Hey, peeps!
Remember Gabrielle and Xena? She-Ra and Glimmer? The My Little Ponies and… all the other My Little Ponies? (ETA: The reboot of MLP has some serious issues with race and gender. 
.)
I’m in DIRE NEED of examples of female best friends in fiction, particularly television and media. This is serious business — I was talking with my (male) bestie about depictions of female friendship, and realized that I couldn’t think of that many positive and realistic representations of female friendship in media oriented towards adults.
Here are our conditions.
1. There can be no major friend break-up over men — meaning that the American Quilt movie, Fried Green Tomatoes, and Beaches are all out.
2. They have to talk about something OTHER than the men in their lives — this is obvious. It’s a Bechdel thing.
3. They have to be peers — not necessarily the same age, but equals. So the grandmother/daughter relationship in The Princess Diaries doesn’t count, but the friendship between Mia and Lilly does.
4. If there’s a friendship montage… it can NOT only include a pajama party or a delicious cooking scene or a trip to the salon– we’re not looking for a conflation of essentialized definitions of femininity with rituals of female friendship, meaning they have to bond over something NOT related to pajamas, singing into pretend microphones, make-up, or make-overs.
5. They have to SHARE the spotlight — while Xena’s the main character in Xena, Gabrielle has her own plot-lines and character arc. I want suggestions more interesting than Anita Blake’s friend-in-a-fridge, Ronnie, who only pops out of the woodwork when the plot demands it: friendships like partnerships and collaborations.
My suggestions included: Xena (Gabrielle and Xena), She-Ra (Glimmer and She-Ra), Sailor Moon, and the girls from WITCH. His included the Oathbound series (Tarma and Kethry).
What are your recs? I need more female buddy books!
ETA: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE suggestions! Don’t forget to include WHY the characters are awesome besties, because not everyone will have seen the show/read the book in question. 
{ 235 comments… read them below or add one }
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A bad reaction to the makeup is why Caitlin Brown (the original Na’Toth) left Babylon 5 as well. She managed to escape being blamed for it, though.
SunlessNick(Quote) (Reply)
I think Byron was supposed to be obnoxious; for all his avowed pacifism, he allowed his telepaths about as much of their own identity as the Psi Corps did.
I always felt for Lyta, because of this huge gaping hole in most of the other characters’ morals when it came to using her; and for having to sign her life away to get enough money to eat. (Conversely, I always liked Catherine Sakai for being an ordinary space-businesswoman), ‘K I’m drifting from topic, sorry, I find it hard not to ramble when it comes to Babylon 5.
SunlessNick(Quote) (Reply)
From Hong Kong action cinema, the Heroic Trio. They certainly don’t start as friends, and go through a lot of shifting relationships along the way, but they get there.
SunlessNick(Quote) (Reply)
Maggie and Hopey from the Love and Rockets comics. They fought with each other but they always were friends. Later also lovers. But their relationship was always very strong.
Seconding Jean Grey and Ororo. They were supportive of each other through all the fights with villains.
Anna M(Quote) (Reply)
I love love love the first one, but was disappointed in the second one (which Sandra Bullock said she intended to be a female buddy comedy, analogous to all those male cop buddy comedies.) I totally support the premise, but the execution was … not what I hoped.
Speaking of movies, how about Corey and Gina from Empire Records? It’s over the course of a day, so it’s not like there’s a whole lot of evolution but everyone in that store had their own characters. And they do talk about boys but also about other things (well, work, going away to college, and drugs.)
And, for some books, am going to say Kris Longknife and Penny (and Abby, and almost Vicki). In the first book(s), Kris doesn’t really have any female friends, but as the series goes on she collects a crew of other people, friendships develop (Penny was originally Kris’s (male) best friend’s boyfriend, then husband) and the series gets gender balance (and I would say the last few books have tilted slightly more female). And it’s military SF, so they spend far more time talking about battles, breaking people out, saving planets from disaster, assassination attempts, aliens….you know, interesting stuff. (Also boys, sometimes, but it’s almost to the point where I want a couple more boy subplots.) I have to caveat this by saying it’s not the 100% best written series of all times (and the copy-editing is *atrocious*). On the other hand, it’s the only series I buy as soon as new books comes out, so.
Unwisely(Quote) (Reply)
Yes, I remember those!
And her assessment of the “news” is spot-on.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
Lirael and Disreputable Dog from Garth Nix’s Abhorsen YA fantasy book series. This series is also notable for having a scene with a group of main characters doing the big important Thing That Needs Doing, and 6/9 actors are female. Never commented on, no big deal, just treated as if it’s normal for women to do Stuff!
Polly and Fiona from Diana Wynne Jones’ Fire and Hemlock. Also, less just friendship and more complicatedly, Polly and Nina.
Cassie and Jun from Faith Erin Hicks’ graphic novel The War at Ellesmere.
lianne(Quote) (Reply)
Yeah, and JMS had an AWESOME thread for her wherein she wasn’t just a mouthpiece for her Ambassador but was actually working to restore the original kind of government the Narns had prior to the Centauri occupation.
Shaun(Quote) (Reply)
I don’t watch a lot of TV or movies anymore, but I can provide some literary examples from the works of Lois McMaster Bujold:
*Countess Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan, Lady Alys Vorpatril, the Koudelka sisters and their mother “Droushie” (nurse to the reigning Emperor), Sergeant Taura, Empress Laisa, et al., form a network of long-standing friendships and alliances and also cooperate to drag the planet Barrayar kicking and screaming from the days of bloody horrendous sexism to . . . non-bloody slightly less horrendous sexism. But they don’t intend to stop dragging.
*Royesse Iselle and Lady Betriz in The Curse of Chalion have each other’s backs at all times even in the midst of an absolute snakepit of a royal court. Also, they win.
Jenny Islander(Quote) (Reply)
I’m trying to re-watch the series, but keep getting to the point where I’m like, Hey, look, it’s WHITE GUYS IN SPACE!!!!!!! Particularly when the writing on female characters is really inconsistant
Maria(Quote) (Reply)
Heh, I loved how the women’s network factored into A Civil Campaign. Just because they aren’t politicians doesn’t mean they can’t play politics, and forget that at your own peril.
Sylvia Sybil(Quote) (Reply)
What season are you on?
Shaun(Quote) (Reply)
“Give the big guy a chance”?? UGH!
I’m Christian and even I don’t think of Christmas as so much of a Christly/Baby-Jesus-centric holiday as I do a friends/family get-together and have presents and eat roast beef holiday…and also DAT TREE (I like Christmas trees, okay?) so if I wanted an Atheist friend to join in my merry-making I certainly wouldn’t try to appeal to them from THAT perspective. BLECH
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
WHITE GUYS IN SPACE!!!!!!!
In sad what might have beens, I believe that JMS’s first choice for Sheridan was Tony Todd.
SunlessNick(Quote) (Reply)
Much of the female cast through the DeGrassi series. There were several group dynamic friendships as well as a couple of specific two-girl friendships (Melanie and Kathleen, Amy and Alison). Amy and Alison are interesting, come to think, because they are very ‘feminine’ and talk a lot about fashion and boys and at one point, I believe, have a fight about a boy, to a point they’re literally demanding the clothes off each other’s backs in the bathroom at a party. (Then they realise how ridiculous they’re being and forget about the boy.) But it doesn’t particularly come across as ‘OMG! This is how ALL girls/women behave in EVERY friendship they EVER have. I could totally buy that they had friends that they were more serious with somewhere off-screen, but they had the most fun with each other. And from what I remember, Melanie and Kathleen’s biggest fight is when Melanie dobbs in Kathleen’s eating disorder.
I’m not sure if this counts, but Muriel and Rhonda from Muriel’s Wedding. They do spend an awful lot of time picking up guys/scoring dates but they never compete with each other or have a falling out over boys. And at the end of the movie, Muriel leaves town with Rhonda, realising she needs this genuine friend more than she needs all the trappings that she spent the movie pursuing.
Gabriella(Quote) (Reply)
3rd — the ep were Delenn is all OMG!!! when Sheridan’s wife comes into their room.
First of all, how does this dead woman have a key or passcode to his quarters? SHE DIED BEFORE HE GOT TO THE STATION. Secondly, you seriously want to tell me that someone who is so convinced of her own specialness (rightfully so) who has been seeing signs of her destiny since she was a kid hasn’t once envisioned a scenario where she would be in the middle of a ritual involving protecting a loved one from evil and evil shows up? My lord, *I’VE* had that fantasy, and I’m just an SF/F fan!
IDK I found her unsurety wildly out of character.
Maria(Quote) (Reply)
Ugh. But yeah, my “over it” for monoracial crews and man-space SF/F are actually why Enterprise and Voyager and DS9 are my favorite Star Treks, and why Star Wars hasn’t ever really captured my fancy.
Maria(Quote) (Reply)
I’ve heard of the Kris Longknife series, but never read one of the novels so far… Maybe I should check them out, because I really like watching space operas.
Are there any other space opera novels with interesting female characters that you could recommend?
M.C.(Quote) (Reply)
I guess Dr. Franklin being on his long walk isn’t helping too much either, then.
Wile B5 is up, I have to ask. Is the actress who played Talia the masthead face for Jezebel? Because whenever I see that site, that is my immediate reaction.
Sam L.(Quote) (Reply)
Probably a contentious one at best, but Cathy with a C and Kathy with a K from Kids in the Hall?
Sam L.(Quote) (Reply)
I liked A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge, where one of the female characters is a wonderful spider alien, and Melissa Scott’s Dreaming Metal has radical space artists. <3
Maria(Quote) (Reply)
Thanks
I’ll check if my library got those.
M.C.(Quote) (Reply)
1. Red and Mokey — Fraggle Rock
2. Blanche, Rose, Dorothy and Sophia — Golden Girls
3. Lorelei and Sookie, Rory and Lane, Rory and Paris, Lorelei and Rory — Gilmore Girls.
Anjie(Quote) (Reply)
I now wish I could access this show!
sbg(Quote) (Reply)
Trixie Belden and Honey Wheeler. Everyone else was reading Nancy Drew, but I loved Trixie so much more! I loved these two little detectives – Trixie a classic tomboy, down to earth kind of girl, and Honey the beautiful rich girl. There was a ‘gang’, of course, but Trixie and Honey were the core of the book series.
sbg(Quote) (Reply)
There’s also Forbidden Knowledge by Stephen R. Donaldson, but Morn gets trippy later on.
Maria(Quote) (Reply)
Bubbles,Blossom and Buttercup – Powerpuff Girls
They are made of sugar and spice and everything nice. Oh, and also chemical X.
Jay(Quote) (Reply)
I loved Trixie too!!! Oh, I’d forgotten those books. I thought Nancy was too perfect to be interesting, even though the stories were often pretty good.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
I love the Golden Girls so much. I have seen nearly every single episode at least a few times each, but it’s one of the few shows I don’t mind watching over and over, I think that’s due in part to the awesome friendships between the women on this show.
salla(Quote) (Reply)
Seconding Wendy and Lacey. Their relationship is given so much respect and attention; I love it.
softestbullet(Quote) (Reply)
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