This is what upsets me so much when people complain about Bubbles from the powerpuff girls, so many people say she is a dumb blonde, but her character is FIVE, and in reality she's just sensitive and loves animals and coloring and still pulls her weight when it comes to fighting, yet because her character is more passive than her sisters, Bubbles gets written off as the stupid one.

I was scared that she was going to bash Sansa Stark. I always viewed Sansa as a Survivor. Young, makes mistakes, must grow, but she survives as most of GoT's "badasses" are killed.

Ugh when people say Katniss is "weak" in the last movies - she has PTSD because of her experiences in The Hunger Games. She's showing the symptoms from Catching Fire, and it's exacerbated in Mockingjay because she's been separated from Peeta and is forced to perform for the resistance. Sansa is also my favourite character. She goes along with tradition and what she is meant to do from her gender but also uses those stereotypes to gain power and manoeuvre herself into positions of power. It's entirely the only thing she can do given the situations she's placed in by men. Sansa also has a clear character arc where she grows from a child into a young adult, which I enjoy watching.

In my opinion strength doesn't come from how tough a character is it's how they take their flaws and learn to live with them.

This thing about being a "strong woman" and never being allowed to show emotion really pisses me off, great vid!

weird how so many people think that a stronger characters is one who can lift a weigh

Watching this 2 years late but YESsS. I will defend Sansa to my deathbed.

1:07 Funny how Xanders is an ordinary teenage boy throughout half the show and no one calls him a weak character.

SANSA YES. I have gotten so much shit over the last how ever many years because since season 1 i have been rooting for sansa. She has always intrigued me and as we've watched her grow up and learn more about the surroundings that she's been put in oh my god! I love her so much! I also love cersei even though she's not necessarily someone i root for, i also find the way she handles her own power in a world dominated by men - hands down amazing. Thanks for this video!

Well, I'm a guy and *I* can't fight, and *I* can't use magic, and I for one do not consider myself a weak female character... ... I hope.

When I saw the thumbnail, my immediate thought was "if you say Sansa is weak, so help me god...". Huge relief. Thank you! ❤ I also hate the stereotype that a mentally ill or traumatized person is weak. Like, deal with PTSD, anxiety disorder, depression etc. for a week, and tell me again if people who go through this for years are weak.

THIS VIDEO. 🙌 It blows my mind how often the "I'm not like other girls trope" is used in contexts meant to be empowering to women when it inherently suggests that women and femininity are inferior.

Buffy, Katniss, Sansa and Arya are all among my favorite characters of all time (book versions only in case of Sansa and Arya - neither Stark sister is well written on the show, and Sansa has particularly been inconsistently characterized and generally badly served by the show). Because they are all complex, developed and relatable Buffy and Katniss may be able to physically fight, bur that's not what makes them strong as characters, or as people. It's other qualities that make them strong as people - like a sense of right and wrong, compassion, resilience, out of the box thinking, resourcefulness, responsibility and protectiveness towards loved ones. And the fact they they have vulnerabilities and flaws and go through depression and PTSD due to their traumatic experiences does not make them weak - it makes them real and human and relatable, and all the stronger for being able to eventually overcome it. And of course, being complex, vulnerable and flawed is what makes them stronger characters. People calling Sansa stupid and weak for being "girly" is ironic because she is actually one of the strongest and smartest characters in the series. She is traditionally feminine, but that doesn't make her weak. She and Arya are so different, yet both so strong in different ways and such great characters. People who pigeon hole Arya as a "cool tomboy" do her as much disservice as those who dismiss Sansa as "weak and silly girly girl". Arya is more complex than that and she is an incredibly traumatized girl with a dark arc that is as much a subversion of a fantasy trope as Sansa's.

Oh my god I love everything about this video. ALL OF MY FEELINGS. S5 and Dawn and Sansa and Kaylee and all of it. YES. Strength/weakness of characters is a lot more complex than physicality. It's good writing. It's writing whole, entire people.

YES!! I squashed my girlyness throughout my teenage years as I thought that is not how I become a strong female. I hated myself for being easily emotional when all the women in media I looked up to were emotionless. This is even a beef I have within Harry Potter as both Hermione and Ginny are commented as not crying much or often and this is a great boon to their characters. Cho and Lavendar are looked down upon for their emotions but at crunch time they are both hugely intelligent and brave women who are equal to Hermione and Ginny.

There is such a difference between strong female characters and well written female characters. What people actually like are well-written female characters, it just so happens that many well-written female characters are "strong" in ways that people can understand. I LOVE Dawn. So many people I've talked to about it seem to hate that she came in and 'messed up the Summers family dynamic', but that's exactly what I love about her. She made Buffy an even more believable character because of the new family dynamic. Sure she's a bit annoying and she doesn't do much at first, but clearly if that's the worst part about her, you've never had a younger sister.

Off-topic, I like your necklace. On-topic, I like the points you make in this video that femininity doesn't make a character weak.

Ahhh YES!! People have been bugging and rolling their eyes at me just because I love Sansa Stark who you guessed it is seen as a weak female character which I was actually rolling my eyes at Wonderful discussion with a very important message loved it!!!

Oh my God I get so irritated when people criticize Katniss in Mockingjay because of her mental health. Thank you!

Its true. Just think of men with girly traits, they're are considered to be the gutter.

I was so ready to be angry at this video for completely missing the point of strong female characters, (since the picture was, in fact, Sansa) and ready to mount defenses for actual, legit, strong characters--- then I realized you're saying everything I was going to say. You put it very eloquently too. XDDD Thanks for this video.

Anyone who says Dawn is a badly written character has never met a teenage girl. PREACH IT But seriously, you nailed it. And Buffy is the best. Yes.

I don't know how this came up to my feed in 2019, but hell yes!

THANK YOUUU for redeeming Katniss Everdeen, in the book it was so well described how traumatized she was, which is quite rare in these types of books, usually it is never adressed

Why are you guys so obsessed with strong female characters? There are girls in the world that are not strong at all, and this cannot be a reason for not including them in the book. I am currently writing a story in which the main female character is a bad person, strictly speaking. She is not strong or brave - she hides behind others and makes their lives change for worse. And I still think she is worth writing about. Being a bad person, she pays for her bad decisions. Seriously, have you never met weak people?

That's Why i hate so much when queen guinevere is written as a warrior Woman: it authomatically means that she has to be masculine in order to be Strong. This Also erases all the strong women throughout history that are strong while remaining within a "feminine" appearence. Isabella d'Este and Lucrezia Borgia were strong because they were intelligent, they didn't need to wield a sword to be. Lucrezia did even negotiate her last marriage, picking up the best candidate to suit her pursue of authonomy from her family and negotiating the whole thing by herself, winning the hand of Alfonso d'este by her wits and political prowess.

Only me to be screaming my head off in agreement when she said “Bullshit.” YAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

Oh my god Rowan I am so glad we discovered each other. Can I first just say - Buffy basically shaped who I am in my formative years and has had so much influence on who I am as a person. Second I cannot agree with you more. I always feel like most of the "strong" female characters portrayed in popular media are women who are stripped of their femininity. I often get this in my life too because I'm into computers and technology, people say "that's so awesome, you're not like a typical girl." And I just think "what's wrong with being a typical girl?" I also really like hello kitty and and pink lipstick, does that make me less respectable? P.S. I love Kaylee in every way. Subbed and keep it up girl!

Thank you so much for sharing! I loved hearing this. I think I've always sort of thought this way, but you've worded it much better than I could have. Keep up the videos, you're absolutely inspiring!

I just found your channel a few days ago and I love your videos! And this idea of a weak female character that is only weak because she is a "girly" girl is soo annoying!

Love this video! I love Game of Thrones and Buffy. I think Sansa is a very complex character. I think Sansa is strong mentally, because she has a lot to deal with. She may not be physically strong, but I like that it's not all about physical strength and mental strength is just as good. And Dawn just has so many things going on, it's no wonder she had the attitude she did and on top of that, being a teenager.

I only recently watched all of GoT. I thought Sansa was very strong. During her marriage to Geoffrey she survived by keeping a face on the whole time, any question as to how she was doing was answered with ‘the king is my true love and I have never been happier’ and she never showed the cracks.

*I really wish you would have pointed out some reasons why you thought Dawn was strong.* I disliked her throughout most of the series because she really was weak. She was written as weak on purpose. She was basically the polar opposite of Buffy. Where Buffy was strong she was weak. She was a teenager who wasn't a slayer: weak physically. She was the younger sibling. She didn't have the mental guards that Buffy did (from being the Slayer) so she broke down more often; see cutting herself, stealing, and complaining that she wasn't even a Potential. And she never made it a priority to become something more then what she was. That was the biggest thing for me. She never pushed Buffy to let her learn to be a Slayer (until it was basically too late), she never pushed Willow to learn magic, and she never did anything else useful. She was a hindrance on the entire Gang, and that, as a plot point is fine, but it doesn't make her a strong female character. And that's fine! As a side note, if you want a character who grows past their "weakness" (like Sansa Stark), check out Xander. He started out as the underdog, esp when Willow started to learn magic. And he ended up saving the world and being an awesome character despite his crappy attitude early on and his lack of anything supernatural. I feel like that's why they didn't make Dawn grow as a character like that, because we already had Xander. My favorite Dawn moment ("Potential") was when Xander was telling her that she didn't have to be special to be extraordinary.

Love your voice, love your accent, love your explanations, love how in 2014 you were talking about those things when I was so deep down in the closet in couldn't even breathe. Thank god I found your channel.

*Wrong:* Adding physical strength/martial prowess to female characters = adding "male" characteristics to a female character. I don't think this is exclusively defined as a "male" thing to begin with. *Correct:* Adding physical strength to female characters and calling it a day makes for boring characters. Adding powers to a character of ANY GENDER and developing no other aspect of that character is boring: just because one adds a female gender on top of said character doesn't excuse anything.

It's interesting that the shows you mentioned all have ensembles of females characters, and the one who gets picked out as being the 'weak' one is the one which just happens to most fit the 'frivalous girly' character, even though all the female characters are well written. For example, in Firefly you have Zoe who is the woman in a man's world, then you have Inari who is the sex appeal, the adult femininity. Kaylee is the girly femininity. She's confident in her sexuality but she isn't sexy in the way Inari is. She wears overalls with pink tops, likes frilly dresses and colourful umbrellas, as well as being great at a job which she loves.

Was going to continue lurking and enjoying without comment but then I realised you're wearing a Pits and Perverts t-shirt. Holy shit, Pride is one of the best films I've ever seen and I saw it 6 times in the theatres - I live in Australia, that shit is expensive. Even my brother liked it and he doesn't really care to watch many English language films because he's pretentious like that. Anyway, adore you, keep doing what you're doing. I watched the Agent Carter video first because Hayley Atwell retweeted it and I subscribed halfway in to watching it. You perfectly articulate everything I already think about this stuff so it's lovely to have some affirmation. Also it's nice to be able to share your videos to people who don't quite get it yet. X

I've been watching your videos for the past month, and I absolutely love your content. Specifically this one, since in my own book, I've got a lead of who would be considered by those folk "a weak female character" for just being a regular 11 year old girl. I've never described strength from characters as being purely physical. Strong ones for me are ones who struggle but still persevere despite it. That can of course, come in many different ways. Sansa is a great example and one of my fave characters in Game of Thrones, in the same way I love characters like Mabel from Gravity Falls or Ingrid Third from Fillmore. I adore characters who remain themselves and don't just have to be "the cool" character to be interesting. Your channel's fantastic, Rowan. Glad I subscribed.

I agree with you so, so much. Sansa's storyline is one of my absolute favourites because she makes the best of her circumstances and her every move is for survival. This opposed to Bella Swan, who makes one decision in the entire series ("Be with Edward") and puts herself unnecessarily in danger several times as a result. Bella lets things happen to her; Sansa remains passive but is aware of every little thing that goes on around her, and takes action where and when she can.

This is so so great! You have just expressed with words all my feelings, do more videos like this, pleaseeeeee

Absolutely amazing video! I think I've never watched someone in KZfaq talking about this. I love Dawn because as you say she doesn't have paranormal/supernatural abilities in a dangerous and supernatural world. I believe she has a strong character and personality and people must remember that she did an exorcism at her house by herself freeing her mother from a demonic entity (I think she also killed a vampire once). I also love that season because of Glory. That a demonic deity can be female is amazing and the best thing is: She is quite a feminine character but that doesn't make her less dangerous or powerful. There are also other feminine/non fighter female characters who I love, like Daphne and Velma from Scooby Doo and Elle Woods from Legally Blonde. Daphne can have a black belt and still being feminine and Velma (even when she is not feminine) is not a very physically strong character but is very intelligent and emotionally strong. Elle Woods is very intelligent, emotionally strong and perseverant and she is very feminine. Femininity rocks! ;)

Just discovered your channel OMG I freaking love you!!!!

I have a xena warrior princess t-shirt and hoody that says I am a princess AND a warrior which i find really cool like you can be both feminine AND strong at the same time you don't necessarily have to be one or the other

First video of yours i've ever seen. Dont know why i pushed play as I just saw the pic of Sansa and the title and thought 'oh crap here we go again' but no, you said everything I've never been able to formulate. And your last gesture made me laugh out loud - thanks :)

Damn, thank you for this. This revealed some misogyny in me that I never even picked up on. I will be more merciful with Sansa now lol.

I love both Sansa and Arya Stark. I understand that at first Sansa seams as a weak character but she is actually the norm of female endurance. She goes through a lot . The only thing that keeps her going is her personal strength . If you compare her to Theon he collapsed the moment he was mutilated (justifiably who wouldn't ) but instead of breaking like he did Sansa pulled herself together again and again. Other girls may had committed suicide .

Rowan, Thank you for publishing this video. It has given me clarity in my own writing. Appreciate your clear, direct definitions of what a strong character is. Love your humor!

Thank you soooo much for this thoughful video ! :D You managed to phrase perfectly something that I was frustrated to be unable to express, the fact that it is tiring that a "strong female character" is generally depicted as a stereotypical male in a woman's body. Thank you so so much, I'm so glad I'll now have a video to send to friends when I'm struggling to express that ^^ By the way, I've recently discovered you (either trhough Akhilah, or LucyMoon, or SuperStamStuff maybe ? can't remember sorry) and your videos are AMAZING !

I appreciate female characters with weaknesses, emotions and a desire for love it makes them realistic and human not weak at all, I actually hate tough emotionless badass female characters that need no man it feels more sexist.

Just started exploring your channel, i kinda died when you mentioned In The Flesh I love that show so much and it's not that well known! Awesome video too!

You are awesome, great video!!

this video has aged SOO well, I loved your point of view and will keep it mind next time I'm watching/reading something

The first thing you do is mention Buffy and my heart jumps oh my god. YES. And I totally agree with allllll your points here, you're truly preaching to the choir. All my friends hate Sansa and it infuriates me to no end. Fantastic video with well explained arguments once again! (also, because my inner Buffy fan is jumping around in circles, why is season 5 your favourite? I also love 'The Body', but are there any more particular elements/episodes you love?)

I didn't like Dawn much because she was written as whiny and made some really bad and stupid decisions considering she knew what was up with Buffy, but at the same time she did deal with alot of loss of her mom and Buffy then Tara and then the whole lack of self identity when she found out she was the key.. I'm actually kind of sad for the kid now that I look back. The quote of Buffy saying "Dawn's in trouble? It must be Tuesday." Kind of summed up much of the Dawn experience for me at the time. I actually am not even that big of a fan of the Buffy character for various reasons but SMG is a great actress and pulled it off. I did enjoy her portrayal. My favourite character I think was Anya, though also Willow, Tara and Faith are so full of greatness. "What are they doing?" *Dawn and Anya dancing with money in hand* "The dance of capitalistic superiority." There was so much coded gayness in that show between almost all the female characters but especially Buffy and Faith, and in some could arguably say Buffy and Willow. I actually wrote a femslash fanfiction a long time ago with a Willow and Anya pairing because of the season 7 episode where the rest of the Scooby gang was invisible to Willow and Anya had to help her.. there was a carpet joke.. anywho love these videos. :)

Excellent vid :)

Very good thoughts. Though I would like to add something. I think what a female character does is not entirely unimportant. I think we think female characters who do things that are traditionally attributed to men are strong female characters because it goes against traditional gender norms, and it's also important to have that kind of diversity. Having strong female characters in the literal sense of the word is also very important, but I think you hinted at it in the video too. I think a very important tool for feminist writing is to show that a female character is not interested in feminine roles of their respective society, and indeed I think this has been done a lot of times, rightfully so. I am not saying all feminist writing has to be like that and it's a necessity for a strong female character. But it is one of the most important tools to criticize and question gender norms. The second thing I would like to add is that I think you are not necessarily devaluing traditionally female things or behaviors when you dislike some of them. I do actually think there are some things that are traditionally associated with girls that are rubbish, but I wouldn't say they are because they are "girly". Just as much, there are some things traditionally attributed to guys that I find stupid. It's just because some of these things are superficial or selfish or somehow just bad behaviors in a general sense.

PREACH GIRL. What an excellent way to explain your argument!

I needed to be reminded of all these points. Thank you!

This is why I love characters like april kepner and olivia dunham, I mean they are quite badass at times, but most of their character is set around using their emotions and that isn't seen as weakness like many people portray it to be, they see their emotions and kindness as a strength and it is beautiful

I think one of the issues with Dawn as a character is that they originally planned to have her be 11 or 12, and they had started writing her that way. They aged the character up when they cast Michelle Trachtenberg, but some of her behaviours come across a bit too young for a 15 year old. She was also not set up to be very sympathetic: she's introduced as may-or-may-not-be-evil late addition to the cast, always fighting with our lead and the reason we're given to care about her is 'she's the key'. That's not great but that's on the writing, not on Dawn as a character or on Trachtenberg as an actor.

Hey Rowan! Been watching your videos and I gotta say, I really love your stuff. I make GoT videos on my channel and it would be cool to collaborate or just share ideas, if you are ever up for it. Keep up the awesome work! -Danzie

Thank you SO much for this video! I totally agree with this. I always used to hate the idea of "strong" female characters, because I thought it meant like physically strong - but I'm just starting to see that the definition doesn't mean that at all. Females absolutely shouldn't have to be unfeminine to be strong and empowering, and it's something that's so easy to forget! I hate how in books like the Famous Five series, George is seen as the feminist one because she hates being a girl - like, she can be who she likes, but girls who like being girly are JUST as valid and "strong". When you think about gender stereotypes - like that the man goes off and has the adventures, and the woman stays home and looks after the kids and does the cooking - who's role is more important, and vital to society? Maybe there should be more emphasis on strong male characters who recognise that and are willing to listen and learn from the females.

You hit the nail right on the head. I've been saying the same thing for a long time. I never got why stereotypical "girly" things were seen as bad just because it's seen as something girls generally enjoy. I'm a girl who likes heavy metal and progressive rock, but I also love perfume and wearing dresses. I hate sport but I like video games. People just need to let people like whatever they want, whether it's perceived as being girly or not.

Hello there! I just watched a bunch of your videos one after the other (blame the tag Agent Carter for that) and I just wanted to say that I think you're AWESOME and your videos are interesting as hell. You articulate very well a lot of the things I feel about women and feminism and tv shows, but can't quite explain. So yeah, just letting you know! (Probably late to the party, but whatever :D ). PS: I see your Pride shirt there! I cried like a baby during the entire fucking movie. [Also I love your accent]

Oh, goodness, this video gives me all the feels. I love it. Thank you so much for pointing out that "strong female characters" depends on writing, not physical ability.

First time viewer. I'm a GoT TV show enthusiast, and the Sansa as a weak female character thumbnail captured me. Nice argument, Rowan Ellis. I'll be sure to remember this when I launch my GoT channel.

Great video! I am always frustrated with people who think that being "strong" means that girls act "like" men. Thank you so much!

This is why I am loving watching the Handmaid's Tale (even though it's kind of a masochistic undertaking to endure it). You really get into the mind of the protagonist, she's a complex characters, full of flaws. She swings between moments of defiance and cool calculation to improve her lot, then swings to moments of self-doubt, giving in to the pressures around her. You watch her attempts at suppressing her empathy and distancing herself as a form of self-protection, then see her break and get flooded with emotion. Her interactions with men are, when possible, on her own terms, but also see the inevitable effects of being abused. You also get to see in Mrs Waterford another complex character, a woman who is strong and smart, and yet for religious reasons has accepted being controlled by her husband and promoting a society that enslaves other women. You see how she sees herself as above others in the hierarchy and abuses her power. Women can be cruel selfish villains with complex motives too.

Thank you! This video rocks! And is it just me or is it also just as annoying when creators do this to men? Or when they seem to think that female characters have to make up for their physical weakness by being warriors-but-with-Magic! which makes it soooooo much better

Too bad that nearly all the strong female characters in modern movies like the new "Star Wars" (I wanna put it in quotation because it disgusts me so much) movies are strong or overpowered with no build up and training a.s.o. Rey in Star Wars for example.. She is just stupidly insanely overpowered 2 days after she even KNEW about the force. Even the strongest characters of the entire franchise took months/years to even slightly do what she does with ease. The problem here is not her becoming that strong, it is HOW she does it. And this "how" is not explained whatsoever. It is just "because". I think it is sad that movies forcefully integrate political messages and disregard the whole story and logic behind the movies. It is okay to have strong female characters, but strength is earned and worked for or comes with a price. It does not honor or put any value to the character if there is close to zero character development. Just shove it in like: "oh women can be strong, too." What's next? "We need a 130kg woman that beats up every strong character to ever exist with 1 Hand, can fly and shoots lasers out of her eyes!"

Hi so I haven't yet watched all of your videos, although I'm making a valiant effort because I have really been enjoying your commentary. But anyway, you may have covered this somewhere and I just haven't seen it yet, but I was wondering if you've seen My Mad Fat Diary, and if you have seen it, what's your opinion/analysis of it? I don't want to spoil anything if you haven't seen it but I definitely like the show a lot, and I thought it far exceeded my expectations.

I love the writing of Sansa. I love how GRRM taught me to forgive her for succumbing to the role that was sold to her in stories. I was judging her actions in the first novel by their outcomes, not understanding her motivations from an empathetic stance. However, seeing her actually learn, and actually put the world together on her own despite all she suffered, taught me a new kind of strength. A very universal one, endurance. She remained a lady despite having all expectations of that life destroyed. She's amazing.

I think I probably got whiplash from all the nodding-along I did during this video. All the thumbs up. I'm probably going to post this to my fb. I've heard all the Katniss-slamming lately, calling her "weak" for reacting REALISTICALLY to mental trauma, and it's been driving me up the wall. Like you said. Bull. Shit.

Thank you for this. Femininity is not weak

Thank you so much!!! Finally, someone has articulated what I have been thinking (but haven't been able to put into words for so long). Particularly with Sansa, I have been utterly confused where all the hate is coming from. That girl is a survivor if I've ever seen one. She has manipulated so many people to stay alive and we have seen a ton of character development in her over the past few seasons. So what if she began the show as a "girly girl" whose main interest was boys and getting married. That's a typical development stage for a lot of young girls (certainly not all but many). I have long suspected, as you state so perfectly, that people don't like her because of her typically "female" traits. And this is coming from my feminist friends. Arghhhh! Arya is also a wonderfully strong character, but I think we have seen lately how her "toughness" and desire to kill may actually be hurting her. I'm not criticizing her, just pointing out that there are positives and negatives to all personality traits. Nothing is every black and white, right? What characteristics are strong and what are weak? Whose to say? But weakness certainly isn't liking so-called girly things. I am an fierce feminist and pink is my favorite color! My color preference doesn't make me any less of a strong person lol. Thank you for making this video. I loved your intelligent, thoughtful analysis!

I just love your voice hahaha and your points too but dude you could read that book "go the f*ck to sleep" and I would actually weep with laughter.

Aradia is an oc that is a STRONG female character. Physically she isn’t that strong, she is good at duelling due to constant studying of and practice of magic, but physically unless in her cat form she is a twig who can’t lift much. Unless she uses things like throwing knives/guns she can’t achieve a solid hit (even if she is a Quidditch player and a great one at that). What makes her strong is that she keeps going through everything that happens (her adoptive father has a clinical condition which makes him dangerous monthly, she is mercilessly bullied all throughout her education, she has to make decisions which end up making everyone hate her whilst she knows she has to make those decisions to keep her family safe, she also loses her biological parents, her adoptive parents, her adoptive brother). She is also queer (ace panromantic) and she dates 2 gals before settling for someone who feels like family to her and who calms her because this girl has been through hell and back and has ptsd and numerous other mental issues. She is girly though. She likes dresses, heels, makeup, but she doesn’t buy them because she doesn’t have money to spare for them. She’d never drag another girl who likes frills, she would drag a girl who thinks she is better bc she is a tomboy or something because she tends to be ruthless a lot of the time.

weird how so many people has problems to undestand that.

how could he say dawn was a weak character!?! your friend needs to watch season 5 again, dawn was an all powerful key that unlocked the interdimensional walls to every parallel universe, if anything she was actually the strongest character in the season!

Oh well, I'm totally with you, Season 5 was Ace - I mean, it had a mad Goddess as Big Bad, who also happened to be funny. Given it had one of the lesser opening Episodes, and Dawn's introduction may not have been the finest as she appears pretty stereotypical to begin with - but we may forget there that Dawn wasn't a real human to start with, but a created being, so the fault probably did lie with her creators - some italian (?) monk dudes - to begin with. And her girl crush on Xander of all people was fun. If you want to talk bad, look at Season 6, which meandered along for the first half with seemingly none of the writers really having an idea what to do with Buffy's character now that she had been dead.

Rowan, haha way late on this comment but I have to say I do agree with u because since u were talking about game of thrones we take Briene of Tarth and Catelynn Stark as examples not sure if they mention this in the book (can't remember) but Briene of Tarth makes the comment to Catelynn that she may not be strong in a fighting sense but that she is strong in a "ladies" sense, and that is why Briene promises her sword to Catelynn (not sure what season). Catelynn stark is an example of a strong character because she is a mother and yes she may dress like a lady and not be a fighter but she is a strong mother. She is willing to start a war to keep her children safe as a first priority and we can see later that Tyrion lannister and Jaime lannister even admire this quality about her. so I totally agree. Love Buffy as well btw! and I love season 5. the only season I really didn't like was maybe some episodes from the last one simply because I felt willows new relationship was rushed. but when it comes to Dawn she is actually pretty smart in the episode where she could be the potential slayer she ends up training (what's her face lol) in a matter of an hour on how to kill vampires. in fact I feel dawn would succeed as a watcher someday. she is very adept, but the only thing I'm not a fan of is how she constantly tries to be like Buffy or isn't 100% comfortable in her own skin. my favorite moment with dawn is also in that same episode where Xander explains to her what it is to be the only "human" of the group because we learn that Xander has a huge heart for his friends and that is his endearing quality I just wish dawn would have embraced hers more as Xander maybe did in the past, instead of trying to learn how to fight or be like Buffy I want her to be like a badass in the sense that she is like "I don't need to be powerful cuz I know what I am" that would be my only complaint. but I digress, keep going with ur videos girl love watching you keep it up! xoxo

You are so right!

For me I personally like 'weak' female characters more than the prophesied independent/strong woman because the strong women are rarely shown/written in a realistic way and the weak ones are less judgemental and have better story arcs.

This video is so brilliant and I cannot thank you enough for having filmed it. I am currently re-watching Buffy and I have just finished season 5. It's one of my favourite as well: so well written, with one of the most evil funny character ever (in my opinion of course ^^). I thought a lot about Dawn: she is so well written because she is perfectly portrayed as a normale teenager and it is for this reason that I found her so relatable and so real. The same is for Sansa: I imagine how hard should it be being trapped in a place where everyone hates me and how this could easily destroy my self, body and mind. I have friends who think Dawn was a sort of "annoying" and non-necessary character. I instead think that Dawn is like a plus in Buffy show, because she provided something new: she is the reflection of how a "normal" teen could have lived and reacted in a world populated by violent vampires and monsters.

season 5 was awesome, perhaps only beaten by season 6. Dawn was awesome Michelle Trachtenberg and Sarah Michelle Gellar really sold the sibling relation. As a younger sibling I felt so much for Dawn.

Yes, and thank you for these words. Wise words, sad many people can't see this (I mean the point, but your videos too)

I started noticing more the "traditionally feminine" characters in series and movies after game of thrones made a mess of Sansa's character. Using rape and torture as a plot device so much on one single character throughout several seasons is total and utter shite.

I love your accent!

2019 and this is still so relevant

Good for you! As a 48 year old feminist, your channel always gives me so much joy!

okay, unrelated, but your glasses... where can i get them?

Yes!!! (4 yrs late but I only just found your channel so shhh) Also feel like Cordelia (BTVS) is a great example of a strong and femme female character :D

For a while I was terrified you were going to say that Sansa is a weak character, I'm glad you didn't :)

I love you. I love Dawn, always have been and I don't understand the hate she got. Subscribing now :D I also, I could never stand those fictions were the main female character was described as "not like the other girls", as if it was so great. Why the hate of girls on other girls ? What's the point of it ? And it always end up in slut-shaming... Sooooo annoying coming from others female amateur writers...

With Dawn, at first I was super confused because she was in the theme song of episode 1 of season 5 xD Me and my sister thought we missed an episode or something! I thought she was pretty cool with the whole Key thing but then the actress got really old really fast for me .-. I dunno, I think it was just her voice that bothered me. And with Sansa, she is my favourite Song of Ice and Fire character

yes! very good points. When women complain about not having enough 'strong female roles' it's not about characters that have no failures, vices, or negative emotions. In fact those often make a character more interesting and believable. The problem is poorly written so-called "characters" that have no real inner life, personality, realistic reactions and opinions, who are totally replaceable by any other attractive model. When men write "strong female characters" they just take the usual hot girl trope and add martial arts skills. No, dude, that's not what we want to see! We want to see actual developed protagonists, ideally written by women who might be less likely to just automatically write the usual hot girl trope.

Well said!!! 👏🏼

Omg, I just noticed your shirt!

one of my favorite character was Anne from the famous five.