As this week kicked off with International Women’s Day, I thought I’d touch upon that theme a little. As a massive nerd, I was captivated by the fabulous female role models on my television screen or the comic book page and, as I’ve got older, my love for these amazing characters hasn’t diminished at all. Now, these may have been fictional characters, but their power and their ability to inspire is no less relevant than the man real, inspirational women throughout history that I admire.
For many, fictional characters are often the ones who first capture our imagination and teach us that absolutely anything is possible – and they come in many guises!
My favourites all have one thing in common – they’re all immensely strong, educated and often outshine the men they share their space with. And on top off that, they’re all full of sass and not afraid to let people know that they know where they’re going and nothing’s going to get in their way.
Take Captain Kathryn Janeway, for example. The first woman to captain a Federation starship in a Star Trek series. While not the first female captain we’d seen in Star Trek, we’d seen a few on our travels through the galaxy, she was the first to lead a series. Even back as recently as the mid nineties, this was a big thing for TV. We’d seen Tryla Scott and Rachel Garrett briefly in episodes and the unnamed captain of the USS Saratoga in the movie Star Trek 4, but Star Trek: Voyager was the first full series we would get where the person in command was a woman. And I’ll be honest, she might be my favourite captain. She’d been a science officer before taking the command track and being given command of the gorgeous USS Voyager, an Intrepid-Class starship which ended up getting swept seventy thousand light-years from home in the opening episode. In fact, the main premise of the show is Voyager being alone in an unfamiliar region of space with no backup, just trying to make it home, a journey that will take seventy-five years. This dynamic of a crew alone, trying to get home, complicated with the group of outlaws they were sent to find joining the crew, made for a very different type of Star Trek series. There was a closeness among the crew that comes only with a shared experience like that and Janeway almost had to be a mother to her crew as well.
What I loved about Janeway was her gung-ho attitude. It wasn’t enough to simply delegate tasks to her crew and wait for them to report back like some other captains, but it was very much in her nature to roll up her sleeves and get involved right next to them, particularly if the problem was scientific in nature. Throughout the shows run, she was seen socialising with the crew, taking on a mentoring and almost maternal role with recovering Borg drone, Seven of Nine and even taking officiating a wedding ceremony at one point (sort of). She’s done almost everything at some point and, although she stands right next to her crew, there is no loss of respect for her, with everyone recognising her as a highly capable leader. In fact, I regularly look top her lessons when I’m in a leadership role, because she gets it right. I’ve even found myself remembering the line “I’m your captain, that means I can’t always be your friend.” And don’t even get her started on being pushed around. There’s been more than a couple of times where I’ve found myself quoting her “I don’t respond well to threats.” Or even “I don’t like threats, I don’t like bullies and I don’t like you.” Hell, she even beat Fear itself when it trapped her in a holodeck program, masquerading as a creepy clown (honestly, this was actually an episode!). And the reasons to love her don’t stop there. The actress behind the character, Kate Mulgrew, is equally as amazing! She’s often told at conventions by fans that it’s her that inspired them towards working in science or that she’s inspired them in another aspect of their lives – and Kate is always so amazed to hear this. She doesn’t roll her eyes or smile and nod like a lit of actors might, she genuinely enjoys it – and she’ll tell you so in her talks! If you ever get the chance to attend one, definitely do it – She’ll make you laugh, she’ll make you cry and you’ll leave feeling like you can do anything!
Another character who’s inspired women into the sciences is Samantha Carter from the Stargate franchise. I’d have given her rank, but I’m not even sure what rank she ended up as by her final chronological appearance on Stargate: Universe. I won’t talk too much about her, as I’ve spoken about her in a previous piece about why I love Sci-Fi, but there is nothing this gal can’t do! She’s a pilot in the airforce, she’s an astrophysicist, a leader and friends with aliens! Just that first appearance when the men around the table talking about ‘Sam Carter’ assuming she’s male and she comes in wearing Airforce Dress uniform, looking ten times sharper than anyone else and corrects them with “SHE is transferring from the Pentagon.” And proceeds to clear up any of their ‘queries’ while they pick up their jaws off the floor. That’s how you make an entrance!
Just like Janeway and Carter, one of the things I think a lot of my female fictional heroes have in common is that they absolutely will NOT be pushed around. I don’t need to explain that when it comes to my love of comic books and superheroes. Characters like the X-Men’s Storm (not the movie version) or Rogue from the same title, Ms Marvel (later Captain Marvel) from The Avengers or even Wonder Woman or Supergirl from DC Comics or a host of other amazing female characters in print. It’s literally their job not to get pushed around, but I generally find in comics that there are some really awesome female characters who are so much better written and real than their male counterparts. I may be slightly biased, but that’s my take. I just find them so much more compelling. They’re much more likely to be multi-faceted and have issues to overcome that aren’t shown as much in a lot of male characters and, through their struggles, they get to inspire us in a way that the much less fleshed out characters can’t. Two of my favourites, Rogue and Emma Frost, started out as villains and redeemed themselves a thousand times over. Storm was worshipped as a goddess, has suffered with claustrophobia, has been a queen, got divorced, forced into slavery of a telepathic villain as a child and after all this is still one of the greatest leaders ever seen in a comic and never loses her compassion or ability to do the right thing.
Speaking of former villains, you don’t get much more villainous that Once Upon A Time’s Regina – Also known as The Evil Queen. She started out as the big bad, but throughout the show grows into an indispensable part of the team of heroes. She even goes on a magnificent journey of learning how to love and be loved, which is super inspiring to someone who’s had terrible luck with love in the past. Watching her journey taught me that as much as things might seem impossible, there’s always hope to find a happy ending. And hopefully to be glamorous as hell while finding it! Honestly, if you’ve not watched the show, it’s worth it just for her costumes.
Finally, I’ll come to a couple of women who both originate from the same show, even though one is now in it’s sister show, which was actually the original show. Set in the fictional city of Holby, somewhere near Bristol, the long running medical drama Casualty is set. Casualty focuses on the Emergency Department and the spin-off focuses on some of the wards in the same hospital and sometimes, we’re lucky to get a fabulous crossover. The character of Connie Beauchamp originated in Holby City as a cardio thoracic consultant and Jac Naylor came in as a younger cardio thoracic surgeon (before being the CT clinical lead in recent years). Connie is now in Casualty as the clinical lead of the ED. We’ve had a couple of crossovers where these two have locked horns, but I actually think it’s mostly because of how similar they are. Highly skilled in their field – but, boy, do they know it. These two aren’t afraid to let you know how good they are or the fact that they’re in charge. It’s probably the need for dominance in both of them that stops them getting on. The thing is, they’re not wrong – they are the best at what they do. Sadly, watching some old Holby, they were both brought in as ball breaking, quite nasty women, both willing to scheme to get what they want. However, over the years, they’ve been developed and fleshed out and now, all that remains is their formidable nature and their talents, not to mention their almost indestructible resolve. These women have been through it all! Betrayal, car crashes, helicopter crashes, shootings, hostage situations, addictions, everything! Hell, we’ve even seen Connie climbing through an overturned ambulance in six-inch Louboutins to treat a patient! And they still manage to be fabulously inspiring in the face of all of this. Sometimes, we need a brusque, arrogant, tough role model to get us through. If I’m having a bad day, I’m not afraid to try and summon my inner Jac or Connie to get shit done! And not just content with playing amazing characters, both actresses Rosie Marcel (Jac) and Amanda Mealing spend their own time doing all sorts of voluntary work and advocacy work! I remember being really excited that Amanda was making masks during the first lockdown and volunteering delivering prescriptions to vulnerable folk. Just imagine having Connie Beauchamp bringing you your pills!
And then there’s the divine River Song from Doctor Who. What could we say about this flirty menace? She’s an archaeologist, has been referred to as Doctor and Professor at various points in her timeline, possibly part time lord, wife of the doctor, also serving prison time for being the woman who killed the doctor, before being released for not killing him, travels through time and space, never meets her husband in the right order and is just utterly fabulous! Fabulously well spoken, possibly more intelligent than the doctor and… that hair! I’d tell you more, but we’d never get through it all in this timeline, so I’ll just say… shh, spoilers!
It’s clear to me that the role models I hold in the highest regard are heavily educated, have a presence and don’t take any messing. They embody the qualities I hope to see in myself and give some of the lessons to find those things. So, now you tell me: Who are your favourite fictional female role models and why? What have you been inspired to do by the female role models you grew up watching? Tell us in the comments and, until next tim stay safe, stay sane and stay…. Vidalicious!
