they click their heels, spread their wings, and fly.

In one of my previous posts,"once you label me, you negate me", I talked about how the media is still filled with a lot of negative sexism. For example, women are overtly sexualised in order to sell products, and models are often airbrushed to look perfect on the front cover of a magazine. However I mentioned that there are some incredibly strong female characters in fiction. Yet re-reading that post, I realised that I only talked about characters in television shows. There are some amazing, incredibly strong female characters in literature, and it is time to recognise them. I've put together a list of seven of the most powerful female characters in literature who continue to inspire me and several others with their phenomenal brilliance and strength of character.

Screenshot from Joss Whedon's 'Much Ado About Nothing'. Left is Beatrice, right is Hero.

1. Beatrice, Much Ado About Nothing
If you have been reading this blog for a while now, you will know that Much Ado About Nothing is my favourite play ever. We read it in Year 10 at school and most of us ended up loving the play. Recently, Joss Whedon released a new movie adaptation of it. If you haven't seen the film, I highly recommend it. Who doesn’t love a story full of love, trickery and thousands of clever insults? Much Ado has all of that and more – and that might just be why we love it so much. 

But part of the reason that the play appeals so greatly to the modern audience lies in the characters. Beatrice, the female lead is widely considered to be one of Shakespeare’s strongest female characters. (she certainly is the sassiest). Much to the chagrin of her father, she refuses to marry, having not found the perfect man, and also because she does not want to eschew her freedom. When Claudio falsely accuses Hero at the wedding in Act 4 Scene 1, Beatrice explodes with anger and stands firmly by her cousins' side. After this event, she rebels against the mistreatment and unequal status of women in the society at that time. One of my favourite Beatrice lines is "oh that I were a man! I would eat his heart in the marketplace!"

Hermione in 'The Goblet of Fire' 

2. Hermione Granger, the Harry Potter series.
If you have not read Harry Potter, you have not lived. Ever since I first read the books several years ago, I have always loved Hermione's character. Sure, she may have started out as an irritating, know-it-all, eleven-year-old (it''s leviosa, not leviosar), but Hermione's character quickly matured. She continues to amaze us with her ability to maintain a clear mind, even in the most tense of situations. Her intelligence is her greatest strength, and although she can be a bit of an overachiever at times (like when she got an 'Exceeds Expectations' in her Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. and was upset about it), she always manages to use her knowledge to save her friends. 

3. Lisbeth Salander, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Not only is this powerful female protagonist an incredible computer hacker with a photographic memory, she also survived an abusive childhood. She’s a resilient character, who does not rely on anyone for anything and does not want to rely on anyone.

Screenshot from 'The Help'

4. Skeeter Phelan, The Help.
Actually, almost every female character from The Help, with the exception of Miss Elizabeth and Miss Hilly Holbrook, is seriously strong. They should all be on this list. But Skeeter stands out to me, because of the risks she takes by writing The Help. She wants to make a difference and she doesn't care what other people are going to think of her. Plus, she's independent- she thinks for herself, and makes her own decisions. She even goes to college, even though her mother is sure that it will ruin her chances of getting a good husband. Because, obviously, a man wouldn't want to marry a woman who is smarter than him.

5. Kira Walker, the Partials trilogy.
Partials is a relatively new series- the first book came out last year, and the second book came out in March. If you haven't read it yet (and a lot of people haven't), then you should. The book is set 11 years after the Partial War, in which engineered organic beings identical to humans released a virus called RM that decimated almost the entire human race. A group of survivors have regrouped on Long Island, while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. However, the survivors cannot have children, as no child born is immune to RM, and they have yet to find a cure. 

Kira is a medical intern, and when her best friend Madison falls pregnant, she decides that she has to find a cure for RM, no matter what it takes so that Maddie's baby survives. This includes a series of very dangerous, illegal journeys to find a Partial to study. Her determination and loyalty to her friends is admirable, and she's not afraid to break the rules to do something that she knows is right. Throughout the course of the series, she uncovers some shocking secrets about herself and those around her. She will go great lengths to find out the truth. 

A still from 'The Hunger Games'

6. Katniss Everdeen, the Hunger Games.
 Katniss is a pretty strong character overall. After her father's death, she becomes the sole caretaker of her family, hunting in the forest at the back of District 12, and trading food on the black market. She is brave enough to volunteer to take her sister's place in the Hunger Games- something that must have frightened her to no end, considering that she knew that she would either have to kill others or die. Plus, her ability to shoot an arrow doesn’t hurt.

7. Cassandra, Agamemnon

Although Cassandra has a very small role in the play as a whole, she is very important. She is the first to recall the past crimes committed in the house of Atreus. Furthermore, she is the one who sets the scene for the end of Agamemnon, as well as the next play in the Orestia, Libation Bearers. She does this by foreseeing her own death, and Agamemnon’s death, as well as the vengeance that Agamemnon’s son, Orestes will take against Clytmnestra.

Cassandra has the ability to see the future, but has been cursed by Apollo so that no one will believe her. She foresaw the fall of Troy and the death of those around her, but was unable to do anything about it because people believed that she was crazy. Her gift caused her endless anger and frustration. When she was brought to Argos by Agamemnon, she saw her own death. Although shaken and scared, she understood that she could not escape it, and summoned all of her strength to face death bravely.

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So there you have it. If there's a character that you really admire who hasn't been mentioned here, please add her on in the comments! As Stana Katic said: "I don't believe in weak women. I think women in general are pretty powerful."

never dull your shine for someone else- tell them to put sunglasses on.

I have a lot of things to be very excited about this month. First of all, my school is hosting the first-ever student film festival in Dubai, and it is going to be amazing. I actually cannot wait. I love film festivals because of the amazing talent that is showcased through them. Plus, the movies are great- they often have more depth than the typical commercial blockbuster. Two of the summer movies that I am really excited about premiered at festivals: Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing at SXSW (Much Ado is my favourite Shakespeare play EVERRR) and Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring at Cannes. Speaking of Cannes, can we just take a minute to marvel at Nicole Kidman's Cannes red carpet dresses? They were absolutely stunning.

A screenshot from Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing. AAAH I'M SO EXCITED.

Anyway, back to the point. As a drama student, my final project was to create a music video that would be entered into the film festival. To do this, we got into groups, decided on a song and then worked on creating a message that would be portrayed through the four-minute video. Our group decided to communicate a simple message that we've all heard a million times before: Never change the person you are. In our video, we have five different story lines running parallel to each other: one girl is in an abusive relationship, another is being pressured into choosing a career she doesn't want, the third is being bullied and the fourth girl is under peer pressure. The fifth and last character is the constant, with no particular storyline. I can't tell you any more, because, as a certain archaeologist would say: 'spoilers' (you need to be a Whovian to get that reference).

Okay, I lied, I am going to tell you a little bit more, but I suggest you first watch the video here in order to avoid spoilers.

There can never be too much River Song on a blog.

I suppose you have watched the video by now, so I will continue. I love all of the storylines in the video, because I think that they're all really relevant. For example, the first storyline has to do with bullying, and I think that at some point in our lives, each and every one of us has been bullied in some way or another. It may not have been physical bullying, but all of us have been subjected to some kind of verbal bullying at some point or the other. And it needs to stop. I've always been told that if someone tries to bully you, just walk away because the bully is looking for attention, looking for a reaction. That's exactly what the girl in the video does. She gets up, looks around the cafetaria and she realises that no one is going to help her because they think that by helping her, they will be targeted. She then walks (well, runs) away from it all.

As for the second storyline- I'm not sure if this is clear, but basically the girls' mother is telling her that she cannot become a swimmer and should choose a career that has a future. Again, I think we can all kind of relate to this, because there's always someone who will tell you that you can't achieve your dreams because they're too 'unrealistic'. I guess you just have to believe in yourself. If you want it enough, you will get it, no matter how many people laugh at you.

I love the third storyline- where the girl is under peer pressure. I love this because she really does something about her problem. The others mainly just run away, and although it's assumed that they are never troubled by their problems again, it's likely that they would come back in the future. I love how she takes the bottle, and just when everyone thinks she's going to give in to peer pressure, she pours the drink into a plant and walks out of the party (thanks to my drama teacher for coming up with that idea). It kind of shows that you can't just run away all the time, sometimes you need to take action. That being said, sometimes running away can be taking action. In the case of the girl who has an abusive boyfriend, by running away from him, she's taking a huge step because she's showing that she's brave enough to escape.

The fifth character is interesting. She's just running for the entire video- she never stops right until the very end. And unlike the other characters, we don't know why she's running. She just is. She could be running to something- maybe her entire objective was to find and meet the rest of the girls, or maybe she's running away from something. The change in the scenery around her represents the change in the storylines- as she approaches more developed areas, the characters take those crucial steps towards getting out of the situations that they are in.

A screenshot from the video.

My favourite part of the whole video has to be the end, when all five characters unite. The audience is left not really knowing what's going to happen to them, but I like to think that they all stick together and help each other get over their problems and leave them behind. I think it shows how you can't always forget your problems by yourself- sometimes you need support and help. By coming together, these five characters are basically providing support for one another.

So there you are- my breakdown of our music video. I hope you guys enjoyed it and please let me know your thoughts on it in the comments. I'd love to know the different deeper meanings that you found because it's interesting to see how different people can interpret the same thing in different ways.

I will leave you with a quote from Coco Chanel: "A girl should be two things: who and what she wants."
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PS: on an unrelated note, you guys should check out this epic article on Flavorwire about what your favourite Shakespeare play says about you. It's hilarious!