A steal and a rant.

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Tanya has a list of things that annoy her in books and movies over on Southern Fried Chickens. Number one on her list sent me off on a mini rant of my own in the comments. Since I'm always scrounging for a blog post, I'm just going to copy the first item on her list and my response. Go over to SFC to read the rest of her excellent, and right on point, rant.


"1. Kickass heroines who act more like men than women. I’m all for female empowerment, but it IS okay to be a girl, ya know?"

2. "Kickass heroines who won’t let a man be a man...."



#1 and # 2 are the main reasons why when someone say’s ‘kickass heroine’ in regards to a book, I say ‘pass’. Too often “kickass” reads like “hardass”, or “bitch”.

There’s a reason why *no one* thinks of Buffy or Scully, or Sydney (Alias) or Nikita (La Femme etc), or Ripley (Alien) or Zoe Wasburne (Firefly) as hardass bitches, even though they are the epitome of what one thinks of as kickass (action) heroines.

I wish more authors would pay attention to the complexity of character and corresponding vulnerabilities of these ladies, instead of emasculating their heroes just so the chick-with- a-d*ck-and-a-chip-on-her-shoulder heroine can be center stage.

The ubiquitous one page tragic childhood backstory/info dump is insufficient to illicit my empathy for a character who is not very sympathetic for the other 389 pages of the book. And who shows no growth beyond the obligatory realization she cares for the hero at some point, and no further self-awareness beyond the bitterness/guilt, etc she entered the story with in chapter one.
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5 comments:

Shesawriter said...

I think I like your mini rant better than mine. Can't disagree with a thing here. All in all, it's over-kill on the kickass part. These "macho" heroines don't endear themselves to me. They turn me off.

And you're right about Buffy and the others. They're three dimensional. The women I'm talking about are nothing but cardboard cutouts with Velcroed penises attached to them. They don't need men. They need a shrink.

vanessa jaye said...

Tanya, between the so-called kickassed heroines and that most dispised of phrases: 'his cock twitched', I'm fixin to stroke out. ;)

I thought your whole list was spot one. Although, now I'm wondering if it was any specific book that set you off? :-P

Gennita said...

I object! Kickoff heroines so do not twitch cocks. ;-)

vanessa jaye said...

I object! Kickoff heroines so do not twitch cocks.

They don't have to Gennita. When cocks see them coming, they shrivel up and fall off. heh.

erm... of course I meant 'despised' not 'dispised'. :-P

vanessa jaye said...

Thought I should emphasize that I do like kickass heroines, just not the ones that I usually come across in books for all the reasons rated about. The heroines I've listed from various movies and tv shows--just thought of another one, Pam Grier's Foxy Brown-- are more what I look for re a kickass action heroine.

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