I obviously missed last week’s entry so I’m going to have to make that up somehow. Two posts in one week? That would probably be for the best. It’s probably already messed a lot of things up, but that’s okay. It’ll work out somehow. If it doesn’t? Well I suppose it’s too late to fix that.
For the “Who Am I?” projects, I know a lot of people did collages. They put together all of the titles that people try to force on them or the objects which they feel “define” who they are. Without sounding like one of those obnoxious scenesters who wails on and on about how “omg society doesn’t represent meee,” I’ve tried doing that before and it never really works out. I suppose maybe if there was a headline that had the word “judgmental” in it then I could put that on my collage, though that would be true. It’s difficult to call someone an obnoxious scenester and in the same paragraph try to explain yourself as anything less than judgmental. Other than that, though, what is there of me in the modern media?
If I’ve ever been called anything with consistency, it’s a geek. I love books, I love technology, I love fantastical notions and faraway places. I’m not necessarily a big believer in the idea that everyone has a chance for a happily-ever-after-esque ending to their lives, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love the idea. The Princess Bride is both my favorite book and my favorite movie. Even within the confines of that, the book at least, there is the implication that there is no fairytale ending for its main characters. Things certainly do go wrong at the end, whether the Fred Savage-y version of the story wants to recognize it or not. That’s not really the point of this entry. The point is that I feel that maybe the last few pages of that story describe how I feel about life: it’s not impossible to find all the pieces which combine to give you everything you’ve always wanted, but it is pretty damn hard to put them together to create the truly perfect picture. Maybe I should’ve just handed in the last chapter of the book for my project and attached an essay.
All the same, the idea of being a geek/dork/nerd is a very “in” idea at the moment. With shows like Chuck and Heroes attracting some level of popularity, it’s obvious that there is some significant interest in that particular subculture. The problem with that remains that the women found in those shows are all incredibly attractive ladies. Hey, who am I to argue with that? If you’re a beautiful woman then good for you; however, it doesn’t seem that looks are such a big factor when casting the male roles. Maybe that will be the topic for this particular blog: how women are represented in science fiction/geek-centered culture and how I feel lost even in that particular subculture? That’s about as good as it gets for me at the moment.
If you spend more than five seconds surfing through pictures for NBC’s show Heroes, which is pretty much a reimagining of Marvel’s X-Men, you will find that two particular characters come up. One is a female and the other is a male. The female is a pretty blonde cheerleader who is the picture perfect representation of what the All-American girl looks like. The male is a geeky, short Asian American who is decidedly nowhere near any idea of even semi-conventionally good looking. He is not the kind of actor you would cast if you wanted teenyboppers flocking to your show with their hormones all aflame. The blonde cheerleader? Exactly the opposite. She is everything you would want to bring about the stereotypical nerdy guys who would theoretically never encounter someone like her in their general circle of friends. Petite, blonde, and her special power? She’s indestructible! You can bend her, twist her, throw her off of a bridge and she’s going to magically put herself back together again. How hot is that?
Looking at the rest of the primary male cast of this show, there seems to be a fair representation of men from all walks of life. Different nationalities and body types are represented. Different age groups and class statuses are there as well. As for the women in question? Other than the cheerleader, there is one other tall, beautiful blonde woman who has a split personality. One side of her is the good, everyday girl. The other side is the vicious, sexy side. Makes sense, right? Part of her is that sweet, “average” girl that every guy says he wants while she can turn in to this violent, vulgar alter ego. It’s the wet dream of many a male member of this kind of fandom that I know of.
I have to put a note here and say that I know I’m generalizing a lot of people. I apologize for that in some way, but at the same time I am talking about my experience with this particular group. They think a certain way and expect certain things. That doesn’t make any of them bad people and that’s not what I mean to imply. The general TV-watching, movie-viewing public probably has these exact same expectations, not just this subset. I won’t even lie – a lot of women would prefer that the male casts of these shows were nothing but hot guys, too! Still, meeting everyone halfway would be fine. That’s clearly not the goal of the casting directors here.
This still hasn’t particularly addressed how I feel I fit in to this scenario. As a girl who takes part in this culture I’m coming from a place where the “outside” world has already painted a picture of what the average girl should look like. The sci-fi subculture prides itself on being accepting and encouraging to men and women of all types. So how is it that they’re willing to show men of all kinds, but the women still look picture perfect? Even the aliens still have a killer rack and better skin than I do… and some of them are green! What gives? Then you always have the token girl who just wants to be “one of the boys” and “doesn’t wear make-up,” yet somehow manages to look better than most girls I know who spend hours making themselves up. If you spend time playing a video game, things don’t get much better. If you thought the breasts on the actresses were intense, wait until you see the puppies on these girls! They defy gravity and I’m pretty sure that, much like Barbie, if they were real people they would topple over because their measurements just do not make sense. (Why am I so obsessed with breasts?)
So where am I supposed to go? How do I fit into a culture that’s all about accepting people who are different, even alien, where there is still so obviously a gender bias? I’m not asking for them to start combing the general population for “average” women, but let’s be a little more serious about the whole acceptance message. Please? … please?
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