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STELLA ATRIUM
SPECULATIVE FICTION WRITER
STELLA ATRIUM
SPECULATIVE FICTION WRITER
Girl Heroes in Fantasy and Violence
Why are we turning girl-heroes, first offered as liberating role models for our younger generation, into killing machines? When did this trend start?
So I was thinking about how female fantasy writers connect the girl-hero with violence. I was seeking a quote to start this blog entry, but I came up short.
- Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent – Isaac Asimov
- Violence is the last resort of the ignorant – L. Ron Hubbard
Both are a mis-reading of a post-war Pres. Roosevelt speech. I guess everybody borrows.
I like that we have chosen to empower women by giving the girl-hero choices and weapons and treasure and magic and the ability to talk to horses. These are exciting additions to her personal power, and I wish the stories had existed when I was young. (My comfort was A Wrinkle in Time where one of the travelers was a girl.)
I recently read a couple of trilogies in fantasy where the girl-hero wields a sword, leads an army, and grown men twice her age follow her. How is that possible?
In history, there was a queen named Matilda (we need a biopic here!!) who put Henry Plantagenet on the throne of England. But Matilda was a grown woman who took advantage in a fractured system where the heir apparent was weak, and the King of France had died leaving Eleanor (Henry’s wife) with a larger kingdom. Matilda’s victories on the battlefield were few.
Mostly these examples from history acted through diplomacy and deceit when the monarchy was weak. So where is the precedent for all the violence for girl-heroes in fantasy stories?
What girl kills without remorse? What 14-year-old kills a man who outweighs her by 80 pounds? And using a sword for which she has no training? So sometimes the girl-hero has more magic than the opponent’s magic. Sometimes she was trained in the use of poison to level the contest.
But that still leaves the kill stroke – the coup de gras.
Why are we turning girl-heroes, first offered as liberating role models for our younger generation, into killing machines? When did this trend start?
Types of Female Characters for Women Writers to Choose From:
So the three possibilities for female roles in fantasy are still warrior, princess/victim, or harlot – right? We have no better/different roles for women? Really? I can think of a few, but they depend on adding additional characters to the story. Listed are a few examples of character types:
- Jealous sister like in the movie The Bodyguard
- Buddies like in Thelma and Louise
- Friend who turns on you like in Bridesmaids
- Long suffering steadfast friends like in Bridesmaids (hence the popularity)
- Narcissistic nemesis like in You Again
- Overbearing boss like in Working Girl
- Friends bonded to improve conditions like in Nine to Five
- Friends bonded by community like in Steel Magnolias
- Mentoring from an expert like in Bones on TV
Why do we never see these structures in fantasy stories? In real life, older women teach younger women. It seems that when a woman reaches age 40, she suddenly goes mute and the girls she mentored erase her name from history.
And another thing – I’m warmed up to it now!! A woman as the bad guy gets the short shrift. The male opponents are often deftly drawn with a back story for how they started down a dark road. But the female bad guys are usually stuck in the “Mirror, mirror, on the wall” musky old motif.
A bad guy thinks he is doing what’s best for the future, and he offers every justification for why he is right. A female bad guy never gets that speechifying moment to justify her choices before somebody throws a bucket of water on her.
Come on, ladies… We can do better than this.
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THE BUSH CLINIC
A planet story of colonisation where tribal wars force hard choices for Dr. Greensboro and the coming-of-age students in her bush clinic classroom.
Writing tip, please avoid the natural born talented prodigy trope. I’m sick and tired of it! I hate the Mary Sue bull crap in most movies these days, it completely ruined Captain Marvel, The Last Jedi, and She Hulk for me! “Women don’t work as long or as hard as men, they get it right the 1st time” great qoute for a plaque on your wall or desk at work, bad premise for story writing. As a woman and mother of 2 daughters, I think it’s an unhealthy message to send to girls. It reinforces unhealthy and unrealistic expectations for ourselves and tells us “if at 1st you don’t succeed, there’s something wrong with you and you’re obviously not smart enough, strong enough, or talented enough and maybe you should give up and assume it’s not meant for you.” Life doesn’t work like that typically. When I was a child, I gave up trying to memorize my times tables, dropped out of school and later had to get tutoring that put me in a class at a library where I had an uncomfortable situation with am older man $e×ually harassing me and threatening to r@pe me and a teacher who barely taught anything and lied about pre-registering students for tests and failed everyone but me, then bailed on showing up for the graduation ceremony! I was lucky I was able to avoid being alone with that creep and keep my virtue and credit my fear of him and desire to be done, and my mom’s calling ahead and registering me for tests after the 1st time I got turned away for me managing to push through and pass math! I’m still not very good though. I don’t wish this on my daughters. I want them to know that it’s okay to struggle and have to try hard, and fail a lot and get knocked down and then get up again and again before you succeed and sometimes give up and do something else if you really can’t.
I have been writing for a little bit, now, and I feel you’re on the head of the nail. I find it interesting you didn’t mention Joan of Arc, and a few others, but, that’s alright. You illustrated perfectly. ANYWAY… What I was trying to comment, here, is that I have a villain in my stories who eventually becomes a hero. Her motivation is loss of her family, and a grim determination to prevent it from happening. Eventually another event similar to her loss happens and she finds a child, and decides to raise her. In doing so, she is reminded of her true values, and decides to become a heroine. Thank you for allowing me to share.
it seems to me that you would love C.J. Cherryh’s Ariana Emory. Ari does some truly horrific things in order to further the survival of her people, and the original Ari doesn’t spend much time feeling bad about it. The remade Ari in _Cyteen_ is horrified by some of the things her genetic sire did but her compassion cannot be confused with weakness. And while she is reasonably bad ass for a female she relies on soft power and an extensive network of friends for most of her power. When things come to a climax it is the fact that she has freinds at all levels of power that leads to her victory at the end with relatively little bloodshed.