Just because she's a manic pixie in black leather, doesn't stop her being The Angel in the House
Okay, there seems to be an acceptance around of the fact that the female characters in sff should no longer be Ye Damsel, there to get menaced by the villain, kidnapped, rescued, and generally motivate the hero by having stuff done to her, etc etc.
Howsumdever: and okay, this new generation of female characters have abilities and competence and do not emulate Phyllis in the Bulldog Drummond books (the swine got Phyllis so many times that one wonders if she was actually colluding with the baddies in the hopes that they would get rid of Drummond, finally).
But these abilities and competences too often seem to be entirely in the service of facilitating the Hero's Journey of, well, The Hero, rather than Manic Pixie Dream Hacker/Ass-kicking Ninja-Girl/Leader of the Resistance having her own agenda and her own story.
I.e. she's there to be The Helpmeet.
No, really, I don't think we're even past Seraglio Point yet*, quite.
*George Meredith, Diana of the Crossways (1885).
This entry was originally posted at http://oursin.dreamwidth.org/2029068.html. Please comment there using OpenID. View
comments.