Working titele: Finding Home

Something that's come up a lot lately is the strongness of female characters in films and on TV. There was, for example, a discussion on afp recently, and it came up in response to my last post as well. And something I find very relevant is what is in fact meant by a "strong female character" - and what is it that makes it important and good.

On afp there was a discussion about the female characters of Firefly, and whether they were strong. Most people seemed to think that they were - citing ability to kick ass, be a mechanic or a soldier, having strong opinions, taking care of yourself. At least one poster said they weren't - citing lack of leadership, passivness, whinyness and two-dimensionality.

So what is "strong" in this context? And what is a "strong female character" as opposed to a "weak female character"?

First of all I think you need to distinguish between "strong person" and "strong character", because to my mind, the adjective "strong" has a slightly different meaning in the two contexts, and both must be kept distinct from the concept of physical strength.

A strong person is someone with inner strenght, with integrity, with opinions, the ability to take care of herself and so on. Inara and Zoe in Serenity are quite clearly strong persons, River however, isn't (she's barely a person at all). Kaylee is somewhere in between - too uncertain and insecure to be really strong, not weak enough to be really weak.

Edited
A strong character is a character that is clearly portrayed, three dimensional, has a strong precence and is memorable. In Serenity, I'd argue that River is a stronger character than Inara and Zoe. I honestly don't remember quite if and how Kaylee's character differs from the show to the movie, but in the show she's definitely a strong character (as is Inara, and to some extent Zoe, but River not so much.).

A central character is a character who is important for the plot, who is a lead or otherwise drives the plot. I conflated this with strong character before, but as silly_swordsman rightly pointed out, that's not really correct, or helpful. River is definitely central in Serenity, but a lot more peripheral in Firefly. None of the other women are central characters in Serenity while I'd say Inara and Kaylee are more central in Firefly.

A non-fireflyverse example of the difference might be Marvin, from finding Nemo. He's a central character, he's the lead, the one the plot centers on, but he's a weak character, he barely has a personality and serves at "straight guy", the hub the movie spins around, but who doesn't really take part.
/Edited

A strong woman, if that is to be distinguished from strong persons in general, is, I think, generally accepted as being one who isn't dependent on a man, or men. Who stands on her own two legs and isn't an accessory or appendix to anyone. Here, again, I'd say Inara and Zoe are stronger women than River. Kaylee is a stronger woman than she is person.

Generally the idea of the "strong female character" is taken to be a positive thing because it's supposed to be empowering for women, to be non-stereotypical, to be equal. But I don't think that's neccesarily true. River, for example, is hardly a good role model, or empowered, self sufficient or equal - but, if I'm to be believed, still a strong character.

So what does one mean when one says "strong female character"? Is it strength of personality, integrity, portrayal, empoweredness or role-modelhood that is meant? Unless that question is answered, I don't think it's possible to have a really fruitful discussion on the subject.