On "Cool" characters
I honestly don't care how many people are going to call me sexist, but I'm kind of tired of the glorification of women on Tumblr. In fiction, I mean. Mind you, I'm not talking about RL. It's just when I see all those gifsets like "Most badass female characters", I can't help wondering where all the "Most badass guys" are. Lately, a woman is a standard by which you measure your shows. The writing can be awful, the acting can be so-so, but if you've got a woman, preferably both kickass and vulnerable at once, preferably of colour, as your lead, then it's a "great" show. I get the importance of representation; I hate seeing women fridged or having dumb parts reduced to being a love interest only; but don't automatically assume that a "strong" woman in the lead makes it a good show. Good writing is what makes a show good, no matter who your character is.
If anything, women are allowed more diversity. What is a cool woman? It's a fighter like Sarah Connor or Kara Thrace; a lover like Number Six; she's smart AND silly at the same time like Ellen Tigh; she's haughty AND vulnerable like Sylvia Tietjens; she's supportive but takes no shit from anyone like Pepper Potts; she can kick your ass but be an epic spaz like Buffy Summers and most of Whedon-esque ladies; she is adorable when nice and terrifying when nasty like Willow Rosenberg or Annie Sawyer; she's all that, the full-spectrum. I'm not saying that it's easy to write a cool woman (I'm using the word "cool" here subjectively because it's better than "strong"; I mostly agree with this article); but tell me to think of one and I'll give you a bucketload of examples.
Now look at the guys we have. Our current "cool" guy is... what? Broody, has an angsty past, has a crapload of issues, has a tragic love story in the past and two more waiting to happen (I take that's supposed to mean he's sensitive). When I find a new favourite character, I ask myself whether I'd want to know them IRL. Would I want to be friends with them? Date them? Just know them in passing? Half of the ladies I've listed above - definite yes. Most of the guys in the current shows - are you kidding me, NO!
It's quite depressing actually. Feminism is a great thing until it becomes all about throwing all men off a cliff. I don't know, maybe this situation actually reflects RL because personally I know, like, 2 and a half guys I don't find boring. The problem with these double standards for me is that if you put a male and a female character in the same situation, the results will be radically different. Take a character with an angsty past pining for a lost love. It's annoying as fuck in a woman, it makes her seem clingy and needy and 2D. BUT for some inconceivable reason it's romanticized in a man. WHY!? The result should be the same! While cool ladies are out there being layered and multi-faceted, cool guys are rapidly becoming an endangered species.
Maybe it's time we remembered that feminism means equality, not women being better than men. Most fans are so busy nagging about the female death count in SPN that they don't even notice that the writing altogether has become stagnant and the brothers have stopped evolving. Statistics might be important, but I'm not receiving any subliminal mysoginistic messages when I see a woman die on screen because I'm too busy being distracted by the horrendous characterization of everyone who stays alive!
If anything, women are allowed more diversity. What is a cool woman? It's a fighter like Sarah Connor or Kara Thrace; a lover like Number Six; she's smart AND silly at the same time like Ellen Tigh; she's haughty AND vulnerable like Sylvia Tietjens; she's supportive but takes no shit from anyone like Pepper Potts; she can kick your ass but be an epic spaz like Buffy Summers and most of Whedon-esque ladies; she is adorable when nice and terrifying when nasty like Willow Rosenberg or Annie Sawyer; she's all that, the full-spectrum. I'm not saying that it's easy to write a cool woman (I'm using the word "cool" here subjectively because it's better than "strong"; I mostly agree with this article); but tell me to think of one and I'll give you a bucketload of examples.
Now look at the guys we have. Our current "cool" guy is... what? Broody, has an angsty past, has a crapload of issues, has a tragic love story in the past and two more waiting to happen (I take that's supposed to mean he's sensitive). When I find a new favourite character, I ask myself whether I'd want to know them IRL. Would I want to be friends with them? Date them? Just know them in passing? Half of the ladies I've listed above - definite yes. Most of the guys in the current shows - are you kidding me, NO!
It's quite depressing actually. Feminism is a great thing until it becomes all about throwing all men off a cliff. I don't know, maybe this situation actually reflects RL because personally I know, like, 2 and a half guys I don't find boring. The problem with these double standards for me is that if you put a male and a female character in the same situation, the results will be radically different. Take a character with an angsty past pining for a lost love. It's annoying as fuck in a woman, it makes her seem clingy and needy and 2D. BUT for some inconceivable reason it's romanticized in a man. WHY!? The result should be the same! While cool ladies are out there being layered and multi-faceted, cool guys are rapidly becoming an endangered species.
Maybe it's time we remembered that feminism means equality, not women being better than men. Most fans are so busy nagging about the female death count in SPN that they don't even notice that the writing altogether has become stagnant and the brothers have stopped evolving. Statistics might be important, but I'm not receiving any subliminal mysoginistic messages when I see a woman die on screen because I'm too busy being distracted by the horrendous characterization of everyone who stays alive!