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

[GCmiddle]

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.

Wow, I didn't expect so many responses! Thanks for all the great suggestions.

@GCmiddle Come back and tell us what she watched and what she thought of them.

@Danceswithwarthogs - I described that book to 14 year old dd. She thinks she'd love it so I've ordered it. Thanks for the recommendation.

Jodie whittaker is great as the Doctor in Doctor Who . a very young Kate Winskley plays a fesisty young woman in tv seroes. Dark season en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Season

Another vote for His Dark Materials (what a shame she's not a reader as the books are fantastic) and Hidden Figures.

Some TV which is most probably too old for her atm but definitely to watch in a few years' time:
Handmaid's Tale
The Good Wife
Orange is the New Black

How about some Jane Austen adaptations? They are not obviously feminist but female-centric and lots of interesting characters and themes to discuss.

maybe she's a bit young for it but 'stranger things' have very strong female characters.

His dark materials have a BBC adaptation that is good. The main character is an orphan girl called Lyra, she is 12-13 years old in the first book and first TV series. The Hunger games and divergent series also have strong young female leads. Other shows with strong female leads that I know might be too adult unless you allow her to watch things like game of thrones? The walking dead has multiple strong female characters, Lucifer has a strong female detective called Chloe Decker, Dexter has his sister Debra Morgan is a pretty kick ass detective although they ruin her character at the end, Siobhan Roy is much more capable than her brothers in succession. The new tomb raider has a much more relatable less sexualised Lara croft.

When I was 13 my favourite film was adventures in babysitting - watched it this weekend with the kids and they loved it - 'don't fuck with the babysitter' there's a bit of language and playboy references but I thought Elizabeth shue was brilliant - also realised where my long held dream of the perfect camel coat 🧥 came from !!

Game of Thrones and Dexter are not suitable for a 13yo girl!

Hidden Figures is fab.
Bumblebee (2018) - watched last night with DS15.
Bend it like Beckham
Whale Rider
Suffragette

Jodie is very good as The Doctor in "Doctor Who". Kate Winsley plays a feisty young woman in "Dark Season"

Dirty Dancing?

Might be a 15.

Loved Buffy. I do remember it wasn't all age appropriate for young teens though. What season would you let 13 year old watch up to?

The new Malory Towers series on Iplayer
Loving it.
Kind of genteel, nice watching - and an all female cast (apart from one delivery boy lol)
Strong characters too - Darrell Rivers, sporty, forthright, etc, and Alicia as two examples

Erin Brokonvich
Marvel agents of shield series - strong female characters
Hidden figures - incredible true story

Re Buffy - I agree, the later series aren't appropriate for young teen. I have let mine watch seasons 1-3.

Freaks and Geeks.
Phenomenal performances from the cast (who almost all went on to bigger things).
The show centres on Lindsey Weir, an intelligent, academic teenage girl who starts to question her role in the world.
There are brilliant female friendships, and the show always focuses on the internal emotions of the key characters, rather than sexualising them from an adult perspective as so many 'teen' shows do.
100% on Rotten Tomatoes and an all time feminist classic.

I really enjoyed this film Whale Rider about a 12 year old Maori girl (Suitable for both adults and teenagers. It's ultimately very up-lifting).

Only males are allowed to ascend to chiefdom in a Maori tribe in New Zealand. This ancient custom is upset when the child selected to be the next chief dies at birth. However his twin sister, Pai, survives. At age 12, she enlists the help of her grandmother and the training of her uncle to claim her birthright. But to break with convention, she'll have to do the impossible: win over her ultra-traditional grandfather

...and also Corpo Celeste ( Italian with english sub-titles). A wonderfully atmospheric coming of age tale, set in Calabria, southern Italy. Again, suitable for adults and for teenagers. wonderfully observed and with a fantastic performance by the girl who plays Marta, the central character.

Thirteen year-old Marta has recently moved back to southern Italy with her mother and older sister. Marta struggles to find her place, restlessly testing the boundaries of an unfamiliar city and the catechism of the Catholic church

mirrormask was a favouritte film of mine at that age.
really unusual visual style , sort of a modern wizad of oz?

coraline is a spooky kids film with a really good story

ghostbusters reboot is good fun and honestly to see 4 women just behaving in familiar ways instead of supermodels was awsome.

On the Basis of Sex, the story of Ruth Ginsburg www.imdb.com/title/tt4669788/ ?

Kiki's Delivery Service

Now: Rogue One, Hidden Figures

When she’s older: Sigourney Weaver is fantastic in Alien & Aliens and Linda Hamilton is good in the original Terminator.

The Miss Fisher Mysteries are fantastic, but be aware that some of the murders are quite grim. You usually only see the crime scene, but my sensitive 12 yo found some of them a bit too graphic. The stories and the way social issues are tackled is fantastic though and Miss Fisher and her detective friend flirt very enjoyably.

Hilda (Netflix) if she likes animation still