Definitions post: What is a woman? What's "40 or over"?

[alara_r]

The basic rule of the Matri-Thon is that the main character of the story (or one of the two main characters in a pairing) must be a canonical woman 40 or over. But what does that mean

Comments

[tooright99]

Just to be clear, a not-human character HAS to be played by a woman in her 40s? So a vampire who is hundreds of years old doesn't count if she is played by a 20-something, like Darla and Drusilla from BtVS?

I would love to request some Darla and Drusilla fic because they have experienced way more than 40 years of "life", but it is of course up to you.

Thanks!

[tooright99]

First, woah that woman is AMAZING.

Second, dang! That is my second near-miss. Tina Fey is also 39 and Liz Lemon is 37.

[alara_r]

For vampires and other immortal characters who are played by actresses who are under 40, or who are drawn or otherwise portrayed to look young, they qualify if their role in the story suggests maturity.

In the case of Darla and Drusilla, Darla is a great-grandsire vampire. She was the matriarch of her little vampire family. So I would say she qualifies.

Dru, however, has the archetype of "crazy seer", which is not specific to an age. While technically she's a grandsire because the First Evil made Spike sire Holden, she acted toward Spike more like his little sister most of the time (in fact they're kind of an evil Simon and River Tam who have sex, if you think about it. Joss loves his crazy girls.) I would not consider Drusilla a mature woman. But Darla counts.

[tooright99]

That makes perfect sense. Thank you so much!

Joss loves his crazy girls. Yes, he certainly does.

[astrogirl2]

Hmm. I see somebody already put Janette from Forever Knight -- yet another old vampire played by a young woman -- as a prompt, and I'm wondering how this logic applies to her... She's definitely the sister/daughter of that show's vampire family, but perhaps also a bit of a mentor in the bloodsucking community at large...