For the longest time, stories have portrayed heroic acts from men, and as time evolved, so did stories of civilization. Now, men can be portrayed in different character archetypes; however, for women, we have been limited to very few archetypes. These vary from the damsel-in-distress, the femme fatale, the villainess, the buff warrior and the mother.
However, we have seen a slight progression in women’s representation, as well as a change from trading the soft feminine characters to sudden badasses. Now there is nothing wrong with having a strong female character, but the issue is that the execution of the strong woman character has become 2-dimensional. Especially in Hollywood, every female character must fight and this is not the issue.
What I believe is the issue is that a female must be a requirement to be a compelling character. At this point, we forget that other things or attributes can be strengths. Hayao Miyazaki, the director of many Studio Ghibli movies, has created females who have different strengths, talents and motivations that make them completely relatable and realistic.
They showed compassion
A simple act of kindness can truly make an unexpected impact. We see this case with many of Miyazaki’s characters, and even if they are physically strong, they show acts of compassion even to their worst enemies. For example, in Howl’s Moving Castle, the protagonist, Sophie, shows this trait when it comes to troubling, handsome warlocks. What truly solidifies her as a compassionate character is when she shows compassion to the witch who had cursed her, for Sophie sees good in the evil witch and has suffered with her self-image just as she did at the beginning of her journey.
They Have Goals/Dreams
One of the archetypes that Hollywood tends to use with female characters is to have their story entirely wrapped around a man’s journey; it’s a rarity to see a female character have their own goals without involving a man. For Miyazaki’s female characters, he tends to balance a bit of both. How does he do it? He ensures that all characters have their dreams and support from each other. For example, in Whisper of the Heart, the young protagonist, Shizuku, is shown to have a writing talent and is inspired by her love interest as she creates a goal to write a story to prove herself. On the other hand, her love interest has goals of his own and expresses his support (and his feelings) to her as well.
They Have Courage
Even if they don’t show their toughness with a lethal weapon, female characters show courage in the face of danger by showing kindness or protecting/saving their loved ones. One great example is Little Chihiro from Spirited Away. Being thrown into a dangerous position to work in a bathhouse in the spirit realm, she takes on the most difficult challenge(s) to save her parents, who were turned into pigs. Yet her courage allowed her to grow into a self-reliant girl whenever push came to shove, relying on following her instincts.
Miyazaki’s films are one of the rare cases of writing/creating compelling female characters, from their protagonists to antagonists and their secondary characters. Having characters show humanity and how they are so much more than the average archetypes can create an intriguing story.