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selenakWhile waiting for my betas and other replies, I tend to have pretentious meta thoughts.
So, the girl. Which one? That one. Also referred to as "the love interest" in various fandoms. "Every story is about the girl," says Peter Parker wistfully in Spiderman I, and you can hear quite a lot of girls between teenagerdom and old age crying out: Noooooo, it's not.
There are fandoms in which the girl is hated with a passion. Lana Lang in Smallville comes to mind. MJ in the Spiderman movieverse people seem to be divided about; I've seen quite a lot of Lana comparisons, but also posts in which she's talked about in a positive way (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
buffyannotator comes to mind). I'm not firm on my comic book history, but I think Lois Lane used to be fairly unpopular until Lois & Clark, a show where, of course, she's not The Girl but one of the two leads. (I hear Lois is going to show up in Smallville next season. Bet you anything she'll be hated, no matter how she's written or played.)
Moving over to LotR, The Girls are Arwen and Rosie. (Not Eowyn or Galadriel; they both serve other functions in the story, and while you could say Eowyn eventually becomes Faramir's love interest, you could say just as well that Faramir becomes Eowyn's.) They are very peripheral in the novel (not that this stopped poor Rosie from getting bashed even when it was a bookfandom only), and when Peter Jackson gave Arwen more presence in the films, there was much growling to be heard.
The only Girl I can think of who was genuinenly loved as well as hated in equal measure in recent block busters and TV shows is Elizabeth Swann in Pirates of the Carribean. For every story in which Elizabeth is conveniently disposed off post-movie, you have one which pairs her up with Jack or Norrington or both, or simply acknowledges the fact of her existence without hostility or a death sentence.
The concept of The Girl as the hero's inspiration, to be adored and rescued and seen as the embodiment of female perfection, is old, of course. It hails back to medieval poetry. Just why it grates so many people today has to do not just with different times and attitudes towards women. After all, the objecting viewers in question don't wish Lana or MJ would take out the villains by themselves, thus being more than villain bait and love interest; they wish them gone from the story entirely. (Now you might blame Kristin Kreuk's limited acting ability, but I won't hear a word about Kirsten Dunst, whom I shall forever be impressed by thanks to having played a fabulous Claudia in Interview with the Vampire.) Ditto for Arwen in the film version of LotR. (In a way, that part of fandom got their wish - after all, in a cinematic irony, she literally was erased from Helm's Deep after a lot of footage was already shot.)
What saves Elizabeth, or rather, doesn't save but balance things for her, comes down to the factor which might explain why the other Girls are at the receiving end of so much wrath. Elizabeth fulfills the traditional functions - she inspires Will to heroic action, she's adored, she's rescued - but not only does she get to do some rescuing in return, but the narrative voice of the movie does not necessarily assume the audience has to share Will's view of her. Will might see her as perfect, but the movie does not, which helps Elizabeth's character to no end. She's got a ruthless streak which is rather helpful when dealing with pirates, and the deleted scenes on the DVD, with the "two peas in a pod" scene with Jack and the conversation with Norrington, emphasize this side of her even more.
Smallville and Spiderman, otoh, expect the audience to share the hero's view of The Girl. And that's where The Girl runs into trouble with the viewers. Medieval poetry does not have that problem, because the female ideals they are adressed to are not visible to look at and compare. You can't hear them talk or watch them act, either. Now I only watched a few Smallville episodes each season, so most of my Lana knowledge hails from the endless complaints about her in various ljs and blogs, but even with what I did watch, I can see the problem. As written and acted, she's not a very interesting character, and that makes it impossible to share Clark's (and the producers') devotion.
MJ in the Spiderman movies isn't exactly dull, and her frustration with Peter's mixed signals in II is absolutely understandable, but aside from her position as villain bait which suffers from Aunt May doing a stint as same in a much more interesting way, she's mostly used by the writers to torment Peter by being paired off with other guys. (Harry in I, JJJ's son in II.) Methinks that if she were single for any amount of time in either movie, some of the MJ-directed wratch would not have occured. Moreover , I have to agree with those reviewers who pointed out that dumping your fiance at the altar - and then not even having the guts of telling him yourself - is just thoughtless and cruel. I laughed at JJJ's comment together with everyone else in the audience, but I also had Xander and Anya flashbacks. And Xander did tell Anya in person, plus as opposed to MJ could please severe emotional damage as an excuse. So if you see MJ doing something like this, while the film insists on treating it as a great romantic gesture because she's running away to Peter in her wedding dress, it creates a cognitive dichotomy and some irritation.
On a sidenote, I wonder whether there is something like The Boy, and whether we can trace a similar backlash. Recently I rewatched Wilde, starring Stephen Fry as Oscar W. and Jude Law as Bosie Douglas. Bosie certainly is The Boy, but perhaps due to aiming at historical accuracy, Wilde presents him as anything but perfect. He's more the male version of the traditional femme fatale. Death in Venice, both book and film, have the Boy as a fatal (and untouchable) obsession, but for some reason, I can't imagine Aschenbach saying "every story is about the boy" by way of introduction.
Moving over to movies with women at the center: hm. Out of Africa, the film, makes the love affair between Karen Blixen and Dennys Finch-Hatton, which barely rates a mention in her book, front and center, and Dennys certainly rates as The Boy. Like another Redford role, the character in The Way We Were, he gives the impression of being more loved than he loves, and being slightly idealized by the woman who loves him. (Though you just want to smack Redford in The Way We Were and don't in Out of Africa.) Still, I can't recall any backlash there. Which tempts me to conclude that the idealisation of male love objects is easier for an audience to stomach than the reversal. Hm...
***
A couple of Harry Potter links: an excellent take on why Hermione doesn't need to be 'shipped at all, with either Harry or Ron. (No, she's not The Girl.)
A fascinating analysis of the Marauders (aka Remus, Sirius, Peter and James) extremely troubled friends, instead of the happy band of brothers fanfic usually positions.
And last but not least, a wonderful new story bypenknife about that generation, and the one before, via a glimpse of goodbyes and encounters.
So, the girl. Which one? That one. Also referred to as "the love interest" in various fandoms. "Every story is about the girl," says Peter Parker wistfully in Spiderman I, and you can hear quite a lot of girls between teenagerdom and old age crying out: Noooooo, it's not.
There are fandoms in which the girl is hated with a passion. Lana Lang in Smallville comes to mind. MJ in the Spiderman movieverse people seem to be divided about; I've seen quite a lot of Lana comparisons, but also posts in which she's talked about in a positive way (
buffyannotator comes to mind). I'm not firm on my comic book history, but I think Lois Lane used to be fairly unpopular until Lois & Clark, a show where, of course, she's not The Girl but one of the two leads. (I hear Lois is going to show up in Smallville next season. Bet you anything she'll be hated, no matter how she's written or played.) Moving over to LotR, The Girls are Arwen and Rosie. (Not Eowyn or Galadriel; they both serve other functions in the story, and while you could say Eowyn eventually becomes Faramir's love interest, you could say just as well that Faramir becomes Eowyn's.) They are very peripheral in the novel (not that this stopped poor Rosie from getting bashed even when it was a bookfandom only), and when Peter Jackson gave Arwen more presence in the films, there was much growling to be heard.
The only Girl I can think of who was genuinenly loved as well as hated in equal measure in recent block busters and TV shows is Elizabeth Swann in Pirates of the Carribean. For every story in which Elizabeth is conveniently disposed off post-movie, you have one which pairs her up with Jack or Norrington or both, or simply acknowledges the fact of her existence without hostility or a death sentence.
The concept of The Girl as the hero's inspiration, to be adored and rescued and seen as the embodiment of female perfection, is old, of course. It hails back to medieval poetry. Just why it grates so many people today has to do not just with different times and attitudes towards women. After all, the objecting viewers in question don't wish Lana or MJ would take out the villains by themselves, thus being more than villain bait and love interest; they wish them gone from the story entirely. (Now you might blame Kristin Kreuk's limited acting ability, but I won't hear a word about Kirsten Dunst, whom I shall forever be impressed by thanks to having played a fabulous Claudia in Interview with the Vampire.) Ditto for Arwen in the film version of LotR. (In a way, that part of fandom got their wish - after all, in a cinematic irony, she literally was erased from Helm's Deep after a lot of footage was already shot.)
What saves Elizabeth, or rather, doesn't save but balance things for her, comes down to the factor which might explain why the other Girls are at the receiving end of so much wrath. Elizabeth fulfills the traditional functions - she inspires Will to heroic action, she's adored, she's rescued - but not only does she get to do some rescuing in return, but the narrative voice of the movie does not necessarily assume the audience has to share Will's view of her. Will might see her as perfect, but the movie does not, which helps Elizabeth's character to no end. She's got a ruthless streak which is rather helpful when dealing with pirates, and the deleted scenes on the DVD, with the "two peas in a pod" scene with Jack and the conversation with Norrington, emphasize this side of her even more.
Smallville and Spiderman, otoh, expect the audience to share the hero's view of The Girl. And that's where The Girl runs into trouble with the viewers. Medieval poetry does not have that problem, because the female ideals they are adressed to are not visible to look at and compare. You can't hear them talk or watch them act, either. Now I only watched a few Smallville episodes each season, so most of my Lana knowledge hails from the endless complaints about her in various ljs and blogs, but even with what I did watch, I can see the problem. As written and acted, she's not a very interesting character, and that makes it impossible to share Clark's (and the producers') devotion.
MJ in the Spiderman movies isn't exactly dull, and her frustration with Peter's mixed signals in II is absolutely understandable, but aside from her position as villain bait which suffers from Aunt May doing a stint as same in a much more interesting way, she's mostly used by the writers to torment Peter by being paired off with other guys. (Harry in I, JJJ's son in II.) Methinks that if she were single for any amount of time in either movie, some of the MJ-directed wratch would not have occured. Moreover , I have to agree with those reviewers who pointed out that dumping your fiance at the altar - and then not even having the guts of telling him yourself - is just thoughtless and cruel. I laughed at JJJ's comment together with everyone else in the audience, but I also had Xander and Anya flashbacks. And Xander did tell Anya in person, plus as opposed to MJ could please severe emotional damage as an excuse. So if you see MJ doing something like this, while the film insists on treating it as a great romantic gesture because she's running away to Peter in her wedding dress, it creates a cognitive dichotomy and some irritation.
On a sidenote, I wonder whether there is something like The Boy, and whether we can trace a similar backlash. Recently I rewatched Wilde, starring Stephen Fry as Oscar W. and Jude Law as Bosie Douglas. Bosie certainly is The Boy, but perhaps due to aiming at historical accuracy, Wilde presents him as anything but perfect. He's more the male version of the traditional femme fatale. Death in Venice, both book and film, have the Boy as a fatal (and untouchable) obsession, but for some reason, I can't imagine Aschenbach saying "every story is about the boy" by way of introduction.
Moving over to movies with women at the center: hm. Out of Africa, the film, makes the love affair between Karen Blixen and Dennys Finch-Hatton, which barely rates a mention in her book, front and center, and Dennys certainly rates as The Boy. Like another Redford role, the character in The Way We Were, he gives the impression of being more loved than he loves, and being slightly idealized by the woman who loves him. (Though you just want to smack Redford in The Way We Were and don't in Out of Africa.) Still, I can't recall any backlash there. Which tempts me to conclude that the idealisation of male love objects is easier for an audience to stomach than the reversal. Hm...
***
A couple of Harry Potter links: an excellent take on why Hermione doesn't need to be 'shipped at all, with either Harry or Ron. (No, she's not The Girl.)
A fascinating analysis of the Marauders (aka Remus, Sirius, Peter and James) extremely troubled friends, instead of the happy band of brothers fanfic usually positions.
And last but not least, a wonderful new story by
penknife about that generation, and the one before, via a glimpse of goodbyes and encounters.
