(no subject)
It occurs to me I should crosspost stuff from my Tumblr more often -- not all of it, of course, but fandom meta and the like.
A bit over a week ago, I did this meme: Give me a letter and I will tell you a character I love whose name starts with that letter and a brief explanation why.
1. K is for Katniss Everdeen, protagonist of The Hunger Games. I love that even though Katniss should be, and is, cynical and jaded about the tough circumstances of her life, she doesn't hesitate to do the right thing, even at great cost to herself. She's a rare female protagonist who's allowed to be the emotionally unavailable, tough one in the requisite romantic relationship. While I didn't like Mockingjay quite as much as the previous two books (it felt a little rushed), I respect the heck out of Suzanne Collins for not only not magically curing Katniss' PTSD by the end of the main storyline, but showed her living with it in the aftermath, maybe never getting past it, and that being okay.
"At some point, you have to stop running and turn around and face whoever wants you dead.The hard thing is finding the courage to do it."
-- Katniss, in Catching Fire
2. L is for Leia Organa (Solo). I grew up never not knowing who Princess Leia was, so to me she's the epitome of all fictional princesses. She's royalty who's not afraid of getting her hands dirty, a diplomat who can manage "aggressive negotiations" with the best of them but never loses track of the better future she's working for.
A number of fans have commented that the twins follow the career paths of their same-gender parent but the disposition of their opposite-gender parent -- a comparison I find poignant between Luke and the mother he never had, but particularly fascinating between Leia and Anakin. Leia's so much like Anakin in her temper, and her bullheaded determination that if the galaxy isn't a good place she'll just have to make it that way. That strength of will is one of her greatest strengths of character, and she inherited it not from the man she thinks of her father, but the man complicit in his murder and those of countless others. It's also a weakness that leaves her vulnerable to the Dark Side herself, but unlike Anakin, she's never going to fall.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Somebody has to save our skins. Into the garbage chute, flyboy!"
-- Han Solo and Leia Organa in the moment we all learned how awesome Leia is, Star Wars: A New Hope
3. L (again) is for Luke Skywalker. Okay, now time for the confession: Leia is only my second favorite Star Wars character. 'Fact is, Luke was my first fictional crush -- long since petered out when I realized I wanted to be the badass Jedi Knight, not (blech) date him. But as both my ex-crush and role model, he'll always be close to my heart.
A lot of people dislike Luke for being "whiny," often as a stand-in for "not being Han Solo," which doesn't make much sense to me. One, I like Han fine, but I've never found the "cynical scoundrel with a heart of gold" archetype all that interesting. Luke's lack of suave macho-ness makes him more compelling to me, not less. Second, yes, Luke is incredibly immature when we first meet him. He's an imaginative 19-year-old trapped on a galactic backwater that's also a desert wasteland, whose best (only) friend just went off to have the life he dreams of, and whose parents disapprove, semi-inexplicably, of the only thing he cares about. A little petulance is understandable, and makes his growth into the level-headed but empathetic hero of Jedi all the more impressive. Third, given all the things Luke doesn't whine about, like the deaths of friends and family, dismemberment, torture both psychological and physical, manipulation and betrayal by his supposed allies, so on and so forth, I think we can cut him a little slack on those power converters, eh?
There's a lot of nostalgia in my love for Luke, of course (X-Wings and lightsabers will forever remain the coolest to my inner five-year-old), but what draws me back to the character again and again is that he's a fighter whose greatest act of heroism was his choice not to fight. He's lived his entire life with the consequences of other people's hatred and reactionary closedmindedness. It would've been more than understandable if he'd given in to the violence that both Palpatine/Vader and Yoda/Obi-Wan demanded and assumed was required. Instead, he reached out with respect and an almost mindboggling compassion.
“Unlike the Knights of old, Jedi Luke Skywalker … You are not afraid of the dark.”
-- Nick Rostu to Luke, Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor
A bit over a week ago, I did this meme: Give me a letter and I will tell you a character I love whose name starts with that letter and a brief explanation why.
1. K is for Katniss Everdeen, protagonist of The Hunger Games. I love that even though Katniss should be, and is, cynical and jaded about the tough circumstances of her life, she doesn't hesitate to do the right thing, even at great cost to herself. She's a rare female protagonist who's allowed to be the emotionally unavailable, tough one in the requisite romantic relationship. While I didn't like Mockingjay quite as much as the previous two books (it felt a little rushed), I respect the heck out of Suzanne Collins for not only not magically curing Katniss' PTSD by the end of the main storyline, but showed her living with it in the aftermath, maybe never getting past it, and that being okay.
"At some point, you have to stop running and turn around and face whoever wants you dead.The hard thing is finding the courage to do it."
-- Katniss, in Catching Fire
2. L is for Leia Organa (Solo). I grew up never not knowing who Princess Leia was, so to me she's the epitome of all fictional princesses. She's royalty who's not afraid of getting her hands dirty, a diplomat who can manage "aggressive negotiations" with the best of them but never loses track of the better future she's working for.
A number of fans have commented that the twins follow the career paths of their same-gender parent but the disposition of their opposite-gender parent -- a comparison I find poignant between Luke and the mother he never had, but particularly fascinating between Leia and Anakin. Leia's so much like Anakin in her temper, and her bullheaded determination that if the galaxy isn't a good place she'll just have to make it that way. That strength of will is one of her greatest strengths of character, and she inherited it not from the man she thinks of her father, but the man complicit in his murder and those of countless others. It's also a weakness that leaves her vulnerable to the Dark Side herself, but unlike Anakin, she's never going to fall.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Somebody has to save our skins. Into the garbage chute, flyboy!"
-- Han Solo and Leia Organa in the moment we all learned how awesome Leia is, Star Wars: A New Hope
3. L (again) is for Luke Skywalker. Okay, now time for the confession: Leia is only my second favorite Star Wars character. 'Fact is, Luke was my first fictional crush -- long since petered out when I realized I wanted to be the badass Jedi Knight, not (blech) date him. But as both my ex-crush and role model, he'll always be close to my heart.
A lot of people dislike Luke for being "whiny," often as a stand-in for "not being Han Solo," which doesn't make much sense to me. One, I like Han fine, but I've never found the "cynical scoundrel with a heart of gold" archetype all that interesting. Luke's lack of suave macho-ness makes him more compelling to me, not less. Second, yes, Luke is incredibly immature when we first meet him. He's an imaginative 19-year-old trapped on a galactic backwater that's also a desert wasteland, whose best (only) friend just went off to have the life he dreams of, and whose parents disapprove, semi-inexplicably, of the only thing he cares about. A little petulance is understandable, and makes his growth into the level-headed but empathetic hero of Jedi all the more impressive. Third, given all the things Luke doesn't whine about, like the deaths of friends and family, dismemberment, torture both psychological and physical, manipulation and betrayal by his supposed allies, so on and so forth, I think we can cut him a little slack on those power converters, eh?
There's a lot of nostalgia in my love for Luke, of course (X-Wings and lightsabers will forever remain the coolest to my inner five-year-old), but what draws me back to the character again and again is that he's a fighter whose greatest act of heroism was his choice not to fight. He's lived his entire life with the consequences of other people's hatred and reactionary closedmindedness. It would've been more than understandable if he'd given in to the violence that both Palpatine/Vader and Yoda/Obi-Wan demanded and assumed was required. Instead, he reached out with respect and an almost mindboggling compassion.
“Unlike the Knights of old, Jedi Luke Skywalker … You are not afraid of the dark.”
-- Nick Rostu to Luke, Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor