I disagree with your disagree there, especially when you consider that some of the characters who were listed as examples of what strong characters aren't actually do fit the mold as strong characters according to those initial 5 questions. I gave the example of Sailor Moon in my post. Now, whether or not you want to consider her a strong character is entirely up to you, because it could go either way. But according to the flowchart, she can very easily be classed as a strong character.
Freaking Bella Swann could, according to that chart, be labeled a strong character. And maybe it's my own bias speaking, but I really don't think that she counts as one.
But there's the rub. The definitions are so vague that you can make anybody and nobody fit them. Any female protagonist can fit the mold. Most female side characters can fit the mold. Just about every female in the world fits the mold. Nearly all of those of those weak characters fit the mold, and yes, even some of the real people they threw in there. Which is quite insulting, given that the chart is essentially conveying the message then that these real people are not strong and don't deserve to be looked up to.
And if people don't create characters who feel and act and look like real people, then I don't think the issue is whether or not they're strong anymore.
The vague instructions for making a strong character only give creators freedom when those freedoms aren't taken away, so to speak, by the rest of the chart. If I tried to avoid every potential path to "weak character" on that chart, I'd believe I'd have to write in a non-horror setting with a female protagonist who practically works within a bubble (can't be a member of a team, after all) and whose sexual life never once comes into things, not even to have or be a romantic interest. Somebody on another journal pointed out that all of the so-called weak character traits and paths all had to do with how the character relates to others, and none of the strong traits involve that at all. Apples to oranges.
While it may not be what the chartmaker originally intended to convey, there is the implication there that any of the traits in the very short "strong character" path equal a weak character, and yet it's very hard to write a character at all, male, female, or other, without bringing into play issues like how they relate to people and how they behave.
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regna
Re: Here via metafandom
Date: 2010-10-17 09:57 pm (UTC)Freaking Bella Swann could, according to that chart, be labeled a strong character. And maybe it's my own bias speaking, but I really don't think that she counts as one.
But there's the rub. The definitions are so vague that you can make anybody and nobody fit them. Any female protagonist can fit the mold. Most female side characters can fit the mold. Just about every female in the world fits the mold. Nearly all of those of those weak characters fit the mold, and yes, even some of the real people they threw in there. Which is quite insulting, given that the chart is essentially conveying the message then that these real people are not strong and don't deserve to be looked up to.
And if people don't create characters who feel and act and look like real people, then I don't think the issue is whether or not they're strong anymore.
The vague instructions for making a strong character only give creators freedom when those freedoms aren't taken away, so to speak, by the rest of the chart. If I tried to avoid every potential path to "weak character" on that chart, I'd believe I'd have to write in a non-horror setting with a female protagonist who practically works within a bubble (can't be a member of a team, after all) and whose sexual life never once comes into things, not even to have or be a romantic interest. Somebody on another journal pointed out that all of the so-called weak character traits and paths all had to do with how the character relates to others, and none of the strong traits involve that at all. Apples to oranges.
While it may not be what the chartmaker originally intended to convey, there is the implication there that any of the traits in the very short "strong character" path equal a weak character, and yet it's very hard to write a character at all, male, female, or other, without bringing into play issues like how they relate to people and how they behave.