Cherry Bomb: Fandom and Flawed Female Characters

Another Cherry Bomb post, y'all, and this time I'd like to talk about flawed female characters and how the fandom treats them. Lady Catelyn, Sansa; this is for you.

Now, you must be wondering why I specifically choose those two characters in my dedication. Well, that's because they are a perfect example of flawed female characters and how the fandom treats them.

Lady Catelyn Stark and her daughter Sansa Stark is not the first thing that most people had in mind when they hear the words "strong female character". They are non-combatants, their powers lay in their manners and words, and  they have made mistakes before. In other words, a far cry from what most mainstream media outlets' description of "strong female character". But I disagree. As previously touched upon on the last Cherry Bomb, I think they are the perfect example of a strong female character; hell they are strong characters, period. They are not the untouchable, hard women that most people expect; they have flaws and dreams and motivation and that's what makes them strong as a character.

But I am not here to lists the endless reason why Lady Stark-Tully and Sansa is the true queens of Westeros. I am here to discuss the various way fandom respond to them. Spoiler alert: it ain't pretty.

Here in Cherry Bomb, we don't name names other than our own. But if you want to, you can easily open Google and type any recap of any episode that heavily features Lady Catelyn. I guarantee most of the comments will proclaim her as a "whiny bitch" and how She is The Worst (tm). Or, if you're a book-reader or someone who doesn't mind seeing spoilers, you can type in the url of several fansites for ASOIAF and search the forum. Any discussion regarding the storyline of all the current characters will have at least one person proclaiming Sansa to be "useless" and how She is The Worst (tm). A favorite thread of mine blames all the bad thing that happens in the series--I repeat, ALL THE BAD THINGS THAT HAPPENS IN THE SERIES--to Sansa and Lady Catelyn. Ned Stark's execution, the War of the Five Kings, the burning of Winterfell: all of them is the result of Sansa Stark and her mother's action.

The question is why? Why are they so hated? Why are they considered useless, compared to the many characters? Why is everyone focusing on their mistakes compared to the mistakes other characters made? (I'm looking at you, Ned Stark)

The answer lies in the patriarchal nature of our society. Because of the olden tendency to depict women as silly and incapable of making correct decisions, the writers of today feel they have to make their character flaw-less in order for it not to be sexist. As a result, female characters are often unattainable, horribly-written Mary Sues. Readers, used to this imbalanced characters, have a unrealistic high standards for female characters that they don't have for male characters. They expect female characters to be right, to get out of the way, to soothe the male characters' feelings and ego, to be perfect, to show and have no emotion.

Sansa and Lady Catelyn are not written as female characters. They are merely written as characters. GRRM didn't treat them any more or any less than any of his other characters. They have flaws, they have principles, and they have emotions. Neckbeards cannot deal with that. They are used to seeing "strong female characters" and are not used to strong characters who happens to be female.

It is amazing to see how fandom treats different characters based on their gender. For example, Jon Snow was like a textbook example of teenage wangst with all his complaining and angsting how he will ~never be a Stark~ and how he's conflicted of his allegiance to the Night Watch and new-found relationship with Ygritte. Yet I rarely see any hate for him. Sansa, meanwhile is a twelve-year old girl who had to see her father killed by the same people that she thought she could trust, who had the rest of her family killed brutally by the people they trusted, who had to suffer from abuse/sexual assault from the man who was technically her guardian. Yet everyone blasted her for every mistake she made. Yes, in the first book she was a little bit annoying and woefully naive, but she's a twelve year old. Twelve-year olds are meant to be annoying and woefully naive.

And Ned Stark was pretty stupid. Telling your best friend's wife that you're going to tell your best friend that the children you claim to be his is actually your brother's before you tell somebody else first is damn idiotic in any setting, much less Westeros, where people have been killed for showing more intelligence. Yet I don't see him being blamed or flamed for it. But the instance Catelyn freed the Kingslayer in hopes to get her daughters back somehow makes her the Worst Ever. I agree that the move is pretty fucking stupid, but why doesn't Ned Stark get the same vitriolic remarks about his intelligence?

Now, this doesn't mean that they don't deserve criticism. Like any good character, they deserved and must be critique. But the hate that they get is so intense you have to wonder if our patriarchal society has something to do with it.

Review: The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan

I hadn't really meant to read this book. The Kane Chronicles was my least favorite series from Rick Riordan, and that's saying a lot, considering how apathetic I am in regards to the Heroes of Olympus series. This series has half-Black protagonists and a multitude of PoC characters, something I gladly eat up on any other circumstances, but this series never really did it for me. There was always something missing, and if there wasn't a sale on the hardcover edition that reduces it down to Rp. 41.000, I probably won't ever read it.

But there was a sale, and I bought it, and I read it. And now I realized why this series never clicked for me:

It's so goddamn cheesy.

Okay, so maybe a little bit of background is needed. Sadie and Carter Kane are brothers and sisters, descendants of two powerful line of magicians. They became the host of Isis and Osiris respectively because of their power. In the last book they manage to release the sun-god Ra, who is a senile decrepit old man, nothing like the all-powerful First King of the God they envisioned him to be, and who's certainly not fit to take on the serpent Apophis, the primordial representation of Chaos and Ra's nemesis. Apophis has set on a deadline for the end of the world at the autumn equinox, the most inauspicious day of the year, perfect for doing bad deeds. Sadie and Carter must find a way to stop him before that day, which is only a couple of days away, and they do found a technique by binding its shadow and destroying it (thus the book's title). But to do that they have to have immense power since, y'know, they're dealing with the very personification of Chaos itself.

This book made me laugh, both the oh-my-god-this-is-so-funny laugh and the oh-my-god-this-is-so-embarrassing laugh, and there were too many of the last kind. Both of the main characters were supposed to be teenagers (Carter is 15 and Sadie is 13) so I kind of expect some dramatics from them, but I wasn't prepared for their brand of hormonal drama. These two kids were on a quest to save the world from destruction  and they spent more time in their monologue wondering about their romantic partners and their ~feelings~. There are times when I want to reach into the book and smack these kids in their head so they can concentrate on preventing the goddamn Doomsday instead of wondering about boys and girls. Sadie's chapters is the worst offender, since she has two admirers in the form of the jackal-god Anubis and ordinary boy-magician Walt.

Here's one of her chapter's highlights:

 At the moment I didn't even care where it led, as long as it was away from that deathless creature I had thought I loved. (The Serpent's Shadow, pg. 273)

See? See what I mean? That quote is cheesier than the cheesiest cheddar cheese, and they're pretty goddamn cheesy. I was reading this on a train ride and upon seeing that passage I had to close the book and turn away to stifle my giggle-cringe. It was that bad.

Sadie Kane. Sadie. Sadie, girl. You're thirteen. Thirteen year-olds don't fall in love, and if they 'do' then it has disastrous consequences (see: Romeo and Juliet). More importantly, you're a mortal girl who 'fell in love' with a 4000-year-old god. Hon, the implications of an immortal-mortal relationship is huge, so don't get pissy when people tell Anubis that he better stay away from you, because they're right. Don't whine "Waah waah everybody's out to get me" because it's not about you, it's about him. He's a god, an immortal being without a fixed 'body' and there are a lot of things need answering if you two have a relationship. One of the gods called her out on her behavior, and I agree with him, even though she rebuked him and the scene was meant as a comic relief. Listen to your elders, Sadie, they know a thing or two about the world.

Can you tell that Sadie annoys me? I feel like an old guy screaming "You kids get off of my lawn" when I read her chapters and I'm only a year older than Carter. She's supposed to be this stereotypical goth-tomboy who has purple highlights and wears combat boots and unlike those superficial mean girls, yet she's the most boy-crazy thirteen year-old I have the displeasure to know, and I know a lot of thirteen year-olds. Her sarcasm is not funny 80% of the time and yet she's supposed to be this witty, charming girl who manages to catch the attention of two boys at the same time.

I can stomach Carter's chapters better since he only has one love interest and does not have the complication of having a completely unnecessary love triangle thrown in. He reminds me of Percy, somehow, though I know that their personality is different. His humor doesn't feel forced and I found myself laughing at some of his jokes. He is sweet and endearing, albeit a little bit boring sometimes, but maybe that's because it's a side effect of being a professor's son.

Despite that, I think this book is pretty good, structure and plot-wise. The pacing is good, the plot is tight, and the prose is not bad for a children's book. When I review, I have to remember the intended demographic of the novel, and whether or not it's good for that kind of genre/demographic. I can't put the Percy Jackson's series in the same category as Pride and Prejudice. They were written for a different demographic, different audiences.

And that's why I'm giving this book a four-star, despite my misgivings. Because, for all intents and purposes, it's a good children's/teen book. Maybe it's me who outgrew the genre.

Final rating:

A Little Night Music (21/04)

For the past few months, I have been listening to Postmodern Jukebox almost everyday. They're a musical group that turns beloved pop songs to vintage Jazz-style bops and post it on YouTube. I like Jazz so their style of music fits me right, but I also like the fact that unlike other YouTube cover channels, they get creative with their covers, putting their own spin to it.

One of my favorite songs from them is probably their cover of Beauty and a Beat. The vocals are strong, and the instruments are smooth without really overpowering. It is very different than the original Beauty and a Beat, much slower and features bass and tenor sax, but retains its spirit as a party anthem; only theirs is for 1940s war-time lounge parties instead of the extravagant Millennial pool party Justin shows in his video.

Another favorite is their cover of Timber, featuring the doo-wop group the Tee Tones. Like Beauty and a Beat, their cover is vastly different from the electronic-heavy original, yet it still maintains that playful dance-y feel.

They also have a wide array of guest artists collaborating with them. From the aforementioned the Tee Tones (who was also featured in their cover of We Can't Stop by Miley Cyrus, their most-watched video to date), to their Lorde covers with Puddles the Sad Clown with the Golden Voice (Royals and Team) to their blues cover of Sweet Child O'Mine with Miche Braden. I especially love Miche Braden's Sweet Child O'Mine. You wouldn't expect a song by Guns'N'Roses to fit into a blues singer like Miche, and yet there she was, bringing her powerful vocals to the song made famous by Axl's raspy rendition. And it fits; it fits wonderfully well.

So, clickity-click those links and be amazed at the awesomeness that is Postmodern Jukebox!

Coming Back Again

Hello. It is very relieving to say that I have finished all of my exams, albeit to what degree of success I do not know. But this means I can update the blog more regularly. Yay!

Of course, I'm not planning on doing it right away--I need some time off to unwind after a stressful month--but I am determine to do more. I have ordered some books to review, and I'm planning on adding a regular Music of the Week feature. Of course, I will still write essays and fiction analysis, but maybe I will shorten that to once-a-week or twice-a-week, since I notice that my hastily-written essays do not have a good quality.

It's good to be back.

Hiatus

Hey everyone. I have an announcement to make.

Since my Big Life-Changing Exam (tm) is only two weeks away, I have to study hard, leaving no time to update or work on the blog. So, it is with great sadness that I announce this blog's hiatus at least until the exam is done for and I can finally breathe again.

I'll be back in roughly three weeks time, so don't worry about me abandoning this blog forever.

Cheers.

Cherry Bomb: Strong Female Characters vs "Strong" Female Characters" Part I

Like tea, most female characters in fiction comes in two flavors: strong and weak. Since the advent of third-wave feminism, however, there are a surge of "strong" female characters in fiction, whether it's in literature or TV, and they tend to lean towards the hard-hitting kind, with physical prowess, no non-sense attitude, and brash personality.

Basically, they become more 'masculine'.

Now, I'm not saying these ladies aren't strong as a character, or that masculine women are somehow less of a woman. In the hands of a good writer, these characters can come alive into complex people with flaws and a story right before our very eyes.

But there is a trend that I see, a worrying trend I might add, to transform these characters into a one-note character. "Strong" women in TV and books these days are just that; strong. They do not have any other purpose to the story other than to break walls and take names (which is an awesome thing, to be honest) and then get killed five minutes later. They shun emotion and everything girly, ridiculing women who are into fashion and make-up (therefore, those who are more 'feminine' than them), further promoting the notion that us women have to fight against each other. They proudly claim they do not have any female friends, that they love hanging with guys because they don't have as many drama as girls (nevermind the fact that these so-called 'brotherhoods' often have fights over girlfriends and video games the could generate as much, if not more, drama). Women are stupid and emotional, they say, and lacks the sophistication of men.

You can see why this kind of thinking can be a problem, especially since most of these characters crop up in YA/Romance fiction. And then that's not touching the whole glamorization of violence. Full disclosure: I'm a pacifist and I don't appreciate the way that YA novels these days have fights and battle as their main shtick. I know that's a really common way to put some action into your book and make it more interesting, but there are ways to write a good and gripping book without having a fight every two pages. And international peace discussion is thrilling too! I mean, how many people can actually say that they help prevent WWIII by  inviting Russia and America's leader over for dinner? That's riveting stuff, folks! The sauce of your steak determines if people die!

And one of my main problem these kind of "strong" characters is that they rarely have some kind of an emotional response to the consequences of their own action. Human beings are not meant to hurt each other (no matter how those pessimists think), and if they do, they'll likely to have serious mental issues. You can't just blowup a building and the only thought you have is whether or not the Main Love Interest has feelings for you. Even the most hardened and experienced warriors have a high chance of developing PTSD, and you expect me to believe a sixteen year-old girl goes about her life without a care after killing hundreds of people?

Of course there are people who thinks about burgers and ducks before they snipe someone in the head; people cope in different ways. But the thing with these characters is that they do not feel anything. Oh, their inner monologues is filled with purple prose about how Main Love Interest makes them feel all funny inside and they don't like it because Warriors Aren't Meant to Have Emotions, but they are mostly flat characters, unable to comprehend or display any emotion besides anger and selfishness. They cannot have any emotions, ever, because they are awesome and they are strong and emotions are flaws and if they have flaws then they are not strong. They sometimes have a tragic past that cements their position as rebels in society, and a convenient Freudian explanation to why they have such hard personality.

Generic cookie cutter backstory and Mary Sue-like perfection (though they try to deny) does not make a "strong" character. Ironically, the writers effort to differentiate their female characters from the others have resulted in bland characters that are strong only in their physics and weak in everything else.

There are a lot of things that I have in my mind about this issue, particularly how the media and fandom treats flawed female characters and the thinking that "nonviolence=weak" that is so present in many YA novels and their fandoms. But this is ten o'clock, I have yet to brush my teeth and do my prayers; I shall have to bid goodbye for now and see you next time.

Review: The Weaverbirds by YB Mangunwijaya

So! I finally finished this book. It's been, what, four months since I borrowed it? And I only finished it now. Lovely. The school library is going to rake in lots of money.

This book is, well, it's not difficult, per se. I just had a hard time of getting into it. The book had the double sin of a) written in 1st person and b) contains a lot of sentimental Indonesian-esque romance that I don't really like. Romance is fine, but Indonesian authors tend to have this style that whatever romance they wrote is going to end up really sappy and/or cheesy. Since most old novels are written in 1st person (my most hated POV) and have these sappy romance (that my cold heart does not understand), you can see why I don't really read them much.

But as a book connoisseur, I have to read a lot of books, crossing genre and time, even if that means I have to get out of my comfort zone. Or spend four months reading a 300 page book. 

Okay. So. The review. Right.

The Weaverbirds (Indonesian: Burung-Burung Manyar) tells the story of Setadewa (Teto) and Larasati (Atik). Teto is the son of a KNIL soldier, KNIL being the private army of the Dutch colonist in Indonesia, and an Indo mother. Atik is still Teto's cousin of some sort; her mother is the adopted daughter of Teto's father's uncle. Teto's father comes from a blue-blooded native Javanese family, but he likes being "Dutch" more.

During the Japanese occupation, Teto's father joined the rebellion, and was subsequently caught. Teto's mother was kept as a mistress by a Japanese official to protect Teto's father, and Teto was left in the care of Atik's family. Teto vowed that he will avenge his parents, and joined KNIL once he was old enough. When the Japanese left however, Teto was faced by the Republican factions; that is people who wanted and have declared Indonesia's independence. Teto viewed the Republicans as ex-collaborators with Japan, and thus viewed Indonesia's independence as not something that they earn, but something that is given by Japan. Not to mention, after the war, the fate of his parents is still unknown. Thus, begins Teto's quest to "help" his homeland and find the truth about his parents.

 Structurally, the novel itself is divided into three parts: a prologue of some sorts that tells the story of Teto and Atik's childhood, a middle part consisting the bulk of the action, and an epilogue. 

I find the concept refreshing, because Indonesian novels often have this black-and-white view of the world, that the good guys will always be good and the bad guys will always be bad. This is a boring, not to mention unrealistic, point of view of the world. The good guys is not always good and the bad guys are not always bad. So it's really refreshing to see a flipped perspective; the Republicans became the antagonist and the colonizing Dutch became the protagonist.

Maybe it's because of this I find the middle part to be the most exciting of the three. It details Teto's struggle to reconcile his vision of Indonesia, and the Indonesia he's seeing right now. Teto does not go to war because he hates Indonesia; he loves Indonesia and wants to free her from the Republicans whom he viewed as Japanese collaborators. Teto's mother frequently becomes a sort of allegory for Indonesia herself, in the eyes of Teto: she was a happy housewife in the Dutch period, only to become a trapped mistress in the Japanese occupation, and later institutionalized after the war. Indonesia too, according to Teto, is subjugated but happy during the Dutch period, trapped in a broken promise during the Japanese occupation, and has become insane in her independence.

Teto's views and behaviors is a departure from the usual Indonesian heroes that is usually portrayed as calm and polite even in the midst of gunfire. Here, Teto is brash and foul-mouthed, but he had the heart of a lion, and a firm principle taught by his father. He's an intelligent boy; he knew in the middle that what he's doing, what KNIL and him are doing, is basically worthless but still he fought because his father taught him not to run away from a fight. And by God, he didn't, even if it meant sacrificing his only chance on being with the girl he loved.

I expected Atik to be one-dimensional and flatter than a cardboard, but she was quite fleshed out, which is a nice surprise. Atik too is struggling that she may or may not have feelings for Teto, her childhood friend slash distant cousin and a traitor to the Republic. Atik herself works for the Republic, even becoming an aide for the then-Foreign affairs minster. She has to learn to reconcile her loyalty for her motherland and her affection to an agent of the enemy.

The prose is wonderful and this is one of the few first-person POVs novel that I actually like. YB Mangunwijaya conveys Teto's feelings so perfectly that you can't help to root a little bit for the Dutch, if only to give Teto his happy ending. The changing of POVs is something I severely dislike in most modern novels since it's just hella confusing, but Rama Mangun (as he's affectionately called) uses it so efficiently to portray the characters' feelings, to let us see the two-sides of the coin, that I can't complain about it.

My problem with this novel is that we really don't see Atik and Teto's relationship developing properly. Literally 70% of their screentime are spent apart from each other. We only get to see their interaction in the beginning and in the end; they rarely interact in the middle part. When I first read Teto declaring his love to Atik in his inner monologue I was like "bruh? You only met this girl for two months, tops!" It feels odd to me because they only met each other for a short time in their childhood, and it didn't really make sense for both of them to be violently in love with each other. They talked about their closeness a lot, but we don't actually see how close they are, or how their closeness develops in the first place. As individual characters, they are well-developed, but as a pairing they are not.

I also have issues with the length of the first part and the third part. The first part should be longer, and the third part should be shorter. The ending is firm and resolute, but the execution is off. There's a lot of padding in the third part but the last pages seems rushed, as if the author has a page limit and he's nearing that limit so he better wrap the story up. The conflict in the last part just kind of...hangs there with no development whatsoever beyond a few short paragraphs. I didn't even realize there's a conflict until 3/4 in. Inserting a new conflict at the end of the book is pretty unusual, so I understand if the author wants it to be done quickly, but if that's the case then why does he insert it in the first place? It's completely unnecessary and throws the reader off.

There's also this bizarre subplot involving a minor character that does not have anything to do with the plot, whatsoever. The pages for that, I think, can more efficiently used instead to flesh out the story more, but alas it does not happen. The third part is the most boring of them all, part of the reason why this takes me a long time to finish after whooshing through the middle part.

It is a good book, and it is a good story, but it's marketed everywhere as a love story, and I didn't really feel the whole romance angle. As a war-novel, it's good, it's great; I would've given it a four-star. But you have to call an orange an orange, and as a romance novel it's very unsatisfying. This, coupled with other plot issues and pointless padding, reduces the grade to only three-star.

Final Rating:

Book Information:

Title: Burung-Burung Manyar (English: The Weaverbirds)
Author: YB. Mangunwijaya
Pub./Edition: Fourteenth edition. Jakarta: Djambatan, 2004 (orig pub. date: August 1981)
ISBN: 979-428-560-9