Comments | lukadia: Bitter Bitter Fanboy II

lukadia

Bitter Bitter Fanboy II

Mar 01, 2011 02:36

Why do I do this to myself? I KNOW the strong confident capable female protagonist is going to be systematically broken down into a quivering puddle so the male lead can have a non-challenging love story. It happens every time, but I never learn ( Read more... )

feminism

Comments 29

elodiebanel March 1 2011, 08:43:40 UTC

Have you ever read Tamora Pierce's novels? They're YA, but they have strong female leads. Leads that do falls in love, but without becoming weak and helpless and ready to do whatever the guy wants.

lukadia March 1 2011, 09:32:21 UTC

I have, but it was a while back. I adore YA :3

mercia March 1 2011, 12:54:04 UTC

You know, my ex suggested I read Pierce's "Immortal" series. They were actually quite good.

...right up until the end when I went "Wait... she's *flipflip* STILL sixteen, yeah. And he's... *flipflip* yup, he's thirty. Well, I feel dirty, now."

Other than that little eye-twitcher, I've enjoyed her stuff and need to read more.

kittenmint March 1 2011, 14:33:22 UTC

I second this. I own most of her stuff - I recommend it. Quick, satisfying reads without TOO many plot holes to gloss over.

Thread 5

armaina March 1 2011, 09:13:15 UTC

fjlkjalfk AGREEEED

I mean if you want to have a suspenseful rescue mission, it really is entirely possible for a rescue to occur without having to break down the character horribly. Or somehow making them forget how to fight so that they can be caught/put in a precarious situation. Or making suddenly act COMPLETELY DIFFERENT after the event is over.

And the saddest part is, there are so few series/movies/whatever where this doesn't happen. Off the top of my head I can only think of Avatar: TLA, Beast Wars, and Fullmetal Alchemist. It's pretty sad when I can't immediately think of any others. :/

(also, battle couples are the bessst.)

lukadia March 1 2011, 09:28:43 UTC

Top of my head: Soul Eater, Utena (though it is a theme, it is also heavily deconstructed), and the Millennium Trilogy by Steig Larsson (seriously this last one is amazing omg).

We should gather to pay homage to female protagonists who kick ass without needing a dude... we could pray to a statue of Riza Hawkeye or something.

armaina March 1 2011, 09:35:33 UTC

Well I have not seen/read Soul Eater or Millennium Trilogy soooo I guess I should now!

And yes, I completely concur. Awesome ladies week/month something? And if we're going to pray to someone, I was thinking more like Izumi Curtis (manga, specifically). I like it when there can be couples that know how to still be individuals without being completely dependent on the other.

lukadia March 1 2011, 10:33:08 UTC

Definitely! Although I really really like the Roy/Riza relationship. She's got his back, he's got her back. They act like grownups who dig each other. Awesome.

Millennium Trilogy is my gold standard for writing a female hero. I was never let down through the whole series.

And Soul Eater is not only loaded with intelligent and resourceful female characters, it's also potent nightmare fuel!

Thread 8

anonymous March 1 2011, 09:22:58 UTC

Yeah, for me it was pretty much stop watching anime without outside confirmation of non-fail, avoid all hollywood productions without ditto from a trusted source, give the stink-eye to anything written before the 1960s-1970s and anything approved by the major media outlets, and um... I read a lot of blogs and webcomics. And a careful selection of scifi/fantasy/nonfiction. It keeps me happier.

lukadia March 1 2011, 09:29:43 UTC

A recipe for sanity, right here.

red_doughnut March 1 2011, 20:37:24 UTC

I enjoy Ouran Highschool Host Club because the main female walks to her own beat despite being surrounded by needy female influences.

Bookwise, Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy/side books have a refreshing take on power dynamics between men and women. Bishop also gets into the nitty gritty dark stuff too. And there's always a satisfying pwn of the bitches that make your skin crawl with hate.

mosrael March 1 2011, 23:51:32 UTC

Aaaaaaaa oh god the Black Jewels. Uh, I dunno, I've read them a number of times and there's not a lot of healthy female sexuality going on. Plenty of dominant-submissive power play, though, if one is into that. I confess to reading them primarily for the lulz. /shrug

lukadia March 2 2011, 05:09:47 UTC

I *loved* Ouran, until that goddamn beach episode. After that I tried to pretend it never happened afterwards, but my memory of the series is still incredibly squicky. Which pisses me off because if I had only skipped over that little single part, it would have been my favorite series of that whole year.

mosrael March 1 2011, 23:59:54 UTC

I recommend The Meek: meekcomic.com. It is so good that I have to look at it out of the corner of my eye, lest I require clean undies. It has lots of delicious grey areas, not to mention some fantastic art.

I know you were spoilered for it, but the His Dark Materials trilogy is still head and shoulders above most YA books - and I say this as a lover of YA books. Both female and male characters are nuanced and believable, and three-dimensional villains don't hurt either. :P The way the alethiometer functions on ladders of symbolic meaning still blows my mind.

And oddly enough, a series I started reading for its hot manlove subtext has turned out to feature a lot of strong women in it. Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner books are a combination of entertaining generic fantasy and surprisingly believable demonic horrors. Not to mention a kingdom ruled by queens, in name and spirit both. The manlove turned out to be rather fade-to-black in nature, but I'm still reading them for the adventures and kickassness that occurs.