As someone who’s consumed a ton of media, I’ve always found myself rooting for the underdog in every piece of work. In some cases, the underdog is a female character who is somehow hated by a majority of the audience for no logical reason. In some cases, I understand when their actions can garner well-justified criticism, but in other cases, the hate is often too much and unneeded. Below, I’ve included several female characters who experience the “over-hated female character” treatment by their fans.
- Katara and Korra
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We’re starting strong with Avatar. The amount of hate Katara receives for simply being a teenage girl with trauma is concerning, to say the least. The biggest complaint I’ve heard about her character is how she “constantly” brings up her dead mother. In reality, she’s only brought up her dead mother about three times in the show, and in the instances where it is brought up, it’s to showcase how it impacts her character today. Also, none of these complaints are reserved for Zuko who brought up his honor for the entirety of a season. People seem to throw their media literacy out the window when it comes to understanding Katara and the impact of losing her mother at such a young age. Katara eases into her “motherly” role when it comes to connecting with other people, not when it comes to controlling them. While Katara also faces tragedy in filling the “motherly” role, she also finds strength. Also, this is a 14-year-old girl we’re talking about that some fans tend to treat as an adult.
Korra receives a significant amount of hate for simply enduring the worst of the worst throughout the show. The poor girl gets kidnapped once or twice, becomes poisoned, becomes paralyzed and depressed after said poisoning, and ends up having the Avatar connection ripped away from her. She endures all of that just to have people rank her as the weakest Avatar for things out of her control. I also believe people’s biggest complaints stem from comparing her to Aang which is a bad comparison to make when you consider how they are two completely different people in two completely different periods. Despite all that she endures, Korra still manages to come out on top.
- Lori Grimes
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It’s been years since I’ve watched The Walking Dead and I still fail to understand how people paint Lori Grimes as being a worse character than Merle Dixon. The hate against Lori is garnered from her moving on with Rick’s best friend, Shane, which is bound to cause some criticism. But when we consider her circumstances, a single mother in a zombie-filled society with no laws, I can understand why she sought out Shane as not only a source of comfort but as protection. Not to mention, the minute Rick was found alive she immediately ended it with Shane. And where is the criticism for Shane? There’s also the fact that everybody seems to brush off her getting sexually assaulted by Shane. While her actions did hurt some people, I do not think she deserves the excessive amount of hate she gets compared to other characters who have done worse and yet are dearly loved.
- Carol Danvers
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I’ve been on the frontlines of defending Carol Danvers since Captain Marvel was released. I’ve never understood the multiple complaints against her character. Words like “cocky,” “unemotional,” and “stuck-up” along with various other unsavory adjectives were thrown around to describe her character. But I’ve found that the same people who hate Carol Danvers tend to idolize Tony Stark.
- Bianca di Angelo and Rachel Elizabeth Dare
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My biggest hope with the Percy Jackson TV show is that they handle these two characters with care because the treatment they get from regular book fans drives me insane. Let’s start with Bianca. Many fans disagree and throw hate towards the fact that Bianca could so easily join the Hunters and leave her brother. Mind you, the brother she’s been taking care of for god knows how long. I think another reason why she was so quick to accept Artemis’ offer is because she knew for certain Nico would have a roof over his head and protection at Camp Half-Blood. If he didn’t have any of that, there’s no way she would have joined the Hunters. Either way, she was simply a 12-year-old girl who had too much on her shoulders.
Most of the hate against Rachel stems from the slight rift she caused between Percy and Annabeth. Her biggest crime was liking a boy. Other than that, she’s an amazing character.
- Gwen Stacy
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There’s nothing in the world that could make me hate Gwen Stacy. Or at least put her above Miguel on the least likable characters in Across the Spiderverse. There is no way we should be hating on the 16-year-old girl who wrongly assumes she has no home. I know people like to claim that she never cared about Miles, but I fail to find the truth in that during the movie. She’s the one who seeks out Miles in his universe despite knowing the risks. She’s the one who tried her hardest to keep him away from the Society. There’s a reason why the movie starts with her perspective. Imagine watching all of that and still coming out of the movie theater with Gwen Stacy at the top of your hate list.