What Kind of Heroine Attitude Do You Prefer?

[smerdyakov666]

hey everybody... a recent post on the heroine movies site got me wondering about different kinds of heroines... i'm curious what y'all think.

do you prefer a "bad-ass" heroine? a super-woman who fights dirty, talks trash, is cocky to a fault, and generally gives the impression of a "bad-ass"?

or do you prefer a "paragon of purity"? a super-woman with no vices to speak of, who talks a big corny game about justice and truth, and who strikes you, aside from the powers, as someone kinda innocent and pure?

or do you like something in-between?

i think i definitely lean toward "POP." i like there to be a good clear demarcation between good and evil in these videos. that's just me, though!

[cdrei]

Generally, I prefer the hero to operate in the old mode of actual hero, rather than anti-hero. So I voted for POP, but I also think a character should be able to be flexible, to a certain extent. Given an ethical or moral dilemma, they should favor the side of purity, but shouldn't be absolutely rigid in their application of those standards. I didn't vote to "in between" because I may be misinterpreting the term "badass".

[GMan2]

I went with the 'in between'. For me, she's certainly entitled to have a touch of 'cockiness' to her...but maybe not so much that she comes across as arrogant. I mean she is SUPPOSED to be this 'super powered' being after all. So a bit of cockiness towards a bad guy I'd almost expect from her. What I don't care for is the heroine cursing in some circumstances. Cursing when something hurts, or maybe the villain got away....sure....that's all good. But none of the cursing in terms of, "You'll never defeat me you stupid bitch/bastard/asshole/and any other derogatory word that fits here".

So I suppose I like that 50% bad ass, with 50% POP. She does love being a role model for the kiddies after all.

[Gomur]

If I must choose, then I'll go with "something in-between". It's the most realistic depiction of a character, and the dialogue has less chance of disconnecting me as a viewer. The Paragon of Purity has a high degree of difficulty to be done right. A lot of times POP leads to campy mewlings of "Oooh! Leave me be, dastardly villain! You'll never get away with this!" as the weak as a kitten heroine writhes helplessly at the villain's touch. I've always found that exaggerated transformation jarring to the strong depiction earlier in a video. I'm sure some viewers enjoy this, and I do at times, but it has to be done juuust right. You could argue that Christopher Reeve played a POP in his Superman movies, but he did it with such earnestness that you never doubted him for a second.

However, the real answer to the poll is it all depends on the superhero you're portraying.

Wonder Woman should value her principles of justice and defending the innocent. She can still have a warrior's edge having grown up in Amazon socity. Supergirl I can see as a naive girl getting used to Earth's culture (a textbook Paragon of Purity) or a cocky teenager reliant on her superpowers to overcome any obstacle. The Bad Ass category I would save for characters like Huntress or Black Canary who deal with street crime, and have no problem talking trash with the best of them.

[harriertalon]

I picked Paragon of Purity, although I agree with the previous statement that it really ought to fit the character. Mary Marvel shouldn't be a badass (unless she's "Dark Mary" of course), nor should Black Canary or Huntress necessarily be virtuous heroines who say "Gosh" and "Golly" all the time.

Majority of the time, though, I like seeing a heroine get corrupted, and to be corrputed, you must start out pure and innocent, so that's why I voted how I did.

[Caniac89]

I went with in between because personally that's just it, I prefer a heroine to have just the right mix of 'badass' and 'damsel'. Now I agree with what others have said, cursing when the villain gets away or lands a nasty hit is okay, so long as it doesn't go over the top. Overall I like a confident heroine but not one like "In the name of justice!" etc. that just seems cheesy to me.

Also agree that to some extent it should depend on the heroine being portrayed. ie I'd expect Wonder Woman to be mature and experienced in battle.

[lamejojo]

I like the paragon of purity because it makes a transformation/seduction that much more intense.

[SGWriter]

Going for the in between.

Some heroines are of course more paragon then others. My favorite Supergirl being a good example. Power Girl on the other hand is scremaing out for her to be a snarky smart ass a bit. She should have a bit of an attitude but at the end of the day, she's as much a heroine as SG. Like C89 said, others should be pretty mature like Wonder Woman.

A really dark character doesn't really grab me. Too often bad asses are portrayed as basically a-holes. Nothing redeeming there. Pretty much I like a classic do the right thing superhero/ine.

[batgirl1969]

Paragon of purity ......imagine the lilly white virgin blonde good girl...so innocent and naive...this just makes her more inviting to watch corrupted, defiled and her purity tested, stretched and broken by sexy lez doms, huge male villains and even robots and monsters....i love seeing her sweet innocent face when she realizes she is pretty much fucked...figuratively and literally! Lol