yeah, women in hp had it bad, it's true. especially poor cho. and due south... the women are better in fic, definitely, but the canon gives them pretty pathetic roles to start with - all very fraser-focused (yes, paul gross, everyone worships you).
I've still been enjoying the superwomen of bandom as the dea ex machina, or random plot mover.
it's not that i don't enjoy that on occasion too. just not every time, please. and please not as the sole function of women in fic. we say we love them but... honestly, i don't love perfect people. i love complicated, weird, flawed and interesting people.
I think it's harder to make a realistic character of any gender when they're already on the sidelines;
yeah, i generally agree. but i think so many of our writers are awesome and can do it when they care to. i mean, how many times does a brief characterization of ryan in, say, a jon/spencer fic just makes you giddy? quite a few, for me. and it's not usually because i'm thinking "wow, he's so awesome," it's usually more, "what a freaky weirdo, i love him!"
mostly, i just want to want to read more of the women. but i'm thinking part of the reason i don't is because when they're there, they're not very interesting to me. which is maybe just me making excuses for not reading more fic with the ladies, but there it is.
i'd say a good example of a well-written woman in fic would be maybe jamia in sky-high city. she's good, but realistically so. she can't fix frank or cure his depression. she doesn't have all the answers. she makes the right decision, i'd say, but in a realistically painful way. she doesn't see all and know all and, like, tell frank he's in love with gerard or something. she's a good person but not superhuman. to me, that's good writing.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-27 07:49 pm (UTC)I've still been enjoying the superwomen of bandom as the dea ex machina, or random plot mover.
it's not that i don't enjoy that on occasion too. just not every time, please. and please not as the sole function of women in fic. we say we love them but... honestly, i don't love perfect people. i love complicated, weird, flawed and interesting people.
I think it's harder to make a realistic character of any gender when they're already on the sidelines;
yeah, i generally agree. but i think so many of our writers are awesome and can do it when they care to. i mean, how many times does a brief characterization of ryan in, say, a jon/spencer fic just makes you giddy? quite a few, for me. and it's not usually because i'm thinking "wow, he's so awesome," it's usually more, "what a freaky weirdo, i love him!"
mostly, i just want to want to read more of the women. but i'm thinking part of the reason i don't is because when they're there, they're not very interesting to me. which is maybe just me making excuses for not reading more fic with the ladies, but there it is.
i'd say a good example of a well-written woman in fic would be maybe jamia in sky-high city. she's good, but realistically so. she can't fix frank or cure his depression. she doesn't have all the answers. she makes the right decision, i'd say, but in a realistically painful way. she doesn't see all and know all and, like, tell frank he's in love with gerard or something. she's a good person but not superhuman. to me, that's good writing.