In case you haven’t noticed, I have a major hard on for American Horror Story: Coven, and sadly, it ended this week. Sure the show had it’s flaws and the ending was a little weak (I actually find all the AHS season finales pretty weak), but it was an awesome?show with stunning visuals, and a cast of badass bitches.
What I liked about Coven was that it gave us an honest portrayal of strong and powerful women. Sure they were witches, but they had real human flaws and strengths. So, to honor this wonderful show, I have decided to?put together?a countdown of the top 10 shows that honestly portrayed some badass women, strengths and emotions and all.
10. Game of Thrones
Daenerys began the show as nothing more than a pretty, timid girl, but she soon begins to fiercely believe that it’s her birthright to control the Seven Kingdoms, formerly ruled by her late father. She survives the loss of her family and her king husband, and turns into a dragon-wielding warrior woman. She has feelings (she grew to really love her husband, even though she didn’t exactly enter the marriage by choice), but she’s a fighter, and her character has been beautifully evolving since day one.
9. Scandal
Olivia Pope had been praised as one of the best roles written for a Black woman on television in years, and I agree. Olivia is a strong, bad bitch, but she’s so much more than that. There are layers to her, and they’re not all strong. She’s broken the stereotype of the “Strong Black Female” character, but being a fierce character who also isn’t afraid to cry, which is far more realistic than some of her predecessors like?Foxy Brown.
8. Battlestar Galactica
What’s so honest and badass about the character of Kara is the fact that she’s brave as all hell, but also incredibly flawed. Another thing I like is that?back in the original 1978 TV series?Battlestar Galactica, Lieutentant Starbuck was a man. But in the 21st-century reboot, the arrogant pilot is Kara ?Starbuck? Thrace, a resourceful military woman with a dark past and a drinking problem to match.?She’s not exactly the most emotionally stable, but?she makes up for her self-destructive tendencies through selfless bravery.
7. Weeds
Nancy Botwin was just a normal PTA soccer mom until her husband unexpectedly died and she decided to start selling weed to maintain her families suburban lifestyle. Suddenly, she goes from housewife to drug kingpin. Suffering from the depression of losing the father of her children and quite possibly the love of her life,?not all of Nancy’s decisions were necessarily good, and she’s far from perfect. Nancy is a total bad bitch, though, who does everything she can to protect the well-being of her loved ones AND she survives getting shot in the head. Badass.
6. Murphy Brown
Murphy Brown is kind of a famous television hero for women of the 90’s. She was a recovering alcoholic with a quick temper and was one of TV?s prickliest leading ladies, and her attitude isn't even what made her such a badass. She was also a brave, principled, and well-respected news reporter who chose to become a single mother despite the prejudice (and real-world backlash) she knew was in store.
5. Alias
I could?tell you?why Sydney Bristow belongs on this list, or I could let Alias creator, JJ Abrams, tell you:
She was a character with a secret, and that is always a fun place to start. I love how she was sweet and romantic and looked like the girl next door, but was also lethal and brave as hell, and would do nearly everything for love of country. But she wasn?t a superhero; she was terrified at almost every step.
4. American Horror Story: Coven
Here is what I loved about this show: it dealt with powerful women dealing with relevant situations that real women deal with everyday…except they’re witches. Rape, racism, power, aging, competition, beauty, men, sexuality, the women on this show all deal with these issues in some capacity. Sure they fight each other, but aside from the juvenile little fight between Zoe and Madison over Kyle, the number one fight between the women is about power.
However, when men try to take that power from them they ban together and make everyone bow down. There was a lot of negative things said about how three of the main actresses (Jessica Lange, Angela Bassett, and Kathy Bates) in the end go from being powerful women to spending an eternity being controlled by men.
However, I think I see the point Ryan Murphy was trying to make: these three characters?were shitty people who did shitty things and probably deserved to go to hell, and for powerful women hell IS having their lives dictated by men forever and ever. I mean, I get it.
3. The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls are the original bad bitches of television. These ladies dealt with aging, sexuality, beauty, health issues, death, family, friendship, men, while maintaining honest feelings and honest friendships with each other. They didn’t always get along, and they sure as hell weren’t always the best people, they dealt with addictions and betrayals and sex scandals, etc, but they always stuck together and stayed golden. This was my favorite show as a kid, which now that I think about it is really weird. What 7-year-old can’t watch to watch a show about four old ladies?!
2. Mad Men
Don’t be fooled by the title of show, because this show also has some pretty complex, messed up, but badass female characters, too!?First, there?is Peggy. She’s hard working and incredibly intelligent, but she also gets knocked up by the engaged Pete who works at the advertising company she works for.
Like I said, these ladies don’t always make smart sexual decisions, but Peggy is still a badass who realizes that in the 1960’s she has to downplay her femininity to get ahead. In one episode, Peggy asks her new colleague Dawn, ?Do you think I act like a man?? In this rare moment of vulnerability, we become aware of what she's had to sacrifice ? not only her personal life, but her sense of herself as a woman ? for professional success.
A feeling all too many women have experienced. Then there is Joan. As the office manager for Sterling Cooper, Joan spent a lot of time in the proximity of power and used it to her advantage. Sure, she slept her way to partner, but still has the savvy and know-how to command respect in the boardroom.
1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
I feel like this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Buffy the Vampire Slayer had some of the baddest, realest bitches television has ever seen. Plus, I consider it to be the greatest television series of all time. First, there is Buffy herself. Buffy is not perfect.
She’s kind of a control freak, she’s a bit selfish, she alienates herself a lot, she has a few mental breakdowns, bangs vampires a lot (even though she’s the slayer), and sometimes all her power is overwhelming, but at the end of the day she always fights her ass off and protects the world. Then, there is Willow, who probably has the biggest character evolution of all the characters on the show. Willow starts off as a nerdy sidekick, but becomes the most powerful person on the show.
She becomes a powerful witch who almost ends the world when her pain and power become too much for her, but she deals with her problem and learns to control her power. Other female characters like Faith, Cordeilia, Dawn, and Anya, are far from one dimensional side characters. They all have issues and insecurities, but prove to be brave, powerful, and badass. Bow down bitches, because Buffy has the baddest bitches on the block.
maggieQ says
Where’s Nikita?