This excellent piece by Tasha Robinson sums up a lot of the problems mainstream storytelling has with “Strong Female Characters.”
For the ordinary dude to be triumphant, the Strong Female Character has to entirely disappear into Subservient Trophy Character mode. This is Trinity Syndrome à la The Matrix: the hugely capable woman who never once becomes as independent, significant, and exciting as she is in her introductory scene.
If you are interested in learning how not to bury your SFC’s light under a bushel, I recommend this article. It highlights on-point questions creatives should ask themselves, like:
03. Could your Strong Female Character be seamlessly replaced with a floor lamp with some useful information written on it to help a male hero?
:p
In many instances, what starts out as an interesting character is hobbled in order to provide the male hero with whatever thing he needs (knowledge, motivation, etc.) to make it to the finish line. There are exceptions, of course, and I’m pleased to say that Emily Blunt’s character in Edge of Tomorrow was one such.
So maybe all the questions can boil down to this: Looking at a so-called Strong Female Character, would you—the writer, the director, the actor, the viewer—want to be her?
Like Tasha Robinson, I loved Cate Blanchett’s character in How to Train Your Dragon 2 and was as disappointed when the role for this supremely kick-ass woman who was willing to live in exile for twenty years to uphold her principles just sort of… fizzled out. I hope to see more from her in a third installment. In fact, I hope to see more Strong Female Characters across the board.
Who knows, one day we might even just call them, oh, I don’t know, “Female Characters.”
It’s the middle of the week and I don’t know about you but Friday, and finishing everything on my list, feels pretty far away. Must be time for an inspirational quote and fabulous photo. Like… so!
You can’t get a suit of armour and a rubber chicken just like that. You have to plan ahead.
— Michael Palin
Mwahaha, now this is fun:) SuperPlanetCrash is a little online game by Stefano Meschiari that lets you build your own solar system and learn something about orbital physics along the way. The goal is to keep your planets orbiting for 500 years. Click to add planets, ice giants, brown dwarfs and stars, then watch as gravity undermines your best intentions! Use the game to simulate that system you sketched out for your epic sci-fi space opera. Ponder the effects of gravity and motion while earning points for the longevity of your system.
And if you just want to add Super-Earths until the whole crazy house of cards comes crashing down? Go for it:)
So, remember when I had a hard time finding a movie theatre showing Edge of Tomorrow in 2D? I know, that was, like, hours ago, you may have forgotten. I bring it up now to say that I did find a theatre, and I did go see the film, and it was Totally Worth It, people! No spoilers, but the acting and directing and editing and… well, just about everything was top notch. Really, really enjoyed it.
Definitely recommended.
Now I’m off to find the book it’s based on, All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. Because speculative fiction well done is a delight.
Srsly, Ottawa movie theaters, why can’t I see Edge of Tomorrow in anything other than 3-frickin-D this weekend? Oh look, here’s an article about how the gross for this movie might be underwhelming. Could it have anything to do with the fact that some of us can’t see it without wearing glasses that make us want to lose our lunch?
Hang on a sec, after much searching I have found one theatre (hey there little guy!) that is showing this movie in 2D. One. Guess which theatre is getting my money? Because hey, I want to see Edge of Tomorrow. 🙂
Planet boredom On Mars I learned that boredom has two sides – it can either rot the mind or rocket it to new places…
This essay provides a fascinating look at the HI-SEAS (Hawai’i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) Mars training mission from the inside. Written by Kate Greene, a science and technology journalist (i.e. not an astronaut), the piece gives a great inside look at what a trip to Mars might be like. For speculative fiction writers, this sort of research provides terrific insight into what life in space would actually feel like to those living it.
Short answer? Boring. Longer answer? Sometimes boring can be a good thing…
Find the full essay at aeon Magazine. For more on the pitfalls of life on Mars, you could also check out Andy Weir’s recent novel The Martian.
Lightspeed’s special Women Destroy Science Fiction! issue is now out, and it is a humdinger. Original fiction, reprints, non-fiction, editorials, text, audio, the works. Interested in quality science fiction, women in the arts (and science fiction in particular) and/or great storytelling? Then this collection is for you (and me, since I backed the Kickstarter:)
Two of the stories are available right now, free online, and more stories will be made available throughout the month:
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