[ SECRET POST #4663 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4663 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 36 secrets from Secret Submission Post #668.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: Not-OP

[ninefox]

Yeah, I'm not saying everything is as bad as SPN, it just makes a really clear and well-known example. And SPN itself has so many imitators now that the derivation is just ongoing. And that doesn't have to be bad - lots of media takes old tropes and puts a fun fresh spin on them - but it can also end up as...re-boiled mush, you know?

There definitely aren't no female antiheroes - personally I love the hell out of Jessica Jones, even though it's really hard to watch at times. OTOH I think anything based on IRL murderers reasonably described as "psychopathic" is a lot more "villain protagonist" than antihero. With an antihero, I don't just want to be sympathetic to them, I want to see them trying to do good even while being super tarnished. Still, I think it's telling that I can come up with entire genres based around male antiheroes, and we're discussing only individual examples for female ones. Just because some of them exist doesn't mean there isn't still a hunger for more of that kind of story, and the unexplored possibilities for it.

As for "women tend to be more judgmental," I think this is a place where we really need to watch out for turning anecdata into data. Are there lots of women who internalize and enforce patriarchal standards? YES ABSOLUTELY. Are women as a class more critical of other women that men, or do we just notice it more when some of them do it? I don't think that's a settled question. And even if it were true, is this because women are inherently critical, or because having your personhood constantly judged by certain standards will necessarily make you hyper-aware of those standards? And the more someone sacrifices to succeed within those standards the more sunk cost fallacy is going to make them invested in upholding those structures.

TLDR: profit motive shapes popular media in a sexist culture, and women aren't immune to perpetuating that culture. But popular media also goes on to reinforce/recreate/exaggerate that culture and push that culture on male and female viewers alike. And the existence of some women really caught in that mental trap doesn't invalidate a lot of us being really, really tired of some of what it creates.