I agree with most of this essay, but I have severe problems with your commentary on Elle. In fact, I just wrote up a very long meta on fandom misogyny in my LJ, focusing mostly on Elle and on Kate Austen from Lost that addresses those exact points.
The "man hater" critique just makes me rage for a variety of reasons. I'm c/ping from my LJ entry b/c I am lazy:
... First off, while I do think Elle has issues with men, I hardly would characterize her as "man hating" any more than I would characterize Hotch as "women hating" because he admitted he doesn't trust women as much as he trusts men. But many male characters who exhibit misogynist tendencies (Dean on SPN comes to mind), aren't immediately written off as "women haters." Furthermore, Elle has worked in sex crimes and that constant exposure to utter dirtbags is not exactly going to foster a kind and nurturing attitude toward male criminals (I haven't seen Elle express any hostility toward men who aren't suspects or general creeps). There is also the casting side tidbit that
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I don't get how they're not as popular as Garcia. To be honest, Garcia annoys the hell out of me. Emily is the only one of the three I really like. I could live without the others, although I don't want any of them to be gone.
idgi, either. I like Garcia, but I think all of the ladies have something to recommend them--they're all great characters in their own way. I would think each would find their own following rather than the fandom reaction being so lopsided.
I completely agree with your assessment of "changing the old models out for a shiny new one." And people are arguing that these characters are being cut because they weren't popular due to the writers not being able to ~handle women~ or something like that, so the solution to that is...switch them out for a NEW woman who they don't know how to write? Rather than learn to write these existing ones? Wha
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Yeah, I was talking about the clown thing. It's so...accurate, too. Like, "Yeah I was sexually assaulted by a clown and he made a joke of it and people actually laughed so I don't like clowns >:C" is (depressingly enough) a much more realistic depiction of the sort of thing most women go through than, "I was sexually assaulted so I decided to FIGHT CRIME!"
Sometimes it weirds me out how realistically Garcia is written, personality-wise. (Her inscrutable backstory, on the other hand...but that's a flaw with CM in general.)
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:'(
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Long is good.
:-D
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The "man hater" critique just makes me rage for a variety of reasons. I'm c/ping from my LJ entry b/c I am lazy:
... First off, while I do think Elle has issues with men, I hardly would characterize her as "man hating" any more than I would characterize Hotch as "women hating" because he admitted he doesn't trust women as much as he trusts men. But many male characters who exhibit misogynist tendencies (Dean on SPN comes to mind), aren't immediately written off as "women haters." Furthermore, Elle has worked in sex crimes and that constant exposure to utter dirtbags is not exactly going to foster a kind and nurturing attitude toward male criminals (I haven't seen Elle express any hostility toward men who aren't suspects or general creeps). There is also the casting side tidbit that ( ... )
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It's like Hotch and crimes with children (or JJ after she had Henry)
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So I'm right there with you
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Sometimes it weirds me out how realistically Garcia is written, personality-wise. (Her inscrutable backstory, on the other hand...but that's a flaw with CM in general.)
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For men it's "I witness somebody dying/being abused/was abused in childhood and now I FIGHT CRIME!!"
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