you may be asleep by the time you get this? i’m half asleep myself so never mind the typos but here’s my reply to your clarke post
you can reply publicly or privately or add a readmore or whatever you prefer ;)
abstract: mirjam is right as usual but I will take the opportunity to share my frustrations as well so we can complain together because why not
______________________________________________________
a+ reasoning as usual
and I think it’s so interesting that the fandom has decided to turn on clarke now, because we’ve also seem so many characters turning on her as well. Clarke makes a questionable decision - never mind that she never had a decent option - and everyone turns on her because she’s not doing enough, she made a bad choice, etc.
But all those side characters, sure they could have more screentime but at the end of the day none of them are Clarke. They can argue that she could have made a better choice, but none of them have the courage to make the bad choices. Remember early season one when Bellamy says she ‘doesn’t have the guts to do what needs to be done’ and as it turns out bellamy couldn’t even mercy kill someone, and clarke had to do it (also the moment where I think he officially became her second, indispensable yes, but at the end of the day not the one who makes the choices, but there to support her 100% nonetheless - but I digress).
And clarke being a female lead also makes things more complicated, because most of the ‘’’’strong’’’’ female characters out there are actually poorly written and have no flaws. Think about how characters like dany and arya (show verse) tend to be more well liked than cersei, catelyn, sansa, shae, etc. Dany and arya have actually been written in a manner where they’re badasses 100% of the time, therefore can do no wrong, therefore the fandom loves them. The characters who have kept some of their many dimensions and flaws on the show? yeah not so much.
So yeah sadly I think it’s likely that part of the fandom will turn on other characters if we start to see more of them. Monty stops being an angel? Raven makes a bomb that ends up starting another war? Suddenly they’re human. Suddenly fandom doesn’t love them as they used to.
But honestly I don’t know why that is. Are we just so used to bad writing that well rounded characters get on our nerves? Is it that just white male leads can be flawed and beloved? Ugh who knows. The only certainty is that these questions will keep´bothering us because, kinda like clarke, we just care so much.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - o - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Thanks for your detailed reply, dear! I pretty much agree with everything but I’ve bolded the parts that speak to me especially.
I’m not saying Octavia and Raven aren’t good characters by any means; I love them both and I want to see more of them. But I do think we haven’t seen them screw up the way Clarke has; we frankly haven’t seen them in a position with that much agency to screw up to that degree.
And yep, fandom’s tolerance with flawed female characters is pretty non-existent. We love evil queens because empowerment!!1 but women who make mistakes or show weakness are villainised and suddenly not good characters anymore… for showing weakness? Being fallible?
It’s actually pretty weird to me that Raven and Octavia bring out all the ‘protect my baby at all costs’ reactions while Clarke is receiving so much criticism at the same time. What makes Clarke unworthy of our protectiveness? Or… what makes us so protective of the other two? Could it be the other two’s lack of agency? Could it be that we’re picking up on the narrative’s tendency to put Raven in a position where she can’t fight back or Octavia in a situation where she could be immensely useful but isn’t allowed to be?
Isn’t what we supposedly want for Raven and Octavia what Clarke already has?
And if that’s the case, I’m almost afraid of what will happen if Raven and Octavia do end up getting the same amount of attention and focus and screentime that Clarke is currently getting. Because what will happen if we no longer feel the need to fight for their characters’ visibility and agency? What will happen if their characters are allowed to be people rather than a Mechanic and a Warrior Princess? Will we turn on them too?
Wrt: your last paragraph – sadly, I think it’s a combination of the two? It kind of shows when people start watching an icky show and start yelling for better representation and better storylines on that show, whereas shows that actually do a lot better in terms of representation and respectful storytelling are out there… and not being watched by those very same people yelling for better storytelling. Essentially, a lot of fans watch shows with male leads and demand more female characters on their blogs, but they’re not blogging about shows that actually have female leads. And that makes me wonder whether… maybe we just find it easier to yell ‘Warrior Princess’ about female characters that don’t get a lot of attention (while demanding more attention for this character because we’re Feminists and Tired Of Cis White Dudes – whom we still dedicate 90% of our blogs to) than watching a show in which said ‘Warrior Princess’ is actually allowed to be more than just that… to the point where we don’t like her anymore… because she’s too human and too flawed.
………….I mean, I, for one, am not exempt from this tendency.
