Kind of a side note as I am reading the original article, but you know what gave me chills about Arwen from LotR?
It wasn't when she snuck up on Aragorn (the action the article aluded to), it was when he was going to take Frodo, she said, "I'm the faster rider, I'll take him" (i.e., she was the more sensible choice regardless), he says it's dangerous, and she says, "I do not fear them" -- even though you can tell she's a little afraid. And then she's riding to save Frodo, with all those riders breathing down her neck. It was a brave brave moment and she was just resolute and unwavering despite being fully aware of what she was doing.
Liv Tyler was right in that she didn't have to hold a sword to be strong, her will was just indomitable even in the face of fear, and she just rode that horse right through the middle of it, alone, to save another. I actually get shakey/teary watching that, it's one of my favorite scenes in the entire movie sequence.
So, at this point, I think the most liberating depiction of a woman is one that is eccentric and funny.
I felt that way seeing Kristen Wiig in "Bridesmaids."
Ellen Page was rather cool as Juno (in "Juno"), but Kristen definitely came across as an eccentric woman who wasn't detached (like Juno or Daria or other popular variations of the snarky female). You often see women taking on these more "male-accepted" stances when it comes to humor, of which the sardonic woman is one.
Another favorite movie of mine is "the Descent," which is really a horror flick, but it's all women, and they actually are WOMEN rather than women written like men, despite doing/facing a bunch of stuff that could scare most men half to death, and there was a lot of quirky/goofy stuff in their interactions in the beginning of the movie especially (during the sleepover, for example).
Ripley isn't 'sassy', 'feisty' or a "damsel in distress": she's a normal, rational human being. In fact if the other characters had listened to her they wouldn't have been in the trouble they were in in the first place.
Ding ding ding.
Yeah, that kind of engages what I said about Arwen and Aragorn a moment ago... They actually have a brief conversation about "who is the more sensible choice to take Frodo" regardless of gender. There is probably a touch of gallantry in Aragorn's desire to be the one, to protect Arwen; but they both agree that she's the better rider of the two, and he acquiesces quickly because he knows she's right. Just two people making a sensible decision.
God, I have to say that Lambert drove me nuts. She was like, 'everything that is wrong with a woman' in terms of media stereotype, although she also felt very real to me so the acting (by Veronica Cartwright) was at least decent. But whiny, prickly, inept, weak, and then a screamer there at the end.
The second film, Aliens, is even better at characterizing Ripley as a well-rounded person. At the beginning of the film she's suffering from severe PTSD as a result of the events of the first film. Eventually she gets hooped into going back to the planet where they found the Alien in the first film, and things go awry as one might expect. On the way there she gives a room full of marines a briefing about her 'encounter' in the first film. She trips over her words, words trail off... It's clear that what happened to her was very disturbing and the marines fall silent except for the female private, Vasquez, who interrupts and jokes "I only need to know one thing: where they are," as she makes a mock gun with her fingers and fires it at imaginary aliens.
Vasquez is one-dimensional character, a female character written to be over-the-top macho. So macho in fact that when we first see her one of the other (male) characters jokes "Hey Vasquez, have you ever been mistaken for a man?" To which she retorts, "No. Have YOU?"
Yeah, that was to Hudson. Heh.
I noticed that too, though. I thought the two characters dovertailed so well -- giving us a depiction of a woman trying to be masculine to prove her strength, versus a woman who is just basically a person who ends up needing to be strong and rising to the occasion as she works through her issues and exerts herself to care for others. (In her favor, Vasquez drops some of the bravado by the end and has a bit more meaningful connection with others.)
Aliens is one of my favorite movies, regardless of genre. The action sequences are great, the bantering is fun, but it has that dramatic core of Ripley's journey of survival and healing. Yes, she happens to enact this through the role of "mother" due to her personal story, but in a sense despite that feminine angle on things, she could be male or female, her story is a "human" one and thus something we can all identify with. She is a strong PERSON, not just a strong woman.