Essay: "Heras and Villainesses"
The upcoming fishbowl theme is "heras and villainesses" so I wanted to write a little bit about that tonight. Female characters often get short shrift when compared to male characters, whether good or evil. Let's take a closer look.
First, we have the two terms that everyone knows: hero and heroine. A hero is a male protagonist, the lead ( Read more... )
I think that the important thing here is that; gender isn't all that crucial to the character. It's a description. The character's female because, well, half of everyone is. For this reason I'm really kind of... mmm... it's really hard to deal with characters heavily defined by motherhood and by relationships because that last comes so close to and then the hot chick falls for the strong/hypercompetent/masculine hero/villain.
So I really liked some of your heroine choices (and here we differ about semantics; I would rather use the old word, because I tend to like "big tent" definitions) because these are people whose role within the story doesn't hinge on them being female. Like I know that the script didn't decide what gender Ripley was until Sigourney Weaver showed up and the writers went hey, okay, Ripley's a woman - that's kinda neat.
It's weird, Jirel is so defined by being desired and by the potential relationship she herself put an end to, but she never comes across as being defined by it. I think it's 'cause she's still herself through the entire process; it's her choice, and I guess the "and I killed the one man who might be a really good match for me for my land, my pride, and my people" just lends her a lot of class. And I mean she basically says "no" to a demon lord. That's pretty badass.
I'd disagree with Poison Ivy. I mean I love the character, but like Catwoman, she seems like a character who was originally there to be The Hot Chick Adversary, and ever since that inception people have been scrambling to tack some greater (is this the right word for the situation?) legitimacy onto the character.
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I think it depends on the character, culture, and story. Sometimes it doesn't matter much. Other times, it's the core of everything. And we need both kinds of those stories and characters.
>>So I really liked some of your heroine choices (and here we differ about semantics; I would rather use the old word, because I tend to like "big tent" definitions) <<
It's okay. Language is the ultimate democracy: ever speaker gets one vote on how words should be used.
>>because these are people whose role within the story doesn't hinge on them being female<<
Except for Tim, the Schrodinger's Heroes characters all started out gender-indeterminate. I rolled for their genders and races with on a gaming website.
>>I'd disagree with Poison Ivy.<<
I'm okay with Hot Chick Adversary as long as there are other types of female characters around. After all, some women DO use their sex appeal as a weapon, for good or ill.
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