100 Kick Ass Female Characters: #1
1. Wendy Moira Angela Darling, as seen in the play Peter Pan JM Barrie and the movies: Disney's Peter Pan and Hook
As a little girl growing up in the late 80s, there weren't a lot of options for female characters who did things rather than just let things happen to them, especially if you weren't old enough to actually read books without pictures. As a result, whenever my brothers and I played a game, I had to choose which awesome boy character I would be playing that day.
And then came Wendy.
Peter Pan was the first movie I ever saw in the theaters, and, for the first time, a girl got to do something besides just be a princess (remember: this was pre-Ariel, pre-Belle, and pre-Jasmine, when all the girls in Disney movies needed the princes to rescue them from their lives of great despair.) And, to a degree, Wendy Darling can fit into that idea: she is unhappy at home, does not want to grow up, and, after Peter's shadow stumbles into the nursery, has Peter lead her to Neverland where life will be grand. But here's where Wendy becomes a truly kick-ass character: she goes back to her life in England.
In Neverland, Wendy has to be more of an adult than she ever had to be in London. The Lost Boys want a mother, and Wendy doesn't get to indulge in constant fun because she must tend to the boys. And, while there is the hint of flirtation between Wendy and Peter, it is never elaborated on because Peter will never grow up and Wendy wants to become a woman. In Barrie's work, Wendy grows to have a daughter Jane, who also goes to Neverland with Peter, and, with Hook, we see Wendy as an old woman who obviously cherishes her past but is satisfied with the life she chose for herself.
Wendy Darling got everything she wanted only to come to the very adult realization that sometimes what you want isn't what you imagined it to be, and, rather than stay with a boy she liked and give up what she truly wants, she returns to London to grow up.
And, for a 12-year-old, that's pretty kick-ass.
As a little girl growing up in the late 80s, there weren't a lot of options for female characters who did things rather than just let things happen to them, especially if you weren't old enough to actually read books without pictures. As a result, whenever my brothers and I played a game, I had to choose which awesome boy character I would be playing that day.
And then came Wendy.
Peter Pan was the first movie I ever saw in the theaters, and, for the first time, a girl got to do something besides just be a princess (remember: this was pre-Ariel, pre-Belle, and pre-Jasmine, when all the girls in Disney movies needed the princes to rescue them from their lives of great despair.) And, to a degree, Wendy Darling can fit into that idea: she is unhappy at home, does not want to grow up, and, after Peter's shadow stumbles into the nursery, has Peter lead her to Neverland where life will be grand. But here's where Wendy becomes a truly kick-ass character: she goes back to her life in England.
In Neverland, Wendy has to be more of an adult than she ever had to be in London. The Lost Boys want a mother, and Wendy doesn't get to indulge in constant fun because she must tend to the boys. And, while there is the hint of flirtation between Wendy and Peter, it is never elaborated on because Peter will never grow up and Wendy wants to become a woman. In Barrie's work, Wendy grows to have a daughter Jane, who also goes to Neverland with Peter, and, with Hook, we see Wendy as an old woman who obviously cherishes her past but is satisfied with the life she chose for herself.
Wendy Darling got everything she wanted only to come to the very adult realization that sometimes what you want isn't what you imagined it to be, and, rather than stay with a boy she liked and give up what she truly wants, she returns to London to grow up.
And, for a 12-year-old, that's pretty kick-ass.