halfamoon | The Unpopular Woman Love Post

bofoddity.livejournal.com posting in

It's pretty natural that some female characters do worse in fandom than others, right? And sometimes it's difficult, if not downright impossible, to find a place where you can fan these characters in peace, or fellow fans to fan them with. Not to mention trying to find fanworks about them. Experience says: It hard.

So, stealing the idea shamelessly from

doyle_sb4's Women of Doctor Who celebration post, here is a love post for the unpopular female characters. Like in

doyle_sb4's post, you start a thread with the character's name and their respective fandom in the subject line, after which people are free to share fic and vid recs, picspams, links to essays, defenses or simply thoughts of love about the character in question. Because unpopularity is a subjective thing most of the time, the character doesn't have to be somebody you know to be the fandom underdog for sure, but if the character also has a large number of fans it would be good to give some reasons about why they're hated and why it's wrong. Links to the character threads will be collected in this post.

Being a post for unpopular characters, this is a bashing free post. If you have any negative opinions about the characters discussed or the fandom rivals of the character of your choice, please keep them to yourself.

And now, knock yourselves out!

ETA: The character and the fandom should both be named in the subject line, I forgot to mention the fandom initially. Sorry about the inconvenience!

ETA 2: If you want to share you thoughts about a character who has a thread, please reply to the thread in question. General comments and threads for new characters go to the main post.

Threads:

Diana Fowley, X-Files (Vid rec, Fic Recs, Fic recs)
Jennifer Hailey, Stargate: SG1
Sakura, Naruto (Fic recs, Author rec)
Dawn Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Anastasia Dualla, Battlestar Galactica (Comic rec, Reasons why Dee is awesome)
Lana Lang, Smallville (Vid recs)
Maya Herrera, Heroes (Vid rec)
Relena Peacecraft, Gundam Wing (Fic recs)
Cally Henderson-Tyrol, Battlestar Galactica
Gwen Cooper, Torchwood
Jennifer Keller, Stargate: Atlantis (Community link, Fic recs, Fic recs)
Niki Sanders
Freya/Anise, Stargate: SG1 (Fic rec)
Maria Hill, Marvel Comics
Thirteen/Dr. Remy Hadley, House MD (Picspam links)
Bela Talbot, Supernatural (Fic rec, Fic)
Shiori Takatsuki, Revolutionary Girl Utena
Tifa Lockhart, Final Fantasy VII
Max Guevara, Dark Angel (Vid rec, Fic rec)
Elizabeth Swann, Pirates of the Caribbean (Author rec)
Cynthia Velasquez, Silent Hill 4
Allison Cameron, House MD (Meme rec)
Liz Sherman, Hellboy
Dr. Camille "Cam" Saroyan, Bones
Ruby, Supernatural
Chloe Sullivan, Smallville
Sakaki Ouka, Weiss Kreuz
Jo Harvelle, Supernatural
Inara Serra, Firefly (Fic Rec)
Lt. Colonel Hollis Mann, NCIS
Director Jenny Shepard, NCIS
Lilly Kane, Veronica Mars
Kate Austen, Lost
Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Teyla Emmagan, Stargate Atlantis (Link, vid rec)
Alex Drake, Ashes to Ashes
Anya Jenkins, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Fic recs)
Koriand'r, DC Comics
Sam Carter, Stargate SG-1/Atlantis
Ana Lucia, Lost
Padme Amidala, Star Wars
Arwen, The Lord of the Rings
Martha Jones, Doctor Who/Torchwood
Kennedy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Lois Lane, Smallville
Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter
Shmi Skywalker, Star Wars
Mai, Avatar: The Last Airbender (Fic links, Fic links & recs)
Keiko Yukimura, Yu Yu Hakusho
Orihime Inoue, Bleach
Yakumo Tatsuro, Shinzo
Sakuno Ryuzaki, The prince Of Tennis
Tenten, Naruto
Anzu Mazaki, Yu-Gi-Oh!
Temari, Naruto
Himawari, xxxHOLiC
Karen Kouzuki/Kallen Stadtfeld, Code Geass
Yuuki Miaka, Fushigi Yuugi
Meg Griffin, Family Guy
Elliot Reid, Scrubs
Princess Zelda, Legend of Zelda series/Brawl
Mizuki Kaho, Card Captor Sakura
Colette Brunel, Tales of Symphonia
Kaoru Kamiya AND Tomoe Yukishiro, Rurouni Kenshin
Ninian, Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken
Katara, Avatar: The Last Airbender (Vid rec)
Naomi Hunter, Metal Gear Solid
Scheris Adjani, Scryed
Silk Spectre II/Laurie Juspeczyk, Watchmen
Jun the Swan, Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
Hinata Hyuuga, Naruto
Momo Hinamori, Bleach
Miyako Inoue, Digimon 02
Misa Amane, Death Note
Juri Katou, Digimon Tamers
Asuka Tenjoin, Yu-Gi-Oh GX

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

bethan-b-bad.livejournal.com

Ginny gets some of the most breathtakingly vitriolic hatred I've ever seen directed against a character, especially since book 6. I think a lot of it is that the canon Harry/Ginny ship breaks up Harry/Hermione, and generally that many female Harry Potter readers identify with Hermione more than they do with Ginny.

Well, you know what? I love Hermione. But I love Ginny, too! YES, IT'S POSSIBLE. Okay, Ginny is the sporty, popular, pretty girl who gets the boy. I'm not sure what's wrong with this. I mean, there's a reason lots of popular girls are popular, and that's because people like them. Because, you know, they're actually pretty nice. (Also, four boyfriends by the age of sixteen does not make you the school bicycle, it makes you a normal teenage girl, and the sexist insults thrown at her because of her - gasp! - daring to date boys makes me want to lay about with a cricket bat.)

More importantly, Ginny is smart, talented, funny, loyal, fiercely individualist and independent, and BRAVE AS A FUCKING LION. I love the way she was friends with Luna when Luna was crazy unpopular, I love how fierce she is in defence of her loved ones, I love the way she understands Harry, I love her competitiveness on the Quidditch pitch, I love the way she refuses to be pushed around, I love her wicked sense of humour, and I love her handiness with a bat-bogey hex.

Ginny is a fantastic character, who really could have done with more page time (OMG her and Luna and Neville as leaders of Dumbledore's Army. STILL RECRUITING, bitches!), and I will never understand how people get so frothy with rage over her.

Edited Date: 2009-02-11 01:50 am (UTC)

From:

repmetsyrrah.livejournal.com

As soon as I saw this post I thought of Ginny. I can never understand why people hate her so much, I can sorta understand being annoyed at the "breaking up" of the non-existent HG/HP ship but she certainly doesn't deserve the sheer level of pure loathing some fans give her.

I think she's pretty awesome personally, I mean even her older brothers know she's a force to be reckoned with.

Well, you know what? I love Hermione. But I love Ginny, too! YES, IT'S POSSIBLE.

Amen to that! I'm always confused by the people who think just because I like Ginny/Harry I have to hate Hermoine or vice versa.

From:

ranalore.livejournal.com

Oh, Ginny! She broke out from the shadow of all her brothers to come into her own as the fiercest and most magnificent of the Weasleys. She didn't take anyone's crap, and Harry still doesn't know how good he got it.

From:

dawnduskdancer.livejournal.com

Ginny is made of awesome, especially since book 5. I never understood the hate either.

From:

liviapenn.livejournal.com

I didn't really notice Ginny that much in the first few books, and she wasn't one of my special favorites through the next couple, but upon re-reading? Ginny is so, so awesome. She's not the smartest person ever like Hermione, she's not an Animagus like Tonks or an awesome fey weirdo like Luna. She's just a completely normal, down to earth, *teenage girl*. She likes boys! And playing sports! And she argues with her brothers! It takes her a while to figure out who she is (or maybe to be comfortable showing it around Harry) but then she is just so refreshingly *herself*.

And although I kind of think it's weird the way JKR makes everyone marry the person they were dating in high school, I really can't argue with Harry and Ginny eventually ending up as a serious couple; I think that *normality* is just what he always wanted & just what he needs.

So yes! YAY GINNY.

From:

rustleaf.livejournal.com

Ginny doesn't get any where near the love she deserves. I love her, Hermione and Luna for different reasons. I think it's great that JKR provided us with three very different female role models with them. Everything questionable she does is blown out of proportion, and everything good or neutral she does is twisted into something bad. So many of the insults leveled at her are just plain offensive.

I love how she overcame what happened in CoS, and how, once broke out of her crush induced shyness, she never wavered in front of Harry no matter his attitude. I love her humour, her compassion and how she doesn't take crap from the other characters lying down.

Ginny is great, and I love reading about what other positive things people have to say, because I'm so sick of all the negativity aimed at her.

From:

sandyclaws68.livejournal.com

Swinging in to add to the Ginny love. The amount of vitriol that gets directed at her on a daily basis in the HP fandom is simply staggering. The only thing that I, personally, find more offensive than the amount of hatred is the sexist and misogynistic tone to much of it, especially when it is coming from woman.

And the lengths that people go to to "prove" that they don't dislike her because she sank a favourite ship! Good Lord! The famed Gordian Knot was easier to untie than some of the tangles the Ginny haters come up with.

Ginny is awesome in so many different ways, but my favourite thing about her is how she relates to Harry. The two of them have such good instincts, each towards the other, that it makes their friendship a joy to read, never mind their (inevitable) romance.

From:

kgose.livejournal.com

I also have to add my Ginny love. I love her character though think I ended up liking Ginny more than anything because all the defending I did for the character. *lol*

I have to say I pretty much agree with all you guys. Though the one thing that really bugs me about the Ginny haters is that they go as far as blaming Ginny for what happened with the Chamber of Secrets. That's just like blaming a victim of rape. She didn't know better. Also the fact main reason she turned to the diary because she was lonely. She was new to Hogwarts and didn't have any friends. Her brothers who should have been there to help her out didn't want her around them and their friends. Besides, Harry didn't blame her, Dumbledore didn't blame her for what happened. He even went as far as saying that "...older and wiser wizards than she had been hoodwinked by Lord Voldermort" -(Pg.330 CoS). Urgh....

From what I see from the fandom of HP that Ginny is in the middle. There are those who really love her, and then there's those who hate in such a passion they make-up or exaggerate what things she done and try to twist them into something "evil" or "cruel."
Then there are those who really don't care about her character one way or another.

Anyway, I can't wait to see her character in the film HBP extend and have Ginny done justice.

From:

miss-celestine.livejournal.com

Ginny FTMFW!!!! Along with Hermione, she's truly one of the most awesome female characters in fiction, ever. Brave, funny, beautiful, fiercely loyal to her friends and beliefs, unfailing in her love and support for Harry... need I go on? It's all been said already ^^

Actually, I think that's why she gets so much hate in the fandom - it's always been my impression that a lot of people were simply jealous of her, and couldn't handle her awesomeness. Their so-called arguments, especially those criticizing JK's literary abilities, are just a smokescreen to hide old high school wounds and bitterness. And because they're obsessed with ships, they're also incapable of loving more than ONE female character, which is a shame because HP is rife with amazing women, who are all role models in their own way.