Days 25-28
Jul. 6th, 2011 02:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineMy au_bigbangs got chosen on the first day! Yay! Now I just need to finish them, ack. Between memes.
Day 25: What is your favourite mother/daughter or sister relationship?
Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa Black. The three sisters are the crux of my interest in the Black family, even though we see comparatively little of them. There's Andromeda and Narcissa, prepared to give up everything for their families - the families that they chose to make. There's Bellatrix, whose fanatical devotion to Voldemort still doesn't keep her from accompanying her baby sister and, to all appearances, never betraying her. They all have this splendid defiance, too; Bellatrix on her way to Azkaban, Andromeda under torture (from Bellatrix, no less), Narcissa lying to Voldemort's face because she is that badass. I love, too, that they're all Slytherins and it shows in very different ways, even that Andromeda is the spitting image of Bellatrix, that Bellatrix and Narcissa (yes, Narcissa - DH makes this pretty damn clear) are clearly the matriarchs of their families and Andromeda likely is as well.
I like that the ramifications of their previous relationship follow them, even though we never know exactly what it was. Bellatrix, monstrous though she is, can never be indifferent to Andromeda as she is to Alice or whomever else, because Andromeda is her sister (and she refers to her that way); her "betrayal" continues to reflect on Bellatrix and Narcissa, at least in their minds. And Andromeda retains enough identification with her natal family that, at the least, she gives her only child a name clearly in accordance with their traditions. It's all rather fascinating and all the more because there's so much we don't know.
Day 26: Who is your favourite classical (pre-twentieth century) character?
I haven't talked about her much (maybe at all?), but except for ones that I've already mentioned, it's got to be Helen Lawrence from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
I love her because even when she makes foolish choices, she is never dismissed as a fool. Helen is smart, talented, determined and the fact that she's also deluding herself as a young girl does not invalidate that. She does everything she can possibly do, and even when she's basically helpless she's not a victim. She endures her husband's hostile sexism while making it quite clear that it's his fault for being such a jerk, and refusing to ever take responsibility for his flaws. She rejects the benevolent sexism of his Nice Guy friends. She's a good mother who isn't primarily identified as a mother (oh, be still my heart).
She's in a horrible situation and she uses every opportunity at her disposal to fight back in the only way she knows how. Even when she fails (over and over and over), she does not give up because she is a BOSS. And when she meets the genuinely (...) nice guy that she's going to end up marrying, she isn't completely bowled over by him. She's not even especially impressed. Helen has pride, strength, intelligence, and A;DFASDK;DASKL;FDL;FK WHY SO AMAZING HELEN.
Also, she comes up with operant conditioning all on her own. No, really.
Day 27: Who is a female character that you have elaborate personal canon for?
I have elaborate personal canon for just about every fandom I've run across. I certainly do for pretty much every character I've mentioned here. So let me find somebody new. Aha, probably the one that I put the most effort into: Lady Anne Darcy.
Yes: Lady Catherine's sister and Darcy's mother. We know almost nothing about her, except that her son didn't consider her quite as benevolent and amiable as his father, that both she and her husband were basically good people but left their only son to grow up in pride and conceit (-->direct quote), and she and her sister very likely planned said son's marriage to her niece, who was named after her. That's really all. But fandom was so fixated on Lady Anne as this perfect saint that, after being determined that I could never bring myself to write fanfic (lol), I cracked and wrote thirty-something short, yet rambling chapters about a Lady Anne who was nothing of the kind. But also not aristocratic!previousgeneration!Elizabeth.
I'd vaguely thought of her as basically a titled version of Mrs Lennox from The Secret Garden - a glamorous, charming socialite without much substance. When I wrote her as a heroine, she became very different - arrogant, strong-willed, and dramatic. I abandoned that story eventually (ah, the first of many), and I've gone back to a sort of twist on the Mrs Lennox!Lady Anne; prouder, I think, and more erratic. The hints we get via Lady Catherine always gave me the impression that the sisters were close, so that's in my headcanon too - I imagine Lady Anne as a little younger and a lot ditzier, so she pretty much just went along with whatever Lady Catherine wanted. Also, Lady Catherine's "I'd have been amazing at X if I'd ever bothered to learn" gives me the impression that she was a total tomboy as a girl, so I imagine them as very Tomboy and Girly Girl, but pretty much inseparable even once they'd married.
Their firstborn (surviving) children happening to be born the same year and happening to be of opposite sexes was just the icing on the cake, really.
Also, Elizabeth thinks Darcy looks somewhat like Lady Catherine, and I always figured he looks just like his mother (nyah, fanon!) and she looked quite a bit like her sister. For anybody who knew his mother (which, given her party girl personality, was a lot of people), Lady Anne Darcy producing a child who looks just like her - and is reserved, awkward, and clever - is a very o_O moment.
Day 28: Who is your favourite female writer?
Jane Austen, duh. My austen tag is over that way, if you're interested in the reasons. But to sum up: amazing characterization, pacing, plotting, phrasing, insight into the human condition, wry and skeptical about people without being annoyingly nihilistic, and despite her incredibly spare style providing immense complexity and ambiguity. IMO, she's one of the best writers who have ever lived, and certainly the most personally satisfying.
Day 25: What is your favourite mother/daughter or sister relationship?
Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa Black. The three sisters are the crux of my interest in the Black family, even though we see comparatively little of them. There's Andromeda and Narcissa, prepared to give up everything for their families - the families that they chose to make. There's Bellatrix, whose fanatical devotion to Voldemort still doesn't keep her from accompanying her baby sister and, to all appearances, never betraying her. They all have this splendid defiance, too; Bellatrix on her way to Azkaban, Andromeda under torture (from Bellatrix, no less), Narcissa lying to Voldemort's face because she is that badass. I love, too, that they're all Slytherins and it shows in very different ways, even that Andromeda is the spitting image of Bellatrix, that Bellatrix and Narcissa (yes, Narcissa - DH makes this pretty damn clear) are clearly the matriarchs of their families and Andromeda likely is as well.
I like that the ramifications of their previous relationship follow them, even though we never know exactly what it was. Bellatrix, monstrous though she is, can never be indifferent to Andromeda as she is to Alice or whomever else, because Andromeda is her sister (and she refers to her that way); her "betrayal" continues to reflect on Bellatrix and Narcissa, at least in their minds. And Andromeda retains enough identification with her natal family that, at the least, she gives her only child a name clearly in accordance with their traditions. It's all rather fascinating and all the more because there's so much we don't know.
Day 26: Who is your favourite classical (pre-twentieth century) character?
I haven't talked about her much (maybe at all?), but except for ones that I've already mentioned, it's got to be Helen Lawrence from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
I love her because even when she makes foolish choices, she is never dismissed as a fool. Helen is smart, talented, determined and the fact that she's also deluding herself as a young girl does not invalidate that. She does everything she can possibly do, and even when she's basically helpless she's not a victim. She endures her husband's hostile sexism while making it quite clear that it's his fault for being such a jerk, and refusing to ever take responsibility for his flaws. She rejects the benevolent sexism of his Nice Guy friends. She's a good mother who isn't primarily identified as a mother (oh, be still my heart).
She's in a horrible situation and she uses every opportunity at her disposal to fight back in the only way she knows how. Even when she fails (over and over and over), she does not give up because she is a BOSS. And when she meets the genuinely (...) nice guy that she's going to end up marrying, she isn't completely bowled over by him. She's not even especially impressed. Helen has pride, strength, intelligence, and A;DFASDK;DASKL;FDL;FK WHY SO AMAZING HELEN.
Also, she comes up with operant conditioning all on her own. No, really.
Day 27: Who is a female character that you have elaborate personal canon for?
I have elaborate personal canon for just about every fandom I've run across. I certainly do for pretty much every character I've mentioned here. So let me find somebody new. Aha, probably the one that I put the most effort into: Lady Anne Darcy.
Yes: Lady Catherine's sister and Darcy's mother. We know almost nothing about her, except that her son didn't consider her quite as benevolent and amiable as his father, that both she and her husband were basically good people but left their only son to grow up in pride and conceit (-->direct quote), and she and her sister very likely planned said son's marriage to her niece, who was named after her. That's really all. But fandom was so fixated on Lady Anne as this perfect saint that, after being determined that I could never bring myself to write fanfic (lol), I cracked and wrote thirty-something short, yet rambling chapters about a Lady Anne who was nothing of the kind. But also not aristocratic!previousgeneration!Elizabeth.
I'd vaguely thought of her as basically a titled version of Mrs Lennox from The Secret Garden - a glamorous, charming socialite without much substance. When I wrote her as a heroine, she became very different - arrogant, strong-willed, and dramatic. I abandoned that story eventually (ah, the first of many), and I've gone back to a sort of twist on the Mrs Lennox!Lady Anne; prouder, I think, and more erratic. The hints we get via Lady Catherine always gave me the impression that the sisters were close, so that's in my headcanon too - I imagine Lady Anne as a little younger and a lot ditzier, so she pretty much just went along with whatever Lady Catherine wanted. Also, Lady Catherine's "I'd have been amazing at X if I'd ever bothered to learn" gives me the impression that she was a total tomboy as a girl, so I imagine them as very Tomboy and Girly Girl, but pretty much inseparable even once they'd married.
Their firstborn (surviving) children happening to be born the same year and happening to be of opposite sexes was just the icing on the cake, really.
Also, Elizabeth thinks Darcy looks somewhat like Lady Catherine, and I always figured he looks just like his mother (nyah, fanon!) and she looked quite a bit like her sister. For anybody who knew his mother (which, given her party girl personality, was a lot of people), Lady Anne Darcy producing a child who looks just like her - and is reserved, awkward, and clever - is a very o_O moment.
Day 28: Who is your favourite female writer?
Jane Austen, duh. My austen tag is over that way, if you're interested in the reasons. But to sum up: amazing characterization, pacing, plotting, phrasing, insight into the human condition, wry and skeptical about people without being annoyingly nihilistic, and despite her incredibly spare style providing immense complexity and ambiguity. IMO, she's one of the best writers who have ever lived, and certainly the most personally satisfying.