How many on-screen badass women can you name?
(I'll update the list periodically.)
Badass On-Screen Women
- Landlady (Kung Fu Hustle)
- Ellen Ripley (Alien, Aliens, Alien3, Alien: Resurrection)
- Sarah Connor (The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator: Dark Fate)
- Zoë Washburne (Firefly, Serenity)
- Kaylee Frye (Firefly, Serenity)
- Inara (Firefly, Serenity)
- Private Vasquez (Aliens)
- Xena (Xena: Warrior Princess)
- Chrisjen Avasarala (The Expanse)
- Naomi Nagata (The Expanse)
- Roberta 'Bobbie' W. Draper (The Expanse)
- Camina Drummer (The Expanse)
- Yu Shu Lien (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
- Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
- The Bride (Kill Bill, Kill Bill: Vol. 2)
- Trinity (The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions)
- PrinceessLeia (Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi)
My biggest issue with most strong women characters in action movies is they seem to be swappable with a male and nothing changes.
They're strong characters who are portrayed as a woman.
Take Ellen Ripley for example: strong woman. Can't be played by a man as the character no longer makes sense. Has to be a woman. Someone else would get it wrong.
Also I'm getting tired of the "I had X amount of brothers" or "dad taught me Y" as justification. Why can't a woman be strong on her own? Why does it have to be a man making her strong?
Ripley was originally not even written as a woman.
There is not a single scene in the original Alien where her being a woman is in any way relevant.