Finally… Strong Female Friendships

I think much of it goes back to the utter lack of care in writing the females to begin with. They started us off with Lori (perceived as a naggy whore), Andrea (perceived as a bitchy dumbass who didn't even know to take the safety off of her gun), Carol (a weakling who allowed her husband to push her around), and Jacqui & Amy, who were there just to get killed off.

 

In season 2, we gained Maggie (who was pretty cool, but also initially portrayed as being emotionally volatile), Beth (also emotionally volatile, and tried to kill herself), and Patricia (who we only really saw when the menfolk needed looking after).

 

Season 3 finally gave us a kickass in Michonne, who was portrayed as untrusting and suspicious (and rightfully so), without any of the shitty qualities that the writers gave all the other females. She tends to bond more with the men, though, because of her personality (can you imagine Michonne doing the men's laundry or making them dinner? HA!). We only really got to know Sasha in season 4, and she seems pretty cool so far (although I've noticed a far amount of people saying she's useless and can die, for whatever reason?!), Tara seems decent, and we don't know much about Rosita yet.

 

When you look at how the women were written for the first couple seasons, it's actually really misogynistic and disgusting. It's not surprising that the women characters weren't really bonding when they aren't really characters to begin with - they're filler. Thank goodness they seem to be improving that in the more current seasons.

I think much of it goes back to the utter lack of care in writing the females to begin with. They started us off with Lori (perceived as a naggy whore), Andrea (perceived as a bitchy dumbass who didn't even know to take the safety off of her gun), Carol (a weakling who allowed her husband to push her around), and Jacqui & Amy, who were there just to get killed off.

 

In season 2, we gained Maggie (who was pretty cool, but also initially portrayed as being emotionally volatile), Beth (also emotionally volatile, and tried to kill herself), and Patricia (who we only really saw when the menfolk needed looking after).

 

Season 3 finally gave us a kickass in Michonne, who was portrayed as untrusting and suspicious (and rightfully so), without any of the shitty qualities that the writers gave all the other females. She tends to bond more with the men, though, because of her personality (can you imagine Michonne doing the men's laundry or making them dinner? HA!). We only really got to know Sasha in season 4, and she seems pretty cool so far (although I've noticed a far amount of people saying she's useless and can die, for whatever reason?!), Tara seems decent, and we don't know much about Rosita yet.

 

When you look at how the women were written for the first couple seasons, it's actually really misogynistic and disgusting. It's not surprising that the women characters weren't really bonding when they aren't really characters to begin with - they're filler. Thank goodness they seem to be improving that in the more current seasons.

 

I am in full agreement with you here.

That is true that the writing of female characters on this show is pretty weak, however, that is the case for most shows as well. Here, women are primarily written as plot devices to inflict or soothe 'man-pain' of whatever male character associated with them.

So well said Clidna!  When they started making Maggie's character actually HAVE character (basically getting her ass off the farm) and when Carol gained a backbone I was thrilled.

I think the most bonded female characters were Michonne and Andrea between Hershel's House burning and when Michonne left Woodbury.

I think much of it goes back to the utter lack of care in writing the females to begin with. They started us off with Lori (perceived as a naggy whore), Andrea (perceived as a bitchy dumbass who didn't even know to take the safety off of her gun), Carol (a weakling who allowed her husband to push her around), and Jacqui & Amy, who were there just to get killed off.

 

In season 2, we gained Maggie (who was pretty cool, but also initially portrayed as being emotionally volatile), Beth (also emotionally volatile, and tried to kill herself), and Patricia (who we only really saw when the menfolk needed looking after).

 

Season 3 finally gave us a kickass in Michonne, who was portrayed as untrusting and suspicious (and rightfully so), without any of the shitty qualities that the writers gave all the other females. She tends to bond more with the men, though, because of her personality (can you imagine Michonne doing the men's laundry or making them dinner? HA!). We only really got to know Sasha in season 4, and she seems pretty cool so far (although I've noticed a far amount of people saying she's useless and can die, for whatever reason?!), Tara seems decent, and we don't know much about Rosita yet.

 

When you look at how the women were written for the first couple seasons, it's actually really misogynistic and disgusting. It's not surprising that the women characters weren't really bonding when they aren't really characters to begin with - they're filler. Thank goodness they seem to be improving that in the more current seasons.

 

I totally agree. Maggie is the closest thing to a stable, independent, fully-functioning female. I think the writers should visit Texas and meet some REAL women. There are enough of us on this forum to represent and show them what a smart, strong, capable and emotionally-stable woman is like.

Lioness is correct. There is a thread on this subject. I will merge this thread here.

 

I agree that if does feel like we are finally getting some strong female bonds and a better representation of women overall.

I think there is a recent thread on this topic somewhere already. But in case it is gone, I'll answer here. Yes, there is some bonding. But there is no question that the emphasis has been on the male to male, or male to female bonding, and not so much on the female to female bonding. Nobody even comes close to considering someone a sister (even the two sisters it seems). Michonne and Andrea, sort of, but we really didn't get to experience it like we did Rick and Shane, or Rick and Daryl, or Hershel and Glenn or even Daryl and Merle. I'd like to see more of that. I can see Sasha and Maggie really becoming close friends.
 
As a tangentially related point, I found Tara's description of Lily being swarmed incredibly detached. Particularly when she went on to say it didn't come close to the horror of how Hershel was killed. What? Your sister was eaten alive as you looked on and that didn't move you like seeing someone you didn't even know beheaded? But I digress.

Couldn't agree more, especially with regards to Tara.

Season 5 will have an amazing female character. Mary.

 

Did she form the community? Is she their leader/priestess? 

 

She is a new type in TWD universe. A woman leading a group.

 

Gareth took the lead in all the action sequences but that doesn't mean he's their leader.

Superb article, and some great posts in response to it. I think everyone has already covered everything I wanted to say

There seem to be a lot of very strong and opinionated women on this forum. I love that!

I totally agree. Maggie is the closest thing to a stable, independent, fully-functioning female. I think the writers should visit Texas and meet some REAL women. There are enough of us on this forum to represent and show them what a smart, strong, capable and emotionally-stable woman is like.

 

I think Sasha is another stable, independent, fully-functioning female.

I think Sasha is another stable, independent, fully-functioning female.

 

Yes she is. I much prefer her to her brother. If TPTB have to choose between them, I want her to live. She could be an amazing character.

 

"The problem with the black men in the early seasons of TWD was that they just hung around in the background waiting to be told what to do, never taking intelligent initiative or making meaningful contributions."

 

 

-"So it was just like in real life.  "

 

-"Hey, I put a smiley in it. Guess some people don't have a sense of humor."

Great article in the OP and well said everyone.

A great many SF series have the same problem. Perhaps the writers, who are sometimes women themselves, think that the audience isn't interested in female bonding. They're wrong.

Lioness is correct. There is a thread on this subject. I will merge this thread here.

 

I agree that if does feel like we are finally getting some strong female bonds and a better representation of women overall.

 

Thank you for pointing out that you merged threads - I came back in here and went, "Did I actually post a novel about the women characters in this show that was basically already stated in the first post? Guh..."

Thank you for pointing out that you merged threads - I came back in here and went, "Did I actually post a novel about the women characters in this show that was basically already stated in the first post? Guh..."

Haha!  Most of the time, I hide the message that I merged threads because it doesn't make sense once the threads are merged.

General message:

If you are ever looking for a certain post of yours and can't find it or can't remember what thread you posted it in, you can go into your profile and click on "Find content" and then click on "Only posts" (on the left).

Maggie is my favourite character so I was quite happy for her to interact with Sasha. Hope she and Sasha continue this friendship into season 5 and beyond until one of the two of them die (hopefully Sasha but not because I hate her, I like her).

For complaints about the earlier seasons, I personally feel it was just due to the personalities of the characters. They were all so different in their mindsets (I.e Lori with the women work vs Andrea with the men work) that caused them all to clash and frequently clash with one another.