Renegades. Heroes. Some call them badasses, but that depends on your definition of badass.
They're the heroes of the books that we really, really like. The ones that really, desperately want something and will fight for it, but are naive enough to believe that there's more to life than the mundane 'get what you want' without consequences.
I call them the Go-Getters. Because they run after they want and keep running until they have it, or become good enough people to realize they don't need it anymore.
I can think of a dozen examples, most of them boys. In fact, someone in my AP Lang class asked me why all my "babies" (as I like to call most of these characters) are boys.
I don't like that.
I can vividly think of only two or three examples of characters that defy it, but even they are disappointing. They lack that hopeful chauvinism that defines so many great characters. They are badass, but quickly fall into the trap that I-am-too-cool-for-this attitude that never manages to disappoint me.
I want to write a novel about this kind of girl, and she's already in my head. That isn't the news.
The news is that I used to be this kind of person but I'm too lacking in courage and pride to be anymore. I wish I were this type of person.
That's why I read so much about them.
(If anyone cares, I'm thinking of characters like Edward Elric, Augustus Waters, Jace Wayland, Rose Hathaway, etc etc. I don't think anybody really cares though. That's the thing about this post. People will read it and then return to their tumult filled lives, not a thing changed. I say this knowing that few will notice or bother to read this footnote, but hoping that maybe someone will for the better. So I post this note anyways, hoping.)
I think the reason there are so few super cool hero girls is that the patriarchy insists women are not supposed to think they're good at things, and if they do they're vain. You mentioned chauvinism as a defining characteristic of a lot of these heroes. (I'm assuming in an 'I'm a pretty good person, I can do this!' way as opposed to the way chauvinism is mostly used, as in 'men are superior to women'.) The media tells us that women aren't supposed to be confident, they should be submissive. Grr righteous feminist anger!
ReplyDeleteThat said, I do like my heroes to be a little bit humble, or they can come off as Mary Sues/Gary Stus. Augustus was confident and happy with himself, but he wasn't perfect; he had his insecurities and his hamartia, of course.
(Woah, such a long comment)