What is feminism? What's a "strong female character"?
Apparently--{spoken in dry tones} thoughts on strong, scifi female characters have been on my mind, A LOT, so I'm posting my response to pellucid's recent entry. (I won't torture her by linking to it.)
I think that our "love of literature," or fannish love of television, begins when we start having a relationship with these (strong, female) ( Read more... )
I think that our "love of literature," or fannish love of television, begins when we start having a relationship with these (strong, female) ( Read more... )
Comments 17
I think loopholes and weaknesses certainly encourage fanfiction, because of the need to complete things, and because fans of a character will, of course, want to see them well-rounded. Stating the obvious here, but who doesn't wish we got a little more Roslin background? We know odd details, but many of these have had to be taken from external sources. Researched, in other words. (Whereas, Adama? Different matter.) There are some great fics out there that do believable (and not improbably tragic) backstory for Roslin.
In a character-driven show like BSG, with a big ensemble, it's easy to feel cheated if one's 'favourite', perhaps, is denied the fleshing-out of their backstory that they deserve. Thus, fanfic: it fills the gaps. Whether it's good or not depends chiefly on (a) how much character there is to work with in the first place (as you say); and (b) how much analysis and thought has gone into it. Sorry, that's blunt. But it's also true... :D ( ... )
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I think Roslin's coldness is part of her plan to save humanity. It's what has to be done and she does what's needed, whether she likes it or not. But she, personally, suffers for it. I don't think she enjoys the extreme tilt of her personality towards the "rational," or "cold," or (maybe even?) the "calculating."
But at some point, the calculations draw her attention back to herself. I think her return to her "softer" side, is actually the logical result of these "cold" calculations. Because LET'S DO THE MATH. How many survivors of the nuclear holocaust remain? ("How do we measure loss?") With so many gone, they start counting those who remain. She can't save humanity without also saving herself.
You've reminded me of something else. *goes to edit this entry* Example of a loophole in BSG that's productive for fanfic: the "missing" year on New Caprica.
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I wonder if that's also the way to approach the "Strong Female Characters" in Scifi question. I'm (more than a little) hung up on the resemblances and lack thereof between female characters. I see that you lose something in the process of taking these ( ... )
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Yes! that is the best part about Roslin and Adama. I hate when characters supposedly exist in a vacuum, as if their relationship has no bearing on their perspective or growth. Roslin is genius. She so totally owns me.
I really like your breakdown, besides linking disparate characters, it moves SciFi out of the ghetto, putting characterization and thematics first, and superficial setting second. OMG I cannot WAIT for the new LR inspired characters. Even though she's more morally grey than Roslin, I wonder if Adelle DeWitt in Dollhouse will be one of those characters.
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You're right, and I should rephrase. I don't think poor characterization is good for fanfiction. But I do think loopholes and gaps in the timeline can be. (Speaking from very limited experience here, so I'm referring only to the "year on New Caprica" fanfics that I've read.) ;D
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I desperately want to find a way to distinguish fannish devotion from idolatry Me too... obv. I'm leaning towards reciprocity, but I think that's contentious enough not to be a singular answer. Inevitably you bump up against issues of fandom, character, real life fans, and the real life actors. And the real life people do exchange a type of give and take about the fannishness in general. Though I think it's got to be different depending on if you're dealing with real life actors or real life writers in book fandom, just by the nature of how you consume the actual work. I keep thinking of Katee Sackhoff's up and down fan relationship vs. JK Rowling's up and down fan relationship. Guuh this is starting to sound like thesis work to hammer it all out.
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On real life actors and real life fans. I was actually thinking that there's some reciprocity between fellow lj fans who interact online, rather than between the actors and the fans in real life. I would actually be quite nervous about meeting rl actors (oh, say, MMD). Even though it would be awesome, I don't know how much reciprocity one could get out of such a brief meeting. So I'm wondering if the "interaction" one has with "the character" is channeled through lj and other online mediums. It's an indirect way of "interacting" with the character (when you're really interacting with other fans' perceptions of the character ( ... )
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