Day 15 - how about I just come right out and say it, and then if you want I'll fight you on it
I feel like all I've been doing is talking about character arcs. But here's one that's been on my mind for a while, and also, this lady needs all the support she can get, even if she is [spoiler].
Day Fifteen: Favorite female character growth arc wot I feel like talking about at this time
Lori Grimes of The Walking Dead.
Okay. Dukes up, kids: I really like Lori and really really like what they did with her. The more I think about it, the more I like her whole arc.
I've heard the complaints, or enough of them. I know she was on pretty much everyone's "DIE!" list. I heard the promised celebrations when she did, however discomfited they turned out to be about it all. And I do get it; I started off luke-warm toward her myself, she's not an engaging character (though to be fair, I was luke-warm to everyone apart from Daryl well into the back half of season two). I just think you're all, all wrong.
Let's get the obvious out of the way: she was not survivor material. She's not weak, per se, but she's a panicker. But not the natural, forgiveable panic of your average survivor sheeple, she's got enough strength for that, steel enough for the zombie hordes. It's with people, the real threat of the series, that she tries to be firm but is oh so brittle underneath. So she careens to and fro, showing moments of resolve, only to flail helplessly, and then try once more to meet the threat. Over and over again. And we don't want that in our zombie stories; we want the absolutes, the strong survivors through whom we can vicariously slaughter human non!humans and measure our survival theories against, and the obvious zombie-chum who are going to be picked off in entertainingly gruesome ways. We, as an audience, want to know where we stand. Who to root for and who not to get attached to. TWD goes out of its way to frustrate in this respect, and Lori was especially effective.
But these flaws and contradictions are what make her an interesting character. The evolution of her character - entirely off screen between seasons - is what makes her a compelling one.
And it's a simple, intensely nerve-wracking arc. She starts off as a somewhat average small-town/suburban wife, differentiated by having acquired some level of fortitude through being married to a cop, and recently suffering the realisation of what was probably her most persistent fear: the death of her husband in the line of duty. Then the zombie apocalypse happens. She needs to be strong for her son, so she is; but she's emotionally weakened, so she takes solace in her late husband's best friend, and depends on his strength.
She is, in all of this, very short-sighted. She makes all her choices, and reacts, without showing any regard for the consequences. She is highly reactive, and as S1 and 2 wear on, that is the one consistent note and the reason for all her apparent, loudly-decried inconsistencies. She is confronted with a situation she doesn't want, or is afraid of, and she simply rejects it, denies it, flees it, without thinking what will result. And then, confronted with what does result, she ... does it again. This is her one coping mechanism when she is overwhelmed (when she feels less threatened, she is able to reason a little better, but not that much). If she hadn't been the primary object of protection of both alpha males in the group, she wouldn't have survived the first wave or two. But she was, and she did.
It builds from the beginning, but by the time of discovering she's pregnant, she is virtually saturated in terror of this world with its constant, random threats she cannot get a handle on. She is hanging on by her fingernails and only occasionally gets enough reprieve to do anything but react. I'm not saying this is yay, great - it's annoying as hell at times. But it's completely understandable and human.
And it's her pregnancy that is the catalyst for her arc. This woman who has run from every problem she couldn't deal with now has an insane problem in the zombie apocalypse that she is literally carrying around inside her - she cannot run away from it. She makes the choice to keep it as spontaneously and reactively as she does anything else, and we're not shown that her ability to project consequences ever changes. But at the end of season two, she is confronted by the results of her actions upon Rick, and eventually decides (like the rest of the group) to get behind his total authority.
By the time we pick up with them again eight months later, she is no less terrified. No less overwhelmed. And yet, for the sake of her unborn baby, for the sake of her husband and son, she has learned to lock that terror down, to do what needs to be done, to pay attention and try, at least, to do what others (especially Rick) need of her rather than fixating on her own issues. And all that, her entire arc, comes to a head in the most brutal, badass and yet tender death scene I've seen in a very long time. It is a beautiful arc, well drawn, and I salute it.
master list
Day Fifteen: Favorite female character growth arc wot I feel like talking about at this time
Lori Grimes of The Walking Dead.
Okay. Dukes up, kids: I really like Lori and really really like what they did with her. The more I think about it, the more I like her whole arc.
I've heard the complaints, or enough of them. I know she was on pretty much everyone's "DIE!" list. I heard the promised celebrations when she did, however discomfited they turned out to be about it all. And I do get it; I started off luke-warm toward her myself, she's not an engaging character (though to be fair, I was luke-warm to everyone apart from Daryl well into the back half of season two). I just think you're all, all wrong.
Let's get the obvious out of the way: she was not survivor material. She's not weak, per se, but she's a panicker. But not the natural, forgiveable panic of your average survivor sheeple, she's got enough strength for that, steel enough for the zombie hordes. It's with people, the real threat of the series, that she tries to be firm but is oh so brittle underneath. So she careens to and fro, showing moments of resolve, only to flail helplessly, and then try once more to meet the threat. Over and over again. And we don't want that in our zombie stories; we want the absolutes, the strong survivors through whom we can vicariously slaughter human non!humans and measure our survival theories against, and the obvious zombie-chum who are going to be picked off in entertainingly gruesome ways. We, as an audience, want to know where we stand. Who to root for and who not to get attached to. TWD goes out of its way to frustrate in this respect, and Lori was especially effective.
But these flaws and contradictions are what make her an interesting character. The evolution of her character - entirely off screen between seasons - is what makes her a compelling one.
And it's a simple, intensely nerve-wracking arc. She starts off as a somewhat average small-town/suburban wife, differentiated by having acquired some level of fortitude through being married to a cop, and recently suffering the realisation of what was probably her most persistent fear: the death of her husband in the line of duty. Then the zombie apocalypse happens. She needs to be strong for her son, so she is; but she's emotionally weakened, so she takes solace in her late husband's best friend, and depends on his strength.
She is, in all of this, very short-sighted. She makes all her choices, and reacts, without showing any regard for the consequences. She is highly reactive, and as S1 and 2 wear on, that is the one consistent note and the reason for all her apparent, loudly-decried inconsistencies. She is confronted with a situation she doesn't want, or is afraid of, and she simply rejects it, denies it, flees it, without thinking what will result. And then, confronted with what does result, she ... does it again. This is her one coping mechanism when she is overwhelmed (when she feels less threatened, she is able to reason a little better, but not that much). If she hadn't been the primary object of protection of both alpha males in the group, she wouldn't have survived the first wave or two. But she was, and she did.
It builds from the beginning, but by the time of discovering she's pregnant, she is virtually saturated in terror of this world with its constant, random threats she cannot get a handle on. She is hanging on by her fingernails and only occasionally gets enough reprieve to do anything but react. I'm not saying this is yay, great - it's annoying as hell at times. But it's completely understandable and human.
And it's her pregnancy that is the catalyst for her arc. This woman who has run from every problem she couldn't deal with now has an insane problem in the zombie apocalypse that she is literally carrying around inside her - she cannot run away from it. She makes the choice to keep it as spontaneously and reactively as she does anything else, and we're not shown that her ability to project consequences ever changes. But at the end of season two, she is confronted by the results of her actions upon Rick, and eventually decides (like the rest of the group) to get behind his total authority.
By the time we pick up with them again eight months later, she is no less terrified. No less overwhelmed. And yet, for the sake of her unborn baby, for the sake of her husband and son, she has learned to lock that terror down, to do what needs to be done, to pay attention and try, at least, to do what others (especially Rick) need of her rather than fixating on her own issues. And all that, her entire arc, comes to a head in the most brutal, badass and yet tender death scene I've seen in a very long time. It is a beautiful arc, well drawn, and I salute it.
master list