Like any self-respecting Indian pop culture consumer of the 2000s, I too grew up on a steady diet of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Tara, Kahiin Tho Hoga, Angel, F.R.I.E.N.D.S and more. These shows featured amazing, brilliant characters going through a lot of heavy shit in life – and in death, as in the case of Buffy!
And it was the best time to be watching TV.
But…then something amazing happened. I chanced upon one of *the* influences who changed my LIFE when I started watching Sex and The City! Her name was Carrie Bradshaw and she is BRILLIANT!
Carrie is one of the reasons I actually decided I was going to be Writer Gal – because she was a New York gal with her New York pals, always looking fabulous with the best shoes on the planet AND the outfit to match.
In short, she was everything I ever aspired of from a successful professional career. (Inevitably, I also ended up with a hot mess of a personal life like Carrie does but that’s a blog post for another day). Anyway, in my mid-thirties like Carrie is when the show starts, I am rediscovering how freaking bold, unapologetic and badass Carrie is – in the book and in the series.
Carrie is definitely part-inspiration for Akira Naik, the heroine of my April release – Guardian Knight (Knights of Justice 1)!
Anyway, in honor of Women’s Day 2020 I would love to share a list of Top Five Badass Heroines in book-TV adaptations!
Camille Preaker (Sharp Objects)
Gillian Flynn is a master at slow-moving atmospheric thrillers with some INSANELY wonderful women driving the action and Sharp Objects is no different!
Amy Adams who is perfection itself is the indubitable star of this slow-cooking serial killer mystery series set in the American Deep South. Camille Preaker is a journalist (just short of burning out) who has to go back home to her small town and report on the death of a young teenage girl…reminiscent of murders from her own youth.
Camille is starkly on the verge of yet another breakdown, clearly not all emotionally stable and has a highly dysfunctional relationship with her Momma, played to award-winning brilliance by Patricia Clarkson!
The series is hypnotically atmospheric and Amy Adams is such an unlikely heroine, because she wears her literal heart on her covered-up, scarred sleeves!
Yennefer (The Witcher)
Yennefer from the acclaimed and highly successful Witcher series is a haha, witch. But she is not just a witch, she is the most powerful and most beautiful witch in all of the Witcher-verse. She is the object of unrequited affection of Geralt of Rivia, the Witcher.
And I completely understand why Cavill’s Geralt is obsessed with her.
Yennefer begins her journey as a hunchback who is sold for a measly four pieces of gold. She is worthless and has burning, incendiary ambition to change and better herself at the cost of everyone else. She is hardly nice or good and that is what makes her journey so spectacular to watch and read.
Clary Fray (Shadowhunters)
I’ll say this, I like the Clary of the Shadowhunters TV series more than I do the heroine of the Mortal Instruments books. She has *agency*.
In the books, Clary is often portrayed as a clueless babe who blunders into the wrong situation at the wrong time and needs rescuing by my first and only book boyfriend Jace Wayland. I totally understand why Alec Lightwood is always annoyed with her!
The TV Clary is firmer, she has more choices and she uses them. Maybe not always wisely but at least she learns to stand her own ground and rescues Jace back as much as he rescues her. Plus, I HAVE to mention the incredible Isabelle Lightwood (in the books and TV) who should get her own series for how completely brave and awesome she is.
Night Owl (The Watchman)
I have read The Watchmen series in passing and loved the 2000s movie version so I was all onboard the Tick-tock train when the trailer came out! IT. WAS. GOOD!
Recently I started my watch of the first season of the series and I came away with awe, respect and admiration for one woman – Regina King. Oscar winner. ACTION HERO! Night Owl. She is a woman who does it all.
Both, in the series and IRL.
The series Night Owl is a cowled and hooded figure who bashes people up without remorse, regret or a second thought and is so incredibly good at it. She is also incredibly vulnerable in the way only Regina King can be and if I am honest, I’m only watching the series for the showdown between her and the towering Jeremy Irons!
Blair Waldorf (Gossip Girl)
You want to win a war, plan a party and get your man? Think like Blair Waldorf.
Yep, this list would be incomplete without Queen B on it. The Queen of the Upper East Side with her hairbanded minions is a far cry from the slightly ditzy girl in the Cecily Von Ziegesar books – mostly because she gets over pretty boy Nate Archibald pretty darn fast.
For another, Leighton Meester frankly elevated a typical teen series about adult problems into storytelling gold with her spine of steel, her crown of gold and her heart of ice act. Not to mention the sheer fun Chuck Bass and she have ruining other people’s lives while looking fabulous for six delirious seasons!
Yes, these women aren’t ideal good women. They all make hard, terrible choices and pay the price for it. But that is what being a woman is about, isn’t it?
OWNING who we are unapologetically and bravely in a world that wants to bring us down.
This Women’s Day I hope you find inspiration and comfort in the above list of women and be marvelous yourself!
Also, don’t forget to share the women who inspire you in pop culture with me. I look forward to hearing from you.
Xx
Writer Gal
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