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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- The truth is that being unable to write a good female character is more a symptom of being unable to write any character outside your own perspective. As writers we must exercise broadening our perspective so that we may accurately represent them in our stories. And in doing so, we may learn more about ourselves.
Thank you to my wonderful editor NazeNation for the video. Check his channel out!
/ @nazenationn
Champions of Itaro(My Book): www.royalroad....
And to no one's surprise, a random man on the internet talking about what women should do and how they should be written is a very popular idea.
Thanks for checking out my channel, if you're reading this, please give my other videos a look too. Currently working on a bunch of video ideas so there should be some new content coming down the pipeline for this channel very soon.
I've loved interacting with everyone around this topic, and I think I also have more to say about it, so stay tuned!
Why does you being a man matter in talking about media
@@nagatouzumaki4047 funny
Well the gender doesn't matter if the character is written well, it can happen to be female. Bad bait tbh
Indeed, but just be careful that you don't end up with one of those "man plus boobs" characters.
I have a question on this topic. The female character I wanted to write is a bit out of order compared to the regular ones.
So, she won't be the main character. She is supposed to be a "perfect" character. At least from how people see her. Like she is this perfect beacon of light. She is gonna be very overpowered and a character who is extremely experienced. Meaning her development arc is already over long time ago. But, her problem would be in what she truely wishes and how no one seems to look at her beneath her overpowered abilities. That, she isn't perfect either. But she needs to look perfect in order to give the people she wants to protect a strong hope and sense of safety.
Basically, her role would be like Almight or Gojo Satoru. Who happens to teach the protagonist (in this case male) a few stuff from her experiences and share her character a bit more. But she wouldn't be a love interest of his.
What do you think of this? It's like "perfect" and no development arc, but still trying to make it lovable somehow.
A wise man once said: don't make a good female character. Make a good character that happens to be female
but why can’t being a woman be an important aspect of a female character?
@@howai4204We didn't say it can't. But what we mean is that shouldn't be the character's defining trait.
Sometimes I think of some awsome ideas for a new characters and then decide "yeah I will make them a woman/man"
In my opinion, especially when writing fantasy, treating characters' gender as just a characteristic of a character is important, just trade "the character is a woman" like "the character is a archer", "the character has black hair", "the character is a furry", don't push too hard on the gender part of the character, unless their story itself is highly associate with their gender
@@ziyuan1989 Exactly
Sorta true, women are not men tho so feminine traits make women feel more female... motherly traits, understanding the physical differences between body types... the priorities that women have that men don't because of those physical differences.
Writing characters of any race, gender, sexuality and age is very easy. All you have to do is write them as a person instead of defining their entire existence on a one dimensional stereotype.
fr tho
this
Almost right but you still have to take account of the prejudice they face.
@@mkmc94unless the story revolves around their gender/race/sexuality/anything than its ok not to account for it for example
if im. making a story ab a character finding out that thy r trans I'll put extra focus on the charecters gender
but if im making a slice of life for example its ok to not focus on that characters gender at all
its ab the story u tell and a very case by case thing
That actually requires some level of creativity....
Which most of the writers making these characters do not seem to have.
As a girl, I remember worrying about writing realistic male characters when I was a tween. Nailing their mannerisms, speech, thoughts, relationship dynamics, etc. without stereotyping them.
I came to realize it's a mix of "ignoring" their gender while writing a person first (there are men who talk & act neutral or femininely, are loners and thus I don't need to worry about friend dynamics, etc. You have to think about their worldview first, and every gender-neutral trait flows from that); and acknowledging that each aspect of identity can make people be socialized differently, which can determine some of their habits. This also entails studying their environment (i.e. is this a girl who grew up in a brutal world & learned to be rough to cope? Was this boy raised in a spiritual community isolated from the world, and thus "normal" boy traits? Was he taught to be formal, pacifist, and elegant instead? How is his view of masculinity forged by the men around him?), economic class, etc.
In a way, you have to be somewhat of a sociologist to be a great writer. Just my two cents.
Empathy is a writer's greatest asset.
Woah! Never realized I even did that. Overall some of the best advice you could give about character writing
This is precisely right. I ended up learning this lesson too a while back
EXACTLY SPAGHET! (Love your channel name btw lol) I find myself doing this on auto pilot without even realizing it.
Great example is one of my more recent characters that I'm writing. She's Lilly, a hellhound I came up with myself in a helluva boss fanfiction I'm in the middle of writing.
Her main goal is proving that she can stand on her own feet and earn money with her own job.
She wants to prove this to her parents, because she's living at home with them at the moment.
In other words, something almost everyone wants IRL :P
I made her quirky and fun loving, but you could easily slap those character traits on a guy and it would work too.
Would probably just make the character feel cute.
I guess the only thing slightly more girl like about the character is the fact she wears 3 friendship bracelets.
But you could also slap them on a guy character and make it work.
FR!! whenever i see a poorly written character that follows the gender stereotypes, i think of exactly this
9:15 you could also make "no flaws" into a flaw in of itself. Due to how perfect they are, they lack empathy or understanding the struggles around them or when they do meet an obstacle they dont know how to handle it. Now its an internal flaw and the mc will need self awareness to grow and will need others help.
In mob psycho, the mc Mob is all powerful but has unique struggles due to it . He knows his powers doesn't make hin special but has underlying belief that he is special case of danger and not normal which stunts his growth as a person. With the help of others like his mentor reigen, he learns to mature in healthy way while meeting others similar to him but have become unhinged due to their obssesion with their powers.
The problem with mary sues is they are not entertaining. They are just strong and you just watch somebody punch or yell at others for 1 hr. Its boring.
Me who is that person who had no daddy issues or mommy issues around all my friends who had those issues, but they all came to me as the therapy friend.
It is genuinely the most imposter syndrome feeling ever. You feel like you don’t belong and even wish to have these issues to feel a part of something, I second that no flaws is one of the greatest flaws ever. It’s underrepresented, it’s something a lot of people can relate to, and it’s something people need to understand. Being around so many people that are hurting makes you feel disconnected. While I’m not saying being sad and having issues is good, it’s hard to watch as your friends suffer while you have no idea what it’s like
I literally loved mob psycho 100
@@choqa4629 me too. One is such a great writer.
Another good example is Medaka Kurokami from the manga Medaka Box. Her Abnormality power makes her perfect in any skill that she tries to copy(Academics, sports, martial arts, etc), which makes all achievements lose their charm and creates emotional flaws that she needs to overcome in her character arc.
@@laughingarrancar6859 that sounds cool, I might read
The big problem with representation in media is that women and minorities are treated like a different species, not as fellow human beings. They're supposedly superior to what most people consider "normal", or at least, what the writers do. As a Pakistani Muslim myself I'd love to see women properly represented along with minorites, but the issue is they either divulge into too many stereotypes or they are only shown to be better than everyone else, rather than equivalents to others.
Plenty of women characters and minority characters are well written, you'd know that if you paid attention. Also no one cares that you're pakistani or a muslim as it doesn't matter, that said you should know islam treats women like objects.
I really don't think that's the case. Sometimes it is, but I can think of plenty of females in shows who don't think they are better than everyone. I can also think of plenty of male chars who do & are insanely narcy & people LOVE them. I think people have a really bad perception on confident women. I'm not saying a woman should look down on men etc. & Again I can't think of THAT many cases of that in media I consume at least. But, yeah I think a woman being confident is fine. A woman being driven is fine. A woman even being a b*tch imo is fine. I find it entertaining. Just like plenty of people enjoy men who are assholes. I think there is an underlying hate for women that I don't even think most people realize tbh. They perceive nice girls as mary sues, mean girls as bitchy & annoying, sad girls as whiny, etc. & In today's society even strong women who survive trauma are seen as bad. Idk what kind of women people want. Maybe they want them to be side pieces to men, wear skimpy clothes, or cook in the kitchen ig
Caring about having black people or women.
Is what leads to discussions on how they should act to begin with
If you wanna make your character to represent x group then you gonna want that character to be good
@@tracycook3556
This is fundamentally not true, there are plenty of old and modern female characters that are beloved by by everyone especially outside the west.
The defyning factor in why people like these characters male or female is because they *are well written* and hollywood cant write good characters in general.
There are plenty of asshole male characters that people hate or find annoying, but thats a writing issue.
Compare Dante from Devil may cry to Dante from the DMC series.
They are both assholes but one has good writing.
@@revolvingworld2676It is absolutely true. We’re in a society now where the more people on the outside push for equality in life and in media, the more resistance they receive. To the point where no matter what kind of woman you end up writing it’s not going to be good enough for a lot of people. There are a lot of women in media in the past that people enjoyed because they were written through the framework of not pushing for anything past what we see in said media. They didn’t represent the growth of women in society to the audience. They weren’t beacons. They just were. And that’s fine, but a lot of women in media were loved for a plethora of reasons and too few times was it because they were written well or equally with their male counterparts. Oftentimes they were matronly and reminded men of an ideal mother or partner, sometimes they were overtly sexual and fulfilled a male centered sex fantasy. Not often in the past century have we gotten women in stories that are good characters and regarded as such without falling into stereotypes of womanhood and appealing to people for being a peer amongst men rather than revolving around men.
disney is the biggest offender in my eyes when it comes to poorly written female characters
*cough* Velma *cough*
Rings of Power
@@Rar830 Do not get me started on Velma. sometimes I wonder how much of it was Mindy Kaling's fault.
Not having watched Korra, mind giving a short and sweet rundown on why the thumbnail has her in the red side? Is she a Mary Sue with low quality motives and beliefs?
@@Zavitor Does the fact that I refuse to watch that show and thus can’t answer your question, help?
@@Zavitor Having watched the show shes honestly the exact opposite she loses and makes mistakes pretty much every season so for a lot of people it gets frustrating and although I can kind of see it I would rather have that then a character whos perfect all the time and makes no mistakes.
To write a female character write a character first female as a detail. The character can share the viewpoints of a female, but their main identity shouldn't in every case be simply based on the default female experience. To write a great female character don't propogate a messiah, display a real human being. Females, like all humans, are more than their ideals and culture each one is different and varied from the next. One might like a sport or past time another may participate in a club or play video games. Don't write a female character just explicitly to add variety to a story's cast. Instead use female characters to expand viewpoints in your world and add on to the established story. Also females are also human meaning they are also prone to issues and flaws. Don't shy away from making weak (emotionally, physically) female characters in stories not every female in the world is going to be super girl their are multiple perspectives and thus multiple life styles a person may experience. Lastly simply relax. Writing a female character shouldn't strain your brain if you want a female character in your story write her in if not thats completely fine too. Some stories aren't about variety in cast (look at black panther). It's okay to write about your own culture exclusively and share your perspective through a medium such as writing. Female characters aren't requirements neither are male characters, they are chosen for a story.
Japan writes better female characters
I think the best one overall is writing her like an individual person and not an idealistic personification of a what a woman is or should be.
Will it help if the entire cast is female? Just wondering
@@timur5219 I believe it depends on what the story is trying to accomplish and what the context is. If men aren't necessary to a story you don't have to add them such as stories set in all girl's schools you may find a dad here in there, a friend, or a love interest for the girls, but the story may just revolve around the students. Or a story set to where all women disapear from the planet leaving men. The story doesn't have to add a females because it's not about that its about telling a story within those limitations. The key take away is don't force a story's characters just make characters that you want to include.
Or make her story and hero's journey redeemable and relatable to people.
Easy, write them as people.
Make them a good character
Second step make them a woman
Is it relly that hard is just two step to make a good female character
@@panjinurfadillah2489ah, ive been on the receiving end of misandry and misogyny for far to long. All my female characters are either: extremely evil or too perfect my mind rejects them and have to start all over.
Most men dont see girls as people, but more like goals. I dont saying that is right, it just happen
@@spencervance8484Extremely Evil character is good for a villain just need to add what personality and kind of evil they, like maybe they are chaotic evil or more like to backstab someone to just see them cry.
The too perfect can be a flaw it selft, you can make them lack Empathy and trying to find meaning in their life, a good one for example if they have Existential anxiety, a feeling of dread or panic that arises when a person confronts the limitations of their existence. Where they get panic with the minor inconvenience and push them selft too hard.
One of the best writers I've ever seen for woman has been the magaka, Fujimoto Tatsuki. My guy has broken the code on how to write woman somehow. The way he treats the females in his story is great. Especially for his recent chapters for his manga chainsaw man he has perfected what a high school girl is like. i am currently a high school girl and the way I relate to this woman hurts me. I'm probably now the best person to talk about his writing but he's just a great writer in general.
I agree 100% Fujimoto's female characters are fuckin' PEAK.
@@ScritRighterI can’t think of a single female in CSM, that Isn’t a good example of a strong female character.
I initially wasn’t a fan of Kobeni, because of how she acts. But the fact that she has the courage and dignity to chose a life threatening profession despite her intense fear of it for sake of not selling herself and providing for her family is extremely admirable. Also she was MVP during the Katana man arc.
That’s so true! Even when the female characters are sexualized, it somehow doesn’t feel like the normal anime fanservice that degrades women. I think it’s partially because the story is from Denji’s perspective, and Fujimoto actually incorporates sexuality into the plot in a way that serves the characters.
I’m not even a woman and I understand what Asa is going through. That isolstion , the loneliness, the trauma from the past that keeps showing up every time I do something.
@@Rar830actually, Kobeni only did that to support her abusive family.
This man just finds ways to roast writers without offending them
Bassicly saying to the writers "You had serious skill issues in with writing story and understanding a woman is also human"
Aang is a human who has to lurn how to become the avatar, and Korra is the avatar who has to lurn how to become human.
@@Raya-ir4tm That is what we got, it just isn't as... idk... pronounced.
She does learn how to become more humanized and be able to empathize with people issues, when compared to book one where she almost completely denounced arguments against her (I.E. Amon supporters claiming benders are oppressors of non bender. She initially rejected their claims, essentially calling them biased and stupid for even thinking that they are oppressed. Which even midway through the book she ends up being the one to defend non benders when Tarlokk attempts to wrongfully arrest them due to the laws he put up to oppress them)
That kinda was her character arc. A part of it. Most of it was her identity of being the avatar and what that meant. The world needed a diplomat, whereas korra is a warrior. Heck, swap aang and korra's spots in the story, they are far better for each other's situation.
@@Raya-ir4tm it was perfectly portrayed from the start, korra literally got her self in trouble because she was overconfident. and it carried throughout the show and bit by bit she improved. korra had better development than aang, but aangs gaang had better development than korras krew.
@MultiOptimuss
What do mean by better development? What do you classify as better?
@@drysten887 I think he classifies better as more internal development. And if that’s the case. What he is saying is correct since aang’s journey was that of becoming a warrior. He grew physically, not much internally.
Aang had hardly any internal growth. The only time he had major internal growth was when he stuck to his principles and didn’t kill Ozai and I guess when Appa was missing. And even then, that wasn’t really growth. Aang was a pacifist day one, so him not killing ozai made sense. Aang losing Appa did put Aang at his mental limit, lashing out at everyone who didn’t deserve and even betraying his monk principles at a certain point.
Korra had far more instances of internal struggles and character growth.
Recovering from PTSD
Recovering from her crippled state
Recovering her Avatar Spirit
Searching for an identity for herself
Facing her fear that if she wasn’t the Avatar she’d be nothing.
Facing her fear no one truly cares about her.
Trying to remain impartial in a situation that directly involves her.
Struggling with her spiritual side and being more patient.
Korra just has more internal development in general.
But I wouldn’t personally say it automatically makes it better. Though I do identify and enjoy Korra’s struggles more than Aang’s, so to me it is more captivating to see her struggles and how she gets past them.
@terrakage4462
Your reply may or may not be what he meant but I'll address it.
In general, Aang had far greater inner peace than Korra ever did. Obvious reasons.
I can agree that he didn't have a need to develop internal as much as Korra given it was actually one of his strengths.
I don't completely disagree with your points. The issue here is that the instances you mention are either trivialize or Aang did as well if not better.
1) Recovering from PTSD? How many people do you know recover from PTSD? I am shocked to this day that this was actually written as a thing in the show. It trivializes the real struggles faced by those afflicted by such evil. It is poorly written not just because of how unrealistic it is but also because of how shallow they are with how she deals with and how her character actually developed from that
2.Crippled state I can live with. We do see her struggle and how she is deeply impacted by it.
3. This one was just foolish. She laid in a bath tub while dreaming the lore of the Avatar. Despite White Spirit carpets never being the source of the Avatar now all of a sudden they are here because of another contrived plot device in Harmonic Convergence.
4. Faced her fear of losing her place as Avatar/ her bending. Ok. Aang had his own personal fears(Fighting the Fire Lord, failing the world, etc) not sure why this is better. I would say if you relate then you relate but it just sounds selfish to me
5. No one truly cares about her. Again, if you relate you relate. Sounds selfish to me. As it turns out, when you care more about others rather than about if they'll care about yoy, they tend to actually care about you.. but I digress. I dont see any development here. Side characters like Mako and Varrick show they care more about people other than themselves compared to Korra and grow in that capacity.
6. Remaining impartial is a good one. I wish they fleshed this out. They ended up abandoning the Civil War arc for some giant monster fight. So we don't actually see any development, just an illusion of it
7. Struggle with her spirit side.
Another good idea that was simply abandoned. Instead of learning to grow this weak side, she is given all the power with none of the work.
Can Airbend after bending was supposedly taken, can bend all elements again, can access Avatar state at will(not even Aang, the supposed spiritual one could do this in his show), can energy bend
Not calling her a Mary Sue but all of these were undisputed handouts. Where's the development? My point is she could have grown her spiritual side but she isn't allowed to if she is just going to be given the things she wants/needs with no carved path shown on how or why she got them other than "because we want her to have them or she needs it for plot".
TL:DR her development isn't nothing, but is sorely lacking for a titular character and is often abandoned to pursue wild obscure ideas that "sound cool"
Korra is supposed to be annoyingly arrogant and overpowered at first, because that makes her the polar opposite of Aang, hell she even struggles with air bending at first, unlike the other elements.
This gives us a new, and unique perspective at what it’s like being the Avatar, and just like Aang, she overcomes all of her obstacles and realizes what it means to be the Avatar.
After she completely ruined it and everything it stood for......
Legend of Korra is Shit and yes it includes the Male Characters in that shitshow
@@truthspreader1996thats not fair, everyone overcriticizes korra,korra is a bad avatar for losing her past connections while aang gets a free pass for disapearring for a hundred years
when korra rushes into battle shes too headstrong "aang wouldnt do that he would be more passive and try to resolve the conflict"
but when korra refuses to fight kuvira shes "scared" and aang wouldve beaten kuvira up
@@dooda9566 Let's look at it deeper beneath the surface, shall we!
"everyone overcriticizes korra,korra is a bad avatar for losing her past connections"
*Which can never be undone and it was mainly through her inability to win (against a guy with one element) and the numerous warnings of her being hard headed and rash.*
" aang gets a free pass for disapearring for a hundred years"
*A 12-year-old gets scared of a destiny trusted upon him which that destiny iceslated him from his friends but ultimately ends up being a good decision (even if it was accidental) because the whole Air nomad tribe got wiped out from north to south.*
*Point Aang!*
"when korra rushes into battle shes too headstrong "aang wouldnt do that he would be more passive and try to resolve the conflict"
*There is a time and place for everything. Being able to read the situation is a skill that stops you from making mistakes that would drive the situation into more conflict.*
"but when korra refuses to fight kuvira shes "scared" and aang wouldve beaten kuvira up"
*Well technically she was scared and Kuvira needed to be stopped. Aang's common sense attitude is about knowing when to fight and when not to fight is a plus in his character. Korra ignores people's pled and thinks she has the answer only to mess something up and thus has to learn the hard lessons after the mess has been made.*
Aang 2, Korra 0.
No one is saying Aang is perfect because he made a couple mistakes along the way but none of his mistakes caused permanent doom (especially after someone older or wiser warned him of the dangers of being careless)
@@truthspreader1996
it wasnt her fault that she was manipulated by her uncle and had to fight vaatu(which only one avatar before her had to do)
yes korra was older than aang but she was still essentially a child, and even if the result is that the avatar lived to fight another day, it still resulted in the air nomads being wiped away
and the only reason korra lost to kuvira is because she was still recovering from her trauma, and wasnt at full power
Korra definitely doesn’t deserve the hate , she goes through so much development even more so than some that ppl think have good development
Part 1 was badly written and coloured everyone's judgement. So even though seasons 3 and 4 were brilliant, all people remember is the bad start.
My favorite character I wrote was a lesbian woman. I am a straight man. I wrote her first as a military officer. Her gender and sexual orientation are important to the story, the story being about her and others and how they cope with being called heroes despite doing no actual fighting. She’s a high ranking military officer who did suffer from a system that was partly held back by sexism and a view of her as incompetent. Her story is struggling with accepting that she did the best she could. She wasn’t perfect. Not everyone under her command made it home. She made bad calls. She made stupid decisions. But she was a good leader. She listened to her subordinates, she listened to her friend (and boss), she used her own experiences to make these decisions. And her role isn’t that she’s a lesbian. It’s that she’s the leader of the countries Marines and she has a kind heart that dosent like people dying. But they are at war, and people die. And throughout the story she constantly fights that feeling that she failed. She is in many ways like all the others. She puts on a face and goes through it. Her reason for me to include her is how she handles it all, which is rather open compared to the others because she’s got a different experience. She was much closer to her former leaders than the others and as such she feels more comfortable being weak and flawed around both her leaders and her subordinates. She to me was a person first and foremost, and the exact details could be worked out on the fly. Great vid.
thanks for sharing.
As a lesbian, ur character sounds badass af and I'm always glad to see queer characters with flaws ^^
Good on you for sharing a story.
as a lesbian I love this so much
That's an very interesting character that most people in the LGBTQ+ community should look up at, not trying being a sarcastic jerk or anything.
ARCANEEEE
also speaking partly from personal experience, u can b a masc girl, or tomboy, whatever , etc without being one of the boys.
True.
“Depict people as they are, not as you want them to be”. Great line.
The way to write a good female character is easily by just writing them as a human being in the story. Here are some very well written female characters from popular medias that I atleast know of
1. Most Ghibli girls
2. Katara, Toph, Suki, Princess Azula, Princess Yue, Ty-Lee and Mai from ATLA
3. Farnese, Casca, Schierke, Luca, Nina, Jill and Rosine from Berserk
4. Basically all the princesses in Adventure Time and girls in Evangelion
5. Anthy Himemiya and Utena Tenjou from Revolutionary girl Utena
6. Most of the crystal gems from Steven Universe
7. Adora, Glimmer, Catra (her redemption arc was kinda dissapointing but still), Entrapta and Scorpia from She-ra
8. Multiple animated non/Disney women and girls
9. Nina Fortner and Eva Heinneman from Monster
10. Raven and Starfire from the 2003 Teen Titans
11. Mabel Pines and Wendy Corduroy from Gravity falls
12. Luz, Eda, Lilith and Amity from Owl House
13. The calamity trio from Amphibia (Anne, Marcy and Sasha)
Berserk and Monster?
Your taste is exquisite
Add Akane Tsunemori from Psycho Pass as well
@@hoominbeeing I haven't seen or read Psycho pass tho
@@stinkymrsnow.............. u should
14. Kanamori Sayaka and Asakusa Midori from Eizouken
15. Nimona
@@blenderpanzi I watched Nimona and enjoyed the movie but I have no idea what 14 is
I don't even care about the gender of my characters, I just make them, give them personalities, trauma, background, why they're useful, their designs, and some humanity. I give the gender later after
I think Katara is a better example than Toph for writing a strong female character. Mainly because its easier to ignore gender while writing children.
Younger girls and boys still have a lot of differences, so either one works just fine
@@Not_Mady_ Sure. Only that Toph is very androgynous. You could rewrite the character into a blind young boy and nothing would change.
@Serryy I don't really think she's androgynous. She's just a tomboy. Plus, she has her moments that show that she's still a little girl despite her rowdy personality, lol.
I think all of her blushing over Aang might muddy the waters a bit over Katara being a better example. She's fine but she does fall into the "woman as healer" trope and the love interest for the hero trope.
@@foxesofautumn She doesn't blush over Aang at all for the first 2 seasons minus one cave scene. The woman as healer trope is being deconstructed in the setup of the season 1 finale.
Being the protagonists love interest isn't a trope, it's a character role. And a love interest isn't inherently a badly written character. Not to mention that Katara went through multiple character arcs herself, reducing her to "love interest" is weird.
I find it funny that its always these men who refer to women/girls as "females" have the gall to gatekeep what "good girl characters" are.
"uhhh you can't like this character, I don't approve of their "writing", I'm the king of women" energy when girls like those characters.
Real.
☝🤓
Whats wrong with calling females females? that debate is so weird
@@oatatus4102 It's almost always used in an appeal to nature fallacy wherein the dudebro describes how 'the females' are simply not biologically designed for XYZ purpose, etc.
Obviously not everyone who refers to women as 'females' is sexist, but it does come off like someone is trying to refer to a person by their biology rather than by them as a person. Similar to how it sounds when someone says 'male fantasy' or 'male gaze'. It's academic language meant to make the speaker present as if they are conveying some sort of academic truth, but in a lot of cases, they are just generalizing their own personal experiences and painting it over an entire gender.
@@ScritRighter I get what the guy means (in the dude bro context), thanks i guess i was thinking of using the word female in a seperate context (making what i typed kinda irrelevant)
so basically just make and treat them like a real person and do your own thing to create the personality of that character
The "write a ma and gender bend it" has givne my favorite female characters though, starting with Ripley
examples?
@@ScritRighter Sure :)
Ripley, from Alien (that one is particularly bleeding, when you look at the other female crew member in the ship)
Murph from Interstellar
M from James Bond
Lydia from Tár in Tár
It is very hard for writers (including female ones) to escape the "second sex" mental trap in which the neutral is masculine. I know it is for me. I think that, going by the results, writing a role as male and then swapping it helps avoid many mental traps. I may be wrong, but that is what I get from the results. That does not mean recasting stablished roles to feminize them, of course.
@@alicianieto2822 I agree with this. I think sometimes this can help a writer overcome their inherent biases and mental trappings. However, I think that these characters are also exceptions and not the rule.
I also think there is a difference between fleshing out a character and switching their gender for the sake of having a female character in the story, and switching genders during drafts because you as the writer start to see them more as a woman. I've done it myself a few times where I have a male character that I've written the basic outline or rough draft of, only to ask myself 'but what if they were female?' and get an entirely new and more interesting character from it.
I guess my point in the video is that usually turning a male character into a female character either makes them unrealistic or that female character becomes more of a tomboy. And while tomboys exist and they can be good characters, you won't always be able to write the full range of femininity if that's the only way you can make female characters.
@@ScritRighter I am not sure they are the exception. What examples can you think of of characters that were written as males, swapped (during writing or casting) and turned out bad? (Even bond-girl bad, which is not that bad, considering the landscape). Starbuck from Battlestar is the only one I can think of, and that is a stretch example because it was a swap of an already stablished character, and the dubiousness came more due to age and casting than the character itself. The others I cna think of were not created male, but created as "I´m gonna create a woman who behaves like a male", a totally different can of worms.
I do agree that this technique works mostly for fiction, futuristic events, or super hero settings though, that don´t need to take "specific social experiences" into account.
@@alicianieto2822 I suppose I'm thinking more about fanfictions and amateur writing than professional media. There's also a few characters that I can think of, but I could never really verify they were originally male characters before being written because the writer has never said as much.
The only example I can think of and verify is Captain Phasma from the Star Wars sequels, but pretty much all of the characters in those movies suck, so gender bending probably wasn't the reason, and if anything Phasma was more interesting than most of the cast despite playing almost no part in the story whatsoever.
But I think you've made a pretty good point here. For people who have an unknown bias when writing women it may actually help them to write a male character and simply change their gender.
I suppose from my viewpoint though, it still only produces female characters who are exceptions in the way that not every woman in the real world will act like them or be interested in being like them. Strong female characters don't need to be combat ready, but many of them are. They don't need to have an assertive or authoritative personality, but they often do when they used to be male characters.
I think it's more productive as a writer to recognize those biases, and learn to overcome them. Taking a male character and turning them female works for people, but it does not solve the core of the problem for the writer which is their sexist bias.
Korra does not deserve to be next to Rey and Sakura at all in that thumbnail
And I wish Sakura shouldn't have to be hated compared to some other Mary Sues, including Rey, etc!
It cant be THAT hard to write a woman, right? Right?
Just imagine a man then remove reason and accountability. Don't jump on my neck, it's a line from the movie "As Good As It Gets.
Just write a genderless being and then call it a woman after you’re done. Works everytime
@@jamesmacleod9382sexism ain’t it dawg
@@ashl.9841 Yes ,yes it is. But not mine.
@@jamesmacleod9382 Speaking candidly, I genuinely hope that you become a better person and grow from that misogynist mindset. It's not healthy to let those sexist thoughts seep into your head because as time progresses, they transform you into a more hateful, bitter, and lonely person that is isolated from other people. When we realize that the patriarchy hurts all of us, we can all live in a better world where we're free of the expectations this system places upon us - we can be better men, and better people.
I agree with you very much , you make valids and great points , 10/10 video no cap but personally I think luz Noceda is a good female character, she has her own issues , she wasn't strong from the very beginning, and her sexuality wasn't EVERYTHING about her , it was just a part of her it's the fandom only knowing her as a queer character and making it her whole personality when she has more to that , she has flaws and good qualities, her goal was to find a place where she could fit in and not be judged , she couldn't have that since she lives in the real world where she was always judged , but even then her mother made her feel at home But in the magical world she went in , she found what she wanted but still missed her "home" and she conflicted , she wasn't a Mary sue , she has done many mistakes but tries to learn
fr thats the only cap take he did. Luz aint no "girlboss" trope cause people be forgettin luz be strugglin more than some popular shounen protags like MIDoriya and went more development than that blandahh cucumber.
@@oksomynameisjeff4212 Deku is not bad, I do wish he learns how to be a hero without a quirk, but he learns to use his quirk.
Power puff girls or kim possible used to be a great show with female leads but modern hollywood forgot that girls shall have flaws
Agreed. I have a lead character in a screenplay whom I describe as a "semi-superheroine," that is, she possesses a power that makes her in many ways superior to other people, but it also makes her feel vulnerable and freakish. She learns how to use her so-called superpower to help others and make them feel at ease around her, which in turn makes her feel accepted and less of a "monster" (in terms of beauty, her appearance has not changed in any way). Part of her backstory is that the physical abuse she suffered from her ex prevents her from having children (up to now, the only child in her life is a 10-year-old nephew she dotes on), but now she develops maternal, protective qualities indicative of her new strength. However, she also makes a concerted effort to avoid hurting her enemies, instead relying on intimidation. As a result, people adore her. Yet I avoid Mary Sue-ing her by giving her flaws, such as an intense dislike of gambling, which along with abuse had doomed her marriage. When the new male in her life confesses a six-figure debt from a failed bet, she becomes furious and instantly ends their relationship. (She later changes her mind, and makes a significant sacrifice to rescue him after he's kidnapped.) I've received significant coverage of this script, and no reviewers of either gender have criticized the character's personality as a woman.
Even Jenny from My Life as a Teenage Robot had flaws
Character first, gender later.
Despite the fact the characters are drawn as very sexy I loved the writing of Nami and Robin from One Piece.
Since the look came after the character story and arc, the writing wasn't build around how they look. So the sexy look just adds to the good writing. Why it add? because the look attracts others to the good storytelling and character arc.
@@IN-tm8mw Because the look is Just a little exploitative. Why do they have to be falling out of their clothes in the middle of a battle? Not for any good reason. And I say this as someone who has One Piece as their favourite story.
I 100% agree. I love these girls and they're a perfect example of the girls getting the same level of storytelling as the guys. They are allowed to have trauma, too, and to have dreams that are ambitious in scope (and not revolving around romance!). They're so damn refreshing and that's so damn depressing.
@@foxesofautumn As a fan of Dragon ball and the WWF/E the same happens to boys/men and its awesome. I love fights that show battle damage. I hate it when girls fight and at the end they all clean like it wasn't serious. Girls irl even don't come out that clean after a street fight.
Just don't do whatever the fuck Hollywood is doing at this point.
Some writers focus so much in the story and the message they want to convey that they forget to make their characters feel like people, and instead just have them to drive the plot because you can't have a plot with no characters
how do you avoid that
keep making vids! theyre very good and helping me alot to write so i dont make silly mistakes
I plan to. I've got a few ideas in the works atm, and they will be uploaded when they are finished. Shooting for an upload sometime next week.
Thank you for this video. Though I'm gonna use this for a male character of mine, your example, Kara, was very enlightening.
The key is to not write them as a political agenda, instead write them as their own characters.
For example in One Piece, Nami aren't portrayed to be a "girlboss" at all, she is coward and opportunist, she often run away from her enemies for the sake of her own safety, but when anyone disrespect her captain / crewmate or hurting little children, she will stand up for them (she refuse to say that Luffy won't be pirate king even in the face of death). This kind of multilayered writing is good one, rather than being a 1 dimensional girlbosses all the time.
i dont think "girlbosses" are a actual problem tho, if men can be powerful and brave people. Why not women?
Of course, they shouldnt be one dimensional and flawless (unless its on purpose lmfao)
think like one great example of brave and powerful character (a boyboss if you could say)
LUFFY, if luffy was female and retained their essence, it would be an AMAZING character. Just like masc luffy is!
He has flaws, hes impulsive, doesnt think much and his only intelligence is social intelligence and battle iq. But hes still very great and inspiring, not perfect and with many flaws and thats what makes him so amazing!
@@vrfujundying yes I agree with you, it's always the western styled female characters like Ray from Star Wars or Captain Marvel that make "girlboss" look shallow
Boa hancock is literally alpha female yet Oda makes her really likeable because of her backstory, character development from arrogant queen, funny infatuation to Luffy, etc.
Meanwhile it's often (not always) the stoic can do everything - condescending - one dimensional "badasses" when they are written by incompetent woke writer.
@@dclan9813 I don’t think JJ Abrams wrote Rey with a political agenda.
I think he’s a bad writer when it comes to giving characters compelling arcs and ruined any of the depth Rian Johnson gave her in The Last Jedi by treating her more as a generic competent at everything prop to speed run the end of the trilogy rather than an actual character. If we’re calling that a girlboss, then that’s just the genderbent version of hundreds of generic male protagonists from hundreds of forgotten action movies.
I disagree with the thumbnail for using Korra as an example of how to "wrongly" write a female character though. I agree that the writing of the show is not the best sometimes, but Korra herself is a realistically written and pretty compelling character. She's far from perfect, of course, but that made me like her more tbh. She's a flawed individual who was given way too much responsibility at such a young age and yet did the best she could despite the situation she was under in. Isn't that what a good character is supposed to be? I'd love to hear the thoughts of people who dislike Korra as a character though.
Agreed, the character herself as a flawed character was great.
korra individually is one of (if not THE (hot take)) best written characters in the whole avatar franchise
@@howai4204
She is definitively top tier from a writing perspective. Putting her up as a bad example is telling of bias because she is a much more engaging character than Aang is(no Aang hate though).
Korra is fantastic because she's so flawed. Her struggles in the final 2 seasons were really compelling.
She was so disliked and the series became so stale that the ratings of the show suffered, prompting nick to stream the rest of the episodes online.
If you "relate" with someone like her, you have bigger problems.
Men can’t write women and women can’t write women. 😐
It's almost like gender doesn't have an effect on the quality of your writing.
@@ScritRighter fax
Equality in shitty writing
@@ScritRighterThat’s true, but generally I would argue that women are better at writing men than men are at writing women. Of course there are definitely cases where women are bad at this, but I see it less often than the other way around. I think it’s because women are raised to relate to men, while men are not as encouraged to relate to women during childhood. And because women are often put down for having flaws or being girly, women might grow up to have internalized sexism that leads them to write female characters badly, while they write male characters in the same work with more nuance.
@@shirendjorgee9320 There are certainly more male lead characters to model from than there are women. I also think women tend to be more interested in books and literature than men are, so many women probably have a good understanding of storytelling tropes or fundamentals with regards to novel writing.
I am currently starting work on my own story, and so far I think my characters are pretty believable , and I am a pretty critical person. Gender is just one small aspect, that is very true, thanks for the video!
Tell me your secrets, sir or ma'am
@@spencervance8484 Ohohoo, naah, I am not the right person to ask, I am still learning too and I dont think that I am a good sourse of advice, sorry.
I think we are just too nitpicky about female characters that the smallest flaw is seen as a big deal to us.
Kinda, it's that we have had a period of time when there were SO MANY Mary Sues for the sake of being feminist that people started getting red flags where there was none, like Korra for example
I don't think that Korra was a bad female character.
same.
As a woman, I think sakura would count as a good written female. Yes she has stereotypical traits at first but happens to grow out of them wanting to become stronger so she isn’t rendered weak. Also studio pierrot just tried to make her hateable by putting unnecessary cuts and changing Sasuke’s facial expressions when he’s around her
I'd probably have to disagree. Sure, Sakura has had her moments during the massively long runtime of Naruto, but if I think about how much time they had to develop and showcase her character, and how little they actually did so, I'm just disappointed. Especially since a motivation like "I am weak so I want to become strong" is a relatively standard motivation for most shounen protagonists. I think if she offered a more tactical mind between Naruto and Sasuke she could have filled a niche.
If I were writing Sakura, I would probably take more inspiration from what a Kunoichi does. A character based in espionage, and crippling armies from within. Giving Sakura some sort of 'chameleon' power which allowed her to act like a Spy from Mission Impossible. Maybe even tied her healing powers to something involving poison and the synthesis of toxins and medicines. You wouldn't need to be able to punch a mountain in half if you could make the enemy shit blood after eating something you fed them.
Plus it could make for some big moments and power plays when Sakura gets to reveal that she's been working in the background to kneecap the enemy.
She could have been the character of the trio which offers a more level headed approach, or who supports the other two powerhouses on her team by opening up the door to the castle they need to besiege. Instead of tying her infatuation and personality to Sasuke, I'd probably have her start off flirtateous simply because she wants to manipulate, only to develop feelings which she tries to stuff down so that she can work properly.
But y'know, it's Naruto, so unless you can do big PUNCH attack then the show doesn't care.
Exactly. Especially in the Manga. I don’t think she’s exactly well written but definitely not badly
@@ScritRighterWell, Sakuras Goal was to finally be able to fight along side her teammates
@@shreksyq she develops from misogyny based thoughts and becomes her own strong person and I love that for her! I just hate how studio pierrot portrayed her
Korra is an exception. She fought a propaganda fed revolt, spiritual powered nihilist, the deadliest team of bending anarchists and a power hungry tyrant. Started bold and was made aware of her fears first book, had to war with her own uncle second, almost died and suffered from ptsd and left immobile third and had to climb out of her depression to fight a woman who was a reflection of her know it all arrogance. Unpopular opinion, but Azula was the only threat and if Toph wasn't around they would have died a million times over. Korra's villains were actually scary because they made sense and challenged her beliefs. 🤷🏾♂️
I actually disagree with the idea of writing a woman like a man but with tits. Women have different experiences to men just like different cultures have experiences that aren’t similar to each other. They don’t need to be WOMEN in everything they do, but their goals and drives and the way they approach tasks should be influenced by gender, just as much as their culture, upbringing and sociology-economic class does. It is still a part of their identity, not their entire one. Take for example, Izumi Curtis from FMA. She’s a badass, one of the strongest female characters in that world, with traditionally masculine characteristics, but she’s also a house wife, also a grieving mother, and she yearns for a child like some women do. She’s not traditionally feminine in appearance and behaviour, but there are some explicitly female issues tied to her character.
Also in certain settings you can add gender specific problems. Certain worlds are built around inequalities, whether it be sociopath-economic, cultural or related to gender. It would feel weird to be like oh poor people don’t have it tough, and we don’t want to make being poor their entire personality, so let’s just make a world where being poor is not disadvantaged at all. Some world settings will have women as second class citizens, like we were for the majority of history, and that’s fine. It may annoy some people who hate the idea of patriarchy being a thing, but it does not change the reality of your fictional setting.
I write my characters around what is expected of them. Each characteristic you add to an individual comes with a expectation from many sources. You're Family bloodline, gender, education, place of birth all create expectations and assumptions during first impressions. This is how i've learned to write all my characters. How they navigate these expectations and assumptions while trying to achieve their personal goals.
Women are more tribal on their status as women then men are being men
So if you really wanted accuracy, you would have most female characters be copies of each other
Honestly, Korra isnt a badly written female character in my opinion. In season one her character was reasonably flawed, but she changed and evolved throughout the season. In season two, everything went to shit and that season was just an entire show type of thing. And then she felt very well written in season 3 and 4.
Yeah, I don't think she is a Mary Sue. She showed signs at first, when she was controlling all elements since being a baby, and stated to be the most powerful Avatar, but THAT precise attitude lead to one of her greatests humilliations and she then learned.
She's not a Mary Sue, just a powerful character that happened to be female so it triggered all alarms.
She may not be a "Mary Sue" but that doesn't mean she is a good character.
The biggest problem is that a lot of these really flat, awful characters are "strong independent women who don't need no man" first and everything else a very, *very* distant second. I have absolutely no problems with the former archetype, but it should be just that: An archetype, not the actual entire character !
Another reason why I love Asuna yuki (sword art online) while she is strong and independent that's just a character trait of hers and not her entire character. She has been shown to have certain weaknesses but also shows how she can keep it together even when the stakes are high and she works along side most guys instead of trying to be better than them.
Sound advice. I am currently writing a story for a visual novel / dating sim, these notes are extremely useful.
tbh I think Korra gets an undeserving amount of hate...especially from people who are claiming to have not even watched the entire show. Tbh a lot of characters in LoK unfortunately are not as well fleshed out as the ones in ATLA, such as Asami, Mako and Bolin, who are fine, but you could argue all of them are a bit flat. Korra is very brash and bold, impulsive, sheltered, pretty dense, and basically a meathead, but still wants to help people even though she struggles with how to do that. I really don't think we're supposed to completely approve of her approach to problems in the first season. Like I really believe she IS supposed to come across as obnoxious to some extent. But even in S1 when she gets kidnapped after fighting Tarrlok, gets arrested, beaten up after challenging Amon, fails to stop the Equalists from attacking the pro-bending tournament and later on, gets a lot of backlash for the spirit portal event that keeps coming back to bite her, gets more backlash from her own people for her role in the Water Tribe civil wars, loses her sense of identity and ability to literally move by almost dying for the airbenders and refusing to die without fighting, which results in her feeling the weight of Kuvira's uprising as her fault because she was out of commission for so long...yeah I think she does face the consequences of her actions later, really hard. Even Korra's fighting and diplomacy style is different at the end, but it's not so completely opposite that she's unrecognizable. It is fine for people to disagree with me but I think Korra is a pretty good character, and I think her personality and traits were maybe too much for audiences to handle when it first aired in 2012, way before a lot of examples of "good" characters people like to use. Tbh I like her a lot more than Spider-Gwen, although I also like her as well
It’s been a while since I’ve seen LOK /and since Netflix took it down, I can’t rewatch it 😢) but I think the problem with Korra (at least to me) is the fact that yes, Korra is suppose to be purposefully arrogant since she grew up sheltered and whatnot however, the whole learning process of being a better person than what she was before, didn’t seem to gradually grow. Rather, the writers seem to have tacked that on much later around early season 4, after the events with the Red Lotus. The only example I could think of from the top of my head is when Korra opens the spirit portals. She activated made the choice to do that and yet, for most of season 3 she didn’t really want to deal with the consequences. Yes, she did try to help the people with Republic City, but when they kept nagging (which rightfully so), Korra got upset and just sort of ran away. Nothing wrong with her doing that (since we’ve seen Aang do that before), the only problem is the fact that the narrative just moved on to the Red Lotus so Korra didn’t have any time to accept the consequences.
I have watched all the way through and she is just not that good
@@zacharyfreelove6101She’s also not that bad.
Man or woman,genshin players are all certified for horny jail,I of all people should know that.
Currently I have 3 female characters.
One is a very caring, music-loving person.
The second is very brainy and introverted.
The last is a little girl who is possessed and therefore quiet, but still a child so a little bit of a troublemaker.
Of course, I have many other male characters, but as soon as I watched this video, I noticed that for my male characters, I focused less on the race and the steryotype they would be associated with. I gave them hobbies, personalities, and goals. I'm nowhere near done with my writing but I've never made a steryotype. Each character does have flaws, which of course I still need to explore.
This was a good video. Extra points for pointing out how men aren't the only ones guilty of writing bad female characters. What's funny to me is that when bad male characters are written, we call all just agree that character sucked and there's no need to go into detail, but when we get a really sucky female character we have to explain why she sucked to avoid accusations of hating female characters.
I also think the impact of social media has a big impact on how female characters are written, more often than not with the intent to either be "better" than a similar male character or to carry a "message", both instances being hallmarks of bad writing regardless of gender. There also seems to be an unwritten rule that female characters aren't allowed to learn or be taught by a male character, or are allowed to have any major failures.
Korra has tons of flaws, I don't understand why you'd be using her as an example. Being quick to anger, impulsive and egotistical are character flaws
Definitely got people to click lol. And my impression of her is the first two seasons back when I watched the show in high school. One day I might review my opinions on Korra.
I'm a grown ass man and I love Sailor Moon to death, the anime gets shat on because most of its writers were male vs the manga's initial creator being female. The anime actually does what the manga doesn't expand further on our protagonists, gives them great character arcs and really makes someone like me so happy to constantly route for them even if I'm not the intended target audience.
That said a lot of these hollywood hacks need to stop narrowing down and gatekeeping the handling of characters, no one should be barred especially because of their gender to write the opposite sex, they should be encouraged to do all they can to make the character enjoyable and more importantly an actually authentic person over some stupid parody of what looks like a great one.
No one should be barred but I think there is something lacking in the education of some male writers and the examples of well-written female characters to draw from is much smaller. What's odd is Hollywood has really flattened what it wants in a female character, especially a lead, without increasing the number of female roles per film (That's not expressly aimed at women).
0:01 The faint bonetrousle
As a woman, I find it pathetic how we are portrayed in media. Stop focusing on the breasts and write a damn personality, it's not that hard 💀
Great vid, btw!
thank you!
How about paying attention to movies/tv shows that feature good female characters instead of only watching movies/tv shows that objectify women?
@@MetaKnight964 That's the thing- most anime don't have good female characters. And it's not like ignoring the bad stuff is going to make it all better.
@@MetaKnight964 ...Like?
Korra isn’t a bad female character
This man just gave me the golden answer no one else could
Glad it helped.
The fact that people even need to be told this is kind of crazy.
Writing is hard.
Placing Korra on the same level as Rey or Sakura should be a crime, even if it's just the thumbnail...
Call me a criminal, then.
I heavily agree with the core that is to make your characters indivisuals and not representations of a group. Something that is lost, practically abandoned in the mess that is identity politics which hollywood has clearly embraced and forced on anyone who wish to work in that space.
I kinda did the opposite of 10:45 because I turned my SU fanfic into its own original series.
A a SU fan, i am very interested now. Where can i find it? What it is about?
Thank you for making this. I’m writing a book and I don’t know how to exactly do it. But you doing this really helps me figure out what to do exactly
Why you add Korra at the wrong side? She is excellent as a protoganist and her flaws arent related yo ber gender
Women struggling with a system that favours men is a thing that happens all the time, and IMO we shouldn't stop making stories about it. You're absolutely right that "because men are evil" isn't very compelling and that's why the trick is to address the theme in a more nuanced way than that - it's more accurate *and* more interesting. "Society is weighted against women in a number of ways" isn't the same thing as "men are evil". Most of the men in this system are decent people, and many are even actively supportive of change. It's entirely possible to do a film about how hard society can make things for a woman without demonising men, and personally I'd love to see more of it.
True, systemic oppression will make ignorant people oppress other people even if they don't intend to.
There are plenty of ways to demonstrate this without painting another gender with a broad brush.
“audience hate bad writing, not strong women”
-Master Samwise
Being a tomboy i see a lot of errors when it comes to making chacters either a tomboy or the male equivalent of one (not sure what to call them) either the girl is too manly to the point where you question their sexuality or the guy is too feminine to the point where you start questioning if they are in fact male. It was always hard for me to find characters who were a healthy mix.
Historically the word for a "female tomboy" was sissy (It's meaner on purpose, of course.)
I found Max from Stranger Things to be a really good representation of the tomboy type btw.
But, also, it's a silly idea. Someone made an arbitrary list of things kids should be into and, when they weren't into those things, that had to come up with a vaguely insulting word for that? Largely to shame them? It's actually abhorrent when you think about it.
Male version of tomboy
Is femboy
That is true for me as well. I always have been a 'tomboy' because I never really saw much use in being 'feminine'. The only reason I started wearing makeup is because I read a story where it was equated to battle armor and the follow through was beautiful.
Plus I am built like a Valkyrie and spent my life working on a farm. Which would be very feminine in medieval Scandinavia but not so by the mainstream beauty standards of our time.
I think most writers go too far in any direction because they are aiming for a certain look. A static example of what a label is. Surely if you pile extra labels it will reach the quota. I truthfully always consider tomboys and the counterpart as those that do not care about meeting other people's expectations of themselves. A 'so what' approach to life.
I started writing because I couldn't find many characters that were like myself and NOT caricatures of what someone like me would be.
I have several female OCs, just to name a few.
My Engineer and Mechanic OC named Kimberley tends to take everything literally, and is reacting annoyedly when people are talking too loudly, or blaring their music. In battle, she wears headphones, to protect her ears. Well, it makes sense to protect your ears, if a lot of rocket launchers and guns are being fired, especially since she's operating a giant mech that shoots rockets while she sits inside that mech. During work, when she's not in battle, she treats her machines as if they were her puppies. Murder puppies but still puppies. Heck, the drone that her mute brother is using to communicate is a drone that she built, and that drone's programming is literally a puppy's personality. Her pet however is a cat, that always stays at the base, and she always cuddles with her cat during her free time. She is also a mom friend. If she is forced to attend a party, she brings a shitton of snacks, because she doesn't want her teammates to get drunk on an empty stomach, while she herself doesn't drink, simply because she sees no point in drinking. Her teammates find her weird, especially since she can't navigate social situations very well, and she gets taken advantage of very often because she is a caring personality. She gets extremely pissed off however if you needlessly destroy one of her machines, harm her cat, her brother or any of her teammates. Later in the story, she literally is Doom Girl for a while, because her brother got taken captive by the aliens that invade Earth, and these aliens are about to execute her brother alongside a shitton more human captives, so with the help of her mech and some drones, she murders a shitton of these aliens, saves her brother but gets seriously injured in the process. Her brother is already very injured due to the torture he received from the aliens, and they both have to be in the end saved by Kimberley's boyfriend, who didn't have to fight much, because Kimberley left him almost nothing to kill, and all surviving aliens have retreated because they're not used to a human going full Kamikaze and murdering so many of them in the process. After her brother is safe however, she turns back to her normal, mom friend self. During battles, she can remain calm, because she is hyperfocused on surviving the situation, however, the moment she's back at the base, she doesn't talk to anyone, she just goes to sleep because focusing on survival is fucking exhausting.
Then there is Concordia. Her class is a pyrotechnician. She has a similar arm gun on her armor as Samus on her power suit, and that arm gun shoots rockets, like, it's an arm rocket launcher. The reason she joined the army is because her homeship got decimated by the aliens that invade Earth. She was one of the survivors, her mother however, got killed. To her misfortune, her father survived, and her father is a toxic narcissist who always puts everyone around him, including Concordia down. Concordia was the scapegoat of her father, and her mother was the parent that always lifted her up, and seeing her mother die filled Concordia with rage. Now she goes full Doom Girl on the aliesn that invade Earth, she kills a shitton of them, but she also always returns from battle seriously injured, with a bashed in armor, because she just fights so recklessly, out of pure rage. I named her Concordia because that name means calm, and I just wanted to add a layer of irony. Oh, and I made her character so she always walks out of battles seriously injured just to meme the name of the ship that sank, and later in the story, she would die a heroic death while everything goes haywire, and out of everyone's control, to mimic the pure chaos that caused the ship, Costa Concordia to sink.
Then ther is General Adalyn. Adalyn means kind, and I picked that name because it adds a layer of irony. Adalyn isn't kind at all, she's lawful evil. Like, she does protect Earth with her strategizing, and she rakes in a shitton of victories for Earth, so she can't be fired, however, she is a manipulative bitch. Her husband's life is a living hell because she likes to keep her husband under her thumb, she likes to keep everyone under her thumb, and she is a deceiver and black mailer. Her superpower, every main character gets a superpower, is shapeshifting. And she has that whole Ara Ara attitude when talking. However, despite all this, her interrogation methods don't involve torture at all. She just uses some drugs to lift the convict's mood up, just mix them in the convict's food and good is, and then, depending on what the convict is like, she either pretends to be all friendly, or flirtatious and seductive. The convict doesn't even notice they're being interrogated, because she just always comes by just to chat, and the person she's interrogating, keep in mind, she uses drugs to lift the mood, just spills the beans in a friendly conversation.
so basically, three of my female OCs are Doom Girl, General Ara Ara and socially awkward mom friend.
I was listening to a fiction-writing podcast and a great takeaway was for female characters to "use their estrogen" compared to just making a male character a girl. Meaning, a girl can use traits based on their background and inherent nature to allow them to excel instead of copying stereotypical male actions. I think that's a benefit for any character to make their details a benefit rather than their entire identity.
When I did write, I always viewed my characters as people. I didn't necessarily ignore their gender, as it can impact how they go about and achieve their goals, but a ruthless individual for example is ruthless regardless of being a man or a woman.
I don't write anymore, running D&D and other campaigns burnt me out and I don't think I ever recovered.
I began writing actual characters while playing in a written rpg. The fact you're always force to start at "level 1" ensures you don't fall into the overpowered marysue, and having to confront other players helps too. It helped me distinguish what actions are peronality driven, and what, despite the personality, require them to force themself into going out of theyr comfort bubble (even little things like an anxious person having to make a phone call, in an rpg someone that doesn't really know how to play, will claim they will never make that call, without finding a solution for it or a way around tho). I always use the trick of picking one trait I have, so that part become easier (like how and why I get angry), then pick an animal I want them to be related with, and then adapt the character fully after the first moments they're living with other people. It helps a lot making less possible stereotypes, and make fun and interesting character you like to hear about.
Korra is a well written character but yea a lot of female characters aren’t well written
My favorite use of a gary stu is Ephraim from fire emblem.
His perfection was actually the reason Lyon got possessed in the first place. Basically led to every bad thing that happened. Not like he could help it but it was a consequence of his perfection that his best friend grew to resent him enough for that to happen
Not the image watermark 💀
(Good video tho)
i gotta say... Korra doesn't belong on Rey's side of the thumbnail. with everything you said in the video, i think Korra should be in Vi's side.
I was thinking the same thing. Korra always gets labeled as a Mary Sue by people who have no clue what the term even means
Korra isn't a bad female character. She was just ruined by a poor story in the back half of the series.
😂😂😂 no she was garbage
Not even Sakura (Naruto) also!
Yeah, Korra are strong but not invincible or defaultless. Also she’s build to be the opposite of Aang
He added Luz. Please tell me that was supposed to showcase a beautifully written young lady
Wanna see if you wrote a good female lead/character? Just gender swap them and see if there still likeable. If they are and it doesn't change alot about the story boom good character.
You know what? I think you found a cheat code of sorts
Expecting males and females to be interchangeable is not good story telling nor a good life. We all bring different things to this collective story of existence
@@spencervance8484 How?
Beautifully well-written video essay. Also amazing editing skills; every word spoken is easy to follow and understandable. My attention span held on for a whole 14 minutes but I can barely keep it together in my highschool English class. 😂
Glad you enjoyed it!
Sakura in Boruto is better than the Naruto one in my opinion
I honestly wouldn't know, since I dropped Boruto about 10 eps in.
@@ScritRighter you should read the manga it’s better
@@skytheemperor Maybe it is, although I'm not all that interested regardless. I've already got plenty of other manga which I find more enjoyable and inspirational to me.
@@skytheemperorshe literally hasn’t appeared in the manga for like three years how is she exactly “better”
Mary Sue characters are not good people or redeemable characters. Those Feminists writers are just as guilty of writing Mary Sue characters with no flaws or Hero's journey. Hero's Journey is important for a storytelling. Diversity of thought matters more then skin color and gender.
Oh boy have I got a video you might like(or hate) to watch! (It's about the hero's journey)
Bonetrousel in the background makes this just so much better. I agree with all of these points 😑
I remember reading a book on Wattpad where the MC who was a girl, was also a big bully and started to bully a new student who was a boy. The other characters just let it happened and didn’t tried to stop the girl and I was like: Oh no, it’s one of those story where a girl attacking a boy is considered girl power 😒
Then, the boy that was being bullied punched the girl and smashed her head agains’t a wall.
It’s might sound stupid but if a girl punching a boy is considered « a powerful woman » then why does a boy punching a girl is considered as « dangerous and crazy » ? Anyway, I was happy to see that the author didn’t let the girl get away with no punishment, it’s refreshing. Especially if it’s the MC.
What's the story?
@@exhausted1335 It was in French version and English version but the English version got deleted quickly after being published, it was a girl I used to do warrior cats Roleplay with who wrote it but I don’t remember the name of the book or the author, I think she changed her account name because I remember her old one but I can’t find it anymore, I am really sorry, it wasn’t really that famous tho :/
@@exhausted1335 It was a story about religion tho, there was something about a sort of demon being kidnapped and I think there were ghosts and Jesus in it too, it was a big mashup of multiple beliefs, legends and religious personalities but I don’t remember the name of the book and I don’t even remember the name of the MC. Maybe it was deleted since it contained religious subjects, I don’t know.
@@Gabriel-xo2kl Thank you
Jojo is a example of great writing in general for all characters regardless of gender or race
(That Genshin impact comment tho, haha)
My favourite characters are always ones where their gender doesn't have anything to do with who they are or it doesn't matter or they don't even have one, the inclusion of gender as a part of a female character can be done right but I think it should always have a reason and be handled with care to avoid offending people, give women flaws and make them vulnerable but give them strengths too, make them as strong as you want but always give them flaws
One thing I do when writing females for stories. I just take pieces of me and my friends. I don’t like just insert me, this isn’t a self insert. Like a character I made, Emerayliys is based of my friend who is smart, humble, and nice. Because the characters are based on real people sometimes I add in flaws and mistakes the person they are based off have. I don’t know if this would help but it works for me. Write a character the way you want.
Korra is a good character why is she in the level of rey
a personal pet peeve of mine is when people make female characters more “masculine” when trying to be feminists because they think feminine traits are weak traits. Like imagine a character who has a more fast paced yet still methodical fighting style because she does ballet, or a character who’s good at getting people to cooperate because she’s a mother and deals with those situations on the daily, or something else like that yk
Idk if the way I do it is the smartest, but I think of an interactive character first and think of them as a blank slate. Then after assign them the best gender that would best fit them and such so that way they're an interesting character already
I tend to think of characters as hunks of clay, or sketches on a paper in the beginning. Anything they have can be erased, so when I make them I tend to play around a lot with their concepts and attributes to see what I like the most and understand how those changes affect the overall character. When I have something compelling that's when they become more solidified in my mind, but never fully solid. Sometimes when I am writing a story, because I've got a good foundation for what a character is like, the events of the story make me add new things that fit with them. I also try not to forget my cast. Like, if there is a character who is good at a thing, and that one thing is necessary to help or hurt the other characters, I try to find a way that they are involved. If it's too contrived, I put the scene on the shelf. If not, I've got a good moment or two for the story where everyone in the cast has a purpose.
You mean wamminz are people and I should write them as such? Impossible
A novel concept you won't hear anywhere else!
I knew a girl just like Sakura. The series may have turned to trash after the first couple of years, but I can at least say her personality was not unrealistic. Sakura was like her personality on a good day though. She could also be like Black Arachnia and stab you with a knife, but she turned out okay in adulthood and became a nurse.
The problem with Sakura is all of her aims were tied to Naruto and Sasuke. She wants to date Sasuke, she wants to be stronger than Naruto and Sasuke. She grows so little she still wants that at the end of the series even though she's been through serious stuff and Sasuke has treated her horribly for a lot of that.
Now Naruto is a battle anime and there are so many male characters that boys can fantasise themselves being but the female lead is given the role of healer (as usual for women in fantasy), and is given almost nothing meaningful to do aside from running after the boys. She COULD have been a great character, and even had some of the same personality traits, but let her do meaningful stuff and have her OWN goals please. Let her grow and be changed by her experiences.
As someone who adores Sakura, where can I find that girl?😻
@@foxesofautumnHer goal was to be able to fight along side her teammates which I think is a goal that makes sense
@@shreksyq She's a mother and wife now, too busy to even make herself an online presence. I don't even know if she still does Comicon cosplays. She would make a perfect Larxene from Kingdom Hearts though.
I love the istock watermark throughout the entire video
Love the pikmin 2 gamplay with 0 commentary
A good writen Female Lead Character is Emily Blunt in "Edge of Tomorrow"
It is absolutly possible to write a good character, you just need to actually focus the writing on the movie/story and not just as an excuse to pander to someone
Shonen anime and anime in general is so damn vile at writing women. Women amine consumers have to go on a grand adventure of boobs as a person,loli fetishizing, npc "owe is me" syndrome or just wasted potential to find an even half decent anime that doesn't make you feel like unwanted, socially inept incels are the target market. Like if you can't write women, don't. Like it's that easy. You don't have to be a social scientist to write women, you just have to be an actual ,not psychologically stunted misogynist, woman are concepts. It's not that hard to grasp.
Definitely agree. Its become one of those things I tend to ignore when I watch anime. I kinda just turn my brain off whenever they mention stuff like 'oh she's 16!' and 'Oh they're actually 10,000 years old but they just LOOK like a child!'
There are some I'll just turn off these days cuz it just keeps throwing it in my face. I'll be minding my business, enjoying a show- BOOM GROOMER FANTASY HAHAHAHA- back to normal well-written show- JUST KIDDING THEY'RE NAKED NOW YEAAHHHH- alright back to the regularly scheduled good wri- YOU THOUGHT BITCH THEY LIKE BEING USED LIKE THIS.
And of course, I can list plenty of anime which don't do this, and which have very good characters in general. But I also realize that exceptions are not the rule, and anime does have this issue that a lot of us try to ignore just so we can enjoy ourselves.
It doesn't help that a lot of anime is at the mercy of having to be profitable. Therefore, many of the female cast and character ideas are made with the idea that they will be sold as statues to collectors and NEETs who only see them as sex objects. And while I don't think it's inherently bad to appreciate a character sexually, I think it's bad when that's all a character is reduced to being. Especially when they are not of a legal age. And sure, there are some male fanservice shows, but once again the exception is not the rule.
I'm currently writing a novel (Which I will absolutely NOT publish, I'm still learning) with five characters as the main cast: three men, and two women. The way I approached it, was by taking each character and defining at least one motivation, one talent, one fear and one flaw. So two aspects on each side of the spectrum. So for example, one of the men is really good at drawing, his motivation is to learn to make friends, he fears of being alone and he is AWFUL when it comes to big groups of people. So there's the conflict, right there: he is constantly trapped between wanting to meet new people and getting stuck when he has the opportunity to do so.
What about the women then? Basically the same thought-process. One of them is really good at understanding people's emotions and personal situations, her motivation is to learn as much as she can about as many subjects as she can, she fears instability on her friends' lifes, and she has a hard time managing her emotions. So she's great at helping others, but awful at helping herself. Boom. Conflict.
I knew I wanted to have three men and two women as the main cast from the beginning, but the process to create and develop each one of them is basically the same. I know my characters are not great, but there's not distinction because of gender. The only distinction is in quality. But that's just because I'm still a novice
What I believe is the issue with at least main stream media they are afraid of showing their women having vulnerabilities, as if they fear showing vulnerabilities or flaws will upset their audiences however the truth for a good character, male or female, is showing these flaws and vulnerabilities these moments are where character development is at its strongest within a narrative
What I've learned from this video: never write Female characters, ever.
It's a lose-lose situation if we analyze it from a detached perspective. Nowadays, western mainstream media and pop culture are too polarized by politics that half of the audience will like a female character because it's empowering/non-woke, while the other half might hate it because it's problematic/woke.
It is what it is.
People have a problem with "Mary Sue" characters or women written like arrogant men. I love Toph's character because she could've easily been that type of smug "look at me, I'm not a helpless girl and I can do it myself". Her talk with Uncle Iroh helped humble her. Asking for help doesn’t make you weak or helpless to solve your own problems. It's an important lesson we all need.
I disagree about the not many talking about OP Isekai protagonist, anytime a new Isekai comes one of the first question is if it's another trashy Isekai with OP protagonist who gets all the girls.
I don't see the ones making the trashy Isekai or writing about it say things like the only ones who don't like the protagonist are sexist and racist or something tho, so that may be why they don't get as much hate.
Not that people don't call it out, but rather that people don't often reduce it to a gendered issue like they do with women by calling these characters Gary Stus, or saying that it is self insert power fantasy fanfiction.
@@ScritRighter Maybe I'm in an Echo chamber because I hear Isekai being called self insert power fantasy and how stupid it is a lot,
Gendered thing maybe because there are barely any female protagonists that are well known, I can only think of 3 I'm a spider, Book worm, and Tanya?
And like I kinda said in the comment, I see the female characters that get so hated, usually the thing it's part of seem to hate men,
And/or there are articles or statements by the ones creating about how this character being a female is so important and everyone that dislikes her is because of sexism,
so people who usually don't mind that also start hating the character,
I think the protagonist being OP and an Asshole wouldn't be hated as much if it weren't for the other stuff take Cid and Anos for example they are OP as hell and a little bit of assholes but are generally loved.
You clearly don't understand Korra if you don't like her, and the Rey hate is starting to get pathetic
Pretty good video, I do have one question however, which isn’t really related to the video itself since it isn’t even mentioned in it, but I’ll bring it up regardless.
Out of curiosity, why put Korra in the thumbnail as an example of a “badly written female character”?
I’m well aware that the show [the Legend of Korra] isn’t exactly universally loved, believe me, I have some major gripes with it (book 2 and all the spirit shenanigans say hi), however I don’t think Korra is an example of a badly written female character, or just more broadly a bad character at all.
As far as I’m aware, Korra as a character doesn’t really receive any negative criticism for being a mary sue (aside from ignorant people who don’t know what the term actually means and just use it because they don’t like the character because they haven't felt the touch of a woman ever since their mom gave birth to them), and her arc, whilst not the absolute greatest ever written, especially in Avatar as a whole, is very strong and her development from a hot-headed person just looking for the right person to punch to someone who would rather listen and negotiate before resorting to violence is handled very well if you ask me.
I’d understand if you simply didn’t enjoy LoK, that’s fine, but I would say using her as an example of a bad female character is a bit farfetched. I’d actually go out of my way to argue the opposite; whilst as aforementioned she isn’t the greatest character ever written, her progression throughout the story is pretty good, and the depiction of her trauma and desire to distance herself from her responsibilities is very impactful. Aside from the horrible ending to book 1, I can’t really think of any situation that could be pointed to in order to call her a “mary sue” or badly written female character. Virtually all the other instances you could point to are just the show’s failings as a whole (such as the arguably too short run-time to explore its complex and intriguing ideas and co.).
real i ain’t reading all that but real
@@phantom2615 lmaoo
Korra's torture is just that: torture for the sake of having the character be tortured and then "get over it/heal", if not implicitly blaming Korra for it or suggesting she deserved it for being boisterous/quick to confrontation...and that's honestly pretty disgusting.
Bryan and Mike don't understand that suffering is not a character arc - suffering is the narrative personification of conflict and brewing tension (think of Zuko's cry to the heavens, his loneliness and desperation). A character recovering from pain/torture/suffering isn't necessarily only dealing with just that, but what it represents narratively/thematically/character-wise/for the plot.
Samurai Jack becomes suicidal and tries not to give up, but his battle is evocative of his struggle to let go of his hatred, to find hope, and ultimately forgive himself. You can find similar examples with characters like Guts or Logan where trauma/suffering is used effectively. Or Spider-Man (especially the first Ditko run).
@@mark-y4s5madding to this, Korra never really faces consequences for her actions and mistakes
@@mark-y4s5m What. Korra literally changes as a character, going from someone looking for the right person to punch, to someone willing to put her own life on the line for others. Her arc doesn't begin when she's tortured in book 3, that's just straight up misreading the story.
Also, watching Arcane, in my opinion, is a masterclass on how to write great women characters!
My go-to has always been this: You write a *character*, with their own personality, behaviors and hobbies. Gender, sexuality etc. are just another part of that character, but it is not something that defines them. It is not their identity.
Of course, if you are writing outside of fantasy, you might have to take into account that a woman might have experienced certain things that a man hasn't (causual misogyny, for example), which in turn could have an effect on that character's opinions or choices. But that is still not the same as making their gender a main identifier.
No, actually, your sex does define who you are quite a bit. You can't just change the sex of your character and have a properly written character still. It doesn't work this way.
I'm writing a story with a female lead. I've seen this Female Empowerment BS happening before my eyes and I know I never want to tarnish my characters in that filth. I just want a good character with flaws and struggles and goals that the audience can sympathize and get behind.