an epiphany about a rant

[rose_griffes]

Oh, Person of Interest. So I was thinking about my Detective Carter-related mini-rant about a few fans being excessively critical of her when I suddenly realized that since finding online fandom, I haven't been fannish of a show that doesn't have at least one female lead.

Battlestar Galactica had a huge ensemble cast with women in important roles, women in minor roles, women everywhere. Life had a male cop-female cop pair in the forefront. The Sarah Connor Chronicles--well, look at the name of the show. Doctor Who has a constantly changing cast that almost always has women in rotation. (Also, the fandom is huge, so I tend to not to wander around it much.) Parks and Recreation has the super-awesome Leslie Knope, who has male and female friends all over the great city of Pawnee.

Those are all the shows for which I've written fanfiction, except Person of Interest. PofI has two male leads and no female lead. Carter is definitely in a supporting/antagonist role, even though she's in the opening credits. I'm naturally inclined to like her because 1) yay, female cop! And she's awesome! and 2) ...there are no other women to like who get to be in more than one episode. (I'm still holding out hope for Zoe to come back, but so far nope.) So it HURTS MY HEART to see other fans dislike Carter, especially since they don't have any other women from the show to appreciate.

So... making my own fannish squee is my new goal. In other words, expect a post about episode 1.10 after I've had time to rewatch it.

(Other related goal: continue not to watch Supernatural.)

Comments

[sabaceanbabe.livejournal.com]

I... don't understand how anyone could not like Carter. She is made of win.

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

It is most perplexing! But I'm taking steps to remedy this! (Looks like I'm going to be co-moderating a comm to promote the women of Person of Interest. More on that later.)

[imelda72.livejournal.com]

Coolios. I recently realized a similar thing - I can't get interested in shows that don't have any interesting female characters. If you know the UK show "Luther"? it has awesome women in season 1 who all pretty much disappear in season 2, and I just realized that that's why I hated season 2 so much....

Which kind of makes me wonder, is that fair? Like, we complain about men not being able (or willing) to relate to female characters. Am I guilty of the same thing?

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

not Rose, but, er, I don't think it's the same thing. As a society, we're conditioned to value male narratives and characters over female.

There are so few narratives that are all about the women that having a preference for them doesn't feel like the same thing as being able to connect to only men (which is a frightening number of people, or appears to be given how few stories about women--multiple women--tend to get blockbuster status)

And I have no idea if I made sense there at all.

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

If you know the UK show "Luther"? it has awesome women in season 1 who all pretty much disappear in season 2, and I just realized that that's why I hated season 2 so much....

Since you're giving a specific example, I'd say that in this case the show broke its contract with you as a viewer. Um, assuming shows can have contracts with their audience. Heh.

The chemistry of why we like stuff is tricky, but there are a whole lot more male leads for TV shows than female leads. I don't think it's too much to ask for a show to have some interesting women as well. TV shows in particular have a lot more space to develop a world with multiple characters. I cut movies more slack; for instance, I loved the Star Trek reboot even though only Uhura had more than two minutes of screen time.

Since male characters seem to be the 'default' for so-called universal appeal and women's stories get relegated to categories such as "chick flick," I don't feel too bad about expecting to have some women in my entertainment. If I didn't ever like anything with all or mostly male casts, maybe I'd be a bit more concerned, but that's not the case.

(I'm guessing you could probably find a few movies or books or shows where you relate to the guy first, so... um, stop worrying? Not that I really know you well enough to make that statement, but I feel pretty safe making the assumption.)