Female Characters In Entertainment..... Katie Guest Post

Stopping by the blog for Female Characters week is the AWESOME Katie from Bookishly Yours. Her post talks about some female characters who receive criticism for their actions, and her take on it.

You can follow Katie on Twitter, and be sure to stop by her blog as well.

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Today I want to give some love to some awesome female characters. These women get more unwarranted hate and not enough love they deserve either because they’re misunderstood or maybe because they’re simply overshadowed by the boys.

I don’t quite understand the level of hate for Elena Gilbert (TV version) because, to me, she’s always been this strong force to be reckoned with, especially when it comes to the people she cares about. She’s accepting and loving and goes to such lengths to protect people. She takes on much more than any seventeen-year-old ought to and I just can’t believe she holds up, I would have crumbled under that weight by now. Yet. YET! All fans seem to say about her is that she’s querulous and underserving of the Salvatore brothers (don’t even get me started on that) with no regard of all that she’s done for them and because of them. And what they've done to her in return. I mean, let’s not forget who killed Elena’s most precious family member: her brother.

Another character I've been seeing a lot of hate for is Juliet of the Shatter Me series. The week Unravel Me came out my Twitter timeline was chock full of unfair and unjust criticisms on Juliet. “Oh she’s so whiny!” “She puts herself down so much!” Her touch kills people. She cannot touch anyone. Or she will kill them. Her parents sent her away because they believed she was an abomination. I think I would be down on myself a tad, also. But I see a girl who tries, she’s trying to get over her insecurities – aren’t we all? – and all the things she’s been told she was since birth. She’s a fighter and she’s kind and I think she’s a really great, and yes: flawed, character.  But since when does a flawed female character equal a bad one?

Finally, Allison Argent from Teen Wolf. The girl is badass. She uses a bow and arrow! How awesome is that? She has one of the best lines of the series so far and that is when she tells her mother, “Can’t I be strong and go to prom?” because women can totally do, and be, both! Again, though, she’s constantly complained about for reasons I don’t understand.

Apparently every female character who talks about insecurities and is even the tiniest bit vulnerable is whiny and bratty and it’s a really sad thing to see fellow women giving endless understanding and excuses (many undeserving) to the male counterparts yet are so damn hard on our own sex – for qualities we ourselves most likely possess and situations we've probably all been in, at least in some way. I wish fans, especially of the female variety, could start to see female characters as portraits of ourselves and not tear them down for attributes that make them human. I know that won’t happen, at least anytime soon, so for now I will go on singing their praises.

Thanks so much for having me, Kathy!