Female Anti-Heroes

[Kana]

Whedonverse aside, I was wondering: Are there many female anti-heroes?

Maybe this is symptomatic of male protagonists being more plentiful, but it would seem that when we do have female characters, they are perhaps more polarized into being either more heroic/'pure' or villainous.

Now don't misunderstand me, I am talking subjectively here, both in terms of personal experience and also in my understanding of what an Anti-Hero is but certainly in terms of TV shows, we seen the likes of Dexter or Walter White, but I'm struggling to think of many recent female anti=heroes.

Although I haven't really watched it, I'm told that Veronica Mars certainly fits the bill of a well written complex anti hero, who just happens to be female and I have to give an honorable mention to Emily Thorne from Revenge.

Again, I could be wrong, or maybe I have understood the term 'anti-hero' differently from most, but it seems to me that the realm of antiheroism is still relatively male dominated.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

I'd count Veronica Mars as an anti-hero, and definitely Emily Thorn.

But I'd also see a couple of others, The entire cast of America Horror Story Coven - mostly female and definitely anti-heroes.

Olivia Pope from Scandal, She covers up lies and has a relationship with a married man.

Nurse Jackie is definitely an anti-hero, maybe also Tara from United States of Tara, but I'm not sure on that one?

Rebekah from Vampire Diaries/The Originals is kinda of a lead character now and she'd be an anti-hero, but maybe less anti recently?

I only watched season 1, and never finished it, but I got the impression the two female leads of Damages would be anti-heroes.

Same for the show The Closer, that's a female lead show and she did things like plant evidence when she suspected someone was guilty.

Girls is an anti-hero lead show as well I guess

 

[Kean]

It's not TV but I'd class Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games as an anti-hero.

Gemma from Sons of Anarchy. Tara too. Actually, every character on SOA is an anti-hero, so I'm not sure if it counts?

---------- Post added at 12:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:00 PM ----------

I can't believe I forgot Orphan Black. Basically every clone is an anti-hero in their own way.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

^ YES! Orphan Black is a really good one, as is Orange is the New Black.

 

[Blaze]

Ya, the first show that popped into my mind was American Horror Story, every season usually has at least one female anti-hero (and very well done too).

 

[Kana]

I'm going to have to check some of these out. I take it a lot of these are relatively recent as well? Girls as I understand it started a couple of years ago.

Well to be honest, when I created this thread, I was hoping to be proven wrong and I'm happy that I am!

In terms of American Horror Story, I've heard of it and heard it was a good show but are there many stand out reoccurring characters? I heard of the show but not much about any of the leads. Perhaps it's more of an ensemble show?

In any respect, this certainly seems encouraging...

 

[itssmiletime]

Game Of Thrones / A Song Of Ice And Fire has many. Arya Stark, Asha (or Yara as she is called in the show) Greyjoy, Daenerys Targaryen. Although this more so applies in the books, an argument could be made for Melisandre.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Cameron and Sarah fit this and is made clear to the audience within the first couple of episodes.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

I'm going to have to check some of these out. I take it a lot of these are relatively recent as well? Girls as I understand it started a couple of years ago.

Well to be honest, when I created this thread, I was hoping to be proven wrong and I'm happy that I am!

In terms of American Horror Story, I've heard of it and heard it was a good show but are there many stand out reoccurring characters? I heard of the show but not much about any of the leads. Perhaps it's more of an ensemble show?

In any respect, this certainly seems encouraging...

Well each season of American Horror story is a new season, they aren't connected to one another. There are recurring actors, but no characters span past a single season, so it's a very ensemble based show, whihc makes it harder for people to talk about main characters and I can't recommend it enough. Season 1 is about a haunted house, and it's so good. Season 2 is about a 1970s insane asylum and it's brilliant. Season 3 is about a modern day coven and it is stunning.

Also Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates and Angela Basset just own it all! They are incredible.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Imhotep's girlfriend Anck-Su-Namun in Mummy
Angelique from the film Dark Shadows
Jane of the Volturi in the Twilight series

 

[JCoatsworth]

The Bride from Kill Bill 1&2 and Jackie Brown from Jackie Brown come to mind.

 

[fitz1980]

Catwoman from various incarnations of Batman. She's a criminal, who also does bad things. But she often ends up helping the heroes for her own reasons.

 

[Robb Stark]

Yara (or Asha) from Game of Thrones is very much an anti-hero. From the "Dark Knight Rises" (not a television show, I know), I would label Catwoman as an anti-hero.

I don't really consider Veronica Mars to be an anti-hero though. She's pretty much a straight up good guy/hero type.

 

[Kean]

I don't really consider Veronica Mars to be an anti-hero though. She's pretty much a straight up good guy/hero type.

I never managed to finish the series (got as far as halfway through S2) and one of the main reasons was because I found Veronica to be a pretty mean, sometimes horrible, character (I'll get flamed for this, I know.) I never got the impression that she did the work she did out of any sense of heroism but rather that what she did often ended up being "good." I know that isn't what most people think but Anti-hero makes perfect sense of her to me.

 

[VisionGirl]

I just started Veronica Mars (literally, I'm on the 4th episode), and I can see what you're saying [MENTION=7585]Kean[/MENTION].

I think lots of the female characters from Battlestar Galactica qualify. Oh hell, most of the characters from BSG qualify lol! Most notably, Starbuck, #6, even Boomer waffles back & forth.