These days there are a lot of complaints in Youtube videos reviewing movies about strong female leads that are done badly.
There is a reason for this.
Feminist Hollywood has forgotten kindness!
Feminist Hollywood has forgotten the feminine values!
We have decided as a society that masculinity is associated with strength, and that kindness and gentleness are feminine.
And many of our action movies with female leads are trying so hard to prove that a woman can do toxic masculinity as well as a man!
And of course, they're right!
Of course a strong woman can do toxic masculinity as well as a man!
But it is still toxic!
And a man can do feminine gentleness as well as a woman!
Just look at Jesus- or among superheroes, the original, Superman, who is known above all for his morality and restraint!
But masculine strength is worthless except to the extent that it protects feminine kindness and gentleness!
Masculine strength by itself is worthless!
There are many mediocre to bad movies out there.
And there are a few absolutely brilliant gems.
Look at 2017's Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman is strong.
But she is defined above all by her kindness and gentleness.
Look at Black Panther 2.
The conflict is resolved not when Suri wins a contest of strength, but when Suri gives in to kindness and forgiveness.
These are true heroes.
This is what is missing.
This is what made Kim Possible so brilliant.
Among many other things- such a brilliantly written show.
Kim Possible is strong- but she is unafraid to be feminine.
She looks stylish.
She does girly things.
She is a cheerleader.
She is unafraid of her femininity- both the superficial parts, like being stylish, which she does just for fun, and the important part, which is to be unafraid to be soft and kind.
We can look to Kim Possible, Princess Leia, characters like this.
In Shrek, Princess Fiona eventually learns to be unafraid to be an ogre, the Shrek kind of ogre, someone who is not harmful but not stereotypically pretty.
But she is also unafraid to be soft sometimes.
Defying traditional feminine stereotypes does not mean being nothing but strong and hard.
Princess Fiona never ceases to have many soft, gentle character moments.
Shrek 2 resolves with one- not from Princess Fiona, but from her mother.
And this is the resolution not only of Shrek 2 but of the entire series- after this point the main conflict driving the series is resolved, and no more Shrek movies are needed.
The entire series resolves, at the end of Shrek 2, with a moment of softness.
Kim Possible too, though she loves being stylish, is not afraid to be things that stereotypically are not 'princess' things- like being a James Bond-like superhero.
But as she does, she is unafraid to be herself, and she is unafraid to be soft and kind.
Shrek, the icon of rejecting a narrow definition of traditional 'princess' femininity, has plenty of softer moments throughout for Shrek and Princess Fiona, and even resolves, at the end of Shrek 2, with a moment of softness.
The softness and kindness transcends stereotypes.
There is no wrong way to be soft and kind.
One can be soft and kind while being a large, strong, green-skinned humanoid frog (surely Shrek too is part frog!).
One can be soft and kind while being Shrek and the true Princess Fiona.
One can be soft and kind while being captain of a starship, like Captain Janeway.
Her strength is more obvious. But she does not reject softness when it is appropriate. And she certainly does not reject kindness.
This is where the true light lies.
With softness and kindness.
This is what Hollywood's female superhero leads need more of.
God loves you! Look to the light!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson