Today's Post is About Character Archetypes
Dec. 3rd, 2013 07:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
netgirl_y2kSpecifically, my favourite and least-favourite character archetypes. In order to end on a high note, I'm going to start with my dislikes.
I'm not sure what the collective noun would be, but I hate what I persist in thinking of of as Sketchy as Fuck Guys, Whose Increasing Sketchiness is Ignored by Both Fanon and Canon. Particular examples I'm thinking of are Spike; a can of worms here, I know, but I have never NOPED out of a fandom so hard as I did Buffy at Seeing Red, to this day I have not watched either S7 or that season of Angel he was in. Torchwood era Jack Harkness; my favourite thing about Children of Earth is that it embraced Jack as a charming and necessary monster, but not a hero, and someone who would eventually get you killed, and my least favourite thing about Miracle Day, from the multitude of choices, was that it walked that back. And Merlin; where the show's refusal to acknowledge any of the title's character's growth, either by allowing him a magic reveal or acknowledging the increasing moral shades of grey he was living in hamstrung the entire show, both by making the Once and Future King a man canonically too stupid to dress himself and somehow failing to notice that they'd made their hero into a collaborator to religious genocide.
I hate obsessive lovers. Merlin, again (I'm sorry, dude, but you never had a chance; you're nothing but tropes I hate and ears) I mean, it's arguable whether his all-consuming obsession with Arthur was romantic or not, but either way I find it creepy and controlling and gross. River Song; a character with great potential, who with every subsequent appearance had less and less of an identity outside the Doctor, culminating in the dreadful The Wedding of River Song where she was willing to end the universe to save the Doctor. Rose Tyler is a borderline case, because it's arguable whether she was jumping between universes because she wanted the Doctor's help or because she wanted Ten, but it's notable that I love her with Nine, like her on her own or with basically any other character, and can't stand her with Ten. Willow, and her treatment of Tara in S6 of Buffy; the latter seasons of Buffy were not kind to me, which is why I maintain that the show ended after S5.
Basically anything which, if described out of context, would sound a lot like stalking, especially if it's painted as laudable or romantic, gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Okay! Tropes I do like!
Emotionally immature women! This one is gender specific because I feel like male characters are allowed to be emotionally backwards in ways that female characters still aren't. Female characters can be stoic (it plays into the Strong Female Character thing) but often not emotionally constipated and plain childish. Regina Mills is the one who comes to mind, and I'll talk more about this, because I'm writing a big post about Regina in a couple of days. It's easy to miss this at first, because she's well-dressed and poised, but she's basically four years old. She wants things her way, and she wants them now. And what's fascinating is that she is in fact powerful enough to make the world bend to her childish whims most of the time, and she's only just now having to grow up, but again I'll come back to this. Cara Mason is another good example of this. As is Morgana; problems though I have with Morgana's pitiful excuse for an arc (again, another post for another day) I did enjoy that she went violently, viciously insane, lashing out indiscriminately, because it wasn't fair. Cersei Lannister, too, if you think about how desperate she is for her daddy's approval, and Arya Stark, if you want to talk about literal vengeful eleven year olds with the power of life and death.
Villains who change and grow without ever really repenting! Regina Mills, we meet again. Melisande Shahrizai. All the fanfiction I have written about Morgana (shh, it counts.)
nice guys! (lack of capitalisation deliberate) Please step forward Samwell Tarly and Pete Lattimer. After the last episode of Elementary I was talking with some of you about Sherlock and about how nice is a word that no longer has a true definition and is often used pejoratively, but I'm using it here to mean a bone deep decency and little unthinking acts of courtesy which add up, and yeah, I'm going to include the Elementary version of Sherlock Holmes.
The Once and Future Queens! Sansa Stark; a queen at heart even if she'll never be one in name. Daenerys Targaryen; the dragon queen. Cersei Lannister; who never learns that you can't substitute ambition and natural cunning for having learned to rule at your father's knee. Asha Greyjoy; o captain my captain, and the best queen the Iron Islands never had -- and by the way I think we've just uncovered the root of my attraction to ASOIAF fandom. Guinevere; long live the queen! When I read the Kushiel's Legacy books earlier this year a lack of surprise that Ysandre and Sidonie de la Courcel were my favourites was expressed, and as much as I love Sidonie (anybody who orders her boyfriend to cut a magic tattoo out of her very skin while she's still conscious is fucking hardcore and alright by me) Ysandre is my favourite. Because like Sansa, Ysandre developed this brittle shell of self-defense in response to the betrayals of her youth; and while Ysandre's shell makes her harder than she needs to be at times, in between Sansa's brittle shell of courtesy, and inner core of ice and steel, is a layer of squishy feelings and compassion and forgiveness, which is why I love her, for being the Stark kid who can look to the future.
That was fun, wasn't it? I do like the idea of posting at least a little something every day in December, so you can leave me more prompts here.
I'm not sure what the collective noun would be, but I hate what I persist in thinking of of as Sketchy as Fuck Guys, Whose Increasing Sketchiness is Ignored by Both Fanon and Canon. Particular examples I'm thinking of are Spike; a can of worms here, I know, but I have never NOPED out of a fandom so hard as I did Buffy at Seeing Red, to this day I have not watched either S7 or that season of Angel he was in. Torchwood era Jack Harkness; my favourite thing about Children of Earth is that it embraced Jack as a charming and necessary monster, but not a hero, and someone who would eventually get you killed, and my least favourite thing about Miracle Day, from the multitude of choices, was that it walked that back. And Merlin; where the show's refusal to acknowledge any of the title's character's growth, either by allowing him a magic reveal or acknowledging the increasing moral shades of grey he was living in hamstrung the entire show, both by making the Once and Future King a man canonically too stupid to dress himself and somehow failing to notice that they'd made their hero into a collaborator to religious genocide.
I hate obsessive lovers. Merlin, again (I'm sorry, dude, but you never had a chance; you're nothing but tropes I hate and ears) I mean, it's arguable whether his all-consuming obsession with Arthur was romantic or not, but either way I find it creepy and controlling and gross. River Song; a character with great potential, who with every subsequent appearance had less and less of an identity outside the Doctor, culminating in the dreadful The Wedding of River Song where she was willing to end the universe to save the Doctor. Rose Tyler is a borderline case, because it's arguable whether she was jumping between universes because she wanted the Doctor's help or because she wanted Ten, but it's notable that I love her with Nine, like her on her own or with basically any other character, and can't stand her with Ten. Willow, and her treatment of Tara in S6 of Buffy; the latter seasons of Buffy were not kind to me, which is why I maintain that the show ended after S5.
Basically anything which, if described out of context, would sound a lot like stalking, especially if it's painted as laudable or romantic, gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Okay! Tropes I do like!
Emotionally immature women! This one is gender specific because I feel like male characters are allowed to be emotionally backwards in ways that female characters still aren't. Female characters can be stoic (it plays into the Strong Female Character thing) but often not emotionally constipated and plain childish. Regina Mills is the one who comes to mind, and I'll talk more about this, because I'm writing a big post about Regina in a couple of days. It's easy to miss this at first, because she's well-dressed and poised, but she's basically four years old. She wants things her way, and she wants them now. And what's fascinating is that she is in fact powerful enough to make the world bend to her childish whims most of the time, and she's only just now having to grow up, but again I'll come back to this. Cara Mason is another good example of this. As is Morgana; problems though I have with Morgana's pitiful excuse for an arc (again, another post for another day) I did enjoy that she went violently, viciously insane, lashing out indiscriminately, because it wasn't fair. Cersei Lannister, too, if you think about how desperate she is for her daddy's approval, and Arya Stark, if you want to talk about literal vengeful eleven year olds with the power of life and death.
Villains who change and grow without ever really repenting! Regina Mills, we meet again. Melisande Shahrizai. All the fanfiction I have written about Morgana (shh, it counts.)
nice guys! (lack of capitalisation deliberate) Please step forward Samwell Tarly and Pete Lattimer. After the last episode of Elementary I was talking with some of you about Sherlock and about how nice is a word that no longer has a true definition and is often used pejoratively, but I'm using it here to mean a bone deep decency and little unthinking acts of courtesy which add up, and yeah, I'm going to include the Elementary version of Sherlock Holmes.
The Once and Future Queens! Sansa Stark; a queen at heart even if she'll never be one in name. Daenerys Targaryen; the dragon queen. Cersei Lannister; who never learns that you can't substitute ambition and natural cunning for having learned to rule at your father's knee. Asha Greyjoy; o captain my captain, and the best queen the Iron Islands never had -- and by the way I think we've just uncovered the root of my attraction to ASOIAF fandom. Guinevere; long live the queen! When I read the Kushiel's Legacy books earlier this year a lack of surprise that Ysandre and Sidonie de la Courcel were my favourites was expressed, and as much as I love Sidonie (anybody who orders her boyfriend to cut a magic tattoo out of her very skin while she's still conscious is fucking hardcore and alright by me) Ysandre is my favourite. Because like Sansa, Ysandre developed this brittle shell of self-defense in response to the betrayals of her youth; and while Ysandre's shell makes her harder than she needs to be at times, in between Sansa's brittle shell of courtesy, and inner core of ice and steel, is a layer of squishy feelings and compassion and forgiveness, which is why I love her, for being the Stark kid who can look to the future.
That was fun, wasn't it? I do like the idea of posting at least a little something every day in December, so you can leave me more prompts here.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-07 10:35 pm (UTC)Merlin never reveals his magic, so Arthur has to become an oblivious idiot who is the butt of jokes about how he can't dress himself to explain how he can possibly not have noticed. Merlin never even tries to change Camelot's attitudes towards magic (but it's okay fangirls, he'll look slightly constipated while not doing it!) so Morgana has to have a lobotomy and become obsessed with killing Arthur to usurp the throne, while randomly butchering extras and kicking puppies, because if she's Cruella de Vil then Merlin doesn't have to actually do anything, he just has to be not quite as bad.
You would think I'd be over this by now, but I'm not.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-07 10:46 pm (UTC)I stopped watching the show because I knew that was going to happen. You could totally see it coming. Also, I could never forgive the utter shittasticness of the so-called hero throwing a fireball at someone whose back was turned and who had planned to let him live. So, honestly, I kind of understand your not getting over it, because I'm not over the show doing terrible things to Morgana. (Is it bad that I back-button from fanfic authors who don't GET that?)
no subject
Date: 2013-12-07 11:38 pm (UTC)I cannot judge you for back-buttoning, I back-button out of 99.999% of Merlin fics I try to read, but I keep trying because I hope that one day someone will write:
a) an epic-length cohesive Morgana fic that makes sense of her actions over all five series
b) one of those elaborate novel length AUs Merlin fandom is so good at, only with femslash and no Merlin
c) a study of Merlin as a character twisted by secrecy, and obssession, and hubris
*fingers crossed*
no subject
Date: 2013-12-07 11:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-07 11:43 pm (UTC)