In my quest to create a comprehensive, A+-worthy essay on Shakespeare's As You Like It, I came across key elements of popular culture relating to feminism and the rhetoric used to describe it. Of course, “strong female character” is a term that gets thrown around a lot these days, however, I never took the time to think about what that meant. Unfortunately, my research uncovered a plethora of troubling ideas about the traits that strong women possess, and led me to believe that films should no longer depict what is conventionally called "strong" and instead produce more realistic female characters, thus redefining a more positive vision. representation of women. Without this awareness, young adults will continue to believe that a strong woman falls into three categories: ; abnormally intelligent, irrevocably sexy and undeniably strong. I should clarify that I don't mean that female characters can't be blessed with one, two, or even three characteristics at once, but that the disproportionate amount of women in film and television are almost super human with these features. A perfect example is Angelina Jolie's portrayal of Mrs. Smith in the film Mr. & Mrs. Smith. She's incredibly smart and has off-the-charts sex appeal, and runs around wielding machine guns, fending off enemies at every turn, killing and leaving destruction without skipping a heartbeat. Her character seems fake and I have no reason to think anything about her, but "how can she go through all of this without having a craving?" Shallow, but honest, and unfortunately I only see her as having the "bad guy" quality and not as real strength. I wish I could write that Mrs. Smith is alone or just a single example of this false sustainability, but these types of tough women are showing up in movies left and right...... middle of paper..... .s speaks to a serious cultural divide where many people cannot accept the idea of ​​a woman who embraces femininity and toughness in equal measure, and therefore must rely on a fantasy image of a woman who does. is humiliating, but wrapped in an overtly cosmetic power that is so subversive. even feminists do not realize that this type of character is much weaker and deficient than the helpless young girl. This type of character shows the flaws in current societal thinking; the idea that people are unwilling to see a woman as anything other than a sex object, especially if she is stronger or smarter than a man. In a way, a barrage of these characters is truly a mockery of women in the sense that if a woman decides she does not need to be rescued by a man, she can no longer be considered human. and must therefore transcend reality to avoid destroying notions of failing masculinity in popular culture.