Strong female characters, or: Y U H8 LADIEZ, METZEN??
All right, folks. Time to pull up a chair, crack open a beer (for those of you sweltering in summer heat, might I suggest a nice crisp ale like New Belgium’s Mighty Arrow, or one of my personal favorites, Magic Hat’s #9?), and break out the popcorn, because Aro is gonna lay some nerdraeg on y’all. I am going to talk a little bit about women in Warcraft, and I will say this again: I am absolutely going to nerdraeg explosively all over the place. Please keep your hands and arms inside the car at all times.
ETA: the point about Garrosh being a dick is totally conceded. That’s cool, go on about your business. :)
Look, there are not many strong female characters in popular culture. This is an indisputable fact. However, what is up for debate most of the time isn’t even whether or not there should be more strong female characters (because there certainly should), but instead what a strong female character actually is.
For example, it has been presented to me quite seriously that Megan Fox in Transformers is a strong female character, because she lifts things and fixes cars and drives a tow-truck in reverse! That is totally strong! Missing entirely the fact that she still only exists as a sexual object for the male viewers, and anything “strong” she’s doing is done in a hot way designed and directed expressly to titillate. Which is partly okay! Titillation is totally cool, and that is not what I am here to nerdraeg about.
However.
The raeg comes in when you consider that an attractive woman showing off her bits while she does traditionally masculine-roled tasks is not necessarily a strong female character, and assuming — and evangelizing — that such a thing is true is both dismissive and dishonest. So: instead of “strong female character,” which gives you the standard hoohah in the woowah, what we are instead looking for is “strong character , female.”
Got it? From a Women’s Studies perspective, what we’re looking for is a person who is awesome and strong and makes their own choices and just so happens to be female. Character first, female second. This is a big distinction, and it is unfortunately lost on many many people.
Fantasy in general and World of Warcraft in specific has a huge, huge problem with this. It makes me sad and tired.
Here are some specific examples of things that are fucked up and not okay and bother me all the time:
Sylvanas Windrunner
I am going to get the big one out of the way first, because this still hurts me.
Something that a man should never, ever get to say to a woman: Watch your clever mouth, bitch.
Especially a man who is supposed to be regarded as a hero, who is supposed to be emulated and idolized by half of the playerbase. Conceeded! Please ignore and continue. ♥
This whole scene — and everything they’ve done to Sylvanas in Cataclysm — is so wrong on so many levels that I can’t even deconstruct it coherently. It’s just … you don’t DO that. This is a great world leader, a woman so amazing and strong that she managed to break free of the strongest mental control in the universe all on her onesies and then manage to do the same for goddamn near everyone else in the same boat. She is a Peer of the Realm. She is a faction boss. She is mother-figure to an entire race. She deserves some motherfucking respect, is what I’m saying.
So … how did they think this was okay? In what world was writing (and editing, and recording, and…) that dialogue okay? I do not want to be in that world, and it troubles me that even after all of the foofooraw when this quest and its dialogue lines were datamined, no changes have been made and it remains as disgustingly slap-in-the-face as it started. It means that the powers that be think it’s totally valid to tell a woman who’s disagreeing with you that she’s being a bitch and she should shut up because mans are talking, and I really, really hope I should not need to discuss all of the ways in which that is completely and totally not okay.
Tiffin Wrynn
Did you know her name before the 4.0 Stormwind gave her a huge-ass memorial behind the Cathedral of Light? It’s okay, you can say no. Almost nobody did who didn’t obsessively read all of the tie-in stuff in their desperation to figure out where the missing king had buggered off to. Of course, the reason why no one knew her name is not as important for my raegery purposes as the reason for the reason: she was almost never mentioned by name because she serves no purpose outside of the traditional gender role as wife and mother. She has no agency. She is a dead cardboard cutout. Needless to say, this sucks.
Alexstrasza (and Ysera)
Why are you almost naked? Why can’t you put on some pants? What purpose does it serve for you to not be wearing pants? Why can’t Ysera be wearing the awesome druid robes she had on in Yogg-Saron’s vision? Please put on some pants. It makes me so sad that you are not wearing pants. You know what would make this okay? Any line, anywhere, even a quick throwaway line, about how dragons in mortal form need to be as naked as possible. That would be fine. Of course, then I would expect Daval Prestor to not wear any pants, either. Though not that this would be much of a change (just ask Calia Menethil).
Vanessa van Cleef
Vanessa is totally awesome. She runs a band of bandit pirate architect anarchists all on her own just like her dad, and is not nearly as pathetic a boss! She is such a badass chemist that she can create potions that cause full-body hallucinations! AND YET STILL CAN NOT FIND ANY GOD DAMNED PANTS.
Jaina Proudmoore
There are so many places to go here.
So very very many.
The first thing that bothers me is that in WC3 and the Frozen Throne, Jaina was awesome. This is a kid who had to make some ridiculously, painfully hard decisions — for example, she essentially executed her own father for treason — and she sucks it up and owns it. She’s in a bad place and, in fact, so ridiculously young at the time of the battle for Hyjal that Antonidas originally refused to let her go at all. Even in early WoW Jaina was awesome, and was for at least a while in vanilla marked as a faction boss. This was a great and powerful mage, a pretty decent tactician, and an excellent politician. She had an interesting enough backstory — she turned down two extremely powerful men and stood on her own, brokering peace for her people by being completely awesome. Hooray, a strong character who is also female!
And then Wrath hit, and everything went completely to hell.
The first problem: her coin in the lorefountain. The fuck is this shit? No. This is wrong. This is so very very wrong. What actually happened in the game that I played was that Arthas went bugfuck and started killing people and Jaina said “baby, you got real ugly,” and peaced out. The reason why this retcon — and her weepy, disgusting panty-throwing at the Lich King all through the Icecrown fivemans — bothers me so much is that her walking away from him is one of those Strong Character moments, those moments where she is not defined by a woman needing to have a man to complete her. It’s a really important feminist moment and then they just completely screw the pooch on it for no good reason.
And then. AND THEN. There is the aftermath of Deathbringer Saurfang.
“Jaina, why are you crying?” “I’m just proud of my king. ;_;” NO NO NO NO NO NO NO BAD WRONG STUPID BAD BAD BAD WRONG NO.
Let’s have a little breakydown time here: first, there is nothing wrong with displaying emotion, and implying that that’s exclusively feminine is not what I’m trying to say — but it needs to be said that Jaina had never before been portrayed as an especially emotional woman. When she told Kael that he was getting too up in her business, she said “That’s very nice, but I am here to study,” and left. When she peaced out with Arthas, she said “I don’t think I know you anymore, and I can’t be a part of this,” and left. Getting all weepy that King Broken McVengeancepants was actually not being a huge douchenozzle assbasket for once is not anything even remotely like what she should be doing, based on all of her previous character development.
But my favorite part, absolutely the best thing about how terribly terribly wrong that scene is: Varian Wrynn is not her king. Theramore is its own sovereign state, over which she governs. She is not his subject. She is not his subordinate. She is his peer. Why is she groveling at him and letting him tell her what to do all through Icecrown and the ridiculous nonsense of the Coliseum before it? Assumedly because whoever’s in charge of writing this stuff now has absolutely no idea that a woman can be in charge of anything. I mean hey, Sylvanas is a crazy bitch who needs to watch her clever mouth, so obviously Jaina was just waiting around for a new big strong man to pick her up and tell her what to do. Right? Right?
(See, I can talk more about Jaina than I can about Sylvanas because new weepy I Need A Man Jaina just befuddles and perplexes me whereas the way people treat Sylvanas now makes me actively angry.)
Aggra
Aggra fills me with absolutely unholy rage because there are so many amazing things that they could have done with her and yet all they did was stick in a spunky-like-romcom-for-dudes love interest who serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever other than to be a love interest. She’s just like Tiffin Wrynn only she hasn’t gotten beaten in the head with a rock …yet (sign me up). If Thrall did not exist, she would not exist. This is crap. This is not a strong character, and the fact that they keep pushing her as an example of one is making me completely fucking insane.
Shandris Feathermoon
“Wait, Aro,” I hear you now. “But Shandris Feathermoon is awesome! She’s a great general of the Kaldorei! She has lead armies and crushed demons and maintained her own spy network and was so completely awesome with a bow that it made everyone else jealous!” Yes. Yes, all of this is true, and she did it all without needing the motivation of making a boy like her, and this is awesome!
And then the writers inform us that yes yes, the badassery is fine, whatever, it fills the time, but what she really wants to do is plan weddings.
What the jesus.
In and of itself, planning weddings is not necessarily problematic. If you enjoy planning weddings, more power to you! But what is problematic is that the wedding planning thing is presented as her true calling, and she is sooooo tiiiiiired of the badassery thing and she just wants to relaaaaaax and be a laaaaaaaaadyyyyyyy.
And even this would be okay if just once, even once, the writers were all “Garrosh Hellscream was a badass orc with a terrible temper and a thirst for blood. But his true love was flower arranging, and he dreamed of the day he could set all of his Horde duties and war-hawking aside to spend some time with Thrall and ask him why he insisted on using baby’s breath as a filler when there were dozens more attractive varieties that would match so much better with the collection of ceramic vases he’d spent the whole year painstakingly painting and firing.”
Or even “Baine Bloodhoof loved to knit, and had a fondness for Gilbert and Sullivan.”
Anything.
Seriously, anything.
I’m begging here.
Katrana Prestor
Actually, there is nothing wrong here, I just wanted to say hi. You are awesome and I love you. Thank you for not wearing black mageweave. I miss you in Stormwind. Sorry about the killing you in three different tiers thing. ♥, Aro
Well, that's one of the finest pieces of nerdraegery I've ever read. Aro, I salute you!
Thank you!
I just read your post and I think a couple of things need to be clarified. I was told that my comment was too long and should be split up into parts and so that's what I did. Just warning you in advance!
:)
"Especially a man who is supposed to be regarded as a hero, who is supposed to be emulated and idolized by half of the playerbase."
Garrosh was never meant to be that and he was intended to be a polarizing figure for both the player base and for the Horde. By doing each race's opening quests, you eventually start seeing glimpses of what each race really thinks of him. Some support the changes he is making to the Horde and others think he's being a bit narrow and he's not focusing on the bigger picture. That's the point. To borrow a phrase from Blizzard, "He's working as intended."
Having that exchange with Sylvanas was meant to make that divide even more noticeable and it was also meant to highlight the horror at what she was becoming. To have someone like Garrosh, who had seen and committed a lot of atrocities himself, be so horrified at something had to reinforce just how wrong everything going in with the Forsaken was. And I don't think Garrosh called her a bitch to exude dominance or because he was talking, it's because he interpreted her actions as those of a crazy bitch. Many of the fans seem to agree.
About Aggra, I would like her more if she "kept up" with Thrall better, instead of seeming to be just warm and fuzzy all the time. Especially given how the dymanics between Orc men and women is typically portrayed in the game and in the lore. Not to mention the romance just seems so… random. I don't feel they did enough to really build up to it where it made sense to have it be fleshed out at this point in time. It felt like Blizzard just forced a puzzle piece somewhere in the puzzle and pushed down hard enough so the piece would fit and it shows.
I think this is spot on. Garrosh isn't SUPPOSED to be likable. He is NOT a role model, not even to Horde players. Orc NPCs idolize him, yes, but you'd be hard-pressed to find any players who think positively of him. Garrosh saying something like that is exactly in-character for him (though it does show a possible sexist side he had never showed before) – that of a lout, a brute, a knucklehead. If it were someone people actually respected – Cairne, Thrall, Magni – and no one in-game batted an eye, it would be completely different and wholly unacceptable.
Also, as regretful as that line is, it's not like Sylvanas meekly bowed her head and acted the submissive female. Quite the opposite – she basically gave Garrosh the finger by continuing to do exactly whatever the hell she wants, Garrosh's threats and bluster be damned.
"Bitch" line aside, I'm actually fantastically happy with what they've done with Sylvanas so far. I'm scared that they are turning my favorite character into a villain, yes, and I'll be super sad if it happens. But I'd much prefer this intriguing storyline with her, and all the spotlight she gets in Silverpine / Western Plaguelands, than having her just sit there in the Undercity doing nothing. I LOVE that we're seeing her involved, evolving (perhaps negatively) and being a strong presence.
Hi! Thanks for your comments, I'm super-excited to have discussion on this. :)
I think the disconnect here is in two places. First, I feel that Garrosh as this hateful misogynist we are not supposed to side with ICly is not always supported by the text. If you do see that, that's awesome — I'm leveling more tiny goblins, so I'll keep an eye out for better references than my fuzzy memory. :)
The second is that regardless of whether or not Garrosh is the villain in the scene, it's a hugely problematic dialogue. "Bitch" is not a word used in horror, and Garrosh certainly doesn't sound horrified when he says it, and, as Oestrus says, the sentence itself feels anachronistic. So someone somewhere — or a group of someones, knowing how dev works — thought that this was the best possible and most appropriate thing for the male protagonist to say to the female protagonist, and that's what bothers me.
Wow, I'm so sorry it took me this long to get to my feedreader! This is a wonderful post; thank you for writing it. I think your final paragraph here really sums up my problem with the Garrosh-Sylvanas scene. At that point, at least for me/my character, I was similarly shocked and disgusted at what Sylvanas was doing. But the problem wasn't that she was doing something "bitchy"; the problem was that she was doing something monstrous. Using the word bitch emphasizes the calling out of her femininity and not of her…completely unhinged evil plan. Further, because it IS so horrific, players are siding with Garrosh, which further encourages players to reduce a complex character to "that crazy bitch". Garrosh may not be likable, but I think we are meant to agree with him in this scene.
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God, yes, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for getting what's upsetting me about this scene.
It is completely irrelevant whether or not what Sylvanas is doing is wrong, because what's problematic is the dialogue specifically using a gendered insult. There are a million billion other horrible words he could have used to express his horror — but no, he calls her out on being a crazy *WOMAN*, specifically. THANK YOU.
That is totally a good point. Just to clarify, I absolutely wasn't disagreeing with you about the use of "bitch" or dismissing it, I just meant I liked her overall role right now since you remarked how you weren't very keen on it. But after reading Redcow's comment, that's EXACTLY correct. I mean, hell, what if he had said "slut" instead? Obviously bitch doesn't have the implied sexual implications, but the gender inappropriateness would still be there. It's actually pretty ridiculous, and is almost begging for parody to emphasize this very poor choice of words.
You're very right and pointing out word changes for that line is really telling. "Slut" makes the gender inappropriateness a lot more obvious, because there are frankly a whole awful lot of players (and developers, apparently) out there who don't understand why using "bitch" there was so shocking and upsetting to a lot of people.
Even if she IS a monster, even if she IS getting set up as Hugey McVillain, she is still a figure in a position of power who deserves some respect from her peers. :( :( I respect you, Sylvs! Come with me, let's have a beer and forget about the whole mind-controlling corpses thing. I promise you'll feel better. <3 <3
In terms of Shandris, I don't know too much about her. But I would think someone of her history and her station would be given more to do and somewhere better to watch over than Feralas. Who goes to Feralas?!
Really, there's a fine line here between Bad Characters Doing Bad Things and just Bad Inconsistent Writing. The NPC orcs throughout Orgrimmar are presented as idolizing Garrosh regardless of how Baine and Vol'jin feel about him, and he is totally dashing and heroic and saving-the-day in the new Stonetalon chains. Which one is the Garrosh we're supposed to be seeing?
So I do see where you're coming from with Garrosh, and I could buy that reasoning if it had only been text because in that case, his line is slightly more defensible (but still not at all okay — honestly, please, just a little respect? I mean come on, Garrosh), but it's not — it's voiced, and the way his VA delivers that line suggests that he was directed to deliver it like a pimp schooling his girl for stepping to him, and that's not okay, you know? Maybe it's just that he's got a bad actor. That's totally feasible, look at the terrible cast they'd assembled for Icecrown ie pathetic magic betrayal etc etc etc. XD
Well, that's the point of having Garrosh be the way he is. People are supposed to be divided about him. Socially, politically, etc. That's the point. Of course the Orcs are going to support him and of course the Stonetalon chains may make him out to seem grand. But the rest of the Horde isn't sure what to make of him and the game has been building towards this potential schism or in-fighting within the Horde for some time now and Garrosh makes the perfect focal point for that.
I was more surprised because "bitch" didn't fit into the tone of the game. I don't recall hearing people in a medieval setting using that word. I know "knaive" was big or "wench." I could go along with those. But bitch sounded so outside of the game's element and so.. modern. That threw me off more than the usage or meaning.
It looks like I just have a different read on his character than you do, and that's totally valid. :)
Also, Deepholm has some amazing female characters. Therazane is like, the ULTIMATE strong female.
You are totally true, and I do indeed love Therazane! However, this was a rant about things that suck — things that are awesome are still in draft. XD
I was actually torn between using Therazane or Onyxia for my last joke bit in the post; in the end I went for Ony just because I thought it was funnier. XD
I love this article and everything about this article.
Also, Rades is right, Therazane is awesome and Theredras was also pretty awesome. Y'all have to realize that Aro introduced me to the Cata opening events by saying, "FUCK ALLA Y'ALL I AM TOTALLY HOT AND I'MA HANG OUT WITH MY DEAD BOYFRIEND WHO LOVED ME AND ALLA Y'ALL CAN FUCK YORUSELVES."
And only then did I decide that perhaps I did want to queue for the event bosses.
On the subject of Sylvanas, have you seen the Ask CDev 2 answers? They contain this:
Q: What is the Argent Crusade's relationship with the Forsaken, in light of Sylvanas's recent actions?
A: Although the members of the Argent Crusade still stand by the Forsaken heroes who joined them in the battle against the Scourge, Sylvanas's actions since the slaying of Arthas have deeply concerned the crusaders. They, along with certain members of the Ebon Blade, are now watching Sylvanas and the Forsaken very closely, as similarities between her and the Lich King are increasing in number by the day.
And I just. What. Admittedly being far from the lore nerd you are, I find this pretty appalling for many probably simplistic reasons — not least because, as I believe you once pointed out to me, Sylvanas' entire reason for being able to exist and create the Forsaken was her sheer strength of will driven by her hatred of the Lich King. I would like some serious reasonings from the developers on WHY she is changing the way she is. WHY is she becoming more like the thing she hates by the day? WHY??
Yeah. But that's … but … she … but …
Has anyone in charge ever even PLAYED this game? I mean really. Really. Look at Jaina! I am not making this up!
I think it's too early to protest that we have missed out on the reasons behind Sylvanas' gradual shift. I feel this is actually the best way of showing such a personality change – gradually, with little hints and disturbing/alarming observations, rather than thrust her fully into a "SURPRISE I AM BAD NOW" swerve. I think this way, we start asking the exact questions you have posed – why is she changing? Why is she becoming that which she hated? – and then when (if) Blizzard reveals these answers, it is much more rewarding and feels like more of a tragic downfall than just a deus ex machina twist.
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I think I'm more frustrated with her arc because I'm not seeing it as gradual, I'm seeing it as the sudden SURPRISE I AM BAD NOW. Which… what? After every second since WC3 and TFT she has striven to be different from the Lich King, she's now decided to set herself up as exactly the same thing in exactly the same way. Just…. all of a sudden she's snapped and decided that forcing people into undeath is a great idea after all? I'm not buying it.
It's totally feasible that they can make this work, but right now the way it reads to me is "we have to get rid of all our legacy characters — oh I know, let's make everyone want to kill Sylvanas!" It makes me sad because I love her so much, and I think she deserves better. EPIC. SADFACE.
I cannot BEGIN to tell you the number of times I have raged over Sylvanas fan art, as beautiful as it can be. Endless submission after submission of rotting booblies.
Excellent rage post. I laughed. Aloud. At work. More than once. :)
Oh man, the only thing that makes me angrier than LET'S MAKE THEM NAKEDER fanart is fanart of Therazane in the style of, like, Jessica Rabbit. Missing the point much, guys? It makes me the SADDEST PANDA.
Nice post!
I admit this made me laugh. Definitely a nice read. As other have mentioned Garrosh is not meant to be loveable..I hated him in Wrath and I still hate him even more!
when it comes to Blizzard and their art direction, they are catering to what will sell their games imo. Also the way they portray the characters is what they feel will sell more games. Unrealistic yes, but when it comes down to it, they are trying to sell sell sell.
Hi! Thanks for the comment. :) I was aiming to make people laugh, so I'm super glad I did!
I do pretty strongly believe that the current writers DON'T want us to hate Garrosh, and just aren't very good at writing him with any sort of redemption arc. This sucks because it means we get tons of inconsistencies, just like how we're getting with Jaina and Sylvanas. I think there are ways this can be fixed, but it would require a serious sit-down with the writing staff, possibly with threats and/or alcohol. :D
For your other point, I know that naked women sell games. The problem with that is that it's *wrong*, it's a huge cultural problem (cf. the male gaze, etc etc). Unfortunately, I don't have any easy answers or ways to fix it other than the incredibly naive and idealistic view that people should stop catering to that kind of sexism; however, I do know that asking a capitalist to take *less* money is a total exercise in futility. XD
I'm a little late to the "raeg"-party, but nonetheless I want to say that I also enjoyed the post, found it humorous yet sad. I'm not strong on lore myself, but this point on the lack of strong female characters, that don't fall in the usual pitfalls, is thankfully something I've seen a few bloggers take up, including this post. Now we just need Blizzard to take it more seriously too.
It is never too late to join the raeg!!1-party, welcome. :D
I'm always glad to hear that other people share my fruitless rage; for as much as I try to laugh it off, I really think it's a genuinely real problem that it's so hard to find decent female characters (in decent clothing) in entertainment media — especially in entertainment media that also doubles as a social interaction platform. I also think that a lot of people genuinely don't see these things, and it'll never get any better until/unless people start noticing it and calling it out.
Really really late to the party. Just discovered your blog while link chasing, and am having fun so far.
The Jaina "I'm so proud of my King" thing made me yell at the screen. My Guild is still giving me crap for that particular (and oft repeated lorerant) every time we wasted Saurfang the Younger. I'm really not sure why they've let the Proudmoore stoyline kinda peter off and die. The lore is cool, and Jaina has all the makings of a rockstar character.
As for Sylvanas, she (and the Blizz dev team) is trapped by the fact that the Forsaken are doomed – absent something like what she's doing now. Either she becomes a mini-LK and starts spreading the Plague and making new Forsaken, or she's the proud Queen of a Lorderon populated only by the mindless and the forever dead. And what she is doing is, in a truly fundamental way, Evil. She is farming an (intially) un-allied source of humans in order to ensure that her "kingdom" has subjects, and she is using the forces of the Lich King to do it.
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There's no such thing as late to my party! I LOVE talking about this, and new perspectives make me really happy, so you are totally welcome. <3
THANK YOU for feeling my pain about Jaina. Every time we were there I bitched about it, EVERY TIME, and it STILL makes me super super mad. Jaina was such a great character, and so strongly written in WC3 that I don't understand why they wanted to just completely gut her. It's the same thing with Shandris — this could have been such a great character, and yet the writers go out of their way to ruin it.
I do not disagree with you that Sylvanas is doing evil things (regardless of whether or not that's in character; I don't think it is, but that's not at issue here). The problem from my perspective is that it doesn't matter how evil she's being, the dialogue written for that scene is a problem. It's never appropriate to use a gendered insult like that; there are a million billion words he could have called her that would have been way less offensive and hurtful to half their playerbase, like say perhaps "monster" (which she is).
And then there's a bunch of guys in Blizzard polo shirts saying "Well, you gotta understand, that's an appropriate in-character word choice for good ol' Garrosh" And then there's a bunch of us muttering impolite , and likely unprintable, things about the unfortunate effects of polo shirt wearing.
I got wrapped up in the new story direction for Sylvanas, and went that way. I do agree, totally, with your point that that was an unnecessary bit of dialog and offensive in a way that didn't really aid the story.
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