she's too busy skulking and building machines

November 21, 2015 8:18 PM

In popular media, what are some examples of the "romantic tortured loner genius inventor" archetype who are women?

Some examples of the archetype:

• J.D. in "Heathers" (obviously "romantic tortured loner"; fulfills "genius inventor" by being clever and building bombs from scratch)
• Sir Thomas Sharpe in Crimson Peak
• Artemis Fowl in Artemis Fowl

To be clear, I'm not looking for just tortured geniuses (Sylvia Plath would a female example of this); there has to be a science/engineering dimension. "Female equivalent of J.D." would be the best description of what I'm looking for.

Maybe there's a TVTropes page?

posted by glass origami robot to Media & Arts (25 answers total)

The game inventor Allegra Geller in Existenz
posted by johngoren at 8:26 PM on November 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

Cindy "Mac" MacKenzie from Veronica Mars
posted by unknowncommand at 8:40 PM on November 21, 2015 [3 favorites]

Did you look on TV Tropes? A search on female genius turned up a quite a few categories.
Here is the page for "Girl Genius"
posted by metahawk at 8:42 PM on November 21, 2015

Response by poster: metahawk: "Girl Genius" is a webcomic, not a category. Thanks, though.
posted by glass origami robot at 8:46 PM on November 21, 2015

Best answer: Cameron on Halt and Catch Fire.
posted by zsazsa at 8:47 PM on November 21, 2015 [6 favorites]

In Joss Whedon's oeuvre, Bennett [spoilers] from Dollhouse seems to kind of fit.
posted by en forme de poire at 8:49 PM on November 21, 2015

Best answer: I just remembered that Lisbeth Salander would be a perfect example.
posted by glass origami robot at 8:50 PM on November 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time is a kinda loner-genius scientist with a "mad" streak. She's not totally evil/J.D.-like, though.
posted by easter queen at 8:59 PM on November 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Warehouse 13 has Claudia Donovan and H.G. Wells (H.G. Wells fits this description exactly). Charlie Bradbury from Supernatural kind of fits as well.
posted by kassila at 9:11 PM on November 21, 2015

Raven in The 100 is the mechanic and engineer with an up and down romantic life which leads her to be standoffish toward men. (spoilers/character synopsis ahead)
posted by Crystalinne at 9:12 PM on November 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

Mom, on Futurama. I can't find any positive documentation that she herself is/was an inventor as opposed to simply an evil industrialist, but I seem to remember that this was either stated or implied at some point.
posted by bleep at 9:49 PM on November 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Susan Calvin.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:10 PM on November 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

Amy from The Big Bang Theory?
posted by LoonyLovegood at 10:41 PM on November 21, 2015

If you include women with cyberpunk-style computer smarts as genius inventors, then you find a few in Neal Stephenson books: Y.T. in Snow Crash, and Zula in Reamde. Neither is quite tortured and lonely, but both are somewhat outsiders, Y.T. more than Zula.
posted by salvia at 10:48 PM on November 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

I think Jadyn Wong's character Happy Quinn in the TV show Scorpion fits the bill.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 11:00 PM on November 21, 2015

Best answer: Violet Baudelaire
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:34 AM on November 22, 2015 [2 favorites]

Vane Black from Next Town Over, shown here riding a horse that she fixed up with mechanical parts after it got blasted with dynamite.
posted by Too-Ticky at 3:06 AM on November 22, 2015

There's some badass hacker ladies in Mr Robot.
posted by Iteki at 5:23 AM on November 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

Perhaps Delphine from Orphan Black would fill the bill. Cosima might too, although she doesn't seem to have the personality you're looking for.
posted by adamrice at 6:32 AM on November 22, 2015

The protagonist in Colson Whitehead's The Intuitionist
posted by janey47 at 8:06 AM on November 22, 2015

Happy in Scorpion (terribawesome CBS show).
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:36 AM on November 22, 2015

Madison Li from Fallout 3 seems like a good example, but looks worse by comparison as she is associated with two male genius inventors who are even more tortured and even more loners (James, the player character's father; and Pinkerton).
posted by ejs at 9:17 AM on November 22, 2015

Lisa / The Paladin in Strong Female Protagonist.
posted by BrashTech at 12:07 PM on November 22, 2015

Skylar Adams, a recurring character on Alphas, might fit the bill. She's a genius inventor and a bit of a misanthrope.
posted by creepygirl at 2:51 PM on November 22, 2015

Arguably, Smilla Qaaviqaaq Jaspersen from Smilla's Sense of Snow.
Tortured? Yes.
Romantic? Smilla may be too misanthropic to be romantic, but she does take care of the child who needs to be taken care of.
Loner? Yes.
Genius inventor? She is a scientist who studies ice and snow. Her formal training as a surveyor enables her to unravel one part of the mystery.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 7:06 AM on December 2, 2015