I stay out of the internet drama because as far as this site is concerned my focus is on the end product. Despite what the creator’s sociopolitical viewpoints are, did he or she create something good that I can enjoy. If said politics are why the story was ruined, as in heavy-handed preaching, I’ll call it out, but I don’t think being conservative or liberal has any bearing on talent and the ability to tell a story. Now SJW or alt-right is another story since they often represent extreme viewpoints and extremists love to shove their message into your skull or shut you out but that’s a whole other conversation. I want nothing to do with extremists, whether they (allegedly) share my opinions or not (and most of them fall under “not” even if they think they do). I have other things to worry about.
However, whenever a female-led movie or show comes out, the response is rather curious. I have nothing against “representation” (although I can think of few characters I enjoy who are “just like me” beyond the color wheel and things like “requires air to breathe”–and given some of the shows I watch we don’t always have that in common either) but I don’t think you have to sacrifice story quality in order to have representation. You can have both. And yet when folks complain about the rebooted Ghostbusters, She-Ra, or the MCU Captain Marvel (which I STILL believe only exists to keep Billy Batson from regaining his superhero name in the movies like Marvel Comics has been doing to DC Comics) the defenders go to “they hate women action heroes in main roles” or “it’s not for you” (even though it totally was or at least was something I could get into). I’m not going to get into this argument. I haven’t seen either of them to review them. I do reject the notion that it’s the fact that it’s a woman as the focus that’s the problem, especially after the response to Wonder Woman, Alita Battle Angel, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Xena: Warrior Princess, the calls for a Black Widow movie (which I support if they find a good script and not just having it to have it because I want it to be good, not just “present”) and the shows I grew up with.
I grew up with plenty of strong female heroes, who either were the stars of the show or worked equally with their male partners in crimefighting. I would like to tell you about these heroes since I have done so in the past for the black heroes, who also don’t get credited alongside Black Panther or other such heroes. (All-black cast? Not only did The Meteor Man do it first but M.A.N.T.I.S. was better when it had an all-black cast in the pilot. Also, I really do want to see Black Panther. It looks like a good movie.) There were plenty of girl heroes before having girl heroes was cool. I grew up with them. Characters like…
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