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Films or TV shows with strong female characters - recommendations for a 13 year old girl

141 replies

GCmiddle · 10/04/2020 13:10

Hi,
My 13 year old daughter is just staring to develop a feminist consciousness and is wanting to watch stuff with strong female leads. She doesn’t like reading, so my book recommendations fall on deaf ears. She has recently enjoyed the Hunger Games films and (though she is loathe to admit it) the CBBC Mallory Towers adaptation.
Can anyone recommend anything she might like to watch please?
Thanks.

OP posts:
Gronky · 10/04/2020 14:09

Some of the Ghibli (Japanese) animated films. She might be a bit old for Spirited Away (though I first watched it at 40 and enjoyed it enormously) but Howl's Moving Castle and Nausicaa also feature strong female leads and Princess Mononoke has two very admirable female secondary characters, though the protagonist is male.

Danceswithwarthogs · 10/04/2020 14:07

Tbf I was pretty impressed with moana but different target group Grin

TeenPlusTwenties · 10/04/2020 14:04

Definitely the Divergent series, books and films.

PerspicaciaTick · 10/04/2020 14:01

Dead Like Me is very good too.

mynameiswah · 10/04/2020 13:56

Jessica Jones on Netflix. Kidding... it's definitely NOT for kids!!
But if you're an adult it has a pretty badass female character, I'm obsessed.

PerspicaciaTick · 10/04/2020 13:56

Batwoman has just started.

Deliriumoftheendless · 10/04/2020 13:50

Daria? May be misremembering but she was cool.

MargotMoon · 10/04/2020 13:49

Definitely A Series of Unfortunate Events. Female lead is celebrated for her inventing skills and intelligence, plus it's classic kids v adults story arc.

Whatsnewpussyhat · 10/04/2020 13:49

Going old school maybe Buffy? Or the original Charmed series

Whatsnewpussyhat · 10/04/2020 13:48

Captain marvel?

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 10/04/2020 13:46

Buffy?

We LOVED The Mentalist: although the protagonist is male (Patrick Jane), the Agent in charge, Teresa Lisbon, is one of my favourite female characters ever created. She takes no shit from anyone.

Joan Watson in Elementary is cut from the same cloth, and she and Holmes have a genuinely platonic friendship rather than it having to be about sex.

What I like about both those characters is that they are presented very simply as very good at what they do and respected by the men they work with for that.

HorseRadishFemish · 10/04/2020 13:44

Juno (cert 12A)

Danceswithwarthogs · 10/04/2020 13:30

I know you said no book but I was blown away by a book for teens/young adults called Echoes by Laura Tisdall.

It is about a teenage girl with anxiety/agoraphobia who mainly lives life online from her bedroom, she is a (moral) computer hacker but is forced out of her comfort zone into the real world to avert some kind of major disaster. She drafts in some male help along the way but is definitely the hero in this book. A bit like the girl with the dragon tattoo without the sex or violence.

HopeClearwater · 10/04/2020 13:16

The Silence of the Lambs. She does everything alone. All the men are predators in one way or another, whichever side of the law they are on. She discusses the case with her colleague who is another young (& black - unusual for the time) woman. However, it’s probably 18 rated.

MrsRedFly · 10/04/2020 13:16

If you have Netflix -
Once Upon a Time
A Series of Unfortunate Events
Brooklyn 99
Anne With an E
I'm sure there's more!

OneEpisode · 10/04/2020 13:16

Divergent has a 12 cert I think. Dystopian, action movie. Female lead with some good female supporting roles. I watched with dd. Dd has read the books and was unimpressed by her male romantic interest but I quite liked him!

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