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thefourthvine) wrote2010-02-27 06:56 pm
thefourthvine) wrote2010-02-27 06:56 pm
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Woobies Wanted
brown_betty and I have been discussing woobies. Further research - for the good of science! - is now required, and so I come to you for help. I need a list of woobies. TVTropes has a great page on woobies [Warning:
cherry_ice and I have determined that TVTropes is a black hole. If you click on this link, there is a chance you will never escape from the website. Leave a message for your loved ones before you click. Also it's a good idea to pack a lunch.], which features this definition:"[The woobie] is that character you want to give a big hug, wrap in a blanket and feed soup to when he or she suffers so very beautifully."
And there is, of course, a huge long list of woobies attached, but a lot of those people are woobies in canon more than in fan fiction, and I want the fannish ones. I'm looking for the person in a given fandom who is always being hurt (and then comforted), the person who you just know is going to have a secret shame or a secret trauma or a secret disease, probably while he is being raped and beaten in prison by Nazis with spiky boots. In other words, I want to know who, in your fandom, is the character who you'd immediately think of if you read this header:
Title: Recovery and Revelations Part 7, 1/???
Series: Hold Me Tight Tonight (Confronting the Darkness)
Author: I <3 Woobies!
Summary: To protect the ones he or she loves, Character X sold his or her body to evil slaver alien wizards. Now Character X is finally back home. Can the [team/family/friends/loved ones/etc.] help him or her recover?
Warnings: Noncon, dubcon, torture, past child abuse and incest, betrayal, cutting, slavery, underage sex, involuntary drug use, porn, some swears.
In the future, there will be a poll. But first, I need the names to go in the poll. So tell me: in your fandom, who is the woobie? To make this extra-challenging, especially for you people in Harry Potter and Supernatural: you can only nominate one person per fandom. I want to hear about the Woobiest in All the Land.
no subject
they don't come across as helpless victims
I feel like it's more that there's an either/or thing - either female characters are strong, or they're not. There's more flexibility with male characters because in that case we're working *against* stereotypes about masculine strength rather than resisting stereotypes about feminine weakness. To put it another way, there's more to lose (from a feminist standpoint) by trying to make a female into a woobie and it's harder to write her as a woobie than as just another female victim.
And I think that if I keep going, I'm going to have to write a post of my own.
Do it! Mm, lovely meta : )
no subject
And Xena... I think you either need to be gleeful about finding all of the things they get wrong with Greek/Norse/Indian/Chinese mythology, or you have to divorce yourself entirely from anything you know about those things and just buy into their version entirely. But if you can do that, it is wonderfully campy and cracktastic and OMG full of angst.
And I think I might go write that meta now...
no subject
He dies. To save Ivanova's life. I do believe there is melodrama about the fact she didn't respond to his romantic overtures, never mind the fact that he was a creepy nerd-virgin of the worst slannish order.
So... yes. There's some woob-potential there.
no subject
Yeah, Ivanova, total woobie