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Apr. 19th, 2013 11:18 amSo, a lot of things I've been reading lately from links friends have posted have been making me think. And among them was one that suggested posting about female characters - there was a lot of other stuff in there, too, and really, I recommend going and reading the post.
Anyway. I'm going to try to post something every Friday about a female character (or female historical figure or female mythological being) that I love. And why I think they're awesome. Some of them are probably as loved, some of them, maybe not, but it doesn't matter, because I think they are awesome and I want to talk about why I adore them.
Today... well, I have been trying to decide who is the most awesome woman I want to talk about, and I am spoiled for choice (possibly because I devour fiction of any media that gives me a visual - even if that visual is just words on a page). And you know what, I think I'll start with one I can actually recall seeing hate directed at, and not really being able to understand why people would hate with such vigor - though I do have to thank those people, because it made me take a second look at a character I had no real feeling for, and find reasons to like her.
Gwen Cooper, from Torchwood. Because she is curious, determined, refuses to back down when she thinks she's right, makes her own decisions about her sexuality and partners, and because she makes mistakes. Because she's fallible and human, and gets caught up in something entirely outside the experience of the every day that it's overwhelming - and she doesn't run away from it, but embraces it. Because she knows she's made mistakes, and is both strong enough to admit them, and weak enough to want to cover them up at the same time.
Is it weird that the things that I'd heard as reasons to hate her are some of the reasons I adore her? Maybe. Not sure I care beyond acknowledging that it is maybe weird.
I love her because she made the choice to sleep with Owen, to admit that to Rhys - and Retcon Rhys at the same time - and in the end, decided to stay with Rhys and to marry him.
I love her because she is willing to tell Jack that he's wrong, even if it later turns out she doesn't have all the facts. That she's willing to stand up for people who have had their lives turned inside-out by the Rift, and to try to help them, even if those she's trying to help aren't entirely happy about it later.
I love her because she fought the Retcon, and refused to be shunted aside when she investigated Torchwood. Because she decided to join Torchwood despite the risks and the weirdness.
I love her because she's strong enough to step into the role of leader when Jack runs away to follow the Doctor. To hold onto the team despite the mess. To make the sort of hard decisions someone leading a group that runs into danger has to make - and despite most of her tenure as leader happening in the space between series one and series two, I don't doubt she had to make those sort of decisions while Jack was gone.
And that's just canon.
I love writing her when I write Torchwood because she makes a fantastic leader for Torchwood, because she makes a dangerous field agent for the same, because she wants to help even when she doesn't know how.
Fairytales and Nightmares - Gwen is the head of Torchwood Cardiff, and keeps together a motley bunch while playing diplomacy with the Founding Directors, the British government, and making a life at home with her partner. She's juggling a lot, and sometimes it stresses her out, but she never lets it break her.
Darker Guardians - She's one of the field agents that Lisa recruits to Torchwood from the police, and she's set up as a team with Jack and Owen. I haven't actually written any scenes from that AU with Gwen, merely planned out what I wanted to do with her. Darker edged, colder, but that's because this AU is darker and colder.
Lieutenant to Chaos - Where she's one of Jack's strays that he calls team in Cardiff, liaising with the police, being their visible face and their PR woman. Where she worries about Jack and his relationships, and tries her best to be what Torchwood needs her to be, and what Rhys needs her to be, and I really need to write some more of this, and parts with her.
And you know what, I really need to have posted more of what little I've written with her in those AUs, and I ought to write more with her in those AUs. Even if all I write are snippets. Which means rewatching the first two series of Torchwood (in which there's more than just Gwen for me to squee over, and to yell at the screen over, because Tosh, and I will never not be grumpy that Tosh was killed at the end of series two).
Also, I'm not putting this behind a cut, and it will be public, because otherwise, what's the point of posting the love? Feel free to comment with your own favorite female characters and moments of their being awesome (or links to your own post of women being awesome), or pictures or fic.
Anyway. I'm going to try to post something every Friday about a female character (or female historical figure or female mythological being) that I love. And why I think they're awesome. Some of them are probably as loved, some of them, maybe not, but it doesn't matter, because I think they are awesome and I want to talk about why I adore them.
Today... well, I have been trying to decide who is the most awesome woman I want to talk about, and I am spoiled for choice (possibly because I devour fiction of any media that gives me a visual - even if that visual is just words on a page). And you know what, I think I'll start with one I can actually recall seeing hate directed at, and not really being able to understand why people would hate with such vigor - though I do have to thank those people, because it made me take a second look at a character I had no real feeling for, and find reasons to like her.
Gwen Cooper, from Torchwood. Because she is curious, determined, refuses to back down when she thinks she's right, makes her own decisions about her sexuality and partners, and because she makes mistakes. Because she's fallible and human, and gets caught up in something entirely outside the experience of the every day that it's overwhelming - and she doesn't run away from it, but embraces it. Because she knows she's made mistakes, and is both strong enough to admit them, and weak enough to want to cover them up at the same time.
Is it weird that the things that I'd heard as reasons to hate her are some of the reasons I adore her? Maybe. Not sure I care beyond acknowledging that it is maybe weird.
I love her because she made the choice to sleep with Owen, to admit that to Rhys - and Retcon Rhys at the same time - and in the end, decided to stay with Rhys and to marry him.
I love her because she is willing to tell Jack that he's wrong, even if it later turns out she doesn't have all the facts. That she's willing to stand up for people who have had their lives turned inside-out by the Rift, and to try to help them, even if those she's trying to help aren't entirely happy about it later.
I love her because she fought the Retcon, and refused to be shunted aside when she investigated Torchwood. Because she decided to join Torchwood despite the risks and the weirdness.
I love her because she's strong enough to step into the role of leader when Jack runs away to follow the Doctor. To hold onto the team despite the mess. To make the sort of hard decisions someone leading a group that runs into danger has to make - and despite most of her tenure as leader happening in the space between series one and series two, I don't doubt she had to make those sort of decisions while Jack was gone.
And that's just canon.
I love writing her when I write Torchwood because she makes a fantastic leader for Torchwood, because she makes a dangerous field agent for the same, because she wants to help even when she doesn't know how.
Fairytales and Nightmares - Gwen is the head of Torchwood Cardiff, and keeps together a motley bunch while playing diplomacy with the Founding Directors, the British government, and making a life at home with her partner. She's juggling a lot, and sometimes it stresses her out, but she never lets it break her.
Darker Guardians - She's one of the field agents that Lisa recruits to Torchwood from the police, and she's set up as a team with Jack and Owen. I haven't actually written any scenes from that AU with Gwen, merely planned out what I wanted to do with her. Darker edged, colder, but that's because this AU is darker and colder.
Lieutenant to Chaos - Where she's one of Jack's strays that he calls team in Cardiff, liaising with the police, being their visible face and their PR woman. Where she worries about Jack and his relationships, and tries her best to be what Torchwood needs her to be, and what Rhys needs her to be, and I really need to write some more of this, and parts with her.
And you know what, I really need to have posted more of what little I've written with her in those AUs, and I ought to write more with her in those AUs. Even if all I write are snippets. Which means rewatching the first two series of Torchwood (in which there's more than just Gwen for me to squee over, and to yell at the screen over, because Tosh, and I will never not be grumpy that Tosh was killed at the end of series two).
Also, I'm not putting this behind a cut, and it will be public, because otherwise, what's the point of posting the love? Feel free to comment with your own favorite female characters and moments of their being awesome (or links to your own post of women being awesome), or pictures or fic.