[ SECRET POST #2093 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2093 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 063 secrets from Secret Submission Post #299.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - ships it ], [ 1 - posted twice ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

vriska shouldn't be viewed as a "girl power" imo because she's not a good model of this. she was a highly, highly abusive bully and she ultimately let her ego dictate what she was touting as "good" for everyone else. i'm not saying don't like her - good people =/= good characters - but i just don't really see how somebody like her shaped your opinion of women in general when she did nothing to redeem women from the "you're either useless or a bitch" stereotype. what about aradia, or roxy?

[darkmanifest]

I don't know anything about Vriska, but if she's a significant character, well-rounded, active, with her own goals and motivations that are independent of Some Dude, then yeah, I think that's (fictional) girl power.

[(Anonymous)]

And she definitely is. The original commenter is right that Vriska's certainly not a strong force of good, but that doesn't have to be the point. I don't like Vriska as a person. If I knew her, I would hate her. She's undoubtedly an abuser and a murderer, despite her bond with John, despite her regret.
But as a character, she's fantastic. She's incredibly well-crafted and complex, and treads the lines between hero and villain while retaining her "humanity" (insofar as a member of a murderous alien race can be humane). It's very rare to see a female character given such depth. It would have been easy for Vriska to just be the ruiner, the evil, but she's given justifications, she doubts herself and has remorse, she feels trapped by her responsibilities...
I would honestly argue she's one of the best-written characters in fiction in terms of complexity. And it's great that a female character can give us that. That's girl power, not just girl heroism.

[(Anonymous)]

again, society tends to place women into two categories: weak or bitch. vriska does nothing to help this stereotype despite not being a damsel in distress character; she is objectively a "bitch" for her actions. so while she may not lean on any male character (though she is influenced by john), and while she is well-rounded as a character, despite being rather (subjectively) unlikable to other characters, she falls short of being a "girl power" because she still manages to portray a very prominent stereotype in media.

[rmg]

homestuck is absolutely brimming with excellent female characters, but i don't see any problem with singling vriska out here-- obviously she's not a flawless heroine or whatever, but she's a very complex, compelling, and multifaceted character, and whatever you think about her, her arc was extremely compelling and had a huge impact on act 5.

[duendedefined]

I kind of agree, to an extent. I don't view Vriska as stereotypical, but I also don't view her as a positive "hey look what girls can do!" type of character, especially given that Homestuck has plenty of great female heroes who really are good models for "girl power" (not really a big fan of that phrase, tbh--it just tends to come across as a bit overwrought to me somehow--but it is the phrase used here).

Also, I should note that I'm just grinning over here because Roxy is my favorite human character and Aradia is my favorite character overall. Now THOSE are some really amazing girl characters, IMO.

[(Anonymous)]

yeah, i'm definitely not saying vriska isn't strong to a degree, but i just find it strange that of all the excellent women/girls in homestuck, vriska is the one that the op found "empowering" or as a symbol of positive girl power. i think pretty much... every female homestuck character is awesome. hussie does a great job of making his characters well-rounded, "realistic" (lol) people with their own weaknesses and strengths.

i think vriska's weaknesses in particular set her aside from the other girls in that her motives and behaviour are not equivalent to a female character that would make me - no less society as a whole - view her as independent from stereotyping, i guess. like i said, it's usually either "she's weak" or "she's a bitch" and vriska's lack of conventional weakness, while empowering to some degree, doesn't keep her out of the latter category. no other homestuck lady has this ~dilemma, i think. so overall i'm puzzled by this secret.

aradia doesn't get enough love from the fandom. i think people think she's boring or something, i dunno. she's not one of my favourites personally but she is far from boring! she's a great character, as is roxy. i think roxy is my favourite human.