sangerin

Day 3: A female character you hated but grew to love

I can't with all honesty say I've never hated a female character - I've hated plenty. Seven of Nine (Voyager), Rebecca Duvall (Smash), Ros Meyers (Spooks) to name a few.

Besides, this is a *a* female character I hated but grew to love, not my favorite first-hated-but-then-loved character. There are two definite characters worth naming here: Amy Gardiner (West Wing) and Fiona Carter (Spooks). As much as I didn't want to repeat fandoms during this meme, I've already mentioned Spooks, and no doubt West Wing will turn up again, after all it's only day 3.

That said, I suspect that I love my personal fanon version of Fiona Carter more than the actual canon version. For starters, my fanon version ditches Adam Carter and runs off with Zoe (in those universes where Zoe isn't with Tessa, anyway) and actually cares about her son's wellbeing.

So I think it's going to be Amy Gardiner. The character whom - she has just reminded me - my GF detests. It's not that I'm not a Josh/Donna shipper. I mostly am. I'm mostly not an Amy/Josh shipper. In fact I'm more of an Amy/Donna shipper, but that's just me. But I love Amy. It took a while, but I love Amy. I even love her cutting the phone line and throwing Josh's cell into the spaghetti sauce {cue yet another disagreement on that topic with aforementioned GF}.

On the one hand how could I ever not love someone with Amy's original job - a lobbyist for pseudo-radical feminist causes? Who launches water balloons out the window at Josh? Who refuses to budge from her position despite all Josh's attempts?

So yeah, I adore Amy. Her push and pull with Donna (hence the shipping); her advice to the First Lady, her nuttiness. And yeah, Mary-Louise Parker is cute. And also hot. ~shrug~ That's a good enough reason, right? :-)

( The rest of the meme )

Day 2: Favourite supporting female character

Clearly, not Janeway. She's a lead character if ever there was one.

So: supporting characters that are up for the "best supporting" role: Sarah Jackson, B'Elanna Torres, Willow Rosenberg, Cordelia Chase, Hotlips Houlihan, CJ Cregg, Abigail Bartlet, Donnatella Moss.

But I think it's Ruth Evershed who wins. Ruth was never a lead role, even when she was the lead in individual episodes. But she was the heart of MI-5 for the years she was there. And when she was no longer there, it wasn't the same place at all. I suspect this only makes sense to fans of Spooks, but the importance of Ruth Evershed is... so very central to how I see that team. That group of people. That team.

Ruth is awesome. Ruth is my choice for favourite supporting female character.

( The Days of the Meme )

So, here is yet another attempt at doing a 30 days meme in the space of 40 days. This is the 30 days of female characters meme, stolen from

scrollgirl.

Day 1 - Favourite lead female character - Lynda Day

The fabulous Lynda Day only just beats out Kathryn Janeway for favourite lead female character, but I have loved Lynda for many more years. Lynda Day, editor of the Junior Gazette, the symbol of my high school ambitions, and possibly also an early crush... Lynda, who won't take crap from anyone, and certainly not from any male. Even thought Spike was clearly perfect for her. But her independence was far more important than her happiness in a relationship, and her ambition was her defining characteristic AND THAT WAS OKAY. Never once, watching Press Gang, even while I was cheering for Lynda/Spike, did I get the idea that Lynda was a negative role model. My mother had no problem with me adoring Lynda Day. My English teacher encouraged it.

The thing is, every time anyone says that Moffat can't write women, I boggle, because Moffat wrote Lynda Day. And I've heard Julia Sawalha's commentaries for some of those episodes: all Lynda's intelligence and awesomeness comes from Moffat, not from Sawalha. (It seems to me that Lydia Bennett is the role of Sawalha's that most matches her own personality.)

( The Days of the Meme )