anghraine: an illustration of moiraine damodred, a dark-haired woman in fancy fantasy clothes with a blue drop over her forehead (moiraine)
In this age of remakes and adaptations (though pretty much all ages are ages of remakes and adaptations tbh), I sometimes imagine adaptations of my childhood/adolescent faves. Off the top of my head and in no particular order:
  • Jane Yolen’s Wizard’s Hall (super formative, could make a pretty cool, sometimes creepy, film)
  • The Witch of Blackbird Pond (just … great, probably fits a mini-series better)
  • Sweet Valley Twins (maybe this already exists? it would be terrible, but I inhaled them as a kid)
  • Agatha Christie in general (definitely exists, though the quality is variable … I really disliked the version I saw of Cards on the Table)
  • She-Ra (exists, is great)
  • The Belgariad and the Elenium (I would prefer the latter, with Liberties taken to deal with some of the Eddingsisms, but the former might be more cinematic. I once had an AU where as a fairly minor background detail, the Elenium was made in place of GOT, but with the same cast, like Lena Headey as Sephrenia, etc …)
  • LOTR, esp Gondor (of course there are the movies, but a) their treatment of Gondor is terrible on a lot of fronts, and b) I think LOTR is better suited to TV anyway, and in my dreams, really high-quality animation)
  • Wheel of Time (in the works, I’m lowkey terrified)
  • Daughter of the Empire (no idea how this would be done)
  • Incarnations of Immortality (I don’t really want money going to Piers Anthony, so no, even though it’s conceptually one of my fave takes on Death)
  • Pern (??? I would mostly watch this for Lessa. Probably super expensive to make as a series, which it would have to be)
  • Valdemar (I DON’T EVEN KNOW)
  • Tamora Pierce (I love Emelan best, but Tortall would be cool, too!)
  • So You Want to Be a Wizard (it seems like it would be very cinematic in some ways and not at all in others, so I’m not sure, but if someone could make it work, awesome)
anghraine: a black and white picture of young sissy spacek and carrie fisher (subtitled 'lucy and leia') (lucy and leia (letters))
Back in January (of 2024!), I saw [personal profile] sqbr's fantastic post on gender, female characters, genderswap, and original female characters. It's here and it's great. A nuanced, complicated take on this kind of genderbending is basically a bat signal for me personally, and at first I was going to comment directly to them, but my response grew as I thought about it, so I figured I'd put my response here instead of spamming their blog. I've basically been thinking about it off and on for the last two months. If you're reading this, I'd advise you to check out their post.

So, backing up a bit: I've often found the genderswap/genderbending and original female character (OFC) discourses to be—well, in all honesty, incoherent, unfair, and deeply stupid most of the time. I feel like a lot of "the discourse" around these things is contingent on 1) a “why are we not about me” approach to gender and 2) a sort of internalized fandom hierarchy, especially with regard to original female characters vs canon female characters. As I see it, all characters are someone’s OCs. As a consequence, the framework in which female characters produced by a generally male or male-dominated creator/creative group should be considered more authentically female than female characters produced by fans who are very often actual women can seem profoundly unjust and also simply very strange.

For instance, I love a lot of the female characters in Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time and would not argue that they aren't actually women. Moiraine Damodred is one of my favorite female characters in fantasy, partly because she's a woman in a role that goes to men most of the time. But the "fictional women created by a male author" vibe is intense and inescapable in these books. The idea that fans' OFCs reflect a less authentic femaleness than Jordan's powerful women getting sexily spanked over and over feels pretty bizarre.

And this extends to genderswap/genderbending, given that when influential people in Hollywood or the broader entertainment industry change a male character's gender to female (either the character was previously conceptualized as male in the creative process, or the work is an adaptation of a source in which the character was male), the same wing of fandom that condemns fannish genderbending tends to be completely supportive and to see the new version as a legitimate female character. We can see this with Ripley, Azula, Joan Watson, etc. And even going the other way, nobody seems to think Luke Skywalker is somehow not a real male character even though George Lucas kept changing his gender, or that there was anything wrong with Lucas doing that. The condemnations of genderbending cis male characters to female ones are pretty specifically about fans doing this, especially female fans.

That's a longer rant than I meant it to be, but the reason I bring it up is because this has always struck me as a baffling argument as well as an unfair one. But I think [personal profile] sqbr's post highlights an important distinction between arguments about characters' femaleness and arguments about characters' female characterness, if that makes sense. The ways in which female characters tend to be framed by the narratives they appear in shape our sense of what female characters are and what is desirable for them to be.

For me, M->F genderbending is partly about my own wobbly, weak sense of gender, but also partly an expression of affection. It's satisfying to give the kind of centrality and/or Very Special Boy treatment that my male faves typically get to a girl or woman, and to explore the ways in which the kind of frameworks typically given to male characters collide with generally patriarchal settings, all without sacrificing my fave. So, say, my female Luke Skywalker has to deal with The Space Patriarchy and with being Special and Important and centered in a way typically reserved for male characters.

And that's often a major part of the appeal of M->F genderbending for me—a female character getting the structural narrative benefits typically reserved for various kinds of male characters, but without fundamentally disrupting the structure of the cast as given in canon. So turning Luke into Lucy feels fundamentally different to me, and much more satisfying, than inventing, say, a female triplet to take his narrative place.

And this is basically the exact opposite motivation as the one described in [personal profile] sqbr's post, of relating to female characters because of the narrative framework typically given them. I don't think either of us are wrong, factually or morally, we just sometimes have different tastes in terms of how we do fandom and gender.

I do think they're very correct about how a lot of female characters who are kind of presented as badass or whatever by way of receiving traits often assigned to male characters don't hit the same note as female characters who are given the kind of narrative framing often assigned to male characters. And I also think [personal profile] sqbr is right that what we all get out of female characters, what we find appealing in them, or gratifying, or admirable (or cringey, reminiscent of painful RL experiences, an annoying trope given female form Yet Again, etc), is hugely variable between people in ways that can actually be entirely legitimate for those different people. I've known female SW fans, for instance, who couldn't latch onto Leia the way I did because of the ways she's sidelined by the narrative structure of the OT (particularly ROTJ). I think that's perfectly fine, actually, even though I don't feel the same.

In addition, I had some amorphous thoughts about how when canon female characters click for me, they tend to really click, which [personal profile] sqbr also discusses in their post. An easy example for me is Attolia Irene in The Queen of Attolia, whose experiences and choices are profoundly shaped by patriarchy and who is given the kind of messy sympathy and resourceful triumph that is often reserved for characters like Gen and who is beautiful in a way I personally find hot as a lesbian. I briefly thought about what f!Eugenides/Irene would be like—cool to be sure, but tbh I'm not that interested because I'm so invested in Irene specifically.

Sort of relatedly, I do find it annoying when there's a discussion going on about favorite female characters in a canon, especially a male-dominated canon, and people respond with canonically male characters "because he's a lesbian to me" or whatever. I’ll defend a lot when it comes to genderbending, but that’s not cool.
anghraine: an illustration of moiraine damodred, a dark-haired woman in fancy fantasy clothes with a blue drop over her forehead (moiraine)
primeideal asked:

Moiraine Damodred :)

I replied:

I think this was for a meme I posted back in … December (eep!), so … hm. I really love Moiraine, but I also haven’t read the books in a really long time, so I might have the specifics wrong.

1. Sexuality Headcanon: In my heart, grey-ace (like nearly all of my faves), but canonically speaking, bi.

2. OTP: No one, really? But Moiraine/Siuan is cool. 

3. BROTP: I’m not quite sure—I really like Moiraine individually, but less in actual relation to other characters except Siuan. I do have Moiraine+Elayne vague feelings, though!

4. NOTP: Moiraine/Thom. I would scrub all trace of it from all of the books if I could. D:

5. First headcanon that pops into my head: I honestly can’t remember how much is canon or not, especially because New Spring was so satisfying for me. I do imagine that she had very complicated feelings about Elayne, though.

6. Favorite line from this character: probably the same one I dug up for this post: Before I let the Dark One have you, I will destroy you myself.

7. One way in which I relate to this character: the extent to which Moiraine sticks to her choices once she makes them! She picks her path and follows it with a steely determination that I appreciate. I’m not that way as much as her, but I am very stubborn.

8. Thing that gives me second-hand embarrassment: Thom. She’s too good for him!

9. Cinnamon roll or problematic fave: Neither. Moiraine transcends simple binaries!

anghraine: vader extending his lightsaber; text: and now for the airing of grievances! (moiraine (damodred))
In response to this post, cosmonauthill at Tumblr said:

Daniel Henney with a sword as Lan will have my eyeballs GLUED to the screen and the Two Rivers gang look great but… Moiraine had better be just so great or I’ll be heartbroken I think

I replied:

Yes! They’re making it sound like she’s the star and that is GREAT but also TERRIFYING

moggett said:

Is it true that Rosamund Pike is playing her?

Wikipedia says so! I like Rosamund Pike and I don’t know how to feel, lol

anghraine: an illustration of moiraine damodred, a dark-haired woman in fancy fantasy clothes with a blue drop over her forehead (moiraine)
I have faaaar more LOTR than WOT feelings in general, but wrt Prime’s dabbling in fantasy epics my strongest feeling is … what if they are UNJUST to MOIRAINE

(I've loved her since high school—she's the source of half of my username! I just ... aghhhhh.)
anghraine: a picture of multnomah falls in oregon: a tall waterfall with a wooden bridge connecting either side (multnomah)

Poll #29007 Shipping Poll 1e
This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

According to you, which ship is better?

View Answers

Laura/Carmilla
4 (57.1%)

Moiraine Damodred/Siuan Sanche
3 (42.9%)

anghraine: an enraged korra propels herself in the avatar state (korra (avatar state))
Female character meme!

I was tagged by cinefantastiquemitho and princesssarisa.

RULES: name 10 favorite female characters from 10 different fandoms and then tag 10 people.

1. I was just thinking about her, so Mary Crawford for Austen fandom

"No cold prudence for me. I am not born to sit still and do nothing. If I lose the game, it will not be from not striving for it."

2. Aravis of Calormen for Narnia fandom

She was proud and could be hard enough but she was true as steel.

3. Tar-Ancalimë for Tolkien fandom

But she did not refuse the Heirship, and determined that when her day came she would be a powerful Ruling Queen; and when so, to live where and how she pleased.

4. Annabella from ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore (which doesn’t have a fandom per se but shhhh she’s great)

VASQUES: Good sir, be reconciled; alas, good gentlewoman.

ANNABELLA: Pish, do not beg for me.

5. Avatar Korra for Avatar fandom

"You have always been strong, unyielding, fearless."

6. Leia Organa for SW fandom

"Somebody has to save our skins!"

7. Lucrezia Borgia for Borgias fandom

"I will have blood for this."

8. Lessa for Pern fandom

"Time, time, time. It’s always the wrong time. When is now the time?"

9. Moiraine Damodred for Wheel of Time fandom

"Before I let the Dark One have you, I will destroy you myself."

10. Sandrilene fa Toren for Tamora Pierce fandom

"If I tell you my friend is a lady, then you had best start lapping."
anghraine: a picture of a woman with a white streak in her red hair casting a spell (lohse (full))
My brain is still shrieking over the WOT trailer

MOIRAINE MOIRAINE MOIRAINE MOIRAINE

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