The girls of summer: Female film roles this season

Culturally, the summer film season this year has been all about the ladies — but not all of their roles have been strong.

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“Snow White and the Huntsman” retells the tale of the fairy-tale damsel, but this time, she’s a warrior. Here, Snow White (Kristen Stewart) leads the duke's army in an attack on the queen's castle in the epic action-adventure film.

Alex Bailey /

Though it’s a documentary, not a feature film, “Katy Perry: Part of Me” chronicles the cotton-candy-sweet singer through life on the road, and the dissolution of her marriage to actor Russell Brand.

/ AP

Singer-actresses Jordin Sparks, left, and the late Whitney Houston are shown in a scene from the coming film "Sparkle." The film is about a group of sisters who try to form a Motown singing group.

Alicia Gbur / AP

”What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” widely panned by critics, featured an ensemble of women playing moms-to-be. Here, Evan (Matthew Morrison) and Jules (Cameron Diaz) prepare for their little bundle of joy.

Melissa Moseley

In “Celeste and Jesse Forever,” opening this summer, Rashida Jones plays a put-together and on-track young woman who, as she navigates a complicated relationship with the far less directed man in her life (played by Andy Samberg), is made to look either uptight, witchily judgmental or miserably alone before she sees the light and realizes that she’s the problem, what with her intelligence and high expectations and all.

David Lanzenberg / Sony Pictures Classics

In the flawed but undeniably stirring indie hit “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” a self-possessed 6-year-old heroine named Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis) saves her Louisiana bayou community with ferocity and fearlessness that would have made her right at home in a world conjured by Mark Twain or Maurice Sendak.

Mary Cybulski

In “Prometheus,” Charlize Theron plays the director of a galactic mission to discover the origin of extraterrestrial life.

Kerry Brown / AP

Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, is the girl that started this season of strong female roles, thanks to a championship turn in “The Hunger Games.” Wrote critic Ann Hornaday: “the passive heroines of yore have been repurposed into warrior-queens-in-waiting, their lissome exteriors just clever masks for the latent powers within.”

Murray Close

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s turn in “Hysteria” is a wink-wink nudge-nudge tale of female sexuality in the Victorian era. Wrote critic Michael O’Sullivan: “Her Charlotte — who at one point is threatened with institutionalization and a forced hysterectomy to “cure” her willfulness — is a force of nature, breezy and ferocious at the same time.”

Liam Daniel / Sony Pictures Classics

Merida, the plucky Scottish princess in “Brave,” not only refused to allow herself to be married off, but also then embarked on an adventure that had nothing to do with a handsome prince: the protagonist’s ambivalent relationship with her mother, a bracingly resonant psychological twist.

Pixar

Ruby Sparks (played by Zoe Kazan) seems to be just the latest iteration of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, says Ann Hornaday; “As clever as ‘Ruby Sparks’ is in puncturing the male wish-fulfillment fantasy of unconditional acceptance and worship, Kazan’s Ruby never gets to be her own fully realized character.”

Merrick Morton

Aubrey Plaza plays an intern at a Seattle magazine in “Safety Not Guaranteed,” which chronicles her reporting on a quirky man who claims to be a time-traveler.

/ AP

Greta Gerwig, left, is a smart, if admittedly self-involved, grad student in “Lola Versus” who takes her lumps and ends up alone, even though she’s the one who’s been jilted by a callow fiance. She’s pictured here with Zoe Lister-Jones as Alice.

Myles Aronowitz

Emily Blunt stars as Iris and Rosemarie DeWitt as Hannah in Lynn Shelton’s “Your Sister's Sister,“ an intriguing emotional interplay between two female siblings (as well as an incipient romance). Emily Blunt plays Iris and Rosemarie DeWitt plays Hannah.

Benjamin Kasulke

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BALTIMORE, MD May 18: Mike Califano (L) and Anthony Forgione horse around in the infield during the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes on May 18, 2013 in Baltimore, MD (Photo by Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post)

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ANNAPOLIS, MD - MAY 20: The Herndon Monument Climb is the traditional culmination of plebe year at the United States Naval Academy. The plebes climb to the top of the lard-covered 21 foot high monument and remove the 'dixie cup' hat at the top replacing it with an upperclassman's hat. After completing this, the freshmen are called 'fourth class midshipmen.' This class completed the task in 1 hour 32 minutes and 43 seconds. The hat was placed by Patrick Lien from Orlando. (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

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A man walks on sulphur and mineral salt formations near Dallol in the Danakil Depression, northern Ethiopia April 22, 2013. The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is one of the hottest and harshest environments on earth, with an average annual temperature of 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34.4 Celsius). For centuries, merchants have travelled there with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin. The mineral is extracted and shaped into slabs, then loaded onto the animals before being transported back across the desert so that it can be sold around the country. Picture taken April 22, 2013. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola (ETHIOPIA - Tags: BUSINESS SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

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MANASSAS, VA - MAY 07: Daniel Tabarez, 1, top, helps his daughter, Maxx Tabarez, 1, walks as Milenka St. Clair, top right, a family support worker with Northern Virginia Family Service visits the family's home on Tuesday May 07, 2013 in Manassas, VA. Daniel and his family are part of the Healthy Families program. (Photo by Matt McClain/ The Washington Post)

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LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 19: Singer Taylor Swift accepts the award for 'Top Billboard 200 Album' onstage during the 2013 Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 19, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 20: Joanna Lumley poses during a photocall at the Chelsea Flower Show on May 20, 2013 in London, England. The Chelsea Flower Show run by the RHS celebrates its 100th birthday this year. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

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