Sexy Kickass Abused Girl

Okay, it's an official archetype now: the Sexy, Kickass Abused Girl.

I've been getting into the show Saving Grace in the past few weeks via DVD. It's pretty good. On the plus side you have Holly Hunter (love her!) playing Grace, an awesome character, and her character-building is terrific.

On the minus side, it's a cop show with poor weekly arcs, and the other characters, particularly the men, get short shrift. None of them has anything to do except be obsessed with Grace. Also, they don't make a really strong case for Grace being headed for Hell.

But I was getting a strong feeling of affection and familiarity from this show and I finally figured out what it was: Grace is Starbuck! And, as we might (or might not) know from this blog: Starbuck is my favorite fictional character anywhere, ever. (And Battlestar Galactica--at least, the first two seasons--is my favorite TV drama anywhere, ever.)

It's true: they're pretty much the same character: they're both high-ranking officers in traditionally male-dominated military/police jobs; they're both known as mavericks but extremely talented at their work; they both drink a lot, get into fistfights, and sleep with a lot of men, including their coworkers; men tend to get obsessed with them; they're both charming and extremely sexual and extremely aggressive; they both were abused as children and are haunted by this; both carry a huge load of guilt for their indirect part in the death of a loved one; neither has any children, nor wants any, but both get along great with kids; and both have strange, portentious relationships with the supernatural powers that be ... which they both fight, but are also guided by.

For samples, see the two videos directly above, one a fan video about Starbuck and the other, the music video for the theme song to Saving Grace.

So I'm calling it: it's an archetype. Let's call it "The Starbuck," a female archetype that fits into the age range of about 25-45. This is neither virgin, nor whore, nor mother. Too young to be a crone, and too unwise. This is a new female archetype, one that can only arise in a culture in which women have true freedom to act out their damage ... without immediate, social punishment.

Are there any other Starbucks out there that you've seen? Or any other new archetypes coming out of the post-women's-lib era?