A Playlist for Female Stereotypes

[apple_pathways]

Some of you may have seen the Female Character Flowchart that has been floating around fandom discussion boards lately. It's an attempt to quantify what exactly makes a "strong female character" as opposed to the flotsam and jetsam of female stereotypes that make up the majority of female representation in entertainment media. If your character doesn't fall into one of the traps that lands her on this flowchart, then Congratulations! You've got a strong female character.

The fantastically thought-provoking evilhippo wrote an awesome post detailing her reactions to the flowchart, and how she feels the author of the chart has confused the use of tropes with bad female characterization, and many other very cogent and intelligent observations. Naturally, I inserted myself into the discussion and rapidly turned the focus onto PBS, hair products, and what relevant skills evilhippo and I possess that we could one day use to team up and fight crime. (My main superpower being my ability to quickly derail any intellectual conversation and make it ALL ABOUT ME.)

The subject of fighting crime brought us 'round to a little game she and I have developed wherein we choose a criteria for selecting songs and then post our respective choices to fit the genre. Past categories have included "Song You'd Most Like to Get Punched in the Face To" and "Song To Be Abducted by Aliens Whilst Eating an Ice Cream To". Her choice of battleground this time was this: "A short (3-5 songs?) playlist illustrating or engaging with all or a part of the Female Character Flowchart."

Unable to limit myself to just 3-5 songs, I've come up with an entire playlist in celebration of the female characters we love with a secret, guilty passion. I now present to you:



Bad Girls Need Love, Too
a fanmix

How Meta is that? edition.

1. The Suffering Wife: "The Crane Wife 3", by The Decemberists
   Each feather it fell from skin
   Till threadbare while she grew thin
   How were my eyes so blinded?
   Each feather it fell from skin
   
   
2. The Attention Whore: "Polyester Bride", by Liz Phair
   I was talking, not two days ago
   To a certain bartender I'm lucky to know
   And I asked Henry, my bartending friend
   If I should bother dating unfamous men
   
   
3. The Clingy Girlfriend: "I Just Love You More", by Kate Nash
   I just love you more, I just love you more
   I just love you more than anything
   (repeat)
   
   I love ya, I love ya, I love ya moreee! Moreee
   (repeat)
   Love you, love you, I just love you more!
   
   
4. The Oedipal Mother: "Mommy Complex", by Peaches
   Nipple to the bottle, now you satisfied
   Huddled on the floor 'til I make you cry
   Don't speak don't think don't ask why
   Don't ever leave Mommy, don't say goodbye.
   
   Hush now, baby, don't you stress:
   I'm gonna fill your Mommy Complex
   
   
5. Femme Fatale: "Bette Davis Eyes", by Kim Carnes
   Her hair is Harlow gold,
   Her lips sweet surprise
   Her hands are never cold
   She's got Bette Davis eyes
   She'll turn her music on you
   You won't have to think twice
   She's pure as New York snow
   She got Bette Davis eyes
   
   
6. The Ditz: "Supermodel", by Jill Sobule
   And I write my school report
   on why I love my jeans, why I love my jeans.
   And oh, oh my locker door it's the coolest thing that you have ever seen.
   
   Cause I'm young and I'm hip and so beautiful,
   I'm gonna be a supermodel
   
   
7. The One That Got Away: "Emily Kane", by Art Brut
   Every girl that I've seen since
   Looks just like you when I squint
   I know you said it's for the best
   I still don't understand why you left
   
   
8. The Bitchy Fiancée: "Back Stabbin' Betty", by Cage the Elephant
   He tried so hard to please her
   He sold his soul to keep her happy
   But nothin' he did impressed her
   She always left him feelin' shitty
   
   
9. Action Girlfriend: "Kiss With a Fist", by Florence + The Machine
   You hit me once
   I hit you back
   You gave a kick
   I gave a slap
   You smashed a plate over my head
   Then I set fire to our bed
   
   
10. Girl Hitler: "Aya", by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
    She's a patient killer, a timeless hand
    The choke of the falling sands
    She's a proven saint with a witches tongue
    The gods of war at her command
    
    
11. Crazy Career Woman: "Step Into My Office, Baby", by Belle & Sebastian
    I’m a slave to work
    I’m only living when I walk amongst the office staff
    And catch up with the office wag
    I’ll be in bed by nine
    My curtains drawn
    My thoughts composed
    I get to work on time
    
    
12. The Wet Blanket: "Raincoat Song", by The Decemberists
    Caroline, you're angry 'cause you sleep like a spinster and you're twenty-eight
    You've been thinking late you couldn't catch a cold
    Bend your head double in the goose down, piling all the pillows high
    Heave your fiercest sigh and see if that'll work
    
    And the raincoat that you wore, when it rained today
    I think it only made it rain more
    

*Bonus Track*:

• The Ideal Woman: "I Never", by Rilo Kiley
  I'm only a woman
  Of flesh and bone
  And I wept much
  We all do
  I thought I might die alone
  
  But I had never(x11) met you
  So baby be good to me

And now, enjoy! Hope you like:

Comments

[rachel2205.livejournal.com]

So I listened to it today, and it's a really cool list! I admit a couple of songs annoyed me (Art Brut, Kate Nash), but overall I really enjoyed it and liked the concept immensely!

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Just about everyone I have exposed that Kate Nash song to hates it. I don't know why! (Ok, yeah I do: the screeching, right?) But I loved it the first time I heard it!

And Art Brut has one of those strange, quirky songs that either you hate at first and then it grows on you, or you hate it first and...hate it incrementally more on each successive listen.