Half a Moon: 14 Days of Celebrating Women

For Arts and Entertainment at 14valentines 

The television world is run by male executives looking at the bottom line with barely any room outside of their nice neat little boxes of what makes successful tv. Mainstream media shows tend to have majority male casts and the Bechdel test is something that you usually hope your show passes once in a while let alone individual episodes. Female characters are often dropped or maligned for "plot" reasons, the expendable characters in favor of their male counterparts.

Fan creations often keep these characters alive, or even reinvent the text. Today I have vid recs for friged or vilified female characters. Some of these are old, some of them are fandom classics, but all of them are worth watching, and if you'd like to give me you're own recs, I'd love to have them.

Note: Some of the links are download only. Right click, save as, and if you don't want to keep them, just delete them afterward.

Supernatural -- Supernatural has arguably one of the worst track records of keeping women alive on the show and its treatment of female characters in general. The first two vids are about the show as a whole and are criticisms of the text and how fans as a whole continue the denigration of women.

The third vid is about Jess, Sam's girlfriend whose death serves as the source of manpain for Sam through the first season, sacrificed in classic have-to-get-the main-character-to-do-something style.

Women's Work by sisabet and sockkpuppett (Luminosity)
Meta vid about how the show treats women characters in Supernatural. A fandom classic, but worth watching if you haven't yet.

Still Alive by counteragent
Meta vid about Supernatural fandom and how it treats women characters.

Just Like You (scroll down, it's 7th) by gigglemonster
AU where Jess doesn't die at the beginning of the series and Sam finds her in a small town.


Stargate Atlantis -- Elizabeth Weir portrayed by Torri Higginson was written off at the end of season 3. Why is still unclear, but most reports agree that Higginson was unhappy with the decision.

24 by shayz
Elizabeth Weir through the Multiverse

Unwritten by sache8
All about Elizabeth.


Merlin -- When Merlin (BBC) first started, Morgana was a vibrant young woman who spoke her mind and stood up to Uther for what was right. She got punished for it, by Uther, and then by the writers, who then turned her from a 3-dimensional character into a one-note villain. I still love Morgana, but I mourn the character she could have been.

Runaway by alexp444
Morgana during the growing pressures of season 2.

The Tower by kaydeefalls
Morgana and the ever closing vice around her from living under Uther's rule.

As If By Magic by powderedmilk
Morgana's transformation through season 3. A contrast of a rather dark subject with a catchy upbeat song.


Criminal Minds -- I'm new to this fandom, but one of the first things I learned about the show was how the producers didn't renew AJ Cook's contract for the 6th season with no real reason given. Agent Jennifer "JJ" Jereau was effectively friged with no replacement. JJ deals with the press and many of the families of victims and is compassionate and kind but also hard as nails when she needs to be to get the job done.

Hands by ohsoleil