# SFF Films with Female Characters



## Mouse (Mar 14, 2017)

I mean, like, more than one. Why are there so few SFF films with female characters in? That's a rhetorical question, really, I know the answer. But it irritates me when I see all these new film trailers and they feature either none, or maybe one (the love interest) woman. Women do exist and they do actually do things. We also like watching films. Amazing!

I've been binge watching lots of superhero films lately and they're the absolute worst for female characters. Besides X-Men (well done, X-Men, you win) you'll get ONE super lady who's part of the team. That's if there is a team (Avengers, for example, Suicide Squad etc.), if it's a standalone hero (Antman, say) you'll be lucky if there's any women in the film at all. Other than love interest. And then you're lucky if you remember her name.

Say there's five in the team. Only one will be a woman. But why can't there be two! Why, shock horror, can't there be three? Or four and only have the one guy? Will men just not watch these films? (Rhetorical, I know the answer).

So... (and here is the actual question) can anybody recommend me an SFF film, superhero or otherwise, where there are AT LEAST TWO main female characters* in the team if there's a team (Guardians of the Galaxy doesn't count, again Gamora is the only lady in the team). I'll happily watch foreign films and/or animated.

Rec away.

*I've already watched Justice League vs Teen Titans.


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## Hex (Mar 14, 2017)

Mononoke? Nausica? Howl's Moving Castle?

Apart from that... er...


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## Venusian Broon (Mar 14, 2017)

_Alien_, _Aliens_ and _Alien:Resurrection_ ? Maybe ?? (Although technically Winona Ryder is an android in the final one...)

Oh _Sunshine _has two women in the team, doesn't it?

Oh (2) _Pitch Black _has three women survive the crash.


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## Mouse (Mar 14, 2017)

Hex said:


> Mononoke? Nausica? Howl's Moving Castle?
> 
> Apart from that... er...



Ghibli's great for female characters and I've seen (and own) all of those, but that's not really what I mean. (Soz!)

Do the Aliens films have other ladies than Winona Ryder then, VB? (As part of the team, rather than background). I've only ever seen bits of the films. Maybe I should sit and watch a whole one. Ta. I've seen Pitch Black (of course, Claudia Black's in it! But yeah, spoiler, she dies ). I will check out Sunshine! Is that that Cillian Murphy one?


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## Venusian Broon (Mar 14, 2017)

Mouse said:


> Do the Aliens films have other ladies than Winona Ryder then, VB? (As part of the team, rather than background). I've only ever seen bits of the films. Maybe I should sit and watch a whole one. Ta. I've seen Pitch Black (of course, Claudia Black's in it! But yeah, spoiler, she dies ). I will check out Sunshine!



There are only seven in Nostromo's crew and the Navigator is also female (and she almost makes it off...) In _Aliens _I'd call Vasquez a pretty major character, but there is also (an admittedly short lived) marine and the pilot of the ground assault craft. Oh and of course Newt!

The _Resident Evil _films generally have more than one major female character - as the huge character is Milla Jovovich and they usually add another main female character.


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## Mouse (Mar 14, 2017)

Venusian Broon said:


> There are only seven in Nostromo's crew and the Navigator is also female (and she almost makes it off...) In _Aliens _I'd call Vasquez a pretty major character, but there is also (an admittedly short lived) marine and the pilot of the ground assault craft. Oh and of course Newt!



I've just been googling Lambert, actually! I'll add it to my list, definitely. And think I'll re-watch Pitch Black too.



> The _Resident Evil _films generally have more than one major female character - as the huge character is Milla Jovovich and they usually add another main female character.



Yep, seen Resident Evil. Love Milla Jovovich also.


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## Venusian Broon (Mar 14, 2017)

_Event Horizon _has two females in the team, I'm sure, as well. And no love interest!


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## BAYLOR (Mar 14, 2017)

*Sol Bianca  * About a pirate space ship crewed by woman. And they are really cool characters . 
*
The Dirty Pair  *Animae movies  Kei and Yuri.  They do law enforcement, unfortunately their exploits result in destruction of property on a mass scale. It's great stuff.


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## Mouse (Mar 14, 2017)

Venusian Broon said:


> _Event Horizon _has two females in the team, I'm sure, as well. And no love interest!



You're good at this, VB!



BAYLOR said:


> *Sol Bianca  * About a pirate space ship crewed by woman. And they are really cool characters .
> *
> The Dirty Pair  *Animae movies  Kei and Yuri.  They do law enforcement, unfortunately their exploits result in destruction of property on a mass scale. It's great stuff.



Those sound good, thanks!


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## Venusian Broon (Mar 14, 2017)

Mouse said:


> You're good at this, VB!



You've me procrastinating hard 

_Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? _


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## Mouse (Mar 14, 2017)

Seen it, own it! (I'm actually in the office meant to be working, so this is good skiving for me too!)


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## SilentRoamer (Mar 14, 2017)

Sarah Connor from Terminator?

The Terminators don't count as men, what with them being Terminators.


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## Venusian Broon (Mar 14, 2017)

_Silent Hill _is pretty female heavy. And it's got Radha Mitchell and Sean Bean! What's not to love?


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## Mouse (Mar 14, 2017)

I've seen The Terminator films (apart from the most recent one). One female character doesn't count!

Is Silent Hill a scary one? I can't do scary!


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## Venusian Broon (Mar 14, 2017)

Mouse said:


> Is Silent Hill a scary one? I can't do scary!



Okay, it might be construed as scary...

_Serenity_ has an mixed ensemble cast, (I'm just not too keen on anything vaguely Western, so it ain't one of my favourites!)


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## BAYLOR (Mar 14, 2017)

Mouse said:


> I've seen The Terminator films (apart from the most recent one). One female character doesn't count!
> 
> Is Silent Hill a scary one? I can't do scary!



You might try the TV series Terminator the Chronicles of Sarah Connors tv series  There is Sarah Connor  and a female Terminator named Cameron.


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## BAYLOR (Mar 14, 2017)

Venusian Broon said:


> Okay, it might be construed as scary...
> 
> _Serenity_ has an mixed ensemble cast, (I'm just not too keen on anything vaguely Western, so it ain't one of my favourites!)



*Serenity* is an excellent choice. Mostly because of River .


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## Venusian Broon (Mar 14, 2017)

Going back a bit, I always adored _The Company of Wolves - _which I'd argue is always coming from a female perspective on right grim fairy tales - it may be a bit dated with the effects, but I still love it nonetheless.


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## Brian G Turner (Mar 14, 2017)

Mouse said:


> can anybody recommend me an SFF film, superhero or otherwise, where there are AT LEAST TWO main female characters



Damn. That's an astute observation.

_Alien _and _Aliens _are the only ones that come to mind, and they were in the 1980's. I can't think of anything offhand from the past few years, except perhaps _The Invincibles_ - though that's animated rather than live action.


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## Mouse (Mar 14, 2017)

Guys, come on, of course I've seen Serenity! Shiny.  (Oh, and I prefer Zoe over River!)

Brian, The Invincibles is a good one! Animated films/shows tend to do better with the male/female ratio than live action, I fancy.


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## Nick B (Mar 14, 2017)

Avatar. New Ghostbusters. 
At work, so just a quick note. 

To be fair to the genre, scifi and horror tend to have more lead females than almost any other genres apart from romcoms.


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## BAYLOR (Mar 14, 2017)

Mouse said:


> Guys, come on, of course I've seen Serenity! Shiny.  (Oh, and I prefer Zoe over River!)
> 
> Brian, The Invincibles is a good one! Animated films/shows tend to do better with the male/female ratio than live action, I fancy.




*Ghost in the Shell *films and tv series . The Major rocks !


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## Mouse (Mar 14, 2017)

I have seen the new Ghostbusters (and Avatar, as it happens) but look how much flack that got just because there was a greater f/m ratio! Craziness.

I'm not sure I agree there are more female leads in sci fi and horror. Not a horror fan, so don't actually know there (women are better for killing, maybe?) but sci fi... really? Hmm. And more than ONE woman? (A quick google brings me to this list: The top 50 sci-fi movie protagonists note out of the *50* characters, only *four* are women, and one of those shares her spot with a man)

Baylor, I keep meaning to watch Ghost in the Shell.


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## Nick B (Mar 14, 2017)

If you like anime, there are literaly hundreds. Dominion - Tank Police. Ahh My Goddess, Bubblegum Crisis, Tenchi Muyo, its a huge list...


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## Phyrebrat (Mar 14, 2017)

Blockbuster serious actorrrr-y films usually fail the Bechdel Test, so I'm pretty sure most SFF will, too.

Thelma and Louise, though... that was proper fantasy... 

ETA: The Conjuring 2

pH


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## Mouse (Mar 14, 2017)

Thelma and Louise is actually on my to-watch list. 

I like that Bechdel site (I did know about the Bechdel Test, but not seen that list for films. Interesting that the latest TMNT film somehow passes it!)

Anime's always good.


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## Nick B (Mar 14, 2017)

Well, when Hollywood pick up Liberator and pay me one million pounds, it will need lots of decent female actors as they easily make up half the cast. And in book 2, even more so. 
But you'll have to wait, they havn't phoned me yet...


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## Mouse (Mar 14, 2017)

Dammit!


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## Phyrebrat (Mar 14, 2017)

Not a movie, but the ensemble cast of the outstanding new_ Battlestar Galactica _is very balanced, and I think it is hard to decide on who the 'main' would be. So,you have Starbuck, the President, Caprica 6, as your main ladies, but Sharon/Boomer, Cally and Deanna form a strong support class. 

I'd also argue that BSG is feminist, with the roles of those first 3 being crucial to the actual outcome of the entire series.

pH


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## Mouse (Mar 14, 2017)

You know I'm watching Battlestar Galactica! Or I was. I got up to ep four or five, I think, and got distracted with something else. Need to get back to it.

TV shows always do much better than films. (Firefly, Farscape, Buffy, Dollhouse etc)


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## Connavar (Mar 14, 2017)

Phyrebrat said:


> Not a movie, but the ensemble cast of the outstanding new_ Battlestar Galactica _is very balanced, and I think it is hard to decide on who the 'main' would be. So,you have Starbuck, the President, Caprica 6, as your main ladies, but Sharon/Boomer, Cally and Deanna form a strong support class.
> 
> I'd also argue that BSG is feminist, with the roles of those first 3 being crucial to the actual outcome of the entire series.
> 
> pH



That is one of the reasons BSG was critically hailed as great tv,the best SF i have seen because those many prominent female lead,supporting characters was natural,integral part of the story without making it big deal of the fact they were females. They were regular people(clones) with the same issues of human nature just like male characters.   That is not to be taken for granted.   Few female character centric tv shows,movies out there these days.


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## Vince W (Mar 14, 2017)

The Lost in Space film had three primary female characters. Dr. Maureen Robinson, Dr. Judy Robinson, and Penny Robinson.


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## Danny McG (Mar 14, 2017)

In ten days the release of The Power Rangers Movie.
With Naomi Scott as Yellow Ranger and Becky G as Pink Ranger.
Two females playing major roles.
There is also a female playing Rita Repulsa, the head evil one, so again a major role.
And YES! I do count the Power Rangers as SF


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## Abernovo (Mar 14, 2017)

Not quite a team, but there are two major women characters in _Interstellar_. Much as it has faults, and is based around the male main character, his actions are informed by working for his daughter (who ends up being the saviour figure of the film), and he is guided by Hathaway's character, who is the brains of the mission. It wouldn't pass the Bechdel Test, though, as the women do not talk to each other.

Obvious recent ones, I suppose, are _The Hunger Games_ series (pretty good, with women characters who are at least not one-dimensional) and the _Divergent_ series (okay, but cliched).


Mouse said:


> TV shows always do much better than films. (Firefly, Farscape, Buffy, Dollhouse etc)


I think you're right on that. Yet to see _Dollhouse_, but really want to, especially as I love _Buffy_ and _Firefly_. _Wynonna Earp_* and _Supergirl_ would also be ones to mention. Both start a bit ropey, but soon develop into strong programmes. Also looking forward hopefully (please don't let them be dashed) to the new _Wonder Woman_, which is a film (obvs! ).

*What? Okay, so I'm a fan. Deal with it...


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## Abernovo (Mar 14, 2017)

Horses for courses, Mouse. 

As an afterthought, and not sff, but about the people who inspired many science fiction writers, and about scientists (including mathematicians) and engineers, _Hidden Figures_ is brilliant. Sorry for the tangential post.


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## Mouse (Mar 14, 2017)

Oh yes, I wanted to see Hidden Figures, I didn't realise it was out yet.


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## Moonbat (Mar 14, 2017)

What about the new mad max. That had more female main characters and definitely passed the Bechtel test.

Harry potter series as long as you count Ginny or Mcgonagal or Bellatrix.
Does avengers age of ultron count as there is black widow and the scarlett witch (not sure if they ever talk to each other)

They are few and far between thats for sure.


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## Pyan (Mar 14, 2017)

If this thread does not stop being a sniping match and doesn't get back to the intentions of the original post, and I mean from now, I _will_ close it and further Moderator actions may follow. You've all been warned.


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## SilentRoamer (Mar 14, 2017)

Well this thread got lively.

I don't think these have been mentioned:

*Sucker Punch* is a mostly female cast.
*Pans Labryinth* is a female lead and a balanced supporting cast from what I remember.
*Narnia* films have a fairly mixed cast. (Earlier ones more so).
*Golden Compass* is a female lead and strong female supporting cast.
*Tomb Raider* hasn't been mentioned.
*BSG Film Spinoff Razor* (Although you might consider it a feature length episode but its basically a film).


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## Dave (Mar 14, 2017)

I'm closing this thread until you can behave. If you start this again then you will *ALL *get banned. I've better things to do than to deal with this juvenile nonsense.


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## Ursa major (Mar 16, 2017)

*Announcement*: The posts that led to and continued the arguments that led to Mods having to step in have been removed from view pending a decision regarding their eventual fate.


*EDIT*: Their eventual fate is to be removed from this thread permanently.


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