30 Days of Female Awesome, Day Seventeen
It's been a while since I had one of these, so here goes:
30 Days of Female Awesome, Day Seventeen: Favorite warrior female character
Modesty Blaise
In order to explain this one, I first have to talk a little about what kind of media I grew up with. Now, at the age of ten or so, in addition to living in a cardboard box on the road, I also had no internet access, only two TV channels (where a show was watched by the whole family or not at all), and movies only very rarely, as a treat. Every summer there was at least one radio play based on a book, sometimes more. And of course, there were lots and lots of books - at home, at the library, buyable through the book-club. Age-appropriate books, and mostly of the kind dubbed "literature".
Comics existed, but I rarely bought any. I had a subscription for Bamse, and apart from that generally read my brothers' stuff. He had several Phantom, Svenska MAD and Buster, and random issues of other magazines, among them Modesty Blaise. (Well, the magazine is called Agent X9, but it's about Modesty Blaise.)
Now, bear in mind, I was just a kid. I didn't identify with women, I identified with other kids. It didn't occur to me to bemoan the roles of women, because Ronia was jumping Hell's Gap, and Anne Shirley was saving a child's life, and Dinah and Dorinda were rescuing their father from prison, and Little My was biting people's legs... and sorry, what was the question again?
So the meaning of Modesty Blaise wasn't immediately clear to me. I liked Buster, despite the sports, because many of the protagonists were teenagers. (Teenagers were kind of like kids, but cooler.) I liked The Phantom because it had Rex King. Modesty Blaise had no children in it and was thus less interesting to me at that age, but I read the magazines. I read everything. I enjoyed them, too.
And I imprinted on her. Every gorgeous, no-nonsense female warrior is Modesty Blaise to me (just like how every child sidekick is Rex King). Aeryn Sun is Modesty Blaise. Kira Nerys is Modesty Blaise. Even Ellen Ripley is Modesty Blaise.
Because of that, I can't very well choose anyone else. She's the template, to me. It doesn't matter that there have been other female warriors before her. She's Modesty.
In retrospect, it could have been much worse. Modesty is pretty awesome. Sure, she wears a tad too little a tad too often, but she's more than just a kickass sexpot. She's capable of running both crime syndicates and rescue operations. She takes orders from no one (not even Taggart) but is open to suggestions. She completely owns her sexuality, frequently dating, but never allowing that to take preference over more important things. And she may have one of the most profound of those rare male-female friendships in popular literature. (I think my favourite moment was when she held a villain at this point and explained, "Willie Garvin is in danger and that makes me mad. I'm not going to force you to talk, I'm just going to shoot you if you don't tell me the truth." It's so close to my heart, I've even used it for a fic.)
Yes. I know. Obviously anyone who's a crime queen as a teenager and a retired millionaire at 26 is a Mary Sue. But she's a damned good one. I'd say she's the female version of James Bond, but the truth is, she's much better.
Modesty on Wikipedia (with fansite links in the references)
Modesty on TvTropes
Day Eighteen: Favorite non-warrior female character
Day Nineteen: Favorite non-human female character
Day Twenty: Favorite female antagonist
Day Twenty-One: Favorite female character screwed over by canon
Day Twenty-Two: Favorite female character you love but everyone else hates
Day Twenty-Three: Favorite female platonic relationship
Day Twenty-Four: Favorite female romantic relationship
Day Twenty-Five: Favorite mother/daughter and/or sister relationship
Day Twenty-Six: Favorite classical female character (from pre-20th century literature or mythology or the like)
Day Twenty-Seven: A female character you have extensive personal canon for
Day Twenty-Eight: Favorite female writer (television, books, movies, etc.)
Day Twenty-Nine: A female-centric fic rec
Day Thirty: Whatever you’d like!
This entry was originally posted at http://katta.dreamwidth.org/566795.html and has
comments there.
30 Days of Female Awesome, Day Seventeen: Favorite warrior female character
Modesty Blaise
In order to explain this one, I first have to talk a little about what kind of media I grew up with. Now, at the age of ten or so, in addition to living in a cardboard box on the road, I also had no internet access, only two TV channels (where a show was watched by the whole family or not at all), and movies only very rarely, as a treat. Every summer there was at least one radio play based on a book, sometimes more. And of course, there were lots and lots of books - at home, at the library, buyable through the book-club. Age-appropriate books, and mostly of the kind dubbed "literature".
Comics existed, but I rarely bought any. I had a subscription for Bamse, and apart from that generally read my brothers' stuff. He had several Phantom, Svenska MAD and Buster, and random issues of other magazines, among them Modesty Blaise. (Well, the magazine is called Agent X9, but it's about Modesty Blaise.)
Now, bear in mind, I was just a kid. I didn't identify with women, I identified with other kids. It didn't occur to me to bemoan the roles of women, because Ronia was jumping Hell's Gap, and Anne Shirley was saving a child's life, and Dinah and Dorinda were rescuing their father from prison, and Little My was biting people's legs... and sorry, what was the question again?
So the meaning of Modesty Blaise wasn't immediately clear to me. I liked Buster, despite the sports, because many of the protagonists were teenagers. (Teenagers were kind of like kids, but cooler.) I liked The Phantom because it had Rex King. Modesty Blaise had no children in it and was thus less interesting to me at that age, but I read the magazines. I read everything. I enjoyed them, too.
And I imprinted on her. Every gorgeous, no-nonsense female warrior is Modesty Blaise to me (just like how every child sidekick is Rex King). Aeryn Sun is Modesty Blaise. Kira Nerys is Modesty Blaise. Even Ellen Ripley is Modesty Blaise.
Because of that, I can't very well choose anyone else. She's the template, to me. It doesn't matter that there have been other female warriors before her. She's Modesty.
In retrospect, it could have been much worse. Modesty is pretty awesome. Sure, she wears a tad too little a tad too often, but she's more than just a kickass sexpot. She's capable of running both crime syndicates and rescue operations. She takes orders from no one (not even Taggart) but is open to suggestions. She completely owns her sexuality, frequently dating, but never allowing that to take preference over more important things. And she may have one of the most profound of those rare male-female friendships in popular literature. (I think my favourite moment was when she held a villain at this point and explained, "Willie Garvin is in danger and that makes me mad. I'm not going to force you to talk, I'm just going to shoot you if you don't tell me the truth." It's so close to my heart, I've even used it for a fic.)
Yes. I know. Obviously anyone who's a crime queen as a teenager and a retired millionaire at 26 is a Mary Sue. But she's a damned good one. I'd say she's the female version of James Bond, but the truth is, she's much better.
Modesty on Wikipedia (with fansite links in the references)
Modesty on TvTropes
Day Eighteen: Favorite non-warrior female character
Day Nineteen: Favorite non-human female character
Day Twenty: Favorite female antagonist
Day Twenty-One: Favorite female character screwed over by canon
Day Twenty-Two: Favorite female character you love but everyone else hates
Day Twenty-Three: Favorite female platonic relationship
Day Twenty-Four: Favorite female romantic relationship
Day Twenty-Five: Favorite mother/daughter and/or sister relationship
Day Twenty-Six: Favorite classical female character (from pre-20th century literature or mythology or the like)
Day Twenty-Seven: A female character you have extensive personal canon for
Day Twenty-Eight: Favorite female writer (television, books, movies, etc.)
Day Twenty-Nine: A female-centric fic rec
Day Thirty: Whatever you’d like!
This entry was originally posted at http://katta.dreamwidth.org/566795.html and has
comments there.