Quick Link: Authentic Female Characters vs Gender-Swaps

Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

Jo Eberhardt from Writer unBoxed explains this issue it well. There has been a trend lately to remake movies but to switch the gender. The most notable example is the recent Ghostbusters reboot. I enjoyed the movie but I have to agree with Jo that instead of following the original story they just made another Ghostbusters movie that was all their own. I mean every person in the cast is an amazing talent. What do you think?

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Authentic Female Characters vs Gender-Swaps

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It’s recently been announced that there is a new adaptation of William Golding’s classic novel Lord of the Flies in the works. This isn’t a huge surprise. In the modern era of remakes, re-imaginings, and even more remakes (I’m looking at you, Spider-Man), it feels like half of the new Hollywood movies released aren’t so much “new” as repurposed. Besides, the most recent film adaptation of Lord of the Flies was all the way back in 1990. That’s basically the dark ages. (At least, it is if you ask my children.)

This announcement has been met with a whole passel of outrage from every corner of the internet. Why?

Because apparently Lord of the Flies is due for a gender-swap, with this movie to include an all-female cast.

Read the full post on Writer unBoxed.

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Quick Links: Brood For Thought: On The Enduring Appeal Of The Moody Male Lead

Quick links, bringing you great articles on writing from all over the web.

Today’s post focuses on stereotypes, more specifically the stereotype of the moody leading male. Think Wolverine from the movies, or even Mr. Darcy. Rosalind Moran, at Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America shares some deep thoughts about this topic. Let us know who your favorite moody male lead is or if you just disagree.

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Brood For Thought: On The Enduring Appeal Of The Moody Male Lead

by Rosalind Moran

Works of Science-Fiction and Fantasy routinely suffer genre snobbery. Clichés are identified down to an infinitesimally small degree, and then torn apart with grim satisfaction. Neither unlikely boys with great destinies nor elderly men of genealogical significance are spared.

It’s a tough time to be an archetype.

Yet while authors are aware of heightened scrutiny and increased demands on originality within genres framed by convention, they nevertheless continue to write certain characters – such as male leads – in forms often adhering to well-worn moulds. Take the dark, troubled hero: he remains prominent in stories ranging from Twilight (pardon my language) to A Game Of Thrones, even if these have supposedly grown more nuanced since the I-carry-five-foot-swords-on-my-back era of the 80s.

And why is this the case? The moody male lead is widespread throughout all genres, but it can be difficult to see why anybody would want to spend time with him. He’s brooding, exceedingly individualistic, melancholic, and disposed to hanging around outdoors during thunderstorms for no good reason beyond cultivating his mystique. Furthermore, despite possessing attributes such as introspection, sophistication in some form, and intelligence, he is also typically rather unpleasant.

So what’s underpinning his enduring presence and appeal in fiction?

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One Weird Old Trick to Undermine the Patriarchy

This post by Michelle Nijhuis originally appeared on The Last Word on Nothing on 12/18/13.

My five-year-old insists that Bilbo Baggins is a girl.

The first time she made this claim, I protested. Part of the fun of reading to your kids, after all, is in sharing the stories you loved as a child. And in the story I knew, Bilbo was a boy. A boy hobbit. (Whatever that entails.)

But my daughter was determined. She liked the story pretty well so far, but Bilbo was definitely a girl. So would I please start reading the book the right way?

I hesitated. I imagined Tolkien spinning in his grave. I imagined mean letters from his testy estate. I imagined the story getting as lost in gender distinctions as dwarves in the Mirkwood.

Then I thought: What the hell, it’s just a pronoun. My daughter wants Bilbo to be a girl, so a girl she will be.

 

Click here to read the full post on The Last Word on Nothing.