A few days ago, I encountered the most interesting quote on Tumblr (it has been around the site for a long time, mind you). And it goes like this,
"Screw writing “strong” women. Write interesting women. Write well-rounded women. Write complicated women. Write a woman who kicks ass, write a woman who cowers in a corner. Write a woman who’s desperate for a husband. Write a woman who doesn’t need a man. Write women who cry, women who rant, women who are shy, women who don’t take no shit, women who need validation and women who don’t care what anybody thinks. THEY ARE ALL OKAY, and all those things could exist in THE SAME WOMAN. Women shouldn’t be valued because we are strong, or kick-ass, but because we are people. So don’t focus on writing characters who are strong. Write characters who are people."
When I saw this, both my mind and heart leaped for joy. Finally! Someone said it! Someone finally agrees with me! I'm sure you are reading this right now and you are thinking the very same thing. I shared this quote on Facebook and it has gotten a fair amount of likes. And I never get that much likes on that form of social media.
Honestly, I grew tired of the "purely badass" archetype for women. Sure, seeing women fight better than men seemed amusing at first, but now I think it is slightly overdone. Don't get me wrong, though. I have nothing against women who can kick ass. I just wish that literature can show to everyone that women are more than just fighters...and homemakers. They're also realistic beings that walk on this Earth. Correct me if I'm wrong but if there's a character that a reader or a viewer needs to hate, they're usually female. And yes, I think we should count King Joffrey as a lady (just kidding). But yeah, people would hate on a female character if she's helpless, a whiner, a stubborn bitch, a crybaby, or basically too weak. A perfect example to further emphasize my point would be Bella Swan of the Twilight Saga. A lot of readers hated her for being too clingy on Edward Cullen. I'm not a huge a fan of her character, but let's face it. I'm sure not everyone can think straight when they're in love with someone (people who were/are in love say "yeaaah!"). But yeah, the moment a female character does something that is stupid, weak, or not so "empowering" she gets bashed terribly.
I know that each and everyone of us is entitled to their own opinions and that we can hate whoever we want to hate, but whether we like it or not, flaws--whether they are big or small--are inevitable and we can't make the characters flawless otherwise they would turn into a Mary Sue...and we (yes I am including myself since I am also guilty of the bash crime) would still end up bashing the poor character for being too perfect. Am I saying that we need to stop the bashing? Not really. As fellow members of our current fandoms, we need to be more open to different kinds of female characters. Not just stoic female leaders who take no shit from anybody. So if you are a writer or you are aspiring to be one, then I implore you not to focus on making your characters strong. Make your characters real, because that's what makes them awesome.
So what if this female character is so helpless? So what if she's too perfect? So what if she's too stubborn and hotheaded? If you hate Clary Fray for being too irritating, then that means Cassandra Clare is actually doing a great job as a writer. I guess you can say that I have a firm belief that a writer should not write at all if all they're going to do is to please their readers. Write what you believe in, write yourself in your stories, heck...write about anything you want just as long as you are knowledgeable about it. I mean, what's the point about writing about math equations, when you don't know how they work right? Call me confusing, but yeah you can bash on a female character. But don't you dare say that "Oh! Cersei Lannister is not representing women the right way! Oh! Elena is so not an empowered woman because she screwed both Damon and Stefan!", because they are--in their own weird way--empowering you and me. They're somehow setting an example for everyone out there. So I guess it is up to you, if you want to follow their actions or not. One day you are going to thank Cho Chang for making yourself a stronger person after your almost-perfect boyfriend lets you go. You are going to make certain that you are not gonna end up as an alcoholic and a grudging sister like Laurel Lance of Arrow. Despite their terrible decisions in life, we all learn from them (hopefully). So yeah, it's not entirely a lose-lose situation for a story to have such characters. Women are still people, and they can make mistakes too. You can't expect every woman in every book, movie, or TV show to be like Black Widow or Wonder Woman, because that would be hell. Like seriously, that would be overrated and scary. If you can't deal with that, then that's your problem. If you think that this character is not doing a very good job as well, her own character, then let's see if you can do a better job.
If you ask me, I think being a demigod, a shadowhunter, or even the Mockingjay is a demanding task, especially if you're a teenager. The fact that someone young is handling anything of these tasks is absolutely insane. Technically speaking, these women are pretty strong and they definitely got the man balls for doing whatever they're doing. Perhaps this is why I appreciate Arrow very much. I know there are other shows or other forms of media that show amazing female characters, but Arrow is definitely one of them. These women are not just strong. They can be weak, insane, complicated, deep, gentle, annoying, and powerful. Basically most of them have depth and they show empowerment in many different ways, which I appreciate very much.
Now that I got that off my chest, I hope I didn't really hit anyone. Well if I did, then I can assure you it is not my intention. I am only ventilating my thoughts, and you may or may not agree with everything that I have said here. My simple request is that we all should appreciate any female character, whether she can look smoking hot in a spy outfit or not. Any woman...any person can be powerful.
No comments :
Post a Comment