Litsy

Unlikeable Female Characters: The Women Pop Culture Wants You to Hate | Anna Bogutskaya

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Has English come up with any secular equivalents for the phrase 'preaching to the choir/converted?' It's the strongest feeling I had while reading this: I'm glad it exists, I'm not sure I needed to read it.
I will say, I was not familiar with all examples of media (film/television) discussed, but the author did a great job of summarizing each such that I never felt like I was unable to follow the thread - 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? why that example was provided for the trope being discussed.
I like that there was an evolution tracked in each chapter, the history of the trope/stereotype in Hollywood, edging into pop culture and society, how it has evolved, hopefully with a more nuanced approach, how various journalism/scholarship has started to examine each of these archetypes, though there are examples throughout history of savvy women aware of these roles, 2d

Robotswithpersonality 3/? their possibilities and pitfalls, how the types mostly emerge from misogynistic/patriarchal thinking and can reinforce negative views, and how they may be subverted.
Some repeating themes:
How these types have been part of internalized misogyny, pitting women against other women, against female characters, how the type in fiction bleeds out and can be indiscriminately used to tarnish the actress/celebrity associated with a role. 2d

Robotswithpersonality 4/? So, so many examples of the double standard, behaviour in male characters praised, while similar behaviour in female characters lines them up for a negative label, (though there are moments where actresses gain critical acclaim, where the character is loved for her unconventionality, where maybe the absolute of 'men this, women that' is blurred); 2d

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Robotswithpersonality 5/? acknowledgement of the further reductive stereotypes applying to women of colour, how even within the range of juicy unlikeable roles that may be controversial or may be award fodder, it's historically only been available to white women who fit a narrow beauty standard; reclamation of some terms but not others, author is not alone in having a complicated relationship with some of the words used. 2d

Robotswithpersonality 6/? I do feel a little like the message is already out there, though obviously, quoted short form journalism vs a book may reach different audiences, and just because I feel it's acknowledged fact doesn't mean there isn't a large swath of the population the author knows is unaware and needs to be schooled. 2d

Robotswithpersonality 7/7 I think most of all Bogutskaya had a great time discussing female characters from film and television that were formative in their portrayals, if not completely unproblematic, and in many cases need a second glance because they may have been overlooked/unfairly maligned when first seen on screen.
⚠️SA, misogyny 2d

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Robotswithpersonality

Unlikeable Female Characters: The Women Pop Culture Wants You to Hate | Anna Bogutskaya

“We can't avoid being influenced by the stories we see onscreen, but we also have the power to influence the stories that are made.“

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Robotswithpersonality

Unlikeable Female Characters: The Women Pop Culture Wants You to Hate | Anna Bogutskaya

👏🏻

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Chelsea.Poole

The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World | Christine Rosen

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This book presents all the ways humans are allowing their lived experiences to become secondary to their screens. There‘s data about many aspects of life: our friends are often online instead of in our own neighborhood, our kids are watching videos instead of riding their bikes, and there‘s anecdotes about what experiencing life through technology causes us to miss. (I‘m guilty of this somewhat—I hide behind screens in public, it‘s a shield!)

Anna40 I think this is partly true. The kids in my neighbourhood play online together or alone but they also still ride their bikes, built forts and play soccer or football in the backyard. I use my phone a lot, true, but my friends aren‘t online only or mostly. Phones and technology play a vital role in our lives today but I disagree with the thought that they dominate our lives. 1mo

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Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick

Culture Smart! Ireland | John Scotney

Being in a reading slump means I'm still "in Ireland" for #foodandlit but since my guy is playing pickleball, the pup is content to lounge with me, and today's scrolling doesn't feel so doom-y, I'm going to finish my Ireland Overview with some Irish Pub ambiance on the screen.

Catsandbooks Enjoy at your own pace! 💚 2mo

TheBookHippie 💚 2mo

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Amandakay

Unlikeable Female Characters: The Women Pop Culture Wants You to Hate | Anna Bogutskaya

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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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shanaqui

Unlikeable Female Characters: The Women Pop Culture Wants You to Hate | Anna Bogutskaya

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I didn't DNF this, but I did start skimming. It was just so obvious. And I know it ultimately wasn't going to go *much* into the perfectly likeable female characters who get vilified by pop culture and fandom, but it didn't even touch on it. Disappointing in the end, and definitely makes me wonder if her book on horror was just as obvious to someone who actually likes horror films.

Still somehow avoiding a #BookSpinBingo by following my whim. 😂

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shanaqui

Unlikeable Female Characters: The Women Pop Culture Wants You to Hate | Anna Bogutskaya

I really like Bogutskaya's more recent book on horror, but I'm kinda reevaluating in that in light of how *obvious* this is. I grew up in fandom with Relena Peacecraft and Rinoa Heartily being vilified for being “unlikeable“, and turned into caricatures that made absolutely no sense -- angry “bitches“, “sluts“, etc. Nothing here is particularly insightful.

Contemplating DNFing, or at least skimming. Disappointing.

Faranae Relena was definitely written to be extremely admirable, but the Western fandom really hated her for the most part. And that's something interesting to examine. I've seen a lot of “stanning women doing bad things“ from white feminists that rather concerns me, because it feels like they are missing that it's not about everyone getting to be equally awful... 3mo

shanaqui @Faranae I feel like this is very much in that vein, where I'd hoped for it to discuss more why female characters are considered unlikeable for basically no reason. I'd expected it to deal with Rey from Star Wars, for instance, but not so far... instead it discusses various archetypes of “unlikeable“ characters (“the bitch“, “the slut“, “the angry woman“, “the weirdo“, “the trainwreck“). 3mo

shanaqui @Faranae And she has a point in that male characters can be angry or sexual or messed up without the same dislike accruing, but I think really examining “Unlikeable Female Characters“ requires a bit more attention to the characters who we hate for no good reason, too. 3mo

Faranae @shanaqui Going for only the traditional “evil woman“ archetypes seems fairly shallow. We have read this listicle before! Male characters often get to be multifaceted yes, but you can also write a male villain that's 1-dimensional like the female archetypes. I think one would *have* to examine why people hate characters for no good reason to get at the meat of “unlikeable women“ and how to write multi-faceted women who get to also be likeable. 3mo

Faranae @shanaqui I was fascinated by the different reactions I and my chat had to Jane Austen's Lady Susan versus someone else. We loved it, and read Susan as a lady rake whose real love is Alicia. She's a terrible mother! But we were rooting for her to get her cake and eat it, too. The other streamer and chat hated her for being a slut (their words), a bad mother, and selfish. They didn't see any affection between her and Alicia at all, either. 3mo

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