Of Randomness

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Mon, 20 May 2013 22:21:38 -0400

Oh, Clara. You are beautiful.

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:20:10 -0400

Oh, Clara. You are beautiful.

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Mon, 20 May 2013 12:53:51 -0400

epic-lee: THIS IS WHAT COLLEGE FEELS LIKE

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:50:29 -0400

epic-lee:

THIS IS WHAT COLLEGE FEELS LIKE

“War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who...

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:49:34 -0400

“War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend: the city of the Men of Númenor, and I would have her loved for her memory, her ancientry, her beauty, and her present wisdom.” - Faramir, The Two Towers

i will be there al amanecer.: Harriet Jones, BAMF and BFFs with Hillary Clinton

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:29:56 -0400

i will be there al amanecer.: Harriet Jones, BAMF and BFFs with Hillary Clinton:

feministdoctorwho:

whovianfeminism:

If I ever meet Russel T. Davies, the first thing I will say to him is “Thank you, so much, for Harriet Jones.”

As a college student currently focusing my studies on women in politics, nothing made me happier than when Harriet Jones strode…

I’m Clara Oswald. I’m the Impossible Girl. I was born to save...

Sun, 19 May 2013 13:07:20 -0400

I’m Clara Oswald. I’m the Impossible Girl. I was born to save the Doctor.

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Sun, 19 May 2013 13:03:10 -0400

mitchell + gloves

Sun, 19 May 2013 13:01:48 -0400

mitchell + gloves

samwiseg: Sassy Aragorn strikes again

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:55:47 -0400

samwiseg:

Sassy Aragorn strikes again

zoeykoko: robinofleylines: good-night-sweetheart: geeky-jez: ...

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:34:47 -0400

zoeykoko:

robinofleylines:

good-night-sweetheart:

geeky-jez:

grahamburglar:

andwhentheskywasopened:

aldora89:

fozmeadows:

karnythia:

nickminichino:

karnythia:

nickminichino:

karnythia:

Reporter: So, why do you write these strong female characters?
Joss Whedon: Because you’re still asking me that question.

The question should be “Why do you write seemingly strong women and then punish them for that strength?” I see a lot of characters in this set who got shit on by Joss not to mention at least one actress he fired for the crime of getting pregnant.

A friend of mine likes to challenge “Joss Whedon, Feminist” acolytes to name a female character on Buffy who doesn’t die or go crazy.

I feel like this game could be expanded to find lead female characters who don’t die, go crazy, or lose a loved one in a gruesome way as part of their suffering. Bonus points if they get to the end without anyone threatening to rape them or trying to rape them. There has to be at least one right?

If we include those, we may as well be playing bingo. Joss Whedon’s female characters’ punishments: collect them all!

Who gets mind wiped? Who gets beaten? Who watches everything she ever loved burn? It’s a game for all ages! Bonus points for the ones who die without ever having gotten to live!

I might have feelings about Kendra. A lot of them.

Goddamit, and now I feel compelled to do an actual tally of his original female characters, albeit offhand and from memory. So:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy - two deaths, one rape threat, one attempted rape, two sexual assaults, one dead parent.

Willow - one rape threat, two breaks with sanity, one dead girlfriend.

Cordelia - damselled about a billion times, one attempted forced marriage.

Anya - one rape threat, dead.

Tara - dead.

Kendra - dead.

Faith - multiple breaks with sanity.

Ms Calender - dead.

Joyce - dead.

Dawn - one attempted forced marriage, one dead parent.

Darla - dead.

Drusilla - multiple breaks with sanity.

[I don’t know enough about angel, I cut this part]
Firefly

Kaylee - one rape threat.

River - multiple breaks with sanity.

Zoe - one dead husband.

Inara - one threat of sexual assault.
[I don’t know enough about doll house, I cut this part]

I should probably leave this hornet’s nest alone. But I’m pissed off right now, because today I learned people think Joss Whedon is sexist for putting his female characters through the wringer.

As if a fundamental part of the hero’s journey isn’t suffering, having loved ones die, or dying themselves. As if he doesn’t do that to EVERYONE he writes. Here are some of his male characters’ trials, in the same form as above (and this is just the stuff I remember off the top of my head):

Giles - one dead lover/dear friend, brutally tortured at least once

Xander - one threat of sexual assault, implied childhood abuse, at least one break with reality (that made him leave Anya at the altar), one dead lover, loses an eye

Spike - sexually assaulted by his mother, attempted forced marriage (the same spell that got Buffy), brutally tortured, at least one break with sanity, one death

Riley - turned into a meat puppet by ~~Frankensoldier~~ Adam

Angel - tortured in hell, at least one death, lots of other stuff I don’t remember because Angel bores me

Wash - brutally tortured, dead

Mal - brutally tortured

Book - dead

And what do I see when I look at the female characters listed above?

Buffy - survives the series with a hopeful heart, comes up with a plan to break an explicitly patriarchal tradition, saves the world a lot, allowed to be flawed and messy and still strong

Willow - survives the series, finds love again after the death of her soulmate, grows from an awkward high school girl to a junkie to the most powerful witch in history

Dawn - survives the series, grows from an annoying little sister to a competent young woman

Faith - survives the series, seemingly a “bad girl” stereotype who actually has depth and a compelling misled-by-evil-(and-love) —> redemption arc

Cordelia - seemingly a “shallow girl” stereotype who actually has depth and comes through when her friends need her despite being out of her element

Anya - a former monster who switches sides, finds and loses love but consciously steps away from deadly coping mechanisms, can run a store better than Giles, illuminates humanity in compelling ways

Tara - shy and unassuming, wise and compassionate and forgiving. She can’t beat up monsters, but that’s okay, she’s still part of the team.

For fuck’s sake. It’s supernatural genre television, not tiptoeing through fields of daisies. People will die. People will be threatened. Sometimes it will happen as a plot device. If you write a lot of female characters (I saw something earlier like the percentage of women in primetime shows is like 17%, which Whedon obviously blows out of the water), a lot of them are going to have horrible things happen to them.

But what Whedon does that’s so different from most is he writes female characters as people. He doesn’t portray stereotypical femininity and strength as mutually exclusive. He shows that physical strength isn’t the only “real” strength they can have. He gives them diverse personalities and shows how they’re all powerful and weak in their own way. He lets them grow and evolve organically. He lets them be compelling villains. He lets them be sympathetic victims. He lets them be fearless warriors for good. Sometimes all three. He lets them make horrible mistakes and successfully atone for them. He shows them suffering for plot-related reasons, doesn’t shy away from the after-effects (versus, say, Deanna Troi in TNG - so much of the stuff that happened to her was gratuitous) and shows them getting back up.

Also, don’t you dare pretend Joyce’s death can be reduced to part of some anti-feminist pattern (for three separate characters, no less. And the fact that Buffy even had a parent in the first place is unusual for the hero archetype). That kind of thing actually happens in the real world, it was handled with incredible sensitivity and realism, and watching Buffy and Dawn go through the grieving process is something many people relate to intensely. It’s fantastic writing. It’s good conflict. It’s good television.

If anyone is writing off Joss’ female characters, it’s you. It’s the people who act like these characters are little more than a list of tragic and biased casualties, and fuck everything else they accomplish.

^*slow claps it out*

Oh my God.

Thank you. I have been told a million times that Joss is anti-feminist and every time I’ve tried to argue against that but I haven’t been able to do it this magnificently.

Thank you. I have heard the argument that he is anti-feminist because his female characters go through hell….

They do know this is a Joss Whedon project we’re talking about, right? 90% of the time, EVERYONE is going through absolute emotional hell, no matter what their gender.

And that includes the audience.

A great way to show that your characters are strong is by testing that strength through trials. In stories that are surrounded by death and suffering, why would the main characters be immune?

This post made me really angry and then calmed me down and then the gif made me cry…

It’s like something by Joss Whedon.

I’ve been thinking about this kind of response to female characters a lot. A strong woman, or heck just a strong PERSON, is not defined by what she is not, or what does not happen to her.

Being strong is NOT:

Having no emotions

Having no “girly” aspects

Having no physical weaknesses

Having no sexual aspects

Never faltering

Never failing

Never showing imperfection

Never facing death

Being a strong person, regardless of your gender, is define by how you own and respond to all of these things.

When you feel a powerful emotion, how do you respond? If angry, do you lash out at others, or find a healthy way to direct the energy? If sorrowful, do you bury your feelings and let them consume you, or respect the need to grieve and process? If joyful, do you repress your happiness, or let yourself have a moment? Are you aware of how you feel? Can you embrace each and ever part of yourself and honor every feeling, good or bad?

Are you a girl with “girly” aspects? Are you a boy with “girly” aspects? Do you hate and revile yourself for these perceived “weaknesses” or do you accept and embrace these aspects of yourself without shame, without guilt, without giving a f*ck about what anybody else thinks of you?

When your body fails - and it will - what do you do? We are all aging, imperfect, limited creatures. There are times when pushed to the limit that we WILL fall. We WILL fail. If any human does not sleep for a week THEY DIE. We are getting older every second, and the wear and tear of living will slowly break us down. We can overcompensate for this weakness by bluster, arrogance, and insisting we’re fine until something breaks and everybody suffers. OR we can take care of our bodies, understand their limitations, and reach out to others to work as a team to overcome a common challenge.

Not every man is a sex machine. Not every woman is a sexless robot that grudgingly indulges the man. People have a wide range of sexual energy. Some have very little. Some have a lot. This is true regardless of your gender. What matters most is how you treat other people when under the sway of your particular level of libido. Do you use a high sex drive to excuse harassment, assault, and worse under the shield of “I can’t help it?” or do you seek out partners that willingly and enthusiastically consent to sharing that aspect of the human experience with you?

To falter and doubt is an important part of life. Sometimes the world is so overwhelming that we break despite the best intentions, the strongest will, the stoutest heart. We question our path and our lives because that gives our actions meaning. Is a resolve that is never tested stronger than one that flickered, faded, and then, against all odds, flared back into life?

FAILURE. HAPPENS. TO. EVERYONE. Are you going to give up and never try again, or are you going to learn from it and keep trying? In its own way, failure is FANTASTIC. You want to know why? Because it is evidence, beyond all doubt, that you are DOING SOMETHING WITH YOUR LIFE. You are trying new things, making mistakes, inevitably learning something new. A life full of mistakes is far more interesting than a life filled with boredom.

Perfection is a trap. It is, in itself, an imperfect goal. A “perfect” goal is one that can be achieved by the exact requirements of the goal. Yet perfection as a goal can never be achieved. Not while still being a human, at any rate. Furthermore, perfection appears like something that is desirable, when in reality it is a living death. Something that is perfect has no need to change, to grow, to explore, to improve. If perfection is achieved, life holds nothing for you. There are no more adventures in the future of the perfect, because they have no need of them. Their journey is at a sudden, permanent, “perfect” end. All potential is dead. And there is nowhere else to go.

Death is another inevitable force to face. There go we all, eventually. In fiction, I do not feel that WHEN a person dies is important, but HOW they die. The best death is one where the character, in that moment, is the most themselves. A culmination of everything they are, everything they stand for, good and bad. Death does not make us weak. It makes us human.

Joss isn’t perfect either. Sometimes his writing doesn’t work for me. Sometimes I think the prevalence of death seems more like an unnecessary push for an emotional rise in his audience. For Joss, death often seems like the easy way out, rather than working through a particularly tricky situation. However, he gives his female characters more humanity and strength than nearly any other writer working in TV and movies right now, and I applaud that effort.

Are there improvements that could be made? You bet there are.

SO LET US WRITE OUR OWN CHARACTERS THAT ARE EVEN BETTER.

LET US RECLAIM AND BUILD AND CREATE.

LET US LEARN FROM THE MISTAKES OF OTHERS AND OURSELVES.

LET US REDEFINE WHAT IT MEANS TO BE STRONG.

*drops microphone and leaps from stage into chair in front of drawing table. Furiously inks while rainbow glitter bursts from disco ball on ceiling and dragons in leather jackets play a mean guitar riff in background.*

When people started listing off the horrible things that have happened to Whedon’s female characters, my immediate reaction was “but he does that TO ALL OF HIS CHARACTERS NOT JUST THE FEMALE ONES”

I then proceeded to skim down until I found the inevitable posts that put the previous ones in their place. Some faith in the tumblr humanity has been restored.

david-john-mcdonald: isntthatwizard: But it was, it was a...

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:27:53 -0400

david-john-mcdonald:

isntthatwizard:

But it was, it was a better life. I don’t mean all the traveling and seeing aliens and spaceships and things. That don’t matter. The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life.

I quit this fandom

hungrylikethewolfie: I walk into a room, and for this...

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:27:00 -0400

hungrylikethewolfie:

I walk into a room, and for this industry, I’m impossibly tall. When they find it hard to pair you up with the opposite sex, then what’s left for a woman? Either you’re the ball-buster or the not-so-attractive girlfriend standing by the lead. I mean, traditionally not so attractive. Because you have your starlets and then you have their best friends who are these character actresses. When you fall within the cracks, you thank God for sci-fi, because they’ll give you a gun, and they’ll say, ‘Go over there and conquer that world. You kick some ass, girl!’

Gina Torres for ANY AND EVERY FUCKING ROLE SHE WANTS

Doctor who?

Tue, 14 May 2013 17:50:13 -0400

Doctor who?

lotr meme: 1/12 Characters → Gandalf, Mithrandir

Tue, 14 May 2013 13:26:22 -0400

lotr meme: 1/12 Characters → Gandalf, Mithrandir

six favorite quotes + Inara Serra

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:41:37 -0400

six favorite quotes + Inara Serra

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Mon, 13 May 2013 10:39:09 -0400

I knew that one day the earth would be in danger. And the...

Sun, 12 May 2013 16:08:59 -0400

I knew that one day the earth would be in danger. And the Doctor would fail to appear.

onlyamemory: 11 faces of the Doctor

Sun, 12 May 2013 15:18:27 -0400

onlyamemory:

11 faces of the Doctor

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Sun, 12 May 2013 11:50:52 -0400