The White Lily (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thewhitelily) wrote2017-06-07 01:53 pm
thewhitelily) wrote2017-06-07 01:53 pm
Entry tags:
Wonder Woman!
This post brought to you by three different wonder women: I shall deal with the most personal one first:
I have completed my 36th challenge in a row for fan_flashworks, which makes an entire year of challenges I've posted at least one entry for, notwithstanding rain, hail, shine, real life, or severe lack of inspiration. I've always been pretty good at writing when the inspiration takes me--less good at maintaining the effort over the long haul, but I've found it's been really good for me, for my output and for my mental health. In a year of entries I've earned the following badges:
That second last badge there, the crown? That's the Hardcore Finisher, for earning six different skills training badges for writing different genres, all with different fics. Apparently earning that one gives me the right to brag about my superior badassery to my friends for ever and ever. :D (Honey, you should see me in a crown. XD)
Wonder Woman the second: I went to see the movie, and it was brilliant. I'm a sucker for superheroes, Superman's always been my all time favourite, although I've been less than impressed at DC's latest movie efforts: too smashy-fighty-collateral-damagey and completely devoid of plot or believable character arc. Anyway, despite my love of supers, until now somehow I've never really seen or read any Wonder Woman at all, although my sister is a BIG fan. (And if you're wondering how that works, she's 11 years older than me, so by the time I was old enough, she was way too cool for superheroes, and by the time she was old enough to realise that she didn't have to be too cool for superheroes, we weren't living in the same house anymore.)
Anyway, I loved every moment of it, even the cheesy logical leaps and dodgy physics, because that's just part of the genre, and I loved little Diana, and big Diana's journey to wisdom, and the way her first thought was always to protect, and I loved loved loved the moment she was deaf from the explosions, such a beautiful, subtle, emotionally wrenching version of a moment that has been done so many times that it's a little stale. I loved the character's paradoxical naievity and compassion and power, I found it an extremely compelling mix, perfectly done to provide so much range and depth. And, and, and--it looks like Diana's one of the very very few female characters whom I can feel the same 'bond' I more often get with male characters. It doesn't bother me what the gender of the character I connect with is, because, whatever. Female characters mostly leave me cold because I don't care about the same things they do. Even female characters who claim male roles and fight gender inequality leave me cold, because they're still women playing at being men. But Diana just... does not understand the idea of gender roles or anyone but her own conscience directing her actions. She doesn't notice discrimination. It's just--whooosh, over her head while she's going off and doing what she feels is right. I've heard women talking about having the experience of seeing a female character doing the cool things in Ghostbusters, this was a bit like that for me. The only other female character I can think of who I've felt that bond with is Elizabeth Bennet but, while she kicks arse in her own more realistic way, watching Diana run into machine gun fire while turning aside bullets with her gauntlets was pretty darn special. It was an awesome movie, and not just because she's a woman. (Although I guess that was a selling point for many, and so what if it is? Anyone who thinks it's a bad thing to connect with the audience doesn't know what makes a good story.) If they'd not actually got the movie right, there would have been public lynchings and burnings in effigy (See: Black Widow: Age of Me). But they did get it right, and the fact that she was female was just icing on the cake. As it should be.
Highly recommended. :D :D :D
Wonder Woman the third: I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned the superhero naming convention our cats? All cats in our vicinity have always got a formal name and an informal name. So, a couple of years ago, the old lady next door got a kitten, and she would regularly wander over to play with our boys because she needed a bit more stimulation, and go mental in the way kittens do, and so we used to call her 'Supercat'. Then we noticed from a white Persian visiting from further up the street, and we dubbed him 'Supervillain Cat'. When we got our new kittens, they had to follow the convention. Officially, they are Cassandra and Diana--but being Siamese, they are fully fitted with built in masks to hide their secret identities--and unofficially, we refer to them as Batcat and Wonder Cat. (Cassandra, for those who are not up on their DC comic heroes, was one of the Batgirls.) Now that the new movie's come out, I'm even more glad we've got a Diana in our house. :D
Batcat has the darker mask (chocolate point). Wonder Cat is a lilac point. They are littermates, but Batcat is significantly larger. They are super cuddly, very gentle and playful with the boys, deeply bonded with one another, and absolutely obsessed with me. I cannot crouch down for two minutes to change a nappy without having a cat sitting on my lap. I love the way Siamese look at you--these two make you feel like you're being observed by a matched pair of satellite dishes. Of this photo, my two year old says excitedly, "They're smiling!" :)
I have completed my 36th challenge in a row for fan_flashworks, which makes an entire year of challenges I've posted at least one entry for, notwithstanding rain, hail, shine, real life, or severe lack of inspiration. I've always been pretty good at writing when the inspiration takes me--less good at maintaining the effort over the long haul, but I've found it's been really good for me, for my output and for my mental health. In a year of entries I've earned the following badges:
That second last badge there, the crown? That's the Hardcore Finisher, for earning six different skills training badges for writing different genres, all with different fics. Apparently earning that one gives me the right to brag about my superior badassery to my friends for ever and ever. :D (Honey, you should see me in a crown. XD)
Wonder Woman the second: I went to see the movie, and it was brilliant. I'm a sucker for superheroes, Superman's always been my all time favourite, although I've been less than impressed at DC's latest movie efforts: too smashy-fighty-collateral-damagey and completely devoid of plot or believable character arc. Anyway, despite my love of supers, until now somehow I've never really seen or read any Wonder Woman at all, although my sister is a BIG fan. (And if you're wondering how that works, she's 11 years older than me, so by the time I was old enough, she was way too cool for superheroes, and by the time she was old enough to realise that she didn't have to be too cool for superheroes, we weren't living in the same house anymore.)
Anyway, I loved every moment of it, even the cheesy logical leaps and dodgy physics, because that's just part of the genre, and I loved little Diana, and big Diana's journey to wisdom, and the way her first thought was always to protect, and I loved loved loved the moment she was deaf from the explosions, such a beautiful, subtle, emotionally wrenching version of a moment that has been done so many times that it's a little stale. I loved the character's paradoxical naievity and compassion and power, I found it an extremely compelling mix, perfectly done to provide so much range and depth. And, and, and--it looks like Diana's one of the very very few female characters whom I can feel the same 'bond' I more often get with male characters. It doesn't bother me what the gender of the character I connect with is, because, whatever. Female characters mostly leave me cold because I don't care about the same things they do. Even female characters who claim male roles and fight gender inequality leave me cold, because they're still women playing at being men. But Diana just... does not understand the idea of gender roles or anyone but her own conscience directing her actions. She doesn't notice discrimination. It's just--whooosh, over her head while she's going off and doing what she feels is right. I've heard women talking about having the experience of seeing a female character doing the cool things in Ghostbusters, this was a bit like that for me. The only other female character I can think of who I've felt that bond with is Elizabeth Bennet but, while she kicks arse in her own more realistic way, watching Diana run into machine gun fire while turning aside bullets with her gauntlets was pretty darn special. It was an awesome movie, and not just because she's a woman. (Although I guess that was a selling point for many, and so what if it is? Anyone who thinks it's a bad thing to connect with the audience doesn't know what makes a good story.) If they'd not actually got the movie right, there would have been public lynchings and burnings in effigy (See: Black Widow: Age of Me). But they did get it right, and the fact that she was female was just icing on the cake. As it should be.
Highly recommended. :D :D :D
Wonder Woman the third: I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned the superhero naming convention our cats? All cats in our vicinity have always got a formal name and an informal name. So, a couple of years ago, the old lady next door got a kitten, and she would regularly wander over to play with our boys because she needed a bit more stimulation, and go mental in the way kittens do, and so we used to call her 'Supercat'. Then we noticed from a white Persian visiting from further up the street, and we dubbed him 'Supervillain Cat'. When we got our new kittens, they had to follow the convention. Officially, they are Cassandra and Diana--but being Siamese, they are fully fitted with built in masks to hide their secret identities--and unofficially, we refer to them as Batcat and Wonder Cat. (Cassandra, for those who are not up on their DC comic heroes, was one of the Batgirls.) Now that the new movie's come out, I'm even more glad we've got a Diana in our house. :D
Batcat has the darker mask (chocolate point). Wonder Cat is a lilac point. They are littermates, but Batcat is significantly larger. They are super cuddly, very gentle and playful with the boys, deeply bonded with one another, and absolutely obsessed with me. I cannot crouch down for two minutes to change a nappy without having a cat sitting on my lap. I love the way Siamese look at you--these two make you feel like you're being observed by a matched pair of satellite dishes. Of this photo, my two year old says excitedly, "They're smiling!" :)