Hollywood.com has a list of “Kickass Women In Cartoons” and as awesome as the list is, there’s something wrong that I just can’t put my finger on. Ah yes, now I remember, it’s the descriptions!
You can head over to the post itself for the full fifteen, but here’s a sampling:
Wonder Women
It may be a man’s world, especially in the male-heavy world of superheros, but Wonder Woman boasts some serious skills. She can fly, fight like an Amazonian, and endure wearing Gaea’s waist miniaturizing girdle (even if her figure defies physics).
She-Ra
If her subtitle “Princess of Power” wasn’t enough of an indication, let us consider that She-Ra is He-Man’s identical twin sister. And she can lift things like rocks and buildings and commune with animals. I still want to be She-Ra when I grow up.
Princess Fiona (Shrek)
Yes, this tale is all about accepting inner beauty, but we have to admit, before she went full ogre, Princess Fiona was a babe. Plus, she had that whole Matrix-inspired freeze-in-mid-air-and-kick-all-the-bad-guys-in-the-face thing down pat. Bona fide kick ass lady.
Kim Possible
She could rock cargo pants. Her sidekicks were a nerd and a naked mole rat. She could get her homework done AND save the world before cheer practice. Yep. She earns a spot on this list.
As you can see, the selection of characters is commendable, but the reasoning is a bit lacking. Besides the reliance on the looks, there’s much more to each of them besides what they did. Yes, Kim Possible could save the world and get her homework done, but if your read more into it, she was also extremely clever, tactical, witty and a really nice person to boot.
If we’re going to rate female characters on how kick-ass they are, we should perhaps focus more on how they bested their male counterparts through smarts and sheer force of character.