“…Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl.”
– Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl
The following is an excerpt from the iconic Amy Dunne monologue in Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. The rant criticizes and mocks a common male fantasy—the cool girl—in an unforgiving and relentless manner. This excerpt highlights how women’s anger is often seen as unattractive, while compliance is deemed desirable. It is this theme that appears frequently in film and literature, and when scrutinized, it is reflective of both societal expectations and the unfortunate reality women face.
In a long history of abysmally written female characters in film and literature, female rage breaks through a suffocating fog of stereotypes that reduce women and girls to repetitive, unsubstantial, and shallow roles. From the girl next door to the manic pixie dream girl, contemporary media has curated countless tropes that cater solely to the male gaze. Rage often serves as the driving force behind more complex and dark characters—ones you can’t look away from, whether on screen or the page. Women in fiction are rarely depicted with such rage unless they’re a femme fatale, an archetype that portrays female power as something purely sexual.
However, when anger or power is weaved into a female character for something she wants—something beyond a man—it allows her identity to be composed of more than solely the harmful, objectifying expectations that often shape female depictions in the media. The further these boundaries are pushed, the closer we get to realistic, complex female characters. It casts aside subtlety in favor of unapologetic storytelling.
For example, in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, Nina, the protagonist and a dancer, spirals into madness in her quest to achieve beyond perfection in her ballet performance. Her desire for greatness in her craft is both desperate and potent. The film allows femininity and anger to coexist, manifesting into something compelling and unique. As Nina’s desire as a woman is driven by something other than a romantic interest, the story may feel jarring to some, because it’s rare to see the spotlight on a woman’s individuality and ambition—especially explored with such intensity. In real life, this is reflected when young girls are discouraged from pursuing careers in male-dominated fields or are shamed for their success, as they are expected to focus on family and children instead. That said, at its core, the film depicts the obsession to achieve perfection—something that exists in women just as much as it does in men.
Well-written characters aren’t always meant to be likable, or even good people—and this holds even for characters driven by female rage. For example, author Ottessa Moshfegh is notorious for crafting characters that many might label unlikable. In much of her work, her protagonists are unhinged, unstable women, steeped in their despair. Yet, despite their flaws, these characters feel undeniably real—and, of course, angry.
Just as people have differing opinions about real people, when there’s varying judgment or a gray area in a character’s likability, it’s often a sign that the character is well-written. Notable examples of this can be seen in the female characters of Euphoria—Rue, Jules, Cassie, Maddie, Lexi, and Kat. During the release of the show’s second season, there was a constant wave of online discourse after each episode. The offense and defense of these characters varied so widely that it almost felt like a discussion about real people. The debates weren’t just about their love interests; they centered on these women’s intentions, morals, and decisions—on their very identities.
Rage is a catalyst for everything women and girls are encouraged to not be or feel. Yet, the rage instilled in female characters often makes them mirror reality in a way that feels strikingly true. No other emotion can break expectations in the same way that rage does. In real life, women are so often met with the invalidation of their anger or frustration, and seeing these emotions play out in fiction offers a sense of relatability that we so desperately crave.
Ultimately, the way we feel and react to the characters we love or hate says more about us than we often realize. That strange familiarity we feel when watching or reading about these characters is not much different from looking into a mirror.