#tagging characters

[mendely]

Woe honkai star rail cat cake thingies be upon ye

[spanishrose2002]

A Woman's Worth... (A Tale of Women in TWD and Fanfic)

So I'm dragging my soapbox out again...because it's  a gloomy day and I need to say this.  I'm putting most of it under "Read more" so that if you don't want to read it, it won't clog up your feed.  

It's addressing the complaints that are pretty simple to see, at times, about Michonne being tagged in "fics" that are "Caryl" fics...but it really addresses more than just that.  

It's not a rant against that at all, actually...it's more about relationships between women and the worth that society puts on women.

So I've seen more than one post where people are all upset about Michonne being tagged in fanfics...particularly in "Caryl" fanfics or other fanfics where she is not part of the main "ship."  

But here's where I have the problem.  

The posts that I've seen seem to think that someone tagging Michonne in a fic where she's not part of the main "ship" that the story is built around is some sort of heinous crime against them or against Michonne.  After all, if she's not "bumping uglies" with someone (and in particular Daryl Dixon) then she must not have a viable reason for being in the fic.  Right?

Wrong.

TWD is particularly a "man-centric" show.  Women exist there because it would be (even if the writers don't really believe it) ridiculous to think that no women would be capable of surviving the ZA just like men.  

In TWD women have been victimized, they've been sexualized, etc. etc.  They're painted as "whores" or "sluts"...they're painted as "weak" and "emotional"...they're painted as people who are only able to take care of children and who will crack eventually, particularly swamped with their "motherly instincts."  

Much of the female development (which is quite limited, actually) that takes place in the show centers around men.  

1. Carol's development in regard to her relationship with Ed.  Carol's development with Daryl (ignore shipping...there's still development that takes place there).  Carol's development around Axel.  What Hershel teaches Carol to make her grow as a "medical assistant" (though we find out that she learned much of that on her own...because of Ed).  Carol's development around Rick.

2. Lori's development with the whole Rick/Shane love triangle...and well...that's really about as much as poor Lori developed.

3. Andrea's development around Dale (who, good shepherd as he was, was leading her out of her darkness...).  Andrea's development around Shane.  Andrea's development after she was left (by Rick...).  Andrea's development around the Governor...

4.  Maggie's development around her father.  Maggie's development around Glenn.

5. Beth...well...Beth hasn't had much development...let's say Beth's development around her father and her five minute boyfriend.  And she got to hug Daryl to show that she was "changing" (or so we're told...since we didn't get to really see her develop, we were just told about it.)

6.  Michonne's development around the whole Governor situation (and I'll be addressing the Andrea/Michonne dynamic later).  Michonne's development around Daryl, Rick, Carl, etc.

For the most part, women's development in the show is shown by their conflicts with men.  It's shown in how they relate to men...and ultimately a good deal of the women fall victim to being the source of some momentary "man pain" for everyone to revel in.  Which also cheapens the character of the men...but I'm not talking about them right now.  

Female relationships in the show are limited at best.  We get:

1. Andrea to Amy - Sisters...probably not super close due to the age difference...relationship brought to a quick close with limited exploration.

2. The Quarry Gals - Quick moments of women having a nice time together...chatting...doing women's work.  Interrupted by Ed (surprised?) to further that line and to develop Shane a little more.  So it really wasn't about the ladies as much as it was about their relationship with the men in their group.

3. Andrea/Lori - Conflict much of the time...Andrea called Lori out on being "man centric" in some ways...and ultimately Andrea met the same fate (though altered a little).

4. Lori/Carol - This had potential...though it was never developed...to be a good example of female friendships.  It didn't happen, though.  It really only existed momentarily to show that they were supporting each other as women who didn't "have a man" to back them up...and that was there to highlight that Rick wasn't really talking to Lori.  

5. Maggie/Beth - Sisters...we're told their "close" and we got a glimpse of it.  Dad is an important factor here, though...as is Glenn...that's who they  usually talk about in their conversations.  

6. Carol/Beth - Something of a mother/daughter dynamic  in their extremely limited interaction.  Touch a little...impart some wisdom...often centering around men (Daryl/Hershel/the world needs more men like that, etc.)

7. Andrea/Carol - Carol's the only person that welcomes Andrea back.  They bond over Lori's baby...they talk about...surprise...a man.  

8.  Michonne/Andrea - This had a lot of potential...and not the novelty of the "surprise lesbians" dropped in Season 4 for 10 minutes of screen time and broken apart immediately thereafter.  There was a female bond there...I got excited.  But wait...there's a man that breaks it up to create more man centric drama.  

And do you really think it was a surprise that Sophia was the one to die out of Sophia and Carl when clearly it was Carl who was more often left in a position of being "unprotected" and therefore vulnerable?

You see, though, as a fanfic writer this man centric mentality in many reviews that you might get.  It's always about the "man".  A reader can see a man do something that he never should have done...something entirely uncalled for...and get called out for it and their response is "poor (insert man)...(woman) is too hard on him and should forgive him all his sins by merit of the fact that he has a penis".  

I often credit this to the fact that society has, successfully, brainwashed these particular people into believing that men are always right.  

Or...I credit it to the fact that this person has limited knowledge of life and still lives in the (also constructed world by society) that "if he's my boyfriend everything will be wonderful and I'll do everything to keep him because a man defines my self-worth".  

They're both dangerous mentalities.  Please see "Ed", "Rick", or "Shane" for a flat example of why if you're unsure.

Psychological studies/anthropological writings have been done by Rich and Smith-Rosenberg looking at the importance of female/female relationships in the lives of women throughout history.  

What they state and show is that, essentially, women don't replace men in the lives of other women (heterosexual or otherwise) because men do exist...and in some way they play a part in women's lives.  What they do show, though, is that women "need" relationships with other women.

Our relationships with our daughters, mothers, sisters, aunts, grandmothers, friends, etc. are what "make life more bearable".  

So...that brings me to fanfic.  

On the show, there's nothing that can be done about the fact that it's a "man's world".  The show is primarily written and handled by men.  Women are only going to be used to further men's plot points.  The depiction of women will be flat at best and relating to men at every turn.  

Children go hand in hand with women...and they apparently lack the depth that motherhood and child rearing really has to it.  Again, men wouldn't bother writing that...they don't understand it...and it's pretty evident in the show.

But fanfic gives the author a chance to remedy that.  It gives the author a chance to paint other dynamics.

Now this doesn't mean all fanfics will do this.  Smut and lemon shots are interested in one thing and one thing alone...smut.  That's a whole different story.  Literotica is not focused in the slightest on meaningful relationship building.  

Some fics include multiple characters as flat characters, in fact most stories have flat characters (they're the equivalents to Beth on the show...they're there...but if they went away it would take you a while to notice).  

Some fics don't bother with any kind of character or plot development really.  

That's not what I'm addressing.  

What I'm addressing are fics that attempt to actually include and develop female characters as something more than just women who center their lives around men.  

Does that mean that they don't have relationships with men?  Not in the slightest.  Does it mean that they have relationships with other people, in particular women, that don't have to center around their romantic escapades.  Yes it does.  

In these fics, in particular, a female character who is not part of a "ship" (or the main ship) can very well be a vital and important character.  The story itself would not be the same without her, whoever she might be.  She develops (as do other women in the story) through their relationships with each other.

To say that this character shouldn't be "tagged" in fics in which she's not part of the main "ship" is to say that she, alone, is not important or worthy.  She cannot stand on her own.  She cannot be important in the lives of others who are not her romantic counterpart.  She cannot be "important" unless she's hooked up to some man...and that's cheating the character that you claim to care so much about.  

You're reducing your character to being nothing more than a plaything for a man...since obviously she cannot even exist without the man.  

And that's really what some fanfics try to get away from when they're particularly frustrated with that element of the show.  

 This is the part where I talk about me... (as always, drop off reading any time you like).

I write/have written numerous ships in my fics.  Caryl, Dixonne, Michandrea, Mandrea (Andrea/Merle), Glaggie, Careese (Tyreese/Carol), Tyronne (Michonne/Tyreese) etc.  

Relationships are fun and each story has a "main" ship...and side ships...but for me, just as important as the sexual relationships between men and women or women and women (I haven't been moved to write any men/men relationships yet) are the friendships that take place.  And those friendships include men/men friendships (of course), but they are also a place for women to shine as...as they are in real life...often the strongest supporters of each other.  It's a place for them to show how they "make life more bearable" for each other.  

So I *do* tag characters that aren't in the "main ship" because without them, and their chapters...and their perspectives...and their development...and their support...the story would seriously be lacking something.  I don't define their importance simply by whose genitals they're in contact with.  

And I'll continue to tag them as characters in the stories...because that's what they are.  They are important characters in the stories...smut or no smut (though, surprise, surprise...they often get some of that too).  

Tagging of them is not to "mess" with anyone.  If you see a story whose synopsis states that a certain ship is a "main ship" within the story but other characters are involved...you're not being messed with.  You're being told that a character is not part of the main ship, but that doesn't mean that they're not a main character.  Few people tag their flat and/or underdeveloped/underused characters.  That's why you'll never see Beth tagged in anything I write.  (Unless something changes and she gets to develop).  

Characters...women or otherwise, though this is particularly about women...can be vital and important without a relationship at all.  Just like people.  And suggesting they cannot be seems, in my opinion, to be reducing them to nothing more than trinkets or playthings for men.  I don't agree with that.  

In my opinion, Carol and Michonne are the strongest of the women on the show.  With a man or without one...if written correctly...they'll continue to be strong characters.  The show will never show you that, since it's too man-centric, but it's true.  They could also be epic friends...but again...that won't happen on the show.  

But it can happen in fanfiction.  

Speech over for now...thanks for reading if you made it this far.  You're a trooper...now back to work for me...