One tough chick!

I recently wrote a post about raising tough girls and thought it was a good theme to continue.

I just saw The Hunger Games and I loved it!  I was way more entertained than I thought I would be.  From the previews it looked like it was going to have everything I want in a movie; fighting, battles, survivor mentality, justice, non-conformity and some stuff blew up!

Very cool, right?  Hollywood strikes again!

But the element that struck me as the most important and, somewhat over looked, is that the main character is female.  I know what you're thinking,"Duh! Of course she's a girl."  And I further know that this was made apparent by the incredible ad campaign leading up to and during the movie's release.

But stop for a moment right here.  For all you dad's out there (and moms, because I know some of you read here too), I want you to recall all the movies you've seen and list how many of them were led by a strong leading female character.  I'm not talking about the movies where a female simply has a leading role and perhaps her character has an edge to her.  No, I'm talking about the sort of leading female like Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence.  I'm having a difficult time thinking of more than just a few.

I'm not going to go into a long history of film and interplay my personal thoughts on sexism and how the traditional view of men as the superior sex had anything to do with the types of characters we're all used to as these films were delivered to us by a predominantly male-run industry.

But I do want to emphasize the serious lack of truly tough women in movies.  I think this is changing though; because as I type this I realize that most of the movies I can think of with this type of character are within the last 10 years or so.

What I mean by "this type of character" is the following and it is so much of what I want my girls to be: 

She was simultaneously tough and sensitive.  Remained true to herself, but recognized areas of growth and made necessary changes in order to take herself to her next level.  Learned from her mistakes, but didn't let fear of failure paralyze her.  She knew who she could trust, but proceeded with caution.  She acted quickly and decisively, but adjusted if her decision went awry.  She showed the strong where they were weak and helped the weak find their strength.  I could continue, but I think you get the point.

Now, I'm an NOT going to rush out and take my 7 and 5 year old to see this movie; they are no where near ready for that sort of violence.  However, I will keep this movie title on my list of movies to watch with them when the time is right.