The Performance of the Strong Female Character

Pedersen, Mads Aarup

4. term

English, Master

2024

2024-05-30

79 pages

This thesis paper discusses the strong female character archetype found in Hollywood movies and the different iterations of this female character trope. To investigate and discuss the strong female character archetype examples such as Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games (2012) and Diana Prince from Wonder Woman (2017) will be analyzed and discussed as strong female characters. The strong independent female character will be investigated through the literary scope of character complexity and the cultural scope of gender performativity, to see if the strong female character is strong due to its often masculine nature. The combination of literary characters presented through visual culture and analyzed through a cultural scope seeks to prove both positive and negative cultural impacts this character archetype is capable of bringing with it as possible female icons and role models. The first part of this analysis will deal with Katniss Everdeen as an example of a true strong female character, an iteration of the strong female character that embodies both masculine and feminine character traits. This iteration of the strong female character archetype that Katniss portrays embraces both masculinity and femininity, as it is a highly complex character that focuses on the inner values of the character. This complex and balanced form of the strong female character presents the character archetype in a positive manner, that places both masculine and feminine character traits as equals, as it finds strengths and weaknesses in both. As Katniss portrays this true strong female archetype it is concluded that this iteration of the character archetype must be seen as the healthiest and most complex version of the strong female character and the ideal role model. The second part of the analysis and discussion of the strong female character deals with Diana Prince ‘aka’ Wonder Woman, as an example of the traditional strong female character. This version of the strong female character does not portray the same balance between gender traits as the previous version shown through Katniss, as this version is predominantly masculine in nature and mostly favors masculine character traits. This part of the analysis also questions the slight sexualization of Wonder Woman and the meaning behind the narrative setting of WW1, as this presents a strong female character fighting both to heroically end the horrors of war and the toxic view of the patriarchy. The thesis paper concludes that both the traditional and the true version of the strong female character archetype must be seen as good or healthy, whereas the true version is the rarest and most complex version of the character archetype. In its discussion of the strong female character archetype, the paper finds that even though the traditional strong female character may be good and healthy enough, then it does come with the risk of making the character too masculine and in turn portraying masculinity as superior and femininity as being inferior.

Stærk kvindelig karakter ; Katniss Everdeen ; Wonder Woman ; Gender perfomativity ; køn ; maskulinitet ; femininitet ; kønsteori

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