What is feminism? What's a "strong female character"?
Apparently--{spoken in dry tones} thoughts on strong, scifi female characters have been on my mind, A LOT, so I'm posting my response to pellucid's recent entry. (I won't torture her by linking to it.)
I think that our "love of literature," or fannish love of television, begins when we start having a relationship with these (strong, female) ( Read more... )
I think that our "love of literature," or fannish love of television, begins when we start having a relationship with these (strong, female) ( Read more... )
I think loopholes and weaknesses certainly encourage fanfiction, because of the need to complete things, and because fans of a character will, of course, want to see them well-rounded. Stating the obvious here, but who doesn't wish we got a little more Roslin background? We know odd details, but many of these have had to be taken from external sources. Researched, in other words. (Whereas, Adama? Different matter.) There are some great fics out there that do believable (and not improbably tragic) backstory for Roslin.
In a character-driven show like BSG, with a big ensemble, it's easy to feel cheated if one's 'favourite', perhaps, is denied the fleshing-out of their backstory that they deserve. Thus, fanfic: it fills the gaps. Whether it's good or not depends chiefly on (a) how much character there is to work with in the first place (as you say); and (b) how much analysis and thought has gone into it. Sorry, that's blunt. But it's also true... :D
With regard to Roslin (again - I'm short of examples since I barely watch TV these days), when writing her in the canonverse, I have devoted rather a lot of thought just recently to (a) above. Gonna drift into your territory here. I thought that in the latest episodes, there was a tendency to characterize her as having become, or made herself, completely cold, perhaps incapable of love or compassion, and utterly disinclined to mince words in order to spare feelings. But, I have trouble reconciling that with the woman she was originally shown to be, and even who she was in the latter half of S3. How can she be so affectionate with the child in the mini-series, Billy, the schoolchildren on NC, Emily; flirt blatantly with/support/fight with Bill, and ultimately feel nothing? It's possible that the writers overstated their point a tiny bit, but here fanfic (and the (b) part) can be kind of useful, because it allows for exploration/justification of why she might be like that now. Has it finally hit her that everyone she loves dies, and then she'd be about to do the same to them, so don't get too close?
Arg, OMGs, this is not going to turn into that Roslin dissertation! In short, yes I think loopholes and weaknesses can lead to good fanfic, simply because they make us consider different angles.
PS. Another good example of a strong female character who's about due for some storyline? Ziva on NCIS. Don't let her fade, guys - she kicks ass.
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I think Roslin's coldness is part of her plan to save humanity. It's what has to be done and she does what's needed, whether she likes it or not. But she, personally, suffers for it. I don't think she enjoys the extreme tilt of her personality towards the "rational," or "cold," or (maybe even?) the "calculating."
But at some point, the calculations draw her attention back to herself. I think her return to her "softer" side, is actually the logical result of these "cold" calculations. Because LET'S DO THE MATH. How many survivors of the nuclear holocaust remain? ("How do we measure loss?") With so many gone, they start counting those who remain. She can't save humanity without also saving herself.
You've reminded me of something else. *goes to edit this entry* Example of a loophole in BSG that's productive for fanfic: the "missing" year on New Caprica.
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