On woobies and why it seems that I'm not against them
selenak's post on Wuthering Heights made me think about my position on charismatically evil characters. Because, admittedly, I was a teenager when I read WH, and maybe I'd think of it differently now, but God, I hated that book. And at the same time, it's no secret that I love Jane Eyre, which is derided in the comments for the woobiefication of Rochester.
Which, Rochester is a dick. I know that. Jane knows that. Half of the time, Rochester knows that, and when he doesn't, Jane is only too happy to tell him. She loves him anyway, and I'm okay with that, because Jane needs a Rochester in her life. She just doesn't need him unbridled, which is why Bertha has to step in and ruin the first wedding.
In a sense, I read all the characters in Jane Eyre as reflections of Jane herself, struggling to find a balance between the mild Helen-ness and the wild Rochester-ness, using the instinctive Bertha to flee the latter, only to find herself in the joyless strict clutches of S:t John, until finally she can wrap it all up into a coherent whole.
But maybe I'm just making excuses. Maybe I'm just plain into woobies - because it seems whenever I've cared for a morally obnoxious character lately (Lola Stone and her ilk aside), there are accusations of woobiefication coming close behind.
And why is that? Why am I drawn to characters that are derided as bad boy woobies by fans I appreciate and admire? I can only venture a guess. For one thing, I like motives. That's one of the things I appreciate about the Moff, BTW, that I can oftentimes look at his villains and go, "Yup, it makes perfect sense for them to act that way." And I get that with Rochester, with or without the psychobabble part-of-Jane interpretation. The word "understanding" has often been taken to imply sympathy for or even condonement of an action, but it's not really about that. I just want to get it, so that it's not just a guy in a hat killing another guy in a hat. (Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate the ones who just want to watch the world burn, but mainly on an entertainment level; I'm not likely to care.)
Furthermore, I like being able to make up my own mind about a character, without the narrative telling me who's right or wrong. And I like it when bad people have good sides to them, even when those good sides aren't as pure as maybe they should be.
If anything, I'm more likely to be put off by a hero, since heroism presupposes certain qualities that heroes often fail to live up to. (There's a reason it took me much longer to appreciate Chrestomanci than Howl, and I still only like ol' Chris every other day or so.)
So, IDK. Call it rationalization or what you will, but woobie or not, bring 'em on. Bring me the Rochesters. Bring me the Faiths and Lokis and Damons and Sawyers and Snapes and Anakins and Harold Lauders, because I'm tired of trying to pretend not to thoroughly enjoy their parts of the narrative.
This entry was originally posted at http://katta.dreamwidth.org/580230.html and has
comments there.