Entertainment with female protagonists.

[EstrogenicMuscle]

By the way, video games with character customization DO NOT count.

Also of course this isn't just about video games, or this would go in the video game section. I'm a person who tends to enjoy entertainment about girls/women/females as characters. Stories in which their roles are important and well fleshed out or better yet are the protagonists themselves.

However, in most industries, female protagonists are uncommon. Hence with the Bechdel Test and so forth. I was hoping for some help finding more. I have my own niches in media that I tend to pay attention to and I may have missed a lot of great examples of female protagonists or "female fronted" media.

I don't care whether it is video games, or comic books, or Japanese or American comic books, or "anime", or "cartoons", or animation from anywhere in the world, or live action movies, or tv shows. I think you get the picture, it is just about anything. What I want, are some female protagonists. I want to hear the stories of girls and women.

Though obviously I'm looking for something I would likely consider at least remotely good. Strong female characters or not hypersexualized are also a help. Whether it be Wendy the good little Witch or Tank Girl or Ruby Gloom or Battle Angel Alita or Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind or Drill Dozer or Mirror's Edge. All are good and the sort of thing that would interest me. Though I might be a bit less interested in something like Twilight or Empowered.

Recommend away and thanks for the help!

 

[an annoyed writer]

Beyond Good and Evil and the Alien movies spring to mind. Those are a couple things I'd definitely recommend. Also, Terminator, especially #1, #2, and the Sarah Connor Chronicles also have fairly standout women, namely Sarah Connor, though her role diminishes as the series focuses on her son, John. I'll probably think of a few others.

 

[BrotherRool]

Kim Possible! It's harder to find a better protagonist, and unlike almost any of the cartoons I watched as a child, I found I could still watch Kim Possible today and still enjoy it.

It's much easier to find interesting strong protagonists in the world of webcomics than most other media I find, I don't know if it's your sort of thing, but
Juathuur
http://gatecrash.juathuur.com/
Earthsong
http://earthsongsaga.com/
Supernomal Step
http://supernormalstep.com/
Widdershins
http://www.widdershinscomic.com/ (Something of a dual protagonist with a guy though)
Girl Genius
http://supernormalstep.com/
Cwen's Quest
http://www.drunkduck.com/Cwens_Quest/
Phoenix Requiem
http://requiem.seraph-inn.com/

Gunnerkrig Court, Errant Story etc. I don't know why but in the webcomic world female protagonists are really really common (maybe because there's gender balance in writers across most genre's, even a female favouring possibly.

Bookwise, The Hunger Games, it's not the love triangle thing media makes it out to be, it's a fairly brutal and unflinching examination of a society where the social norms allow incredible amounts of cruelty. Katniss, the protagonist I find compelling, because she's not a particularly nice person, she survives and understands the goodness in others and will protect it.

The Witch storylines in Terry Pratchett have good female protagonists to (Perdita, Granny Wetherwax)


And then game wise, The Dreamfall Chronicles (The Longest Journey, Dreamfall: The Longest Journey etc) have a female protagonist with a surprisingly strong personality for games in general.

 

[EstrogenicMuscle]

Wow, that's a lot of webcomics.

I'll keep my eye on Phoenix Requiem. It looks interesting.

 

[BrotherRool]

I don't know why, I love female protagonists but book wise and film wise it's actually really hard to find examples outside romance novels, but in the world of webcomics, it's like 2:1 female protagonists to male. (at least of what I read)

 

[Smertnik]

Your request is very broad, so I'll just throw out some random suggestions off the top of my head which may or may not be to your liking.

Video games:
Iji (free indie title)
Tomb Raider, I guess?

Novels:
Pratchett's Tiffany trilogy (Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, I Shall Wear Midnight)
Mardock Scramble trilogy

Manga/Manwha:
Dorohedoro
Teppuu
Ran to Haiiro no Sekai
The Friendly Winter
Diamond Dust
Watashitachi no Shiawase na Jikan

Animation:
Perfect Blue
Michiko to Hatchin
Haibane Renmei
Kino's Journey
Seirei no Moribito

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Beyond Good and Evil

Yay for Jade, awesome character.

OP: A lot of Miyazaki movies have female protagonists. The two sisters in Totoro are adorable. Kiki from the witch movie was pretty cool. So was Chihiro. The rest are a bit stereotypical though... it's always "the girl from Nausicaa" or "the girl from Castle in the Sky". Something like that.

 

[Edguy]

Like mentioned, webcomics is by far your best bet. There is a lot of female protagonists in action games and movies, it's just that they often are written a lot less convincingly. It's just harder to write a female into stories and situations that for most all of human history have been associated mostly with men.

 

[Uhura]

I'd recommend watching Winter's Bone. It's a great film that has a female protagonist and plenty of female side characters.


Oh, and watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gilmore Girls.

 

[Waxmeneer]

So, eight posts in and no mention of MLP yet? You dissapoint me escapist.
So yeah

My Little Pony:
6 great female main characters, and tons of awesome supporting ones too. It's not for everyone though but if you haven't seen it yet you should definitely check it out.

Avatar: The Last Airbender:
Not a female main character but strong female supporting cast and a incredible female villain.

Avatar, Legend of Korra:
Just like it's predecessor, great female supporting characters and one of the most awesome female main characters I've ever seen. It even gets a second season somewhere this winter!

 

[Stryc9]

I see on one's mentioned the 2000 not so classic Oni from Bungie. Sure it had a lot of anime cliches in it and the world didn't exactly feel like it was really lived in by the characters but the story was still halfway decent for the time and the hand to hand combat system was really solid.

 

[EstrogenicMuscle]

My Little Pony:
6 great female main characters, and tons of awesome supporting ones too. It's not for everyone though but if you haven't seen it yet you should definitely check it out.

It is a good suggestion, though I'm already a fan of that.

Perhaps the others knew. Or perhaps they didn't, in which case, sorry.

Actually, there's all sorts of examples I'm hoping to eventually see in the thread. Even though I'm already a fan of them.

 

[SweetLemonTea]

The only thing that comes to mind is Max from the Maximum Ride series a young and very strong female protagonist that also had a motherly role trying to protect her flock.

 

[The]

Valkyrie Cain from the Skulduggery Pleasant books. She kicks more and more ass as the books go by, but becoming a bit more ruthless like her mentor, Skulduggery, as well.

 

[Chemical Alia]

I have a thing for reading old Nancy Drew books. They're just so fun.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Try watching The Descent, OP. 'Tis an all-female cast survival horror flick which I would recommend because:

a) it's a genuinely tense thriller
b) it has Alex Reid in it
c) it has an engaging subtext of insanity
d) it has Alex Reid in it
e) it does not have the ending you will expect
and
f) it has Alex Reid in it

And quite frankly if you need any reasons other than b, d and f I don't know what else to say. ;D

 

[Eliwood10]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy the Vampire Slayer! BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER!!

It's one of the greatest TV shows ever made and is universally praised for it's strong, not-hypersexualized female protagonist.

 

[Belaam]

Lots of good ones already up, but trying to come up with a few more:

Books-
In addition to Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching books, also any that feature Susan Sto Helit as the protagonist (Soul Music, Hogfather, Thief of Time) or the witches (Equal Rites, Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade, Carpe Jugulum).
Raymond Feists' Empire trilogy (Daughter of the Empire, Servant of the Empire, Mistress of the Empire)
Mists of Avalon


Movies-
Possibly D.E.B.S., a satire of Charlie's Angels.
Bend it Like Beckham
Coraline (book and movie)
The New Tinkerbell movies aren't bad - they've retconned her as a stitchpunk engineer.
Hunger Games (books/movies)
Long Kiss Goodnight
Labyrinth
Party Girl
Mirrormask
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away

TV -
Bones
Castle
In addition to Buffy, Firefly/Serentiy.