Hello, Lovely Soul Drop! My partner is obsessed with Marvel and DC, so we are currently watching She-Hulk together…and I have some thoughts about it. Is She-Hulk the strong female character so many people seem to want represented in the media? If you haven’t watched the series and would like to remain spoiler-free, please do refrain from reading past here.
Are you up to date? Great! Let’s begin with what a strong female character is. Everyone has different opinions on what this concept should embody. For me personally? Any strong well-written character is one that is deeply flawed, has deep issues (environmental or/and personal), and manages to fight for their goals despite their struggles. Strength is not only physical, being strong for me means that you don’t allow obstacles to stop you from accomplishing your end goal.
Now, let’s analyze Jennifer Walters a.k.a She-Hulk. During the first episode we are shown her origin story which is the following: she was driving with Bruce, her cousin (and the Hulk), when they crashed against a spaceship. They fall off a cliff, for some reason he doesn’t Hulk-out so Jennifer has to rescue him out of the car. Some of his blood mixes with hers and she gets “infected” by it. Next, we’re shown our protagonist walking into a dead-end bar where for some unknown reason the women in the bathroom give her a make-over instead of calling the police if they suspect she was abused as they seem to imply. She goes out looking like a lady of the night, a bunch of men catcall her, she hulks out and before she can commit a triple homicide Hulk punches the lights out of her.
Jennifer is taken to a tropical hideaway where the training montage is supposed to happen. Instead of the typical character-struggles-but-eventually-gets-it-right we are given a I’m-already-perfect-and-way-better-than-you one. She happens to be amazing at everything she does, has no alter ego, and is perfectly able to control her hulk. Before we continue we have to remember who Hulk is and why the infamous scene of “I know how to control my anger because I do it infinitely more than you” enrages so many people.
Hulk is a tragic character, and a strong one indeed. The strength of Hulk goes beyond his physical one. He watched his father beat his mother to death, tried to kill himself, was seen and treated as a monster, was isolated, and has suffered immensely in the comics and the movies. Returning to our series’ protagonist, her words are understood as her being more of a victim of circumstances outside of her control than he is. The issues she speaks about are real, and important, but it comes off as her whining to someone who has gone through Hell and back. Why compare their suffering as one more important than the other? She could have shared why she handles her anger well without the "I do it infinitely more than you" bit.
That is just the first episode, right? I’m sure she will be shown as strong in the future. Turns out? Nope…not so far. During the second episode she lets others know that she cares about her career more than being a heroine, which would be fine, if she had any idea how to do her job right. She is fired so for ten minutes she struggles a bit because no one wants to deal with the huge green lady, then she is given a job exclusively because of her powers…yet she complains that others will think that she only got the job because of her powers. Which is EXACTLY what just happened. She wants to be seen as a serious, respected lawyer, she wants to be taken seriously…of course the next right thing to do is to show her twerking at the end of third chapter in an office where anyone could see her as they walk by. Very logical.
Where is the struggle? What am I supposed to be rooting for her to do? She has been shown to be egoistic, narcissistic, hypocritical, and frankly annoying. The thing is…the writers of the show think she is lovely, and that lack of self-awareness makes it so these flaws are not worked on at any moment. The show is constantly repeating the same message “men bad, women amazing” which is exasperating. She is portrayed as insecure and nervous about herself but the next minute she is a bad boss lady. This is supposed to be a comedy…we’re at episode 5 and I have laughed only once at something I don’t think was meant as a joke.
Is this the strong female character we want to see more of? I could say she is strong because she keeps working despite her struggles at work…but where are they? The jerk we meet in the beginning is entirely ignored and everyone sees him as an idiot. She is given a wonderful job she didn’t earn because of her merits, just because of what she is, and she seems to win cases rather easily. Alright, so maybe her struggle is not being able to date? We’re shown many awful men that try to date her and none are good enough, guess what? Online dating is terrible for most people. That’s why the best friend, who's name I can’t even recall, says that you start with having many dates and then create a filter of what you’re looking for. On the other hand, what is she bringing to the table? A title and that’s it? Her personality is annoying, she is focused on herself 24/7, and not even my husband who defends every Marvel show as sacred…can stand her. Usually, I get annoyed and he convinces me of the show being good. With this one? Impossible.
What strong female character would you like to see more of? I would like to see women who are strong while still being traditionally feminine. Mothers, housewives, they are feminine petite and love pink, while still being strong. Femininity is not weakness! I would love to see more disabled characters, especially invisible disabilities. Female characters that are sweet, gentle, shy, and still strong. There’s so many ways of showing strength. They don’t need to be masculine to be empowered. Someone who is empowered is someone who lifts others up, someone unable to tell Hulk she has had it worse knowing what he has gone through (September is suicide prevention month, men suicide at way higher rates than women all over the world, so this hit hard), someone who despite of complaining once or twice and having negative emotions they cope with them in a healthy way, someone who knows they are imperfect and needs to work to improve themselves. That is empowerment.
Thank you for reading! Let me know what you think in the comments, like the post, and share it if you enjoyed it.
Podcast episodes:
Let’s Connect Monday (Halcyon tears):https://anchor.fm/bellemoon99/episodes/Lets-Connect-Monday-97--Halcyon-tears-e1no3g5
Let’s be Kind Thursday (Find Serendipity): https://anchor.fm/bellemoon99/episodes/Lets-be-Kind-Thursday-92--Find-serendipity-e1nss39