Project:
In our righteous fervor to have Strong Female Characters who are not simpering love interests or sex appeal, we have campaigned! There is a crusade! We have the Bechdel Test and this awesome, detailed flow chart!
WITH THE LOWEST STANDARDS EVER, HOLY FUCK.
Keely passes both, well.
Keely is dependent in every sense of the way on her boyfriend and has physical and mental/emotional breakdowns often enough that everyone else just sort of nods and carries on. I mean, she is dependent and she knows it. At one point, she cautiously admits to enjoying it.
Given, there is context, and it's not like she's sitting around mooning after her man waiting to be doted on. She does stuff. It's grueling death marches and privation conditions on a boat that do her in physically, and totally justifiable angst and baggage from her ID crisis that she can't/won't resolve, blah de blah. But still.
But according to these sites, she's a strong female character because she's not a cardboard archetype.
I guess this is when we need to define "strong," then? I suppose she's 'strong' in a literary, narrative sense. The story is hers, and she has daydreams and fears and weaknesses and talents and all that, and they're not throwaway plot points. (But in that case, I think she could be strong even if she did die early on.) But as a character, she is every baby animal that she is compared to (a filly and a kitten). I wouldn't call her a role model. I wouldn't put her up in any kind of heroine contest--for crying out loud, her biggest profitable skillset is being eye candy with an ear/eye for politics. Her talent revolves around her looking hot. She's not even competent like a lauded courtesan. She hangs on Adrian's or Xan's arm and looks pretty and strategically distracts the slimeballs that they're negotiating with, and then tries not to get poached or assaulted on the way home. She uses her boyfriend as emotional escapism. She enjoys being lied to in order to protect her fragile emotional stability and HOLY FUCKING HALO EFFECT, BATMAN. I could go on. She defines Stockholm Syndrome!
But congrats, Keely, you're a strong female! WAY TO GO, BABY!
Keely: Whoohoo! Is this when I go fuck my man?
No, no, you need to go have another talk with Sabs, Lucia or Imogene about things besides men and then we can all pass with flying colors! I suppose you could talk to Risa, but don't do that.
Keely: ...no.
Attagirl. Do you ever talk to Imogene about things not pertaining to men in some form?
Keely: ...her matchmaking attempts, her daddy issues, her issue with my job description, my necklace... hm. Probably not. Who's that reflect more on?
Imogene.
Keely: Wait! We talked about... Gesoriacum, or was it Durocorticum, once! It turned into her dad, but she told me about the road and random shit. She info dumps. I don't know. We're surrounded by men. It's hard not explicitly not talk about them, because we don't talk about feelings. And she talked about the crow's nest! YES. WE PASS.
Holy crap.
2 comments:
I don't really like the Bechdel test, tbh. It's much harder when you POV character is a man.
Maybe I should have two of my females talk about the Bechdel test. That counts, right?
I think it's incredibly condescending, myself. Some pop culture shows/books fail it, but pop culture is all about sex, so what do you expect? If they talk about a woman in a sexual manner, is that any better?
That sounds deliciously meta and you should do it. I like that idea.
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