I am a sucker for icon memes even when they aren't For A Good Cause.
There's this Female Character Flowchart out there that I'm sure most of you have heard of already. If you haven't, let me sum it up for you: basically, all fictional female characters fall into stereotypes and aren't "realistic." Also, this flowchart is done in a way that basically anyone can be crammed into one of their categories, as long as you ignore the more three-dimensional aspects of her characterization and focus on the most two-dimensional details available.
Seriously, people who are much more articulate than me have ranted on this subject and explained why it's such a bad thing. That's not what this post is about. You see, this post? Is simply a chance for me to go through my DW/LJ icons and post the ones that I have that feature female characters, whether by themselves, with other women, with men, or simply as part of a group (which wouldn't be whole without them).
Why? Because the thing is, these women are all awesome, in their own unique ways.
Because I'm me and I have ALL THE OPINIONS and not that many icons, I'm not gonna just post them, oh no, there will be Words about them too.
Of 15 icons, 9 feature women/girls (one has TWO women, even!), 6 feature men/boys, including 2 with both. (Two have no people on at all.)
CHARLIE. Charlie is the fucking greatest, okay. I cosplay her, I run fuckyeahmisfit on tumblr, she's my default icon pretty much everywhere. She understands what Batgirl means. She does everything she can to use her powers to help people, even though she's had no training. When she was introduced, I was an obnoxious teenager who was totally obsessed with Batgirl and the Birds of Prey. So uh it is maybe possible that I over-identify with this girl a little.
Okay this is the first of two Steph icons. This is my sad Steph icon, because it is about her dying, it is about the fight to get her recognised as an important character. But it's also triumphant, because hey, we won, didn't we? There's a case, right there in that picture. And she's alive again. And she has her own book. Who would have thought that, back when they were pretending she never existed? (It's also my Robins icon, of course, and my Gotham City Class War icon, and my Jason icon, but those things are not relevant here.)
Bella! I don't even know why I love her so much, she is categorically an incredibly terrible person. (Then again I also love Cheshire. Possibly I have a thing for ladies who are utter fucking sociopaths. This is probably not a good sign.) This story by
feverbeats pretty much says everything I want to say about Bella. (This is my HP icon, but it is also the best icon for family issues and wacky brain chemistry. And more recent Tim Burton movies, obvs.)
AMBER VOLAKIS, a.k.a. Cut-Throat Bitch. She's a gorgeous Machiavellian genius doctor who falls in love with a generally sweet dude with some commitment issues and they are the fucking cutest and fandom fucking hated her. Until she died. Seriously, I quit watching House when they killed her, and I read some of the fan reactions to when she died and everyone seemed glad to be rid of her. But they were all happy when she came back (as a hallucination) because she was no longer a threat to House/Wilson. (Being me, of course, I ship House/Wilson/Amber. Of course I do.) So this is my icon for having unpopular fandom opinions, and also it is my only mainstream American TV icon so I use it for that too.
Second Steph icon! This is a less meta Steph icon. It's just about how she is fucking awesome, and doesn't need you to come rescue her, she can handle herself thank you very much. I use this when I'm talking about Steph (or other teen-girl-heroes) being awesome. Which is a lot!
Oracle. Oracle is pretty much my absolute favourite fictional character ever? (See above for how I'm sekritly Misfit) She is smarter than anyone. She's sometimes angry and sometimes controlling and sometimes terrifying but at her core she's all about compassion. She's the world's most badass librarian, and she's incredibly fucking inspiring. I love her to pieces, seriously. This is my icon for anything tech-y, or (dis)ability related, or BoP-related, or really just general nerd stuff.
Renee! I have a soft spot for the whole film noir "one honest cop in a crooked town" hard-drinking fedora-wearing detective thing, and Renee lets me indulge that without just being another story about a straight white dude. She believes in rehabilitation over institutionalisation. She stuck with her city through the worst, and tried to stick to what she believed in even in the face of NML. This is my "diversity in superhero comics" icon and it is also the icon I use when talking about awesome clothes (esp. hats).
Lisa Marie! Without her there would be no Sally and with no Sally there would be no Nightmare Before Christmas and without Nightmare Before Christmas I would have grow up very differently. She also plays Vampira in Ed Wood and gives her a huge dose of humanity, for a woman who made a career out of seeming like some sort of weird monster-bride. I know I laugh at her a lot, because she has done some incredibly ridiculous things, but seriously, I mock because I love. This is the icon I use when talking about Tim Burton movies up to Sleepy Hollow. Which, again, is a lot.
And my newest favourite ladies, Vic & Kat. They care so much about each other but are so shit about communicating it! They are fucking awesome talented musicians! They inspire a whole new generation of girls to make music! They work constantly at beating their fucking stupid addictions and learning how to talk about their feelings and gahhh I love them so fucking muuuuch. I actually have two "fictional rock stars" icons, this is one of them. And this is also my "I love my city" icon because Toronto is awesome and Vic knows it. And of course it is my "women in music" icon, it will probably get used a lot more because lately I find myself unable to shut up about Yoko Ono.
IN CONCLUSION, LADIES ARE AWESOME.
This entry was originally posted at http://gwenfrankenstien.dreamwidth.org/33136.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Seriously, people who are much more articulate than me have ranted on this subject and explained why it's such a bad thing. That's not what this post is about. You see, this post? Is simply a chance for me to go through my DW/LJ icons and post the ones that I have that feature female characters, whether by themselves, with other women, with men, or simply as part of a group (which wouldn't be whole without them).
Why? Because the thing is, these women are all awesome, in their own unique ways.
Because I'm me and I have ALL THE OPINIONS and not that many icons, I'm not gonna just post them, oh no, there will be Words about them too.
Of 15 icons, 9 feature women/girls (one has TWO women, even!), 6 feature men/boys, including 2 with both. (Two have no people on at all.)
CHARLIE. Charlie is the fucking greatest, okay. I cosplay her, I run fuckyeahmisfit on tumblr, she's my default icon pretty much everywhere. She understands what Batgirl means. She does everything she can to use her powers to help people, even though she's had no training. When she was introduced, I was an obnoxious teenager who was totally obsessed with Batgirl and the Birds of Prey. So uh it is maybe possible that I over-identify with this girl a little.
Okay this is the first of two Steph icons. This is my sad Steph icon, because it is about her dying, it is about the fight to get her recognised as an important character. But it's also triumphant, because hey, we won, didn't we? There's a case, right there in that picture. And she's alive again. And she has her own book. Who would have thought that, back when they were pretending she never existed? (It's also my Robins icon, of course, and my Gotham City Class War icon, and my Jason icon, but those things are not relevant here.)
Bella! I don't even know why I love her so much, she is categorically an incredibly terrible person. (Then again I also love Cheshire. Possibly I have a thing for ladies who are utter fucking sociopaths. This is probably not a good sign.) This story by
feverbeats pretty much says everything I want to say about Bella. (This is my HP icon, but it is also the best icon for family issues and wacky brain chemistry. And more recent Tim Burton movies, obvs.)
AMBER VOLAKIS, a.k.a. Cut-Throat Bitch. She's a gorgeous Machiavellian genius doctor who falls in love with a generally sweet dude with some commitment issues and they are the fucking cutest and fandom fucking hated her. Until she died. Seriously, I quit watching House when they killed her, and I read some of the fan reactions to when she died and everyone seemed glad to be rid of her. But they were all happy when she came back (as a hallucination) because she was no longer a threat to House/Wilson. (Being me, of course, I ship House/Wilson/Amber. Of course I do.) So this is my icon for having unpopular fandom opinions, and also it is my only mainstream American TV icon so I use it for that too.
Second Steph icon! This is a less meta Steph icon. It's just about how she is fucking awesome, and doesn't need you to come rescue her, she can handle herself thank you very much. I use this when I'm talking about Steph (or other teen-girl-heroes) being awesome. Which is a lot!
Oracle. Oracle is pretty much my absolute favourite fictional character ever? (See above for how I'm sekritly Misfit) She is smarter than anyone. She's sometimes angry and sometimes controlling and sometimes terrifying but at her core she's all about compassion. She's the world's most badass librarian, and she's incredibly fucking inspiring. I love her to pieces, seriously. This is my icon for anything tech-y, or (dis)ability related, or BoP-related, or really just general nerd stuff.
Renee! I have a soft spot for the whole film noir "one honest cop in a crooked town" hard-drinking fedora-wearing detective thing, and Renee lets me indulge that without just being another story about a straight white dude. She believes in rehabilitation over institutionalisation. She stuck with her city through the worst, and tried to stick to what she believed in even in the face of NML. This is my "diversity in superhero comics" icon and it is also the icon I use when talking about awesome clothes (esp. hats).
Lisa Marie! Without her there would be no Sally and with no Sally there would be no Nightmare Before Christmas and without Nightmare Before Christmas I would have grow up very differently. She also plays Vampira in Ed Wood and gives her a huge dose of humanity, for a woman who made a career out of seeming like some sort of weird monster-bride. I know I laugh at her a lot, because she has done some incredibly ridiculous things, but seriously, I mock because I love. This is the icon I use when talking about Tim Burton movies up to Sleepy Hollow. Which, again, is a lot.
And my newest favourite ladies, Vic & Kat. They care so much about each other but are so shit about communicating it! They are fucking awesome talented musicians! They inspire a whole new generation of girls to make music! They work constantly at beating their fucking stupid addictions and learning how to talk about their feelings and gahhh I love them so fucking muuuuch. I actually have two "fictional rock stars" icons, this is one of them. And this is also my "I love my city" icon because Toronto is awesome and Vic knows it. And of course it is my "women in music" icon, it will probably get used a lot more because lately I find myself unable to shut up about Yoko Ono.
IN CONCLUSION, LADIES ARE AWESOME.
This entry was originally posted at http://gwenfrankenstien.dreamwidth.org/33136.html. Please comment there using OpenID.