“Men can’t handle strong women on screen!”
Terminator 2: Judgement Day came out in 1991. In the last ten years, I can’t think of a single female character on screen – TV or movies – who’s as tough as her.
One simple example:
She wants to leave the asylum so she can be with her son. When the doctor refuses to let her go, she loses control and attacks him.
Understandable.
Then she learns the terminator is back. Now she doesn’t want to escape – now she needs to.
So she pretends to be catatonic long enough for her guards to underestimate her.
She went from lacking self-control to exemplifying it on a dime. I’d call that bad writing except it came with the shift – from wanting to escape to needing to.
She was strong before she committed to escaping. Then, when she committed, she got even stronger.
(Hehe… “committed”…)
Sarah Conner is a real mamma bear. There’s nothing she wouldn’t do for her son.
The fact she’s physically outclassed by most men in the movie – let alone the robots – makes her more formidable, not less. She doesn’t have superpowers. She has a lot of skills, but only because she dedicated herself to training for years.
She wasn’t born with her abilities.
Her obligations, yes, but not her abilities.
There’s probably a life lesson in there somewhere.
Oh well.
In the meantime, all I can do is direct your attention thusly. Because based on what we see on screen, Sarah probably didn’t focus her training on a particular skill much:
How to understand others.
And change them.
But John?
A leader so formidable that he saves humanity?
He’d know this for sure.
So if you want to be a badarse like him, here’s a surprising skill you need in your tool belt: