Flowchart - Would you like to make an idiot out of yourself? Y

[seriousfic]

Meme, baa. This is where being poor hits, because I can show all my icons without even needing a cut.

(Peter/MJ FTW!)

Man, I have like no dude icons.

But anyway, that got me thinking... has anyone actually tried to use the chart? Let's see. I'll use one of my own characters, a Big Barda-type who starts off as a villainess, ends up joining the good guys and falling in love with the hero (unrelated). Okay, let's see...

Can she carry her own story?

Well, about half the story is told from her POV, but she's really not the protagonist, so let's be uncharitable and say no. And that's kind of a leading question, anyway. Couldn't any character carry their own story? Is the flowchart asking if she's a protagonist? IDGI. Moving on, because things I don't understand confuse and anger me!

Villain?

Sure.

Sexualized?

No, I specifically wrote her to get away from the idea that female villains always had to use their ~wiles to do evil. She's butch.

Over 35?

Technically speaking, she's an immortal thousands of years old, but let's be uncharitable since she looks like a thirtysomething and say no.

Is the protagonist male or female?

What am I, Joss Whedon? Of course he's a dude.

Does she hate men?

No.

Does she want to be involved with protagonist?

Well, if he came to the Dark Side, sure...

Is she involved with the protagonist?

Well, she gets there.

BITCHY FIANCEE

...I would pay to see a movie where Big Barda is the protagonist's bitchy fiancee. The hero gets stuck on a plane with Katherine Heigl, they flirt some, then Barda chokes a bitch and carries her man off for sex. BOX. OFFICE. GOLD.

Alright, now let us UPP THE STAKES and go through this with Cara Mason.



Carry her own story?

Got some disagreement from ivanolix on IM, but she is a supporting character, and if it weren't for Richard, she'd be taking baths all day with Dahlia and Triana still committing atrocities for Darken Rahl. And it's hard to see that fitting into a three-act structure.

Villain?

Only in the sheets.

Is she mainly a love interest?

Depends on whether you ask a Cara/Kahlan shipper or not. Let's go with no.

Is she part of a team/family?

Cara: No.

Yes.

What is her main role?

She's equal parts Voice of Reason (MO: Sarcasm -> WET BLANKET. Yeah, Cara's always stopping Richard from having crazy beach parties) and Offense.

Feminine or masculine?

...now you're being tricky. How is it the same person can be BUTCH AS HALE and ALL WOMAN? Let's try both!

Masculine: Does she die before the final act?

Well... she got better...

MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ

I think Cara would be delighted at the idea, although not as much when she realized that masturbation wouldn't count as "having sex with M-Rod."

Does she die before the final act?

You asked twice, so this must be for realsies. No.

"STRONG" FEMALE CHARACTER

What's with the scare quotes, flowchart? You got something to say, why don't you say it to my face?

Feminine: Older or younger?

Than who? Let's say the protagonist. Same age!

Sickly?

A zombie once, but hey, who isn't without their coffee?

VANILLA ACTION GIRL

Yup, just another queer sadomasochistic assassin raised by wolves who dresses up in leather and hits people with pain-dildos. Throw her on the pile.

Comments

[ivanolix.livejournal.com]

How is it the same person can be BUTCH AS HALE and ALL WOMAN?

Where is Cara butch at all? She never downplays the fact that she's female, that I can remember.

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm probably getting the definition wrong, but she's very aggressive, she disdains displays of emotion and frillery, she's openly sexual, she's frequently contrasted with Kahlan's femininity... to me, those are very tomboyish traits.

[ivanolix.livejournal.com]

Right, but those aren't masculine traits inherently. Butch is about avoiding femininity altogether—binding your breasts, wearing gender-neutral clothing, having gender neutral hair, wearing no make-up, etc.

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

Yup, wrong definition.

[http://users.livejournal.com/thrace_/]

I would accept your use of butch in this context, since in fandom it seems to have come to represent a certain kind of swaggering confidence that has nothing to do with feminine or masculine, and is not used in its traditional sense. And in a way, Cara does avoid femininity in the LotS verse: shunning dresses and wearing her uniform.

Which is a long way of saying BUTCH AS HALE and ALL WOMAN FUCK YEAH.

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

I was going by the "anyone who reminds me of Gina Gershon in Bound" definition.

[telepresence.livejournal.com]

I think butch can be about those things. I'm not sure they're always just about those things. To me Cara is more butch than Kahlan, and more butch than say, Denna, even though she and Denna have similar behavioral traits.

[colonel-green.livejournal.com]

My most basic problem with the chart is the implication that a "strong female character" cannot be any kind of supporting character.

It's still fun because of all the effort, but as a serious thing it's extremely flawed.

[box-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

If by "flawed," you mean "completely fucking racist and misogynistic and completely factually inaccurate on multiple counts," then yes, it's SUPER fucking "flawed."

/throws two pennies

[arks.livejournal.com]

A lot of these endpoints are not tropes.

They're characteristics.