# Female villains in literature and cinema **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 17, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765 "2005-04-17T14:31:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/41 "2005-04-19T06:53:48Z")
> [@Art Vandelay](#): > > the Queen / old crone in “Snow White.” (Disney version, and the Sigourney Weaver version). Forget the Disney version! In the Grimm Brothers’ version, she wants to eat Snow White’s liver and lungs. (No chiante, though. More’s the pity.) And the way she keeps trying to finish Snow White off isn’t very pretty either. Most of the fairy tale stepmothers and adult women are terrible people. (A lot of the details depend on the version, so bear with me.) The stepmother in Hansel and Gretel wants her husband to abandon/kill his children. The witch in the same story _eats_ children. Cinderella’s stepmother – emotional abuse and physical neglect. The stepsisters – right bitches. Goneril and Regan from _King Lear_ are no slouches either. Hanging people, plucking out their eyes . . . ick. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/42 "2005-04-19T12:40:53Z")
> [@Miss Purl McKnittington](#): > > Forget the Disney version! In the Grimm Brothers’ version, she wants to eat Snow White’s liver and lungs. (No chiante, though. More’s the pity.) And the way she keeps trying to finish Snow White off isn’t very pretty either. Yeah, but they make her dance in red-hot iron shoes _until she falls down dead_, which evens it out a bit. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/43 "2005-04-19T16:06:43Z")
Well, yeah, that does. But they don’t _eat_ her! Barbecued step-mama can’t taste good. 😛 Most fairy tales are just filled with nasty things, and that’s that. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/44 "2005-04-19T18:54:28Z")
> [@cbawlmer](#): > > I see some TV characters in here, so I’m going to nominate Sherry Palmer from _24_. She had me screaming at the TV, “Shoot the bitch! SHOOT HER!!!” What, no mention of Nina Myers? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/45 "2005-04-19T19:13:57Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > Yeah, but they make her dance in red-hot iron shoes _until she falls down dead_, which evens it out a bit. 🙂 . . . She boogie-oogie-oogied till she just couldn’t boogie no more . . . ---
**Author:** ![Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e36b37/32.png) [@Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_A_Tame_Lion)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/46 "2005-04-19T20:48:24Z")
We’re this far in to the thread and nobody’s mentioned Akasha from Anne Rice’s _Queen of the Damned?_ Hmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765/47 "2005-04-19T21:11:18Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > . . . She boogie-oogie-oogied till she just couldn’t boogie no more . . . This is why I will forever worship **Eve**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-villains-in-literature-and-cinema/299765.md?page=2)