Today is a real treat! Riffing off a comment I made, friend of Yuricon John B. has graciously let me print his email to me about The Problem of Writing "Serious Drama" for Female Casts in Anime. I have not edited this with the exception of the link in the beginning.
Erica's observation about the apparent discomfort with writing serious drama for female casts strongly reminds me of something I noticed with female action roles in late-80s OVAs and shows. It's not something I opine on often because I'm aware I was seeing it through the very small lens of what was making it over here, and what I was personally able to see. As such, and lacking a truly comprehensive view of what was being produced at the time, a realistic timeline of when things were produced or source manga written, how popular they were in Japan, etc., I've been disinclined to shoot my (ignorant about parts) mouth off. With that disclaimer, here's what I was thinking: It seemed like they couldn't really envision (or didn't think their audiences could) a woman in a genuine action role, so they basically took standard male archetypes and grafted femalecharacters onto those roles. Priss (BubbleGum Crisis) was the Street Tough With Heart. Noa Izumi (Patlabor) was the Earnest Neophyte With Talent. Leona Ozaki (Dominion) was the comedic twist on that, the Gonzo Rookie. The entire cast of Gall Force in assorted "one of this type, one of that type, etc." roles. Familiar-enough types that the (mostly male) audience could empathize, but with varying levels of sex appeal thrown in. "Boys with boobs", so to speak. Even roles that didn't fit the "bwb" characterization showed a lack of clear concept for a feminine action-oriented character: in City Hunter, Kaori was a sidekick pining for Ryo. The Dirty Pair couldn't just be special agents, there had to be frequent breaks for Cheep Laffs. And at the tail end of this, how many times did Sailor Moon need to get bailed out by Tuxedo Mask? Eventually we got Rally Vincent (Gunsmith Cats,) Motoko Kusanagi (Stand Alone Complex version), Utena (Revolutionary Girl Utena), girls with guns on the run, and others, so it's not necessarily a permanent state. With drama it will take a breakout, or series of them, to make it more attractive than timidity and retreating to familiar tropes. Action roles had Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hamilton, Buffy and Xena to help wrap peoples' heads around the concept. For drama, I have no idea. I tend to be a latecomer to things, so I'm the last person to prognosticate.
Thanks John, I think you've said concisely what we've all thought at some point or another. I defined "strong woman" recently as a woman in control of her circumstances. This differs significantly from woman in sexy leather body suit shooting big-ass gun. A woman shooting big-ass gun has already lost control and is fighting to regain what was hers. Of course she never can...she and her family have had their lives destroyed and you don't ever come back unscathed from that. What I want so desperately to see is stories of women who have made it past the scarring, have learned to not lose control of the situation, even when things are falling apart around her. A leader. A calm in the storm. Not the storm itself. Perhaps writing that story is too complicated, too "boring," too alien for most male writers or male audiences. It has been done - Utena took control over very weird circumstances indeed, Yumi did it with compassion and charm. It will be done again. In between, I'm afraid we're just going to have to wade through a lot of panty shots and big-ass guns.