A Long Delayed "Favorite Characters" Meme (from Pocochina)
Hi everyone, so I finally located the lost notepad that I had jotted thoughts on long ago for some answers to this particular meme from pocochina, so here we go:
Reply with "Fuck yes fierce ladies (and awesome dudes, too)" and I'll give you four fandoms. Write about your favorite character from each fandom. (I'll try my best if you'd like to do this meme, but I'm not sure if I can guarantee an on-time response. :D
Pea had given me the following fandoms: Battlestar Galactica, The Closer, Xena, and Harry Potter. (I apologize for potentially nonsensical rambling now.)
Battlestar Galactica: I’m pretty sure this will be quite the surprise for everyone *sarcasm*, but I would have to say… LAURA ROSLIN would have to be my absolute favorite (perhaps forever and ever, but that’s an extremely long length of time and beyond my ability to measure but still probably, nevertheless, true!). The reasons are a bit too many to actually name, but I can point you to a few fantastic essays that explain perfectly well why ( HERE HERE and HERE - even if that last one is really just a picspam of highlights/reasons :D). She’s a character formed by and for complexity - in both life and circumstance. She’s strong in the most unconventional of senses even when she’s SO so weak and fragile and vulnerable. She’s a pragmatist who holds hope for humanity in her hands until, literally, her last breath. She is a marvelous wonder and a perfectly-flawed human, perhaps the most human. She hates her enemies, she loves her enemies - because they prove that all life is worth living and the very worst can still do their best. Her understanding of the value of life, of loving humanity - even if it’s at an implacable distance, because love at a distance may be the only way of loving without favoritism. Even as I am fascinated by her many different relationships to other characters on the show.
In a more crack format: A Laura Roslin Oddball Shipper’s manifesto: I ship her with her many canonically possible loves: Bill Adama of course - with their literature and their partnership and respect and age; Richard Adar and the mystery of her long-lost past, Lee Adama (as father so would son) because that was a Series Bible possibility and forever: she knows and understands him best - possibly the only person remaining in the worlds who never saw him through the lens of his father; Tory Foster - stealing babies and elections and wigs and time and trust - and all the angst for where that never went. I ship her with the Cylons, how ironically, she’s the one who makes the hard decision to commit to utilizing a genocidal biological weapon while ironically, the character who possibly understand their intrinsic, individual humanity the best - the most - even more than those who fell “in love” with them. I ship her with hard decisions and politics, I ship her with tea and algae and weed and index cards and giggles, I ship her with wry humor and glasses. I ship her with education and mentorship. I ship her with tactics and strategy. I ship her with prophesy and lies and the truth. I ship her with everyone - not only because she’s beautiful and ugly and perfect and flawed and hot and cold and rational and feeling and compassionate and ruthless. I love her tearful, tearing doubts, and I love her unshakeable faith. I ship her with humanity, because even all the way to the end - humanity was her truest and greatest love, and it outlives her by millennia. I love her epic but ultimately forgotten legacy. I love her utterly human journey to the arms of death.
As stated previously in Epics (I think), I love Laura Roslin because of everything she IS and everything she SYMBOLIZES to me. She began as an enigma to me. I really met her character as a school teacher FIRST, and then had all these questions about why she's so important and why they want to execute her and oh - she was PRESIDENT?!? :O ("Occupation" along with "Downloaded" [BOOMER!BB! were the first two full episodes of the show I ever saw.) She began as an enigma, but then filled in step by step in the miniseries to becoming one of my deepest fictional loves of all time. From the heartbreak and vulnerability where we first meet her (in the doctor's office, in the bathroom) to her quiet facade of calm throughout the lead-up to the ceremony on Galactica, and then the clutching of a stranger/captain’s shaking hand as comfort while her personal AND outer worlds were apparently falling apart, taking charge of the vessel, the oath scene… etc. The rest is sort of history.
Basically, I love Laura because she makes me think critically, even as she made me feel deeply. She inspires me.
The Closer: Sharon Raydor - all my possible bias regarding the actress aside - is my favorite. I had tried a taste of The Closer prior to MM’s stint (because this is what I do to give shows a chance), and it just… left a bad taste in the attempt. I understand why so many people like it, but it’s not my cup of tea? I think that’s also partially why it’s gotten increasingly harder to watch Major Crimesas well, but that’s meta for another day. I’m just not at all into writing that utilizes “JUSTICE” (caps intended) as justification for whatever means necessary - despite the law instead of with the law, and really, I don’t mind characters who treat the law ambiguously (or are otherwise, morally ambiguous - see Laura Roslin, Patty Hewes, and Attolia - in fact, I rather LOVE them), but circumstances, intent, and reasoning DOES matter to me. Acknowledgement and challenges from other parties to the characters’ motivations and actions matter to me. Taking responsibility for one's actions and choices matters to me, so I think I was lost from The Closerfrom its premise forward. BLJ is brilliant at what she does but rather immature in her approach and thinking of it. She simply ignores the rules if they don’t help her get what she wants instead of approaching them with the idea of “these are things that need to change”. She is so deliberately single-minded and narrowed focused, that it allows her to be a genius in the interrogation room but fairly incapable of navigating the system otherwise. All of this, however, is simply a rambly tangential manner to get to the point where I realized my love for Sharon who is sort of the exact opposite.
She’s only human so she is far from perfect and makes mistakes and stumbles as well (and there have been moments where I’ve facepalmed just as badly as I did with BLJ), but I’ve been in love with her since that end scene in “Strike Three” where she acknowledges BLJ’s complaints as graciously as possible and made me fall with the simplest of statements: “Until then, you’ve got me.” What I love about Sharon is that she’s not just a stickler for the rules, but there’s a strong streak of idealism and activism in her about the justice system - about the rules that govern behavior for this institutional body. She has no illusions about the “perfection” of these rules or the system, but she appreciates and understands that rules are necessary to govern a system of power that could otherwise be abused with horrendous consequences (no system of power being incorruptible), and, in fact, is utilized by flawed people and falls to the effects of bias as much as any other system. These rules and laws are by no means perfect, but working within their boundaries, inside what needs to be fixed allows her to work towards that change. It’s why I love her background - that she’s spent the majority of her career in the Professional Standards Bureaur/IA and with FID writing the rules and making changes in the system. She not only believes in a better justice system, but actively works towards bettering that system. It’s what’s proven to be her strength in Major Crimes - if you know the rules well, you know how to work with (or around) them. Coupled with her natural intuition, she’s generally flexible and quick enough to know how to USE the rules to get things done. It’s a vision of the law and law enforcement as not only prosecutor but protector as well. It's the reason why I love her a little more each time she gets to spread her wings and do the police work she does best. It's why her statement to Rusty about how working for a legal system means standing besides the judgement of the law even when it doesn't work out ("Letting It Go" 3x04), and how her stolidness when facing Brenda about how she'll be there (or else, others like her - we can hope) will be there in the meantime as the stop gap.
In terms of a trait of hers that I love that’s shared with why I love Laura Roslin: Sharon’s deep sense of responsibility for her own actions and the deep sense of responsibility to both the people she works with and the victims, her own family and the victims’ families (her sense of guilt and compassion in the aftermath of "Flightrisk" 3x01 says it all) is something that I honestly adore and think of as a characteristic that's intrinsically a part of her. She knows and accepts the expectations placed on her as the person in charge AND as a woman in charge. She owns her feminism and is obviously supportive of other professional women. She doesn’t throw tantrums when things don’t go her way (though she may raise her voice a bit). She's the type of mentor and supervisor that I would like to have. Someone who is deeply invested in other people, who’s intuitive and smart and makes NO apologies for it.
(In terms of extending or altering favorites as I watch Major Crimes - Sharon is still my favorite, but Mike and Amy both hold solid places in my heart, and I feel for and identify all too readily with Emily Raydor.)
Xena: Warrior Princess: If you had asked my child-aged self this, I would have almost unequivocally answered with XENA, OF COURSE! But that was when I was young and Xena was the embodiment of everything awesome I wanted to be - that, and I had always admired Xena’s redemptive arc and convictions. However, as I was rewatching the show - finally from the start and in order (as a child, I had only managed to watch the episodes as they were available on UPN on the weekends; this, the Relic Hunter, and Hercules were probably the only live-action American shows I watched until CSI came along)… I realized something integral to my understanding of the show: I saw where Gabrielle began her journey, and with my vague memories of her as this amazing fighter and amazon… I was struck dumb and amazed, because HERS is the journey that I want to follow - to grow and discover, to learn to work from my strengths and improve on my weaknesses and accept those things that I may not be able to change either way and to understand that difference. I love that she is smart and funny and just a little be naïve/innocent. I like that she’s so willing to stick to a friend despite the risks and that she’s gentle or rough as needs be, so yeah… Newfound appreciation and love on re-watch, so if I have to pick a favorite - Gabrielle is probably it. Though, do not get me wrong, I still love and adore Xena. :D
Harry Potter: This is probably the most difficult for me to choose from because I have such a strong weakness and fondness for all the characters casted here (with, possibly, the exception of Umbridge). I've always loved Albus Dumbledore from the start for his quirkiness, but I came to love him for his human failures and foibles. I've loved Minerva McGonagall and her fierce protectiveness, take no BS attitude, and no-nonsense smarts, and Remus Lupin and his quiet bookish ways probably made him my favorite of the Marauders. However, overall, Hermione Granger is hands down my favorite of the trio, because beyond her smarts is her dedication and loyalty for her friends and her compassion for others: S.P.E.W. (as painfully misguided as that endeavor was) and working on researching for Buckbeak's trial despite being on the outs with her best friends and a LITERAL overload of work. Luna Lovegood for her own style and individuality - her quirky intelligence, and her indomitable sense of self. However, my hands-down favorite storyline and development was probably Neville Longbottom's - the "other" prophesied child raised under the shadow of his 'lost' parents. He grows SO MUCH over the course of the novels, and it does not escape me that it is his well-meaning stand-up to the trio in Sorceror's Stone that makes all the difference. (Basically, I cheated and couldn't make up my mind. :D They are each my 'favorites' for different reasons.)
Reply with "Fuck yes fierce ladies (and awesome dudes, too)" and I'll give you four fandoms. Write about your favorite character from each fandom. (I'll try my best if you'd like to do this meme, but I'm not sure if I can guarantee an on-time response. :D
Pea had given me the following fandoms: Battlestar Galactica, The Closer, Xena, and Harry Potter. (I apologize for potentially nonsensical rambling now.)
Battlestar Galactica: I’m pretty sure this will be quite the surprise for everyone *sarcasm*, but I would have to say… LAURA ROSLIN would have to be my absolute favorite (perhaps forever and ever, but that’s an extremely long length of time and beyond my ability to measure but still probably, nevertheless, true!). The reasons are a bit too many to actually name, but I can point you to a few fantastic essays that explain perfectly well why ( HERE HERE and HERE - even if that last one is really just a picspam of highlights/reasons :D). She’s a character formed by and for complexity - in both life and circumstance. She’s strong in the most unconventional of senses even when she’s SO so weak and fragile and vulnerable. She’s a pragmatist who holds hope for humanity in her hands until, literally, her last breath. She is a marvelous wonder and a perfectly-flawed human, perhaps the most human. She hates her enemies, she loves her enemies - because they prove that all life is worth living and the very worst can still do their best. Her understanding of the value of life, of loving humanity - even if it’s at an implacable distance, because love at a distance may be the only way of loving without favoritism. Even as I am fascinated by her many different relationships to other characters on the show.
In a more crack format: A Laura Roslin Oddball Shipper’s manifesto: I ship her with her many canonically possible loves: Bill Adama of course - with their literature and their partnership and respect and age; Richard Adar and the mystery of her long-lost past, Lee Adama (as father so would son) because that was a Series Bible possibility and forever: she knows and understands him best - possibly the only person remaining in the worlds who never saw him through the lens of his father; Tory Foster - stealing babies and elections and wigs and time and trust - and all the angst for where that never went. I ship her with the Cylons, how ironically, she’s the one who makes the hard decision to commit to utilizing a genocidal biological weapon while ironically, the character who possibly understand their intrinsic, individual humanity the best - the most - even more than those who fell “in love” with them. I ship her with hard decisions and politics, I ship her with tea and algae and weed and index cards and giggles, I ship her with wry humor and glasses. I ship her with education and mentorship. I ship her with tactics and strategy. I ship her with prophesy and lies and the truth. I ship her with everyone - not only because she’s beautiful and ugly and perfect and flawed and hot and cold and rational and feeling and compassionate and ruthless. I love her tearful, tearing doubts, and I love her unshakeable faith. I ship her with humanity, because even all the way to the end - humanity was her truest and greatest love, and it outlives her by millennia. I love her epic but ultimately forgotten legacy. I love her utterly human journey to the arms of death.
As stated previously in Epics (I think), I love Laura Roslin because of everything she IS and everything she SYMBOLIZES to me. She began as an enigma to me. I really met her character as a school teacher FIRST, and then had all these questions about why she's so important and why they want to execute her and oh - she was PRESIDENT?!? :O ("Occupation" along with "Downloaded" [BOOMER!BB! were the first two full episodes of the show I ever saw.) She began as an enigma, but then filled in step by step in the miniseries to becoming one of my deepest fictional loves of all time. From the heartbreak and vulnerability where we first meet her (in the doctor's office, in the bathroom) to her quiet facade of calm throughout the lead-up to the ceremony on Galactica, and then the clutching of a stranger/captain’s shaking hand as comfort while her personal AND outer worlds were apparently falling apart, taking charge of the vessel, the oath scene… etc. The rest is sort of history.
Basically, I love Laura because she makes me think critically, even as she made me feel deeply. She inspires me.
The Closer: Sharon Raydor - all my possible bias regarding the actress aside - is my favorite. I had tried a taste of The Closer prior to MM’s stint (because this is what I do to give shows a chance), and it just… left a bad taste in the attempt. I understand why so many people like it, but it’s not my cup of tea? I think that’s also partially why it’s gotten increasingly harder to watch Major Crimesas well, but that’s meta for another day. I’m just not at all into writing that utilizes “JUSTICE” (caps intended) as justification for whatever means necessary - despite the law instead of with the law, and really, I don’t mind characters who treat the law ambiguously (or are otherwise, morally ambiguous - see Laura Roslin, Patty Hewes, and Attolia - in fact, I rather LOVE them), but circumstances, intent, and reasoning DOES matter to me. Acknowledgement and challenges from other parties to the characters’ motivations and actions matter to me. Taking responsibility for one's actions and choices matters to me, so I think I was lost from The Closerfrom its premise forward. BLJ is brilliant at what she does but rather immature in her approach and thinking of it. She simply ignores the rules if they don’t help her get what she wants instead of approaching them with the idea of “these are things that need to change”. She is so deliberately single-minded and narrowed focused, that it allows her to be a genius in the interrogation room but fairly incapable of navigating the system otherwise. All of this, however, is simply a rambly tangential manner to get to the point where I realized my love for Sharon who is sort of the exact opposite.
She’s only human so she is far from perfect and makes mistakes and stumbles as well (and there have been moments where I’ve facepalmed just as badly as I did with BLJ), but I’ve been in love with her since that end scene in “Strike Three” where she acknowledges BLJ’s complaints as graciously as possible and made me fall with the simplest of statements: “Until then, you’ve got me.” What I love about Sharon is that she’s not just a stickler for the rules, but there’s a strong streak of idealism and activism in her about the justice system - about the rules that govern behavior for this institutional body. She has no illusions about the “perfection” of these rules or the system, but she appreciates and understands that rules are necessary to govern a system of power that could otherwise be abused with horrendous consequences (no system of power being incorruptible), and, in fact, is utilized by flawed people and falls to the effects of bias as much as any other system. These rules and laws are by no means perfect, but working within their boundaries, inside what needs to be fixed allows her to work towards that change. It’s why I love her background - that she’s spent the majority of her career in the Professional Standards Bureaur/IA and with FID writing the rules and making changes in the system. She not only believes in a better justice system, but actively works towards bettering that system. It’s what’s proven to be her strength in Major Crimes - if you know the rules well, you know how to work with (or around) them. Coupled with her natural intuition, she’s generally flexible and quick enough to know how to USE the rules to get things done. It’s a vision of the law and law enforcement as not only prosecutor but protector as well. It's the reason why I love her a little more each time she gets to spread her wings and do the police work she does best. It's why her statement to Rusty about how working for a legal system means standing besides the judgement of the law even when it doesn't work out ("Letting It Go" 3x04), and how her stolidness when facing Brenda about how she'll be there (or else, others like her - we can hope) will be there in the meantime as the stop gap.
In terms of a trait of hers that I love that’s shared with why I love Laura Roslin: Sharon’s deep sense of responsibility for her own actions and the deep sense of responsibility to both the people she works with and the victims, her own family and the victims’ families (her sense of guilt and compassion in the aftermath of "Flightrisk" 3x01 says it all) is something that I honestly adore and think of as a characteristic that's intrinsically a part of her. She knows and accepts the expectations placed on her as the person in charge AND as a woman in charge. She owns her feminism and is obviously supportive of other professional women. She doesn’t throw tantrums when things don’t go her way (though she may raise her voice a bit). She's the type of mentor and supervisor that I would like to have. Someone who is deeply invested in other people, who’s intuitive and smart and makes NO apologies for it.
(In terms of extending or altering favorites as I watch Major Crimes - Sharon is still my favorite, but Mike and Amy both hold solid places in my heart, and I feel for and identify all too readily with Emily Raydor.)
Xena: Warrior Princess: If you had asked my child-aged self this, I would have almost unequivocally answered with XENA, OF COURSE! But that was when I was young and Xena was the embodiment of everything awesome I wanted to be - that, and I had always admired Xena’s redemptive arc and convictions. However, as I was rewatching the show - finally from the start and in order (as a child, I had only managed to watch the episodes as they were available on UPN on the weekends; this, the Relic Hunter, and Hercules were probably the only live-action American shows I watched until CSI came along)… I realized something integral to my understanding of the show: I saw where Gabrielle began her journey, and with my vague memories of her as this amazing fighter and amazon… I was struck dumb and amazed, because HERS is the journey that I want to follow - to grow and discover, to learn to work from my strengths and improve on my weaknesses and accept those things that I may not be able to change either way and to understand that difference. I love that she is smart and funny and just a little be naïve/innocent. I like that she’s so willing to stick to a friend despite the risks and that she’s gentle or rough as needs be, so yeah… Newfound appreciation and love on re-watch, so if I have to pick a favorite - Gabrielle is probably it. Though, do not get me wrong, I still love and adore Xena. :D
Harry Potter: This is probably the most difficult for me to choose from because I have such a strong weakness and fondness for all the characters casted here (with, possibly, the exception of Umbridge). I've always loved Albus Dumbledore from the start for his quirkiness, but I came to love him for his human failures and foibles. I've loved Minerva McGonagall and her fierce protectiveness, take no BS attitude, and no-nonsense smarts, and Remus Lupin and his quiet bookish ways probably made him my favorite of the Marauders. However, overall, Hermione Granger is hands down my favorite of the trio, because beyond her smarts is her dedication and loyalty for her friends and her compassion for others: S.P.E.W. (as painfully misguided as that endeavor was) and working on researching for Buckbeak's trial despite being on the outs with her best friends and a LITERAL overload of work. Luna Lovegood for her own style and individuality - her quirky intelligence, and her indomitable sense of self. However, my hands-down favorite storyline and development was probably Neville Longbottom's - the "other" prophesied child raised under the shadow of his 'lost' parents. He grows SO MUCH over the course of the novels, and it does not escape me that it is his well-meaning stand-up to the trio in Sorceror's Stone that makes all the difference. (Basically, I cheated and couldn't make up my mind. :D They are each my 'favorites' for different reasons.)