Write The Change You Want To See In The World

[sarahtales]

There is a picture I look at when I am feeling generally useless, or terrible, or unmotivated, or despairing, wishing that I had depth perception so I could be a truck driver or you know, any sort of mathematical ability so I could be an accountant.

I find anger very motivating - look at that!Ms. Magazine did a piece on young adult literature and

Comments

[ias]

Humm, maybe I'm too much of an historian but the ad doesn't make me angry because they used lady (well, she is a Lady, that was her role that was her job and being a Lady was an important social function in her time, possibly more socially important than the male version of being a Gentleman).

It's just a shame they couldn't have used one of the other female leads as well, say one of the women from Spooks (which I thought had done quite well in the States).

[sarahtales]

The fact she is the only girl and that everyone else's roles are active - and indeed supernaturaly - things, as well as offering a Buffet of Choice, that frankly sound more appealing makes me very upset.

[ias]

Oh I agree, it was just that many of the comments on the blog you linked to were to do with disliking Emma being labelled a lady, which is what she was. Being the only female represented when there are many adventrous heroines from numerous other BBC shows who they could have chosen, however, does get my goat.

[kerrypolka]

I thought Emma was a Miss?

[lizzylafosse]

I cannot tell you how much I loved this! Like you, I found that ad to be appalling. I watch most of those shows, and this is how BBC wants to represent to their audience? REALLY? 'Lady' was the best they could do? The 'vampire' is from being human, and one of the other main characters, a ghost, is female--they couldn't use her?

Sorry for the mini-rant but this piece really hit home with me. Adore your writing; always fantastically done and really makes you think. Keep on doin' what you do :)

[sarahtales]

Thank you! Yes, Annie is my favourite character in Being Human (I think she and Mitchell the Vampire should have a great love) so I was like 'Whoa, at least one of those shows has a lady protagonist who gets to be supernatural and active too.'

[evewithanapple]

And she would have been a character of colour, which- as of now- the poster is completely devoid of. I understand why they picked the Doctor, Merlin, and Sherlock- they're all the main characters of their respective shows- but Annie is just as much a main character as Mitchell (and actually, I think Nina's been upgraded to main cast now, so that's two leading ladies) and aren't there awesome archaeologist ladies on Primeval? Surely they must have SOME shows with female main characters. I think part of the problem is that ad relies on characters who literally headline their shows (Doctor Who, Merlin, Sherlock) and while they have plenty of shows with female mains, none of them are the "official" main character- hence the person who made the ad disqualified them. It's a sad statement on the way the industry works, really- you can have ladies, just don't put them front and center. Or if you do, make sure they're sharing the spotlight with a dude

[be_themoon]

Merlin has two leading ladies as well (although one is getting downgraded to recurring next season, I believe) and also a recurring female antagonist (again, Merlin, what is up with that), and one of them is not only a character of color but also the future Queen of Camelot! Guinevere is simply the best, though then again, she hasn't really been given her own story yet. :( And Primeval has - two leading ladies this season, and last season there were four (if you count antagonists, though one left halfway through the season). Being Human, of course, has Annie, who headlines her show just as much as Mitchell does. And now Nina too, I believe! Doctor Who has Amy (awesome) and River Song (though she's recurring and not a regular). Sherlock, of course... has none. Which sucks. There's also all the BBC Austen adaptations going on, there's Downton Abbey which has more important women than men, I'm pretty sure, and I believe I'm missing a show or two with awesome ladies in it

[blamebrampton]

That ad is ridiculous, but the commenter who says s/he looked at it and saw the cast of a heist story makes things enormously better!

Emma: Right, Mitchell, you will use your devastating good looks to distract the teller while Merlin magically opens all the locks on the safety deposit boxes and The Doctor takes the TARDIS inside the area and empties them all out.

Sherlock: Brilliant! And then when I am called in, I lead the police down the wrong path using a complex yet eminently plausible set of inferences, yes?

Emma: Er, yes. OR, I have this lovely friend you could take out for a cup of tea ...

[sarahtales]

Reminds me of when Karen Healey and I were designing the heist movie version of Inception we wished we'd seen - less angst, more twisty dream hijinks, Leo diCaprio and Marion Cotillard's characters as joint crimelords, Tom Hardy's character eliminated and the other three given fun subplots of their own. Ah, but one cannot live on imaginary heist stories alone. ;

[blamebrampton]

I would watch that several times! But alas, none of my girlfriends would watch it with me as they have all been seduced by the THard. Which is ridiculous, because Saito ...

[fatty_bumsticks]

I would sit down to watch this. With popcorn. I would cheer through my popcorn. Leo's lost love plot bored the pants off of me. Bad stuff happens, sweetpea! Life goes on! And as IF you'd go for Tom Hardy when there is the very fine Mr Gordon Levitt to look at. AS IF.

[thegreatmissjj]

I'm less appalled by Emma's description as "Lady" (because it was almost as much a career as a description of the female sex in the 1800s--it's better than "Maid" or "Wench", I suppose) than the fact that she's the ONLY WOMAN. Where are the other female protagonists, I ask you? Are there really no female protagonists on television these days? (I wouldn't know--the last time I watched TV was LOST, and before that, it was The X-Files.)

And look, they're all white, but to ask for a protagonist of a different race is probably too much. Sigh.

[sarahtales]

Her being the only girl and therefore there not being options was a chief part of the Limits of Awesomeness Imposed, yes. And that they chose the 1800s-lady as said only-choice while the majority of other characters are in modern times.

One of the protagonists in Being Human, which was advertised via the 'Vampire' is a female ghost? Which is why I was like 'Portrayal rather than taking issue with THOSE SPECIFIC SHOWS.' Though man it would've been nice to see character-of-colour Gwen as an advertisement for Merlin. Of course it would be a stretch to describe the show as about her.

[ide_cyan]

There's also a female werewolf on Being Human who gets about equal promotion with the male werewolf in the season 3 adverts.

[jumbled_words]

My friends sometimes tease me (in a good way, they think it's awesome) because I'm incapable of writing a story without at least one (or more, I think my record is seven) queers in it. It always amazes me that there are so few books with gay people out there, but possibly it's because I hog them all.

And maybe one day one of my books will get to live in the real world (as opposed to my harddrive), and I can add a tiny little fraction of a percentage to those ten percent.

But first I must give up my addiction to parentheses and semi-colons. Seriously.

[sarahtales]

I was appalled by how many brackets I had liberally scattered across this post. Happens!

[jumbled_words]

I have a very serious, long time love affair with brackets. Like, a decade and counting. But I suppose we all have our Things.

[firynze]

An editor can really help beat that addiction out of you. Just sayin'.

(this is as an editor who just replaced something like eighty TRILLIION colons in an author's upcoming YA fantasy novel. SO MANY COLONS ZOMG)