care.
Punishing innocent men today for the crimes of people in the past should be easy to recognize as idiotic and wrong. Equality will never be achieved by pointing Inequality in a different direction.
Your ability to consider this topic through so many angles is admirable.
I care most about story and character development (if applicable).
I really don't care about what superficial traits a fictional character has, this also applies to characters based on real people (Fate series comes to mind).
The entertainment industry has become slothful and arrogant. Because those involved predominantly believe that a character's superficial traits are their personality; instead of being a part of their personality. Similar to the lowest common denominator way of thinking.
I also think that the industry has gotten lazy with world building. It falls back on the twins of contrivance and coincidence way to often.
You and @Greg Owen need to collab.
Also even if you did end up repeating yourself, the video still stands - it's still talking around and defining the edges of a very nuanced subject, and you handled it with far more thought than Hollywood does, keep going!
I thought it was fun to see you! I dunno what works best, because sometimes the film clips can really push a point home.
But, I was also cleaning, so I wasn't keeping a close eye on things anyways!
I’m a female and I love stories where the protagonist is male. And when the story is well written, I love when the protagonist is a female, but usually they are not well written. I love Kate bishop and Black widow in the comics. West coast avengers with kate was great!
Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them; but do not let them master you. Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight.
Everyone needs stories about having the courage to do good, because we all face challenges. Your last video went on about women not spending as much money and not needing these stories about heroes as much as men. I don’t know why someone would gatekeep virtue - unless what you’re getting out of this isn’t really an example of courage. The way you talk about this subject makes it sound more like they’re power fantasies. Treating people with respect instead of dismissing 50.9% of the population is a more realistic litmus test of character.
I think the biggest misconception is thet just because you have a sotry with a female lead will not make the given genre more enticing for women. Action moves will not have more female viwer because you have female lead, it will have more female viwer if you put topics into the given movise thet enticing for womens, like personal dram and interpersonal relationships. Though, you have women who like a good ol' action flik as well, but they will watch your movey anyway if it is well written because they love the genre.
One of the things that really bothers me (a female) about female leads is that they’re never just written as female; they’re always written as “not male”. The fact of them being female is always an issue. The reason I don’t like “strong women” is because they don’t strike me as strong; they strike me as petty and arrogant. Everything about their characters is shouting “Hey! I’m not a guy. You got a problem with that?” People who are actually strong don’t need to constantly mouth off about how strong they are. Strength is an inward spirit, and I hate that our storytellers have lost all sight of gentle strength and moral virtue. There’s a wholesomeness to the cooperation, love, and friendship between men and women that gets lost when everything is turned into a battle of the sexes.
Well said.
@@resurgam_jsc Thank you ☺️
I'd just like to say you pretty much nailed it in this video. Thank you, Master Samwise!
Thank you!
I will say that I did like Kate Bishop in Hawkeye and of course Hawkeye himself. If you want to know how to make a female character both "strong" and more femanine watch Wonder Women 2017. They nail it.
We need to be told we can be heroes. Disney keeps telling us we can't.
I really liked this video, you didn't express my thoughts better than I could myself, rather you introduced new really valuable ideas, that I find myself agreeing to and wanting to explore more. (also you look more handsome irl than I imagined, no offence)
Just noticed the Brandon sanderson shelf in the background best damn author ever
I love your videos so much but by golly your stare is intense I feel as if you’re analyzing my soul 😂 Thanks so much for your videos and insights!!!
LMAO
I personally love the Rohirrim flag to your side. My brother and I argued over who'd win, Gondor or Rohan for many years and imagined them teaming up to face Sauron for many more. :D
I love Rohan more, but Gondor is far superior militarily, as far as I know, even at the time of the War of the Ring after they've seriously declined.
This might be a hot take but I was actually excited for when Captain Marvel was about to enter the MCU and looking back don’t think that movie was as bad as people think it is. It was everything that came after that felt like the studios are more focused on pandering than telling good stories.
A really good example I like to use is Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. It is just a show about dudes being dudes and is fucking over the top and badass. I was really surprised to hear that there are girls who like Jojo’s. Despite having a female audience Araki never altered the story to reach a new audience. Part of that though is the difference in culture so it isn’t necessarily a perfect example.
I had family visiting and they put on Blue Eyed Samurai and I was instantly turned off because it was "here we go again... a female lead character who does everything better then men and the writing is sure to be convenient and terrible" Except it turned out to be great. I nearly missed out on a great show because Disney and other studios have me wary of female led media, not because it is female led, but because that is the first sign the writing will be terrible. Of course, this is not an absolute rule, but this correlation has become so ingrained through so many bad movies that my brain already anticipates the bad writing when I see a female lead. Which is insane. They are having the opposite affect of their goal. And I love a lot of media with female leads. Its just that all modern media is so bloody poorly written and always has female leads, so the connection is implicitly made and I (and presumably others) might skip out on media that is ACTUALLY good like Blue Eyed Samurai, because disney is doubling down on this correlation.
Thank you for saying "it is a stupid question" when mentioning "what's the right ratio ?".
Ratios don't promote diversity, because diversity in media is the natural result of good work, not a goal in itself.
I love this take because of how i rises about the dorito-dust smeared take of 'hollywood has too many strong women' and tackles the true reason why people dislike these characters-- they are just bad
Thank you for explaining why Disney is destroying our heroes. The problem with the newer female (not)heroes, is the BAD WRITING FOR THEM!!!
Edge of Tomorrow.
It’s action packed and not the braindead kind of action, the characters and actors playing them are superb, Tom Cruise may be bat shit crazy but he is a legend. So much respect for the man.
Emily Blunt is a wonderful actress, strong, intelligent but she is not part of the Woke feminazi cult, thus she is a perfect female protagonist in this film,well written (the pinnacle of what a militarised female protagonist should be) as well as quite attractive, the world needs more women like her.
I love the premise of the film , its emotional aspects and the ending is just, chefs kiss.
As a weeb 🤓who's been watching anime and consuming JP media BEFORE IT WAS COOL, hearing you talk about relatability and having more female characters is amusing.
The main demographic for anime/manga/etc is young men, so you would think that the majority of series/franchises would be mostly male characters, and the biggest most popular ones would be mostly male characters, and yet it's not. Some of the most popular franchises in recent times have had 100% female casts, 80~90% female casts, or had the main characters be female: Lucky Star, K-On, Haruhi Suzumiya, Girls und Panzer, Kill La Kill, Bocchi the Rock, Love is War, Spy x Family, Fate/x series, LoveLive, Madoka Magica, Umamusume, Kemono Friends (1st season),
these are just the ones I can think of that became popular in the west, theres plenty more that are huge franchises in japan (like Idolmaster, precure) old classics like Sailor Moon, and a whole bunch of other series that don't get popular, that are mostly female characters, but with a mostly male audience.
So are japanese guys (and the guys who watch anime/etc) just built different? Because clearly, theyre not complaining about women being overrepresented in their media, so what gives?
as a girl, i like both male and female heroes. i think a mix of both is good in franchises like the mcu. imo a 60% men 40% women split is good ratio. i just wish the female characters could have been with the same depth and care as iron man.
Samwise the wise😊. I love women heroes that are in their unique way equal to their male counterparts instead of that new breed that belittles them. That payback like mindset is so sad.
And I do love your shirt! Gotta get one of those too!😂
You are spot on in your analysis. I hope Disney and the rest of Hollywood listens to your advice.
I too often find the urge too eat a tub of ice cream and binge the 6 hour pride and prejudice cause it's the best one, cause the characters are given enough time to develop and change and it's written well, and Colin Firth. I did enjoy this video, I wasn't upset about your previous points because I do think they rang true as well but the clarification and depth this one brought I also appreciated
Also forgot to mention, as a long standing fan of Star Wars and Marvel I concur, it didn't bother me that it was largely a male cast cause they were good characters and I enjoyed their stories, of course I loved the female characters and there are some of the recent additions like Ms Marvel and Kate Bishop that I personally really love, Also the female secondary cast members from Shang Chi were all brilliant
Wonder Woman
Aliens
Terminator
Hunger Games Quadrilogy
Mad Max Fury Road
Kill Bill 1&2
Prey
Rogue One
Black Widow (until the 3rd act mess)
All great action films with female heroines in leading rolls. What matters most is the story.
I think it's absolutely possible to tell a great Rey story it's just Lucasfilm didn't accomplish that because the story wasn't well written and the trilogy wasn't planned out.
Another great video. I really enjoy your content. Keep it up 👍
good points. as a queer of the female persuasion, i don’t care hoots or hollers as to what gender the hero/protagonist is as long as the story/character is interesting and well written. being queer, represenatition is limited even today, alas, i don’t need the story to relate to me to be able to enjoy a well written tale. lot of the stuff comging out these days (sans a few gems and indie flicks) most of it is just… meh. thans for the vid!
Before I go into the comment I see the set of CS Lewis Chronicles of Narnia books on the shelf in the background. I have that same set on my shelf.
Anyway I appreciated what you said in this video. From my perspective as a woman it is not that I don't want female leads, it is just that the female leads we get are the same boring strong woman type that intentionally or unintentionally crap on men in their respective stories. It seems to me that most of these writers are of the perspective that they need to be aggressive in their pro-female message to the point that they can't show any support to the male characters. If there were more female characters that respected the male charcters in these new shows, movies and books then I would have less qualms with partaking in them.
Nice! So you read them in the correct order!
Agreed. There is no need to put one gender down to uplift the other. We compliment and need one another. Ideally a story will have strong men and strong women. And that doesn’t have to be physical strength
I watched 2 of your videos, one about Sam and the other on King Theodyn. I shared your sentiments and I loved your book and film descriptions. Your criticisms in this and another of your videos, which may be valid, I appreciated less. I could only watch a fraction. Thank you for sharing.
For me, the gender change to The Doctor is the worst of all. He is the perfect role model for boys and we lost that to please the sjw mob who never watched Doctor Who before or after.
it has been great seeing your channel grow this year keep up the good work
having more representation isn't good being represented right is
race swapping is completely disgusting it's like giving minority people crumbs or leftovers
gender swapping isn't any better it's like saying a woman isn't a good character if she's not masculine
I don't like female strong characters because they feel no different than the man
what's the point of having a female character if you're going to make her masculine why not just watch a man
I didn't really mind the new Iron Man character. The only issue I take note with it is, it was a bad introduction to the new character, leaving her not very memorable. She needs to be given her own spotlight and time to shine if ya want to properly introduce a new hero, not be some side character in some other hero's movie. Did Tony Stark start off as a side character? No.
Tony Stark's my fave superhero btw. I have an Iron Man plushie. ^^
And ya, I hated how The Falcon & Winter Soldier ended. Like noooo, the girl was not in the right. *She was a terrorist!* We shouldn't be excusing the deaths she has caused to innocent civilians! She killed people just because they had some extra food! That's no grounds to blow them all up! JUST STEAL THE FOOD IN SECRET!!! That scene made me so mad!!
First of all I do like the new format, I was wondering when you were going to show up, but frankly I got a lot distracted by the bookshelfs 😂. Still somethings to work like being confi on camera, but that is just practice.
The next video, should be Why do women need heroes? O why do women need Darcy? You should do it with your wife 😂❤. The point is that women not only need female heroes, but need male heroes to fall in love with. And the problem is that today man are so lost , as do we, because we don't have models to what to aspire. At your question if I follow Theodem to war of course, but also I will marry Faramir (book version) because he is a man I could rely on and admire. Yes I know those are high expectations 😂 But may be man need to know that heroic virtue is sexy as do women need to know that man can be like that ❤
I want strong women to have their place in what I'm writing, but with different types of strength.
I'll admit as a male biased man I've overthought and stressed over nonsense like: is there an equal number of male and female characters in here, do I need to add more of one to not get backlash and blah blah blah.
I feel now that's irrelevant, it's about the quality of writing them. I've rarely written my characters with gender in mind (unless there's invented fantasy gender roles involved with a character's arc or struggles), but situations like with what Hollywood is doing has had me on edge over this topic. Overall being diverse is great, but a man shouldn't feel guilty if they feature mostly male characters, nor should a woman feel guilty over featuring mostly female characters. Cause as long as they're writing genuinely from their minds and heart, then their stories will come out genuine rather than forced.
One other big thing I want to emphasize is tackling tradition vs inovation of ideologies, cause I see a value in both, including old vs new masculinity and old vs new femininity.
"Not even the Lord of the Rings."
I have never been more offended in my life. Lol
TLDR version of this: If you want to win at movie-making, worry about the story before you check the boxes. There's nothing wrong with checking boxes, but stop putting it ahead of great story, great characters, and great actors.
Also, if you take away all of the male heroes, where are men supposed to go to get their role models?
Nothin wrong with liking characters who are like you. If a character is notably different, it can be difficult to relate to them.
Personally I don’t care what gender a character is. The most relevant diversity to me (and possibly the least talked about) is neurodiversity. If you think it’s hard to find a well written female character, you’ve never tried to find an intentionally autistic character who isn’t a walking stereotype. xD
That’s mainly what I look for in a show. Well, that and a good art style. Most of my favorite characters from shows are either intentionally autistic (unlikely) or commonly headcanonned as autistic. I don’t like them just because they’re autistic- I like them because I understand and relate to their motivations and feelings. I’d imagine it’s probably the same way for guys preferring male characters, right?
Yes. If replacing male heroes with women was less common (and if producers were less like "take that, men" about it), it would actually seem like a cool idea. When I first heard "the main character of the new star wars movie will be a girl" I thought that was interesting, we're shaking it up a bit. To be fair, I wasn't keen on what was going on ideologically in the culture, but point being, there is nothing bad about having women it's just how it's presented.
If you think about well written women characters I’d say the women on Avatar the last air bender were perfectly written
Absolutely!!
Im a woman who prefers male protagonists. Its been awhile since Ive watched anything new because I got tired of female leads always being "step on me" sexy, putting down men, or drama queens.
I feel like nowadays they “force” strong women too much. For example I think that Mulan was a very good example of a strong female character, where throughout the movie they showed how she struggled and used her intelligence to make up for her lack of physical ability. Where as characters like Captain Marvel and She Hulk get all their power handed to them and don’t change at all throughout the show other than some sort of self acceptance. I saw another comment saying this but I think Kate Bishop from the Hawkeye series was done somewhat well where she actually learned and developed a little bit throughout the show and looked up to Clint rather than thinking she was better than him in any way.
The more I watch other companies' productions, the more I realize it's largely a Disney problem. There are other badly written "strong women" outside of Disney of course, but the Mouse in particular just struggles lately coming up with characters with real arcs.
A recent discovery (that someone recommended to me) is the BBC show Happy Valley. The protagonist is a woman police sergeant in a small community in England. She is intelligent, capable, and quite often right about her hunches. Yet she is also a deeply flawed and wounded character, and thus is so much more interesting than the one-dimensional products that Disney has been putting out lately.
@@master_samwise
Happy Valley is great! Also, I think it really helps that Catherine (the main character) still comes at things from a very feminine way. Sure she is fairly no nonsense, but she is quite empathetic and you can definitely see her nurturing nature show through.
I don't mind female leads if they act like women, not men with female anatomy. Freya in GOW, Katara in Avatar, Eowyn in LOTR, they were all mostly feminine despite being in strong roles. They were strong in their own ways, different from that of their male counterparts but no less important. The idea of a female character acting like a male one simply because the writer just wants her to be a badass just feels like a power fantasy to me. Like they are envious of the strengths of men while forgetting that women have their own strengths.
Excellent examples!!
I grew up in mid to late 90s and early 2000s. They gave me plenty of heroic women I looked up despite being a white male. Xena theWarrior Princess, (despite all of the faults of the creator) Buffy, Willow, Faith and Cordy of Buffy/Angelverse. Zoey, Kaylee, River and Inara of Firefly. Princess Diana aka Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl from Justice League cartoon. Ellen Ripley from Alien series. And I do agree, it has less to do with the gender and skin color of the character and more to do with how poorly written they are. Sadly they're interested in making money instead of naturally growing the characters.
Wow, I’m totally excited that they would even have this topic. I’ve noticed it very much. Everything has changed in the past three years but the way I see it is it keep keep making those movies and keep losing money and get back to what they used to make
In the last movie about this, I felt like I agreed with you, even though I could tell you were giving a short-hand version of your opinion.
The worst part is the bad storytelling. But also very bad is the swapping (quite connected to the bad stories) of a character's outside characteristics. Making these male characters girls, really does just feel like checking a box. And as a woman, I am over it.
I agree that men and women need heros to look up to to be good examples, and I am sad we don't really have that for anyone in these big productions anymore. The men aren't focused on, and the women aren't growing they start "perfect".
Nice, a fellow Republic Commando enjoyer.
Always good to see another man of culture in the comments.