50 Fictional Femmes of 2009: Part One

Tagged with: fictional femmes women in sci-fi

Traditionally, Pink Raygun has done a yearly list of the top one hundred fictional femmes in genre film in television. Since we’ve started, developing the list has become problematic in a few ways.

The list was becoming static. Ellen Ripley, Buffy, and Xena would always be at the top.
There was little room for bringing in new characters.
The list was a fun lark, but not particularly useful in examining the state of women in the area.

So, the list has evolved out of necessity. What was the list of one hundred is now two lists of fifty: the 2009ers and the All-Timers.

This list looks at the women who were active in film and television in 2009, ranked from number 50 to number 1 in terms of strength and generalized awesome. This is where you find women from leading roles in long running shows to minor roles that just popped up this year. Some are made of awesome. Others are more disappointing and disheartening. But, it’s important to include them because they are part of the current TV/ film landscape for women, and possibly the shape of things to come. The second list (coming next week) celebrates the All-Timers, the women we’ve loved for years.

And so, here is the first half of the list, numbers 50 – 26.

	50. Bella (Twilight): We’ve been looking at Petfinder for a puppy to adopt and in perusing hundreds of available pets, I noticed a trend: there are an awful lot of unwanted pets named Bella. We’d rather not include her (call us elitist). Bella doesn’t do anything other than pine away for a guy, but she is a pop-cultural force to be reckoned with this year. God, I hope this romantic helplessness of hers isn’t the next big trend in roles for women.
	49. The Baroness and Scarlett (GI Joe: Rise of Cobra): Both women were grossly depowered for the movie. The Baroness is no longer a German badass who does evil because it’s fun; she’s now a victim, infected with namites that make her do evil against her will. Wolfen Moondaughter says, “Basically instead of being a strong woman who does evil because she wants to, she’s been mind-raped and now is feeling guilty because even though she may not have wanted it, she found herself enjoying it anyway.” Scarlett has gone from being the heart of the team to being a cold, socially inept scientist type.
	48. Silver Fox: Known as Kayla in the movie, her character could easily have taken the path of the refrigerator, suffering horribly so that the primary male character could react. However, the movie rewrote her so that she was in on the plot to turn Wolverine into a berserker maniac, rather than someone else’s unwilling tool.
	47. Alice Hamilton (Alice): Capable and clever, she was a SyFy Brand heroine I could get behind.
	46. Tracy, Emma, and Lydia (Heroes): Three characters with really cool abilities, but none of them are independent. Tracy can’t function unless she’s attached to a man. Emma is naturally afraid when her abilities manifest, but as TrinityVixen points out, she can’t loosen up and enjoy her ability until a man gives her permission. Lydia is controlled by Samuel.
	45. Tara (True Blood): Tara is tough, self-sufficient, and will verbally take down anyone who deserves it. However, she became a tool and a puppet, used by Maryann to gain control of Bon Temps.
	44. Women of Stargate Universe: The show is still very new, but it’s disappointing that the women have been largely relegated to the background, dressing up scenes, and paving the way for the guys to shine. Hopefully, there will be great things from them as SGU moves forward into season two.
	43. Cylons Six and Eight (BSG): This was the season when the Cylon ladies went as bat$h!t crazy as the human ladies.
	42. Neytiri (Avatar): Alien Pocahontas.
	41. Charlotte Charles (Pushing Daisies): Chuck was entirely dependent on the Pie Maker after her resurrection. Before that, she was entirely depended on her shut-in aunts. Finally, Before Pushing Daisies ended, she finally was able to take steps toward independence, moving out of Ned’s apartment, going out in public more often without obscuring her face, and taking amore active role in Emerson’s investigations.
	40. Olive Snook (Pushing Daisies): Like Chuck, Olive found independence outside the Pie Hole, becoming Emerson Cod’s informal partner in investigation and letting herself let go of Ned. She was also able to forge a strong friendship with Chuck, rather than constantly competing with her for the Pie Maker’s affection.
	39. Wichita and Little Rock (Zombieland): Con artists in life, con artists in the zombie apocalypse. These two call the shots for Columbus and Tallahasse through a lot of the movie.
	38. Kate Connor (Terminator Salvation): A veterinarian who became a physician out of the sheer necessity brought on by Judgement Day and the machines.
	37. Sonja (Underworld: Rise of the Lycans): She’s a badass vampire with a common downfall: love. Her love and her execution triggered the war between vampires and werewolves that raged throughout the Underworld series.
	36. Myka Bering (Warehouse 13): A federal agent in the same vein as Dana Scully. She rarely needs rescuing and is spared from romantic feeling from her partner, instead forging more of a brother/sister relationship.
	35. Morgana (Merlin): In season one, she had to hide her abilities as a seer from Uther Pendragon; however, she was often the voice of reason when he acted rashly.
	34. Maryann Forrester (True Blood): Her singleminded desire to bring Dionysus to Earth turned Bon Temps into a black eyed orgy of destruction.
	33. Coraline Jones (Coraline): This adventurous, spunky little girl saved herself, her parents, and the souls of other children from the Other Mother – a creature that kidnaps children and eats their souls.
	32. Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood): Often a damsel in distress, often does what Bill Compton tells her to do (otherwise she gets scolded like a child). However, she will fight for what’s right and help others, often putting herself in danger to do so.
	31. Sun Hwa-Kwan (Lost): Sun didn’t have a lot to do in this last season of Lost, but she has grown considerably, taking matters into her own hands and getting confrontational when the situation calls for it.
	30. Nimueh (Merlin): An ancient, misunderstood sorceress. She’s not really evil. She’s just really pissed that Uther killed her friends.
	29. Anna (V): Aside from being the High Commander of the invading force and acting to subdue humanity, Ana also has a vice grip on her own people via a mental link though which she delivers them to a happy place. For reasons unknown, this requires her to stand naked in a tub of goo.
	28. Susan Murphy/ Ginormica (Monsters vs. Aliens): Susan’s dreams of a perfect wedding to a perfect weatherman were dashed when she was hit by a meteorite and mutated into a giantess. She starts off pretty meek and wants nothing more than for the mutation to go away, but she eventually embraces it, saves the world, and dumps her idiot fiance.
	27. Catherine Weaver (Sarah Connor Chronicles): Finally, a terminator that is not controlled by Future!John Connor and is still working against Sky Net. Plus, how may CEOs wish they could turn into a urinal in order to spy on employees and dispatch of them?
	26. Lady Christina de Souza (Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead) – Finally, a girl who doesn’t fall in love with the Doctor or let him dominate. She takes the lead when stranded, she happily dives down into an abyss to get a piece of needed equipment, and rescues herself when attacked. I would love to see Lady DeSousa as a regular companion.