AElisabet
Scribe
I'm not trying to imply it is. I'm saying that when a writer invests in the "strong female character" archetype, their goal tends to be propaganda. Not art.
Yes, this is often the case. Clarification noted.
So we can agree
I'm not trying to imply it is. I'm saying that when a writer invests in the "strong female character" archetype, their goal tends to be propaganda. Not art.
Man, I've been wanting to either read or write about an older mother protagonist for the longest time. I really should get on that.
It's strange that for as important as mothers tend to be in every human society, there are very few works of fiction that focuses on them. Mothers are almost always supporting characters.
Man, I've been wanting to either read or write about an older mother protagonist for the longest time. I really should get on that.
It's strange that for as important as mothers tend to be in every human society, there are very few works of fiction that focuses on them. Mothers are almost always dead.
Agreed, though, that it's not exactly classic fantasy, and I can't think of another example that isn't one character of many in a political fantasy like Kay or Martin's books.
It goes without saying, but all genders - all people - deserve to have their complexity recognized, and not just to serve a "message" but because it just makes for better, more interesting fiction.
I'm on it! I'm on it!
I'm working on an epic fantasy with a heroine who is also a mother (or at least becomes one halfway through the story and it is central). Her own mother is also a major protagonist (and not dead! Totally alive and central to the plot well into grandmotherhood.)
And to the "mothering is time consuming" comment above - mothering in ANY culture is time consuming. Doesn't mean mothers just spend all their time gazing at their babies. Feeding, diapering, disciplining, that stuff all becomes second nature. It doesn't consume much time at all. I spent a teeny portion of my day wiping bums and feeding chirpy little mouths.
The most time consuming thing about motherhood is finding things to get out of the house and do with the kids all day. Take the ring to Mordor you say? Well let me pack some juice boxes and we are on it. Sounds more interesting than going to the same playground or museum for the 10000th time.
There is no "but it's medieval" excuse for excluding women from having a variety of roles in fantasy. It's either a failure of will, or of imagination, or just a lack of fantasy writers who respect or know first hand what mothers, wives, and other Non-Action chicks do all day.
Yeah, and I wrote Mothering takes a lot of time and effort, especially in a medieval type of setting.
So "mothering in ANY culture is time consuming" as you say. But it's the especially part I think you don't understand.
If it's time consuming in ANY culture, and so is time consuming in OUR culture, take our culture and then remove all the modern appliances and other technologies we use. Take away the supply chains for food and the gas/oil/electricity that power those technologies. Forget paying the electric bill or propane bill, and keep that wood fire going instead. Forget having the convenience of a public school system to act as daycare or babysitter for most of the day. Forget hospitals, doctors, and effective medicines that reduce healing time. The list goes on.
Of course one could imagine a lot of convenience stores or supermarkets with a steady supply of fruit boxes for the long trip to Mordor, or some fantasy equivalent. It's fantasy. I could imagine a younger Weasley family going on just such an adventure, with Ron and the other children in tow as Arthur and Molly set off on such a quest. Why not?
But it's not an excuse so much as a reality for those who like to write in a more down-to-earth or realistic vein.
I've more of a bone to pick with professed non- or anti-feminist folks who criticize the strong female character or the Mary Sue without giving the same excorciation to unrealistic action-jocks or male wish-fulfillment characters. Often from the same corners, Cersei is decried as a bitch, and Sansa as a boring pushover. It's the general hating-on central female characters that can sometimes seep into a discussion like this, and certainly has before on this forum.