I Vahnt to be Ahlone

March 14, 2011 1:54 PM

Female introverts in popular culture?

I see from reading previous threads here that this is a largely introverted group. I'm looking for examples in popular culture of women who are introverts. More recent examples are better. The best I could do after a few days of mulling it over are Emily Dickinson and Greta Garbo, but what I'm really looking for are more examples from film and fiction. I couldn't think of a single fictional character in recent history that was both female and introverted. Big bonus points for women who are identified or self-identify as loners.

posted by Kitty Stardust to society & culture (52 answers total)

Lisbeth Salander from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series.
posted by cabingirl at 1:57 PM on March 14, 2011 [3 favorites]

Daria Morgandorffer
posted by Greg Nog at 1:58 PM on March 14, 2011 [24 favorites]

Well, I wouldn't exactly call Wednesday Addams outgoing.
posted by DarlingBri at 1:59 PM on March 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

Temperance Brennan on Bones.
posted by oinopaponton at 1:59 PM on March 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

Kinsey Millhone.
posted by lalex at 2:00 PM on March 14, 2011

Willow Rosenberg from Buffy.
posted by utsutsu at 2:02 PM on March 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

Amelie
posted by smokingloon at 2:03 PM on March 14, 2011 [4 favorites]

Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games series.
posted by Metroid Baby at 2:03 PM on March 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

River Tam from Firefly
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 2:04 PM on March 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

Can I ask for clarification? The way "introverted" often gets used seems to mean "shy" or "doesn't really like people" or "loner."

The way I've always understood it is that introverts - I count myself as one - are those who need no-people space and time to recharge, but are not necessarily shy, don't necessarily hate people, and aren't necessarily loners.
posted by rtha at 2:04 PM on March 14, 2011 [26 favorites]

Sissy Spacek in Carrie.
Heather Matarazzo in Welcome to the Dollhouse.
Kimberly Elise in Beloved.
Sally Field in Sybil.
Nicole Kidman/Julianne Moore in The Hours.
Gwyneth Paltrow in The Royal Tenenbaums.
posted by hermitosis at 2:05 PM on March 14, 2011

Perhaps you would like to listen to Helen Love's Staying In
posted by Greg Nog at 2:06 PM on March 14, 2011

Smilla from Smilla's Sense of Snow. (And presumably the book it's based on, though I haven't read it.)
posted by DestinationUnknown at 2:06 PM on March 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

Maisie Dobbs.
posted by anderjen at 2:07 PM on March 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

Sandra Bullock in The Net.
posted by hermitosis at 2:07 PM on March 14, 2011

Laura Roslind from Battlestar Galactica.
posted by EatTheWeak at 2:10 PM on March 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

Dana Scully from the X-Files
posted by MXJ1983 at 2:11 PM on March 14, 2011 [5 favorites]

Rtha,
I mean people who prefer their own company. I guess I'm basing my terms off Anneli Rufus' description of a loner in Party of One, in which she uses the word "loner" to mean essentially the same as "introvert." I'm not thinking shy, I'm thinking more of ladies who choose to be alone most of the time.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 2:11 PM on March 14, 2011

I think Fred Burkle on Angel qualifies. To the agoraphobic extreme, at times.
posted by NoraReed at 2:11 PM on March 14, 2011

Must if be fictional? Florence King makes much of her misanthropy - or used to, before she retired
posted by IndigoJones at 2:18 PM on March 14, 2011

Claire Danes as Angela Chase in My So-Called Life
posted by MXJ1983 at 2:18 PM on March 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

I'm looking over some of the solitary entries on TVTropes and one of 'em makes the argument that once Twilight's Bella manages to make friends, it drives her completely crazy that said friends won't leave her alone.

Oh, and for an example from a much better YA fantasy, the titular hero of Garth Nix's Lirael is a textbook introvert, and she gets really uncomfortable when confronted with the possibility of having to spend extended periods of time with another person.
posted by NoraReed at 2:33 PM on March 14, 2011

Enid Coleslaw and Jane Eyre.
posted by EvaDestruction at 2:34 PM on March 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

Party of One, for those who might be interested.

She mentions Anne Rice,Emily Dickinson, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Beatrix Potter.

I'm a big fan of police diver Flea Marley in Mo Hayder's dark, dark, dark crime books.
posted by vickyverky at 2:36 PM on March 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

Liz Lemon?
Ramona Flowers?
posted by Clambone at 2:41 PM on March 14, 2011

Enid Coleslaw and Rebecca Doppelmeyer from Ghost World.
posted by ThaBombShelterSmith at 2:45 PM on March 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

Lisbeth Salander from The Girl w/ the Dragon Tattoo is incredibly introverted. Lyra from The Golden Compass, as I recall. Maybe Lucy from Narnia?
posted by J. Wilson at 2:49 PM on March 14, 2011

To add to utsutsu's answer above, Buffy Summers becomes more introverted in the latter seasons of the show.

Anna Paquin plays Rogue like an introvetr in the X-Men movies, but she's not one in the comics.

Selina Kyle/Catwoman is somewhat of an introvert in the comics but is extremely so in the movie Batman Returns.

There's Julie from The Maxx.

Janet Frame was an interesting and introverted writer from New Zealand who wrote a lot of fiction with introverted people in them (male and female). There's also a great movie called Angel at My Table, based on her autobiography. The movie's directed by Jane Campion, who also did The Piano--also with an introverted female character.
posted by methroach at 2:55 PM on March 14, 2011 [4 favorites]

Daria
posted by Flood at 3:03 PM on March 14, 2011

Fringe's Olivia Dunham?
posted by besonders at 3:18 PM on March 14, 2011

Darlene Conner for the better part of "Roseanne".
posted by macadamiaranch at 3:18 PM on March 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

Jane Eyre --forever separate, always watching and assessing, and grateful for her time alone to do and think as she wishes.
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:25 PM on March 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

Mick Kelly in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
posted by rhizome at 3:27 PM on March 14, 2011

Lisa Simpson
posted by amyms at 3:48 PM on March 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

Jaye Tyler, Wonderfalls.
posted by milkrate at 3:52 PM on March 14, 2011

Kitty Pryde is the X-Men's resident introvert, although pre-ninja-bullshit Elizabeth Braddock (Psylocke) may also count (despite having been a model, she's fairly retiring around the other X-Men). Storm is also often portrayed, early on, as needing time alone in her attic with her plants to recharge her leadership batteries.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 3:53 PM on March 14, 2011

Kathy Bates in "Misery".
posted by iviken at 4:09 PM on March 14, 2011

In webcomics, least the ones I read, Marigold in Questionable Content and Kim Ross (mostly) in Dresden Codak.
posted by elendil71 at 4:12 PM on March 14, 2011

Ally Sheedy's character, Allison Reynolds, in The Breakfast Club.
posted by hot soup girl at 4:45 PM on March 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

Ruth Galloway in Elly Griffiths's books.
posted by epj at 5:14 PM on March 14, 2011

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0588162/plotsummary from the Gilmore Girls
posted by kjs4 at 5:49 PM on March 14, 2011

Try that again.

Rory Gilmore from the Gilmore Girls
posted by kjs4 at 5:50 PM on March 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

Lucy Snowe from Villette is probably Charlotte Brontë's second-most-introverty introvert.
posted by Judith Butlerian Jihad at 6:05 PM on March 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

And if it makes you feel any better about Jane Eyre's not being a recent character, a new Jane Eyre movie just came out that's supposed to be pretty good.
posted by wondermouse at 6:15 PM on March 14, 2011

Willow was bookish and a bit shy, but she spent a lot of time at the Bronze for an introvert. Buffy was more introverted in later episodes, as was mentioned above.
Which personality in Sybil--at least one was pretty party-hearty?

Lyra in the Golden Compass had a huge posse of pals--once again, bookish and interested in learning doesn't equal introvert.


I'd agree about Fred on Angel--she's almost a textbook example.

Cindy on the Brady Bunch, Mary in Little House on the Prairie, Beth in Little Women, Molly Ringwald's characters in 16 Candles and Pretty in Pink, Melanie in Gone With the Wind.
posted by Ideefixe at 7:24 PM on March 14, 2011

Peggy Olson from Mad Men.
posted by castlebravo at 7:43 PM on March 14, 2011

And George, from Dead Like Me. Pre-death, she was very much a loner. Post-death, she starts to get some friends.
posted by milkrate at 12:46 AM on March 15, 2011

Lythande by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
The main character from Mistwalker by Denise Lopes Heald.
Sunshine by Robin McKinley.
posted by anaelith at 4:09 AM on March 15, 2011

Charlotte Rampling's character in François Ozon's excellent Swimming Pool.
posted by mister nice at 4:35 AM on March 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

possibly the lead in Ghost World?
posted by ifjuly at 7:50 AM on March 15, 2011

Luna Lovegood
posted by fix at 11:34 AM on March 15, 2011

Holly Hunter's character in The Piano
posted by furisto at 3:16 AM on March 16, 2011 [1 favorite]