Frequently, I'm seriously annoyed by the way women are portrayed on television and in the books I'm reading. Yesterday, I finished I Am Number Four. About halfway through the book, I began to roll my eyes. The author wanted the readers to buy that the main character, John, was in truly in love with a school mate, Sarah. I did not buy for one second that what they had was love. They are fifteen for one AND, more importantly, the poor girl had no personality. She was a face and nothing more. John always called her things like "Gorgeous" and thought about how pretty she was. That was the extent of what we knew about her and it was also all apparently he cared to know too. The story is basically this: John and eight other aliens came to earth when their planet is destroyed, big bad aliens are trying to kill them, and John knows he's next. The idea behind the plot is Superman's back story for the most part. John has superpowers, etc. John isn't a likable main character. He's selfish and that selfishness gets those close to him hurt or killed. He is never has to accept the consequences for his actions even when bad stuff happens and its his fault. He's the male version of a Mary Sue. Anyways, back to his love interest . . . when John finally tells Sarah that he's an alien, there are no questions or "Oh my gosh!" moments. She believes him right off the bat and isn't at all weird out that he isn't human or even that he's been lying to her about everything since she met him. Oh yeah, and right before she finds out he's an alien, she manages to be stupid enough to be the only person stuck in a burning house. John, of course, has to save her. There is crying involved.
The worst moment in the book came when John and his protector are fighting it out with the bad aliens and Sarah won't stop clinging to him and crying. She cries a lot. He tries to push her off of him but she won't leave. She has to be led away by another big strong man because she doesn't even have the brains to know when to hide. At the end, the author somehow wants us to believe that this idiotic wimp would kill a bad alien. I didn't buy it. She was in hysterics when she saw them earlier and there is no way that the little woman the author created could have even stabbed an alien. I read the book thinking the book would get better but no, it got worse. The author made me so frustrated because whoever they are, they should have known better than to create a self-centered character like John (and present him as a hero) and a girl without any personality. These two aren't the only things wrong with the book but they are the pair that made me want to scream when I was finished.
Sarah was an example of a horribly weak female character, but unfortunately, she is not the exception. Last weak, I finished Mockingjay. I had been under the impression that the main character, Katniss, would be a strong woman. She kicks butt and wants to take down the government. By the third book, however, she spends all of her time being used by the resistance, sulking, and blaming herself for every thing. She never steps up to the plate. She never takes control of her own life. While reading the book, I came to the realization that any other character in the series would have been more interesting at that point. She didn't do anything. How can you write a book about a character who doesn't do anything or make any choices? Well, Suzanne Collins proved that you can, but it makes for a horrible book.
Katniss and Sarah are just a few in the long line of weak female characters that have been saturating the media lately. After finished that horrible book in the afternoon, I was so thankful to catch the new show Nikita last night. After watching an episode of Covert Affairs this summer, I was hoping that Nikita wouldn't go the same way and bring another set of boy obsessed female spies to the TV. My hopes were rewarded. The new Nikita is along the lines of her predecessors, the original Nikita and Sydney Bristow. She kicks butt and has a mission she believes in. The show was billed as a Girl Power show and it definitely rises to that title. There are two strong female leads, Nikita herself and Alex. Both are smart and tough. Nikita is trying to take down Division, the place that turned her into an assassin and killed her fiancé Danny (shades of Alias here). She has been in hiding for a while but now is instigating a war with Alex as her ally. Alex is on the inside feeding Nikita information. She was picked up off the streets as a new recruit and is being trained to be an assassin. Of course, Nikita trained her first and so we are given a really interesting duo. I have great hopes for this show. It doesn't fit in with the other shows in the CW line up but I'm hoping that it will stay on anyway. It promises to be an interesting show and I, for one, am thankful to see a strong woman on television again. Her appearance last night renewed my hope that there are some more writers out there who believe young women need strong female characters to encourage and empower them.
