Archetypes | Heroines

 

The following chart is a work in progress. I add heroines to it as I come across them. If you have some suggestions to add, please email me.

Character/Movie
Movie

TV

Books/Plays

Real
BOSS


Dolly Levi

Bette Midler in Down/Bev Hills

Annette Bening in American Beauty

Jennifer Lopez in Out of Sight

Cate Blanchette in Elizabeth

Cher in Moonstruck

Murphy Brown

Monica from Friends

Lucy from Peanuts

Martha in Virginia Wolff

Katriona in Taming of the Shrew

Hillary Clinton

Elizabeth I

Katherine the Great

Martha Stewart

Barbra Streisand

Oprah
SEDUCTRESS

Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct

Kathleen Turner in Body Heat

A Fish called Wanda

Madonna in Evita


Jane Fonda in Klute

Scarlett O'hara

Marilyn Monroe Some Like it Hot

 Erica Kane

Lolita

Delilah

Becky Sharpe in Vanity Faire

Cleopatra

Eva Peron

Madonna

Monica Lewinsky
SPUNKY KID

Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle

Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act

Margot Kidder in Superman

Sandra Bullock in WYWS

Working Girl

MTM

Mary Ann in Gilligan’s Island

Rhoda

Little Orphan Annie

Cathy

Stephanie Plum mysteries

Rosie O’Donnell

Ellen Degeneres

Sally Field

Duchess of York

Annie Oakley
FREE SPIRIT Geena Davis in Accidental Tourist

Auntie Mame

Goldie Hawn

Ariel

Carole Lombard

Lucy

Ally McBeal

Dharma

Phoebe from Friends

Alice in Wonderland

Emma


Shirley MacLaine

Cindi Lauper

Goldie Hawn
WAIF

Ingrid Bergman

Casablana

Princess Buttercup from The Princess Bride

Demi Moore in Ghost

Dorothy WOO

Sleeping Beauty

Thelma

 La Femme Nikita

Amanda in Glass Menagerie

Juliet

 Marilyn Monroe
LIBRARIAN

Joan Wilder

Kate Hepburn in African Queen

Janeane Garofalo in Truth


Rachel

Ellen Barkin in The Big Easy

Shirley Jones in Music Man

Rachel from Friends

Daria

Diane Chambers

Dana Scully

Jo

Roselind in As You Like It

Miss Marple

Portia


Emily Dickenson

Janet Reno

Elinor Roosevelt

Marie Curie
CRUSADER

Helen Hunt in Twister

Joan of Arc

Sister Sarah in Guys & Dolls

Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich

Mulan

Ellen Ripley from Alien

Norma Rae

Buffy

Xena

Antigone

Jane Eyre

Joan of Arc

Mother Theresa

Gloria Stienam

Phyllis Schlafly
NURTURER

Pollyanna

Helen Hunt in As Good as It Gets

Mary Poppins

Calire Huxtable

Wives in The Hand that Rocks the Cradle and Fatal Attraction

Ladyhawke

Renee Zellweger in Jerry Maguire

Marina Sirtis (Troi in ST:TNG)

June Cleaver

Ma Walton

Elinor Dashwood in Sense & Sensibility

Isabella in Measure for Measure

Ruth – Old Testament

Florence Nightingale

Celine Dion

Princess Grace

Jane Seymour

Top