Fictional women we do like, and why?

x-post Sieglinde!!! That's so right - god knows what JKR was doing there, there is nothing attractive about Ron and never has been. PMSL/ at "doing what all smart girls do - destroying her life by marrying a loser". :(

I don't think the HP series does relationships well at all. Cho & Harry - possibly as a teenage relationship. Harry & dribbling fan Ginny - bit pathetic to go out with your no.1 fan Harry? You'd think he would want someone a bit more unphased by his fame Ron & Hermione - NEVER!!! Hermione would more likely have go together with one of the slightly older Order of the Phoenix lot - if they hadn't all died of course.

ooh my c&p didn't work earlier - the quote said that people were writing to Wilkie Collins asking who he had based Marian Halcombe on, so that they could propose to her :o

(Yes you must SSM - PM me for tedious exciting directions as to which ones to go for :))

Hermione - good one.

Yeah, potplant, I can see it now.

Ron is sitting in a giant eezichair watching Quidditch World Cup repeats.

Ron: 'Hey, Hermione! Bring me a can and some crisps!'

Hermione hurries in from work, carrying a briefcase. She is by now Head of All Aurors. Sounds of crying children, evidently ignored by Ron.

'In a minute, darling. Just let me -'

'NOW! Ah, come on, love.'

Ron is a total WASTE OF SPACE and Hermione is doing what smart girls all do - destroying her life by marrying a loser.

peggy olsen

behaves like she doesn't know/care what era she's living in and just gets on with it.

Enid from Ghost World.

There's loads on here I've never heard of I'll get over to Amazon straight away.

I'm going to add Hermione Granger because she clever, takes pride in her intellectual abilities, she's not an equal to the boys - she's better and they all know it. She always stands up for what she believes in.

(OK - she gets a bit soppy over Ron more in the films than the books but I'll let her off cos she's also a teenager)

I'm no Ringnerd, but others are. I remembered just enough of the script to find that dialogue from LotR via Google.

August Boatwright from The Secret Life of Bees. What a combination of practical skills and human qualities!

I love Marian Halcombe. Must read more Wilkie Collins.

Lio - yes IIRC she is seen first from the back. Beautiful figure, slender waist, elegant etc, then she turns round!

Just googled her name and found this: "identity of the original for his heroine Marian Halcombe, and if she would accept their hand in marriage." :o

Monobrow and moustache, I think?

I think season 6 of Buffy arguably gets a pass on feminist grounds because it's signalled very clearly as being a crap relationship. We're allowed to portray women making crap choices and having crap relationships aren't we? it's portrayed that Buffy a) went into the relationship because something was wrong in her life b) knew that it wasn't good for her c) made a strong positive choice to walk away from it in search of something more healthy (singledom for a start, but influenced by seeing Riley's example of a good relationship).

The problem is that their chemistry was so ridiculously sexy that the show ended up having its cake and eating it "Ooh look how poor Buffy is stuck in this negative behaviour pattern because she's so depressed about not being dead! Now would you like to see her being stuck in a negative behaviour pattern again, in a slightly different position?" Audience "Oh, go on then, mmmmm"

I think we can include Buffy; the show brings those things in as issues not as the norm and/or positive. The relationship is portrayed as an unhealthy realtionship not something to aspire to; the fact Spike loves Buffy doesn't mean its okay for her to beat him up. Especially when she thinks he can't fight back. There's also the character growth as Buffy recognises that it isn't healthy and it isn't good for either of them. And they're clear that the fact they had a violent relationship doesn't excuse the attempted rape, which in a total contrast to the way date/relationship rape is often pretty much writen off in many places is shown as so bad that a souless demon who doesn't feel guilty about having eaten thousands of people goes off to win a soul over it.

Roalind Russell's character in "His Girl Friday"

Definitely. There's a line in there about how she's not a wife in the suburbs but a newspaperman...great line.

Scarlett O'Hara. The only heroine who is also the villain as well. A controversial one I know but she is tough and determined and manipulative and she pulls it all together and keeps Tara from going to the walls.

Margo Channing (Bette Davis) from All About Eve. A hilarious and scorching satire on sexism and ageism which is still relevant today.

Pilar in For Whom The Bell Tolls - mistress of bullfighters and freedom fighter.

Velvet Brown in National Velvet. I weep buckets when she falls off the horse at the end.

Funny that the best characters are old women or young girls.

Pandora peroxide! took me a minute to place the name, completely forgot about her, she was great.

Oh yes, Marian Halcombe in The Woman in White, wonderful. Doesn't one character say (to himself) of her: the woman is ugly!

MrsVP, you can be Magrat and I'll be Esme W... Though sixpercenttruejedi will probably have got there first!

SEGB, I've read the Bold As Love books too! I like them a lot but there are some bits I was a bit "er" at, particularly on recent re-read - can't bring them exactly to mind though.

I have long resolved to grow up into Nanny Ogg.
Oh, and who remembers Pandora Peroxide? She took no shit...

At the risk of going on about Wilie Collins again Marian Halcombe in "The Woman in White" is an amazing character. Tall, strong, funny and clever with very noticeable facial hair, most men she comes into contact with fall half (or all) in love with her, including the villain she is opposing, because she is just so brilliant. The wet hero in in love with wet heroine (her sister) of course, but she is the star of the show.

And Magdalen Vanstone from "No Name^ is a great heroine/villain too - totally ruthless but also tough, clever, resourceful etc.

I want to be Magrat Garlick when I grow up, tbh like many female Pratchett fans I'm pretty much there already .

ooooh, the Chalet School books.

Young woman with responsibility for young sister opens and runs a sucessful school.

I loved Darrell Rivers as well from the Malory Towers books, but can't remember much about her now. I think maybe she wasn't the best at anything, but was moral, daring where necessary and always tried hard?

Yeah, and Tiffany Aching, my favourite witch.

Also agree about Scully, though I thought she was a tad swoony over Mulder.

Also in Real Books I like Maggie Tulliver.

Starbuck and the President in Battlestar Galactica.

I want to be Granny Weatherwax when I grow up

Terry Pratchett has good female characters. Granny Weatherwax - indominatable.
Nanny Ogg - knows what she likes in life.