We've probably all heard plenty of reactionary
about the accursed "strong female characters" in fiction.
It doesn't help when there is a way to write and portray such characters that is terrible and often panders more some thirsty writer than it does in any way actually "empower" the character outside of spank bank material. Looking right the fuck at you, "waifu fights for senpai" anime industrial complex.
The reaction against "strong female character" writing promotes RETVRN misogyny ideology, as if those are our only two choices, and that also sucks.
I'd love it if someone or a lot of someones did a little trolling and started some momentum against "strong male characters" instead, because they are such an unexamined cliche and built in expectation that they really aren't even questioned, or even noticed except as a default state that everything revolves around to the point where its absence is seen as "political."
What if a man's wife died... and it made him very sad and in need of emotional support?
What if a man's daughter was kidnapped... and he needed help to rescue her and asked for that help?
What if a father figure was shown being warm, supportive, patient, and constructive, period?
Or, for Toby Fox enjoyers, to sum up my argument, why not more Ralsei-like characters?
Oh, the reactionary rage alone would make the movement worth it.
It depends on the movie or show for me. In Breaking Bad, Scarface, American Psycho, etc. (using cliche examples here) there are no doubt badass lines and moments, but if you’re not a mindless conservative consumer then you’d realize how pathetic the main characters are outside of very specialized situations.
But these shows and movies were written by intelligent people and half of the audience is too dumb or lazy to analyze it. Movies like Taken or the various police, SWAT, FBI, special forces dramas on ABC or whatever are taken at face value because it was written to be taken literally. Also, as for the strong female lead, these shows mentioned in this paragraph will usually have them, but they’re usually just tomboys who aren’t taken seriously until they commit police brutality/war crimes and every man in the force is like “whoa she’s just like me! I can trust her and now treat her with respect.”
But these are antiheroes. You can’t just be a normal guy who feels sad