SFF Films with Female Characters

[Nick B]

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.

 

[BAYLOR]

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 !

 

[Mouse]

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.

 

[Nick B]

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

 

[Phyrebrat]

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

 

[Mouse]

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.

 

[Nick B]

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...

 

[Mouse]

Dammit!

 

[Phyrebrat]

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

 

[Mouse]

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)

 

[Connavar]

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.

 

[Vince W]

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

 

[Danny McG]

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

 

[Abernovo]

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).

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...

 

[Abernovo]

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.

 

[Mouse]

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

 

[Moonbat]

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.

 

[Pyan]

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.

 

[SilentRoamer]

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).

 

[Dave]

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.