Why are female characters more interesting?

Post Reply New Topic

I myself am a guy, yet for some reason I have always liked female characters over male characters in movies, TV shows, and video games. And no it's not because I think they're "sexy", I consider myself somewhere between asexual and homosexual so I really have no sexual attraction to women. But after looking over my collection of favorite movies on DVD I have realized that every movie I like tends to potray a female character in the lead role.

I think partly it's because I tend to think just about every male character in the media is potrayed as dull and boring. All male characters seem to follow the same macho male stereotype; trying to get laid by a hot girl and coming across as a tad on the slow side, and if he's not slow he's almost always a complete jerk (James Bond in 007 comes to mind).

Female characters on the other hand seem to be more open to a variety of different personality traits. Sometimes you have the strong independant female who's fighting to prove that a woman can be just as tough as a man, sometimes you have the kindly sweet-natured woman who cares about her family and friends and does everything in her power to help them, sometimes you have the devious femme fatales who use their beauty and charms for sinister purposes, and sometimes you have the purely innocent young girl who becomes a victim of something evil and needs to be rescued.

My point is that I admire female characters for the fact that they can potray a variety of different roles, which I can't really say the same for a lot of male characters as most of them all seem the same to me. Am I the only one who feels that way?

I'm the opposite. I'm a woman and I have always been a lot more emotionally attached to male characters than female ones. It's only been within the past couple of years that I've learned to start liking female characters too.

I agree that male characters seem one-dimensional - that is, if you're talking about standard action movies or comedies aimed at the male demographic. But I watch a lot of fantasy movies and anime, so I have encountered a much wider variety of male characters other than the "dim-witted, macho, always-get-the-girl" type the OP described. For example, I have encountered the sensitive, artistic outcast (title character of Edward Scissorhands), the cheerful, effeminate man-child (Okita from Peacemaker Kurogane, Willy Wonka from Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), the serious guy bent on revenge for his loved ones (Barnaby from Tiger & Bunny, the title character of Sweeney Todd), the nice yet mentally and emotionally damaged guy (Mad Hatter from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland). I could go on and on.

But anyway, I think that there may be some kind of link between people finding characters of the opposite sex to be more interesting, and not necessarily a sexual one either.

Well even the few "unique" male characters in the media don't interest me that much, like the ones you just mentioned. I guess maybe you're right and some people like us are just naturally drawn to characters of the opposite gender.

I think my favorite female character archetype is the femme fatale. A lot of my favorite movies like Kill Bill, Bride of Chucky, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith feature deadly women who use their beauty as a weapon, and it makes them perfect as assassins, spies, and killers. I like the idea of a woman who can be strong and smart, but at the same time look and dress beautiful.

Women are more dramatic.

If a male character has to kill another character, then *BOOM*, it's over - pithy comments optional. Repeat as needed until the credits roll.

If a female character must kill another character, then she must first endure all the angst of making the decision, turn into an enraged instrument of vengeance, scream, cry, flail, engage in a drawn-out two-way exposition, express some form of sentimentality, then make the kill. After which, she will break down crying in the arms of her lover - therapy sex optional. The final scene shows her back at her old life, with everything back to normal.




... or is it?

lol I guess you have a point there. Even in the real world when a woman hurts or kills another human being, it's almost always an emotional thing.

I feel the same way. For as long as I can remember, I've always felt more drawn to female characters (and I am a gay male just like the OP). I just always thought that a main female protagonist was essential for a good movie - otherwise, the movie would feel "incomplete" to me.

My inclinaton toward female characters also shows whenever I'm making up stories in my mind. I always tend to give the female characters in my stories more depth and backstory than my male characters. It's not something I do on purpose, it's just something that I tend to do without thinking about it.

I've noticed that a lot of people seem to feel drawn to female characters. I suppose it gives the story a sort of nice balance between masculine influences and feminine influences. It could also stem from an idea that a female protagonist is essential in that she plays the role of gaining the audience's sympathies and adoration (which could not rest solely on a male protagonist).

Well, considering that both human genders are quite different, I think that this fascination may be due to the more "alien" nature of the other sex. It could also be due to any of the concepts in this video being done successfully. I don't really find female characters more interesting than males, but nor do I enjoy male characters more than females. Example: In Neon Genesis Evangelion I related to both Shinji and Rei but it wasn't so much for their genders as much as their messed-up psyches.

EDIT: I forgot to pluralize "gender." This could've caused confusion.
EDIT to EDIT: I left the "d" of of "caused." This is quite embarrassing.

I like male characters so much more than female characters.