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dolorosa_12Day Four: A female character you relate to
Aria Montgomery from Pretty Little Liars (TV series, not books). Spoilers for the entire series so far.
This may appear to be a slightly left-field choice, so let me explain. No, I'm not and have never been in a relationship with my English teacher, and I'm certainly not being stalked and abused by a shadowy network of enemies who always have excellent wifi service, a great sense of timing and a penchant for arranging creepy dolls in dark, abandoned buildings. However, her family dynamic is really similar to my own, almost to the letter (my parents are journalists, not academics and teachers, and I have sisters, not a brother, but other than that, they're basically the same) and I identify really strongly with her on that level.
Also, teenage me was very like Aria, in that I kind of viewed my life through the lens of literary references and used literature as a sort of guide for my emotional response to any given situation. Aria's life is measured out in the twentieth century literary canon and classic films, while I preferred fantasy literature, folk tales, fairy tales and mythology, but the result is the same. Your life becomes a series of episodes with deep mythic resonance, your relationships are reincarnations of epic literary love affairs, and you have a quote to make sense of every occasion. It's a coping mechanism, and a way to give yourself more power than you perhaps feel in reality. For this reason, I'm frustrated when fans of Pretty Little Liars talk of Aria's pretentiousness, emotional remoteness and detachment. She feels things really deeply! She's just talking about them and dealing with them in a language that makes them easier for her to understand!
For the same reason, I feel very defensive in the face of the general fannish rhetoric about Aria. She's often perceived as being very distant from the main storyline of Pretty Little Liars, and there's talk that the danger experienced by Aria is less than that experienced by the other three Liars. It's as if the fandom forgets she was nailed into a coffin with a corpse and almost thrown off a train. Or that her father's girlfriend drugged her, then locked her in a cellar and tried to kill her. And so on. If there's distance between Aria and the A plot of any given episode, this was because for a long time her storylines were tied to her relationship with Ezra, which for some reason was kept cordoned off from the ongoing threat to the four girls. Now that Ezra seems to be in the loop about the threat posed by A to the girls, let's hope that detachment will disappear completely.
Day Five: Favorite female character on a male-driven show
Day Six: Favorite female-driven show
Day Seven: A female character that needs more screen time
Day Eight: Favorite female character in a comedy show
Day Nine: Favorite female character in a drama show
Day Ten: Favorite female character in a scifi/supernatural show
Day Eleven: Favorite female character in a children’s show
Day Twelve: Favorite female character in a movie
Day Thirteen: Favorite female character in a book
Day Fourteen: Favorite older female character
Day Fifteen: Favorite female character growth arc
Day Sixteen: Favorite mother character
Day Seventeen: Favorite warrior female character
Day Eighteen: Favorite non-warrior female character
Day Nineteen: Favorite non-human female character
Day Twenty: Favorite female antagonist
Day Twenty-One: Favorite female character screwed over by canon
Day Twenty-Two: Favorite female character you love but everyone else hates
Day Twenty-Three: Favorite female platonic relationship
Day Twenty-Four: Favorite female romantic relationship
Day Twenty-Five: Favorite mother/daughter and/or sister relationship
Day Twenty-Six: Favorite classical female character (from pre-20th century literature or mythology or the like)
Day Twenty-Seven: A female character you have extensive personal canon for
Day Twenty-Eight: Favorite female writer (television, books, movies, etc.)
Day Twenty-Nine: A female-centric fic rec
Day Thirty: Whatever you’d like!
Aria Montgomery from Pretty Little Liars (TV series, not books). Spoilers for the entire series so far.
This may appear to be a slightly left-field choice, so let me explain. No, I'm not and have never been in a relationship with my English teacher, and I'm certainly not being stalked and abused by a shadowy network of enemies who always have excellent wifi service, a great sense of timing and a penchant for arranging creepy dolls in dark, abandoned buildings. However, her family dynamic is really similar to my own, almost to the letter (my parents are journalists, not academics and teachers, and I have sisters, not a brother, but other than that, they're basically the same) and I identify really strongly with her on that level.
Also, teenage me was very like Aria, in that I kind of viewed my life through the lens of literary references and used literature as a sort of guide for my emotional response to any given situation. Aria's life is measured out in the twentieth century literary canon and classic films, while I preferred fantasy literature, folk tales, fairy tales and mythology, but the result is the same. Your life becomes a series of episodes with deep mythic resonance, your relationships are reincarnations of epic literary love affairs, and you have a quote to make sense of every occasion. It's a coping mechanism, and a way to give yourself more power than you perhaps feel in reality. For this reason, I'm frustrated when fans of Pretty Little Liars talk of Aria's pretentiousness, emotional remoteness and detachment. She feels things really deeply! She's just talking about them and dealing with them in a language that makes them easier for her to understand!
For the same reason, I feel very defensive in the face of the general fannish rhetoric about Aria. She's often perceived as being very distant from the main storyline of Pretty Little Liars, and there's talk that the danger experienced by Aria is less than that experienced by the other three Liars. It's as if the fandom forgets she was nailed into a coffin with a corpse and almost thrown off a train. Or that her father's girlfriend drugged her, then locked her in a cellar and tried to kill her. And so on. If there's distance between Aria and the A plot of any given episode, this was because for a long time her storylines were tied to her relationship with Ezra, which for some reason was kept cordoned off from the ongoing threat to the four girls. Now that Ezra seems to be in the loop about the threat posed by A to the girls, let's hope that detachment will disappear completely.
Day Five: Favorite female character on a male-driven show
Day Six: Favorite female-driven show
Day Seven: A female character that needs more screen time
Day Eight: Favorite female character in a comedy show
Day Nine: Favorite female character in a drama show
Day Ten: Favorite female character in a scifi/supernatural show
Day Eleven: Favorite female character in a children’s show
Day Twelve: Favorite female character in a movie
Day Thirteen: Favorite female character in a book
Day Fourteen: Favorite older female character
Day Fifteen: Favorite female character growth arc
Day Sixteen: Favorite mother character
Day Seventeen: Favorite warrior female character
Day Eighteen: Favorite non-warrior female character
Day Nineteen: Favorite non-human female character
Day Twenty: Favorite female antagonist
Day Twenty-One: Favorite female character screwed over by canon
Day Twenty-Two: Favorite female character you love but everyone else hates
Day Twenty-Three: Favorite female platonic relationship
Day Twenty-Four: Favorite female romantic relationship
Day Twenty-Five: Favorite mother/daughter and/or sister relationship
Day Twenty-Six: Favorite classical female character (from pre-20th century literature or mythology or the like)
Day Twenty-Seven: A female character you have extensive personal canon for
Day Twenty-Eight: Favorite female writer (television, books, movies, etc.)
Day Twenty-Nine: A female-centric fic rec
Day Thirty: Whatever you’d like!
