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The Important Thing
Jan. 16th, 2007 07:40 pmHappy Birthday ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
laurashapiro!
laurashapiro!Jan. 16th, 2007
On being a girl
Jan. 16th, 2007 07:42 pmSo on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
metafandom some of the talk is about female characters in the media and the reasons even female-biased fandoms seems to identify more with the male ones. It’s an old debate – if more women were better written would more people focus on them or is it latent mysogny and patriarchal influence that makes this less common? Probably all of the above and some other reasons beside but what caught my eye about the debate was one of the posters using Robin Hood as their example.
I’d almost forgotten but Robin Hood was the first fictional character I fell in love with. Suddenly memories flood back of seven year old me weeping for days after reading how he died and vowing to become an outlaw when I grew up. Which seems to be different from other people’s reaction's. I never wanted to be Robin or Marion or wished Robin were a girl. Lack of imagination probably, unlike Willow just couldn’t work around the physical presence of a penis.
Other than Robin, when I could get them, it was girls all the way, Tenar in Earthsea, Eowyn in The Lord of the Rings. Barbara Stanwyck, Kate Hepburn, Judy and Cyd Charisse. When BtVS came along I think it’s no secret that Buffy became my girl. Giles was cool, Spike was funny and fucked-up and every mother’s son, Angel I’ve almost forgiven Amends since watching Home but I never over-identified with any of them.
Still this female thing is a little counter-intuitive because having been a tomboy and then a scientist I’ve never been very feminine in the Mitzi Gaynor way. I also don’t think it’s particularly feminist of me since it goes too far back to have been a choice. I think it probably has more to do with having had a younger brother and being determined that I wasn’t him. All those fights about who was better? Must have had some effect.
metafandom some of the talk is about female characters in the media and the reasons even female-biased fandoms seems to identify more with the male ones. It’s an old debate – if more women were better written would more people focus on them or is it latent mysogny and patriarchal influence that makes this less common? Probably all of the above and some other reasons beside but what caught my eye about the debate was one of the posters using Robin Hood as their example.I’d almost forgotten but Robin Hood was the first fictional character I fell in love with. Suddenly memories flood back of seven year old me weeping for days after reading how he died and vowing to become an outlaw when I grew up. Which seems to be different from other people’s reaction's. I never wanted to be Robin or Marion or wished Robin were a girl. Lack of imagination probably, unlike Willow just couldn’t work around the physical presence of a penis.
Other than Robin, when I could get them, it was girls all the way, Tenar in Earthsea, Eowyn in The Lord of the Rings. Barbara Stanwyck, Kate Hepburn, Judy and Cyd Charisse. When BtVS came along I think it’s no secret that Buffy became my girl. Giles was cool, Spike was funny and fucked-up and every mother’s son, Angel I’ve almost forgiven Amends since watching Home but I never over-identified with any of them.
Still this female thing is a little counter-intuitive because having been a tomboy and then a scientist I’ve never been very feminine in the Mitzi Gaynor way. I also don’t think it’s particularly feminist of me since it goes too far back to have been a choice. I think it probably has more to do with having had a younger brother and being determined that I wasn’t him. All those fights about who was better? Must have had some effect.