Supporting the Women that Fandom Hates: Fred Burkle
I'm spending the next week posting support of Winifred "Fred" Burkle from Angel the Series. She is one of my all-time favorite characters on screen or on paper - although oddly, why I love her has less to do with what we saw from her character on Angel, and more about the character we didn't get to see.
I think Fred was probably one of the most under-utilized characters in the Buffyverse. As such, she was often labeled a Mary Sue - too cute, too beloved, too smart. A prize to be won among men. Preternaturally intelligent and yet ridiculously naive.
What Joss never had anyone come out and say was that Fred was probably a genius. The fact that she never identified herself as such only underscores this point. (When I saw River Tam in Firefly, I saw shades of Fred, too, although Joss went to great lengths to give River's super-intelligence a background, through Simon Tam's speech to the Firefly crew. Interestingly, I see very little River-hate about the power of her mind! Coincidence?)
In the next seven days, I hope to celebrate the Fred that we saw and also the Fred we didn't - the lady between the lines. It's something I identify with a lot as both a woman and as a writer.
To start off with, here is a "Fred-fession" graphic of one of my favorite Fred moments.
I think Fred was probably one of the most under-utilized characters in the Buffyverse. As such, she was often labeled a Mary Sue - too cute, too beloved, too smart. A prize to be won among men. Preternaturally intelligent and yet ridiculously naive.
What Joss never had anyone come out and say was that Fred was probably a genius. The fact that she never identified herself as such only underscores this point. (When I saw River Tam in Firefly, I saw shades of Fred, too, although Joss went to great lengths to give River's super-intelligence a background, through Simon Tam's speech to the Firefly crew. Interestingly, I see very little River-hate about the power of her mind! Coincidence?)
In the next seven days, I hope to celebrate the Fred that we saw and also the Fred we didn't - the lady between the lines. It's something I identify with a lot as both a woman and as a writer.
To start off with, here is a "Fred-fession" graphic of one of my favorite Fred moments.
