This allows women as industry professionals, fangirls, and female characters to become normalized by equal exposure the mainstream media coverage ended up being very balanced. By way of both Marshall and Christenson, the character Hera had significant face time, as well. Artist Amy Beth Christenson’s contribution to the show was acknowledged as her artwork was revealed. Actress Vanessa Marshall appeared on the panel and in numerous accompanying media appearances. The Star Wars Rebels panel did a good job of presenting female creators. ~ Dave Filoni, Star Wars Rebels executive producer, at the show’s WonderCon panel If they’re strong, that’s an aspect of their character.” I just like to make really good characters. “People talk about strong female characters. The expression “I want a strong female character” means a lot more than just three words, but at the same time it gets the point across. For instance, if the basketball coach wants her player to square her shoulders during a shot, she would say “square up” as opposed to “don’t stand crooked.” Listen to top coaches in any sport and you will hear them say what they expect from the athlete more often than not, and they deliver those messages in tiny bursts of verbalized information.
Coaches are more effective when they give their athletes a positive suggestion that can be visualized. Using a short, succinct term like “strong female character” or “strong female heroine” is an effective way to convey to creators our expectations it is communication based on the same principles coaches use when training athletes. Star Wars Rebels heroic main cast is exactly the change-up the franchise needs. In fact, I have gone even further and coined the term “ strong female heroine.” I simply don’t see enough emphasis on heroes, especially from Star Wars’ recent and upcoming offerings. I continue to apply the term “strong female character” when asking for better portrayals of women in fiction because I believe it best suits what I’d like to see in storytelling. Conversely, what we are asking is that writers avoid creating poorly written characters, no matter their strength. The most memorable characters, male or female, straddle those spectrums. A strongly written character can be physically or emotionally weak. It isn’t necessarily requesting physical or emotional strength, but often female characters aren’t given equivalent portrayal as either or both.
For most who use the term, “ strong” means strongly written or well written. Debate over the term is still ongoing, in large part because of its common misinterpretation. The term “strong female character” came up quite a bit at WonderCon.