25 Movies That Absolutely Nailed The “Strong Female” Trope, According To People
When the Hunger Games movies came out and Jennifer Lawrence was the only thing everyone could talk about, we realised that it had been a while since a movie was successful under a female titular character. This may be due to writers needing to learn how to portray strong women in a way that resonates with audiences. It could also be because most often female characters serve the love interest role.
However, there are some occasions where strong female characters have their own thoughts, agendas and character arcs that inspire other women with their problem-solving methods. Redditors recently got together to discuss such “strong female leads” that were successful in movies and we’ve shared some of the top replies in the gallery below.
#1 Alien
#2 X files. I can’t believe I haven’t seen that yet. She was highly intelligent with a strong confidence that couldn’t be beaten down by the sexists in the early seasons nor the crushing but invisible power of the Syndicate.
#3 Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It set the foundation for the TV series which did a strong female lead that didn’t have to take being a strong woman so seriously to make the point. Not a movie, but Xena and Gabrielle deserve an honorable mention.
#4 Harry Potter. Hermione, Ginny and Luna are all completely different, but I would describe them all as strong female characters.
#5 “Arrival”
#6 Terminator 2
#7 Hidden Figures. Wonderful movie about the women working for Nasa in the 60’s who were human computers; they calculated the numbers by hand for the first flight to the moon. Furiousa in Mad Max: Fury Road. Danielle in Ever After.
#8 Brave. As a young girl it was very validating to seeing a princess who was competing as well as winning against men. I also really like the movie because Merida isn’t perfect, and you can definitely tell that she’s a 16 year old girl, especially watching it while I’m older. She’s a teen girl who’s doing her best to prove to her parents that she is strong and can take care of herself. I also really like this movie because Merida isn’t afraid to yell and strongly state her opinion. The women in my life are often very strong people as well as outspoken, and I really love seeing that represented in media, and Brave is really the “strong female” trope done right.
#9 Surprised this hasn’t been mentioned yet but Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
#10 My Cousin Vinny.
#11 “The Addams Family”
#12 “Fargo” u/Mr_Saturn1 added: A while back on twitter someone asked to name movies that features a female protagonist who is competent at her job, in an established relationship with a man (the relationship does not start during the events of the film) and her partner does not criticize her work or encourage her to give up. The only movie people could name that fully satisfied these requirements was Fargo.
#13 Mulan, the Disney animated one.
#14 Kill Bill
#15 “Lilo&Stich”, Nani
#16 Laura Dern, Jurassic Park. Seeing a strong woman in science at such a young age had a profound impact on me, and I truly think it’s one of the reasons I am a scientist today.
#17 Emily Blunt in Edge of Tomorrow
#18 Legally Blonde.
#19 The hunger games had an interesting perspective on it I thought.
#20 Rogue One
#21 The Silence of the Lambs
#22 Rachel Weisz playing Evie in The Mummy. “Take that, Bembridge Scholars!”
#23 Fried Green Tomatoes gives you a selection of them.
#24 Steel Magnolias.
#25 Winter’s Bone, if we’re counting female characters who are strong in the sense that they take responsibility under adversity and not just a woman who acts like a macho dude and can beat up men.
Shanilou Perera
Shanilou has always loved reading and learning about the world we live in. While she enjoys fictional books and stories just as much, since childhood she was especially fascinated by encyclopaedias and strangely enough, self-help books. As a kid, she spent most of her time consuming as much knowledge as she could get her hands on and could always be found at the library. Now, she still enjoys finding out about all the amazing things that surround us in our day-to-day lives and is blessed to be able to write about them to share with the whole world as a profession.
