I was just watching shadow and bone a few hours ago and this girl who was supposed to be in hiding persuaded her friend to go outside to see the fair because…why not? As a result she was spotted by someone she was supposed to be hiding from.
It’s a common trope amongst the Writers of White Women, where she does something extremely thick for no discernible reason other than being irrascible, so as to advance a plot point.
The stupid thing they do usually ends up getting them or someone else in worse trouble; maybe even dead.
It kind of grinds my gears.
I recently read a very good book (and you know how rare that is) by L.J. Shen.
So very well written. The characters well flesh outed and most importantly, the psychos are not apologizing for being psychos.
However.
We still get the FMC following the MMC into a dangerous situation just because he told her not to. The result, he almost shoots her dead. The payoff was supposed to be the MMC realizing that the FMC would put herself in danger for him, just like he would for her.
‘Like no one else had ever done for him, of course.’
This is ridiculous when you consider that he was in a gulag with his sister and they helped each other stay alive until they could escape and she still has his back…
But of course we must emphasize the sexual relationship above all others right? Even though in real life, it’s usually the weakest of all relationships you have.
Don’t get me wrong, the book is very, very well written. The grammar is impeccable, the poetry of the language is on point, characterization on a hundred, use of pop culture references, appropriate and not gratuitous, plot twist, yass bitch. Hundred percent recommend.
These are just my personal pet peeves.
I don’t like the laziness of it when in real life, women are a lot more cautious. I was once on a fourteen-hour flight from India, sitting sandwiched between two men. And just because I thought they both looked like they might sexually assault me if they got the chance, I did not get a wink of sleep that whole flight. And by ‘they might sexually assault me’ I mean, ‘I saw them looking at my boobs.’
Yet, books and movies have girls getting white girl wasted, while alone in a club and then stepping out to walk home alone in the dark, through the most unlit alleyways in existence. I remember this one episode of supernatural where the LITERAL DEVIL was in an alley and this girl just came over to talk to him because…reasons.
Girl what?
It’s my favorite show but suffered from an overabundance of males in decision making positions.
I mean, we all watched that CNN special hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith about human trafficking, didn’t we? Nobody is that oblivious. Can we make our villains work for it sometimes? How about women are still realistically depicted but still get hurt because it happens. In real life, it happens.
She could be invited to her boss’ house for dinner and feel unable to decline even if he is a creepy son of a bitch. Or else her teacher asks her to stay after school to ‘talk about her academics’ and then holds her down. Her friend (secret enemy) betrays her. She trusts a man, and he betrays her when he doesn’t get what he wants.
Those are just off the top of my head. With a bit of thinking, we can get more creative.
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