Complicated women.

[rogueslayer452]

A prompt taken from snowflake_challenge, which is to share a list of five things of anything you wish. There's an endless of things of five things I could share, and something popped into my head about women characters that I love who are often regarded as complicated or unfavorable by most in fandom. Since I love quite a lot, narrowing it down to just five was a challenge, but somehow I managed.


01. Alison DiLaurentis (Pretty Little Liars)

She started out the series as a manipulative teen bully, seen mostly through flashbacks, but as the story goes on we see that there was more to her than meets the eye. When Alison returns from being presumed dead, she is definitely not the same girl that we saw in those flashbacks, having gone through so much, and although some old habits die hard Alison tries her best to make amends and redeem herself from her past even though a part of her believes that she is too broken to be fixed. Alison is a character that I loved because she is so layered when she could've easily just been written as one-dimensional, and I have a soft spot for characters who did horrible things but are trying to change their ways. From my observation the PLL fandom was always split on her character, although I found more people ended up loving her by the end of the show than not.

(I think teenagers in fiction, especially teenage girls, are often mistreated by fandom in general, and while sometimes it can be a problem with the writing or the depiction of teenagers I tend to see more bashing of these characters simply for being, well, teenagers.)

02. Jesse Flores & Riley Dawson (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles)

Putting these two together because it goes with their connected storyline. Jesse has ulterior motives and goes back in time with Riley who she manipulates to carry out this particular plan. From my recollection, most of fandom at the time disliked Riley because she was placing a wedge between John and Cameron, although we learn that that was the entire point of Jesse's plan. Riley is just an unfortunate victim who suffered greatly in the future and having entered an entirely new hell of being used by someone she once trusted. Ironically, Jesse's entirely plan was because the faith and trust she had in John Connor was broken that she wanted to alter the past and she was willing to use, manipulate, and break someone else to achieve that goal. Of the two, Riley got the brunt of fandom's hate (due to intense shippers), but in hindsight she was just another victim who found out too late what her fate was going to be. The Jesse and Riley story is more tragic than anything, and one I continue to be fascinated by.

03. Catherine Chun (SOMA)

As I've been revisiting SOMA, I've become more fascinated with Catherine's character than I initially did. Without giving too much away surrounding the story itself, since it's impossible to say anything other than it'll give you an existential crisis and pondering for days about what it means to be human and the complexities attached to that, but the character of Catherine is vital to the main objective of the game and there's a lot about her character that is left ambiguous, although not entirely. Much about her character is present, but not overtly stated. It takes a lot of understanding context clues and how she behaves and interacts with others to really get a better understanding of who she is, which has made fans of the game kind of torn about her character. Interestingly I was neutral on Catherine at first until recently where I looked at the character, and the game as a whole, from another perspective, and it truly got me to better appreciate her character being written in such a way. She reminds me a lot of The Biologist in The Southern Reach Trilogy. Introverted, deeply shy, hard to be empathetic or connect with other people, has kind of a deadpan sense of humor at times, one-track minded with her project/obsession, and seemingly exhibits traits of autism. Characters like this are hard to sell in fiction to a broader audience because it doesn't make them "likeable" enough, and yet somehow SOMA did this amazingly well, especially considering the premise of the game.

04. Sharon Valerii (Battlestar Galactica)

The story of Sharon Valerii, aka Boomer, in Battlestar Galactica is something that I love and also mourn because I do feel like the show kind of gave her the short end of the stick towards the end where they focused more on Athena than they did her. Nevertheless, Boomer basically went through an identity crisis, having been a sleeper agent aboard Galactica she struggled a lot with coming to terms with who she was versus who she was programmed to be. The latter half of the show sadly didn't do her justice enough to expand upon this, especially regarding her actions in the last season which understandably frustrated some people. However, despite that, Boomer remains a character that I love because her story is interesting to me.

(There's so many women in BSG that fit this list, as well, many which I love but ultimately I went with Boomer because I do think she gets unfairly treated or ignored by both fandom and canon.)

05. Abby Anderson (The Last Of Us: Part II)

Perhaps the most controversial character in such a divisive game. Without giving away spoilers, Abby is a main character of the game who is on the opposite end of Ellie, however her story is far more complex and nuanced. Something The Last Of Us franchise does extremely well is perspective, and so there's definitely more to Abby's story than meets the eye, and even if one doesn't like or care for her the fact that her character is so well-rounded and integrated so well into the story is something to be appreciated. Unfortunately, not only did the character receive so much hate (along with the typical misogyny, gamer bros calling her "too masculine" and "unattractive" because she's muscularly built), people were extending beyond that and harassing the voice actor by sending her hate messages and death threats. It was horrible. It's fine to not like the character, but the obsessive way people hated on her was uncalled for. Either way, Abby became kind of a favorite for me because of her story and how that went down. All the characters in The Last Of Us franchise as complicated and deeply flawed people which is what I like about the games, and Abby is no exception to this.


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++ Battlestar Galactica is now available on Amazon Prime Video! I have the DVDs so I don't need it, nevertheless for those who do have the service and would like to watch/rewatch it is on there now once again. For any new watchers: start with the 2003 miniseries first before heading into the first episode of the first season.

Comments

[queenslayerbee]

I had no shortage of beloved female characters in PLL but Alison still stood out among them. She felt like a very real teenager, and she was allowed a complexity that teenaged female characters are often denied. I think she ended up as one of the best things about the show, tbh.

Jesse & Riley were fascinating and so, so tragic. I still mourn this show's cancellation, especially the possibility of seeing them again in season 3, as different versions of themselves in the new future (though I personally wanted TWO Jesses lol. I had IDEAS).

I don't really know the others (Boomer a bit more... I need to pick BSG back up; and Abby just second-hand, through a friend who loves her and the game), but they do sound fascinating.

[rogueslayer452]

The show may have made some questionable decisions involving the characters over the course of its run, but bringing Alison back was not one of them. It was honestly the best decision made because I ended up adoring every moment she was on screen. And I love so many of the characters that appeared, but Alison ranked very high as my favorite of the show because of her arc.

Oh, I hadn't even thought about that! The possibility of seeing the different versions of Jesse and Riley, and how John, having been sent to that future, how that would've affected or impacted things. God, such a thing to consider.

[queenslayerbee]

I personally like the idea of Jesse still alive in the present, and eventually her and Sarah (who in my mind now has to step up into the Messiah role, with John gone) being forced to become reluctant allies. At the same time there's a Jesse in the new alternate future, still happily together with Derek. And eventually John finds that future's Riley as well. /wishful thinking xD

And YES, bringing Alison back (and with it, giving her ~her voice back, iykwim) was one of the show's best decisions.

[author_by_night]

(I think teenagers in fiction, especially teenage girls, are often mistreated by fandom in general, and while sometimes it can be a problem with the writing or the depiction of teenagers I tend to see more bashing of these characters simply for being, well, teenagers.)


You're right. Especially teenage girls. I was going to blame Dawson Casting, but I've seen it in literary mediums as well (thinking of Harry Potter), as well as visual mediums where the characters were played by actual teens, so I don't think that's all of it. I think a lot of people very easily see the kinds of girls they didn't get along with in characters, and while I get that, the characters aren't necessarily those people.

That said, Dawson Casting probably doesn't help, since it's easy to forget characters played by people in their twenties and thirties are actual kids. I actually think Dawn on Buffy is an inversion of this - she's played by an actual teenager and acts like one, so next to characters who were played by 20-something actors just a few seasons earlier, and who IMHO acted more like college kids than teens*, of course she comes off as petulant.

*Going to a nightclub, having way more freedom than most kids would in general, that sort of thing.

Female characters of all ages also get the short stick, I find. I don't think it's as bad as it used to be, I think GamerGate's aftermath actually improved the way we discuss female characters, but it's certainly there. (Then again, I'm not in that many fandoms.)

[rogueslayer452]

I think a lot of people very easily see the kinds of girls they didn't get along with in characters, and while I get that, the characters aren't necessarily those people.

Yeah, projection is a very common thing that happens in these cases. I've even seen people admit that the reason why they hate such characters is because they reminded them of someone they didn't like or made their life miserable. Which, I get it, but sometimes they can go too far with their hate for these characters and become so negative with interacting with fandom because of it. Bashing, sending hate to fans of said character, that is not cool.

since it's easy to forget characters played by people in their twenties and thirties are actual kids.

It really does kind of screw with the mind sometimes, since you know that these characters are supposed to be teenagers and yet they're written from an adult's perspective of how a teenager should be rather than how they actually are. And your example of Dawn and how Buffy had been portrayed in the earlier seasons is a great one, because it's something that boggles my mind why some hate Dawn simply for being a teenager when we saw similar behaviors in the earlier seasons of the show from Buffy and Co., but I suppose it's a warped perception kind of a thing.

I don't think it's as bad as it used to be, I think GamerGate's aftermath actually improved the way we discuss female characters, but it's certainly there.

It's not perfect, but there definitely has been an improvement from what I remember seeing many years ago and how fandom used to talk and treat women characters. Myself included.

[author_by_night]

I've even seen people admit that the reason why they hate such characters is because they reminded them of someone they didn't like or made their life miserable. Which, I get it, but sometimes they can go too far with their hate for these characters and become so negative with interacting with fandom because of it. Bashing, sending hate to fans of said character, that is not cool.

Exactly. Also, context matters. A character's behavior and motivations may be completely different. (Also, you don't even know what real people's behavior and motivations are or were in the past.)
I'd also be curious to know birth order in Dawn criticism. I was the youngest in my family, and so I think I was able to relate to Dawn in certain ways. I absolutely was the cute kid who still had to be shuttered out when it was "grown up" time, except I saw them as peers, not "grown ups". That kind of thing. Plus you know, there was also a lot of Mary Sue hate back then, and technically, Dawn fits the bill for a Mary Sue. Technically. I don't think she actually is, but if I were a Sue Snarker from 2003, that's probably what I would see her as. She's a mysterious previously unknown sibling, she also has super powers, she cries.

. Myself included.

Yeah, I was easy on female characters, but I said a lot of things about certain female celebrities - mostly Britney Spears - that... holy shit, do I ever feel bad in hindsight. Though that was less about Gamergate and more about the world post #MeToo, where actually, calling a woman a slut for existing isn't okay.

[night_owl_9]

I appreciated Abby the more I thought about her nuanced character development and storyline. She's fascinating. And oof, I remember the vitriol the voice actor received regarding Abby. I know it's a cliche at this point, but some fans (still) need to touch some grass. You don't harass real people because of fictional things! You should know better!

[elizalavelle]

That's a fantastic list! I feel like BSG is all complicated female characters and I love so much that it did that and that they're all unique.

[rogueslayer452]

So many of them are deeply flawed and complex, and no matter what your opinions are of some of them at least they're written to be interesting. With every rewatch I still manage to find something new to ponder about with some of them, even shifting opinions every now and then.