CLICK PIC BELOW
FOR WEBSITE AND EXAMPLES
OF WOMEN IN COMIC LIT
WHO HAVE BEEN
FRIDGED
"Oh no! Off to fight the bad guy!"
Abuse of
Female characters in fantasy / sci fi /
comics & manga
The term "women in refrigerators" comes from a Green Lantern comic:
Our Hero comes home to find that the villain Major Force has murdered his girlfriend
Alex DeWitt and stuffed her body into the fridge. This gives the Hero his Motivation to go
after the Bad Guy, of course.
Okay, so what is the role of female characters in fantasy fiction?
ARE FEMALE CHARACTERS TOO OFTEN
USED AND ABUSED AS PLOT DEVICES IN FANTASY FICTION?
IF SO, WHY? IS THEIR TREATMENT SEXIST?
WOULD FANTASY LIT BE MORE POPULAR
(versus romance or female-genre detective novels for example)
IF FEMALE CHARACTERS WERE NOT
ROUTINELY ABUSED OR KILLED OFF?
I don't even know where to start with the character of Bella in Twilight.
I ask this as someone who is hoping to develop a story with a strong female lead who has survived abuse and is "evil." Is there something wrong with me? I don't shy away from plots with angst / abuse but prefer my female characters to overcome odds and not end up dead next to the orange juice.
What are your thoughts?