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Those pesky women
Sep. 24th, 2008 06:25 pmGAH. Been trying to write a post about recurring female characters and recurring male characters in SPN all night, and every time I try it ends up longer than War and Peace and impossible to put in any kind of coherent order.
It all boils down to the fact that, all other things being equal, as an audience we expect the young, hot, FEMALE recurring character to have been introduced primarily as a love interest for one of the male characters. But, as an audience, we expect the young, hot, MALE recurring character to have been introduced primarily for plot reasons, and further that it is extremely unlikely that the main purpose of said male character is to be a love interest for one of the male leads.
( And this is the short (non-spoilery, non-SPN specific) version.... )
(And all that said, I have seen some truly vile reactions to female characters that I DO believe are rooted in misogyny. All I ask is that people accept this isn't always the case - that sometimes people have valid reasons for their reactions, even if you don't agree.)
It all boils down to the fact that, all other things being equal, as an audience we expect the young, hot, FEMALE recurring character to have been introduced primarily as a love interest for one of the male characters. But, as an audience, we expect the young, hot, MALE recurring character to have been introduced primarily for plot reasons, and further that it is extremely unlikely that the main purpose of said male character is to be a love interest for one of the male leads.
( And this is the short (non-spoilery, non-SPN specific) version.... )
(And all that said, I have seen some truly vile reactions to female characters that I DO believe are rooted in misogyny. All I ask is that people accept this isn't always the case - that sometimes people have valid reasons for their reactions, even if you don't agree.)
