My Naughty Thoughts : Dumb Heroines - The Lois Lane Syndrome

In writing my I Hate Superman post, I realised there's something I hate even more than heroes like Superman. The dumb heroine that was the old Lois Lane. (This does not include Man of Steel's Lois Lane).

Lois Lane was suppose to be this smart, ambitious, go-getter reporter. The Daily Planet's star. So I find it a bit insulting and condescending that she was fooled by a pair of glasses. Seriously!!

This woman worked closely with her reporting partner, shared space with him, covered ground breaking stories with him, and even interviewed him as Superman and yet she couldn't see what was right before her eyes. Two men with such a striking resemblance that even a blind man could see Clark Kent was Superman. Seriously!!

Superman Returns (2006) made her appear even more incompetent as she didn't even recognise a man she had a kid with. Seriously!!

I excluded Man of Steel's Lois Lane because this woman was true to who I thought the character always should have been. She track down this mysterious super powered saviour in a matter of days straight to his mother's door step and I thought, finally...a Lois Lane I can respect.

Unlike the Lois Lane of old, Blake Lively's character Carol Ferris in Green Lantern earned my undying respected when she realised Green Lantern was her childhood friend within five seconds of standing two feet from him. She even called him out on him thinking that he could fool her with a mask.

I hate when stories are written like the female leads has no senses. Sometimes I even find myself yelling at a movie or TV program or novel : "are you serious" , "how can you not see what's happening" , and my favourite "idiot...serves you right". (Thinking about that right now is making me laugh at how riled up I can get at a dumb heroine).

Anyway...my point is this, I don't think I'm dumb. In fact I know I'm an intelligent and competent woman. I don't know how I may react to certain situation but I'd like to think I'd have some semblance of common sense. So I'm not all that interested in reading about dumb heroines. I get that sometimes the heroine has to make a few missteps to keep the story moving. Sometimes she has to trust the wrong person, go down a dark alley or scream at the worst possible time (ever find yourself shouting, shut the f*** up). What I can't accept is making her as stupid as Lois Lane....

And that's my naughty thoughts on dumb heroines.

Later Loveys

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My Naughty Thoughts : Five Minutes to Sex

Recently I read a romance novel where after knowing (or barely knowing) each other for all of five minutes the hero and heroine were already knocking boots. I guess the prudish part of me kicked in because I was like, what the....(I always have that reaction actually). It made me think about my friend who's already doing the nasty with her boyfriend of five months and how it took my ex an entire year to get any from me.

Am I being the last prude standing when I do a double take when I read about heroines who sleep with the hero five minutes after meeting him. And am I being the one thing I hate more than a liar, a hypocrite, if my writing reflects such a state. I won't even kiss on a first date, but the female characters I have dancing in my head wouldn't hesitate to go after something or someone they wanted, and that includes sexually. I, on the other hand, am nothing like that.

When I write from a character's perspective I tend to infuse a lot of myself into them. All my characters have a piece of my personality in them, except in this aspect. Maybe deep down I wouldn't mind for once throwing caution and upbringing to the wind and indulging in the fantasy of succumbing to a sexual attraction with a hot stranger.

I've never really thought any less of a heroine who sleeps with the hero "on their first date" but I admit to feeling differently in real life. Is that a double standard? Or is it that I already know the heroine ends up with the hero, while real life isn't always that easy.

What do you think of the heroine who sleep with the hero within a day of knowing him? Is the idea a little bit of a turn on or are authors portraying women in a bad light?

And that's my naughty thoughts on giving it up in the first chapter.

Later Loveys

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My Naught Thoughts : Is Strong Ever Too Strong

I got some great comments in response to my last post about leading females. I wrote about two types of heroines, the strong and the helpless. As I "penned" my thoughts on the strong heroine and used a few leather clad bad-asses as examples, it nagged at me that I might be setting up the idea that kick-ass only means physical. And then...how physically combative does she have to be before she loses her femininity.

So I included Jessica Rabbit as an example of a certain type of kick ass female. She may not be able to go toe to toe with werewolves, take on hoards of zombies, or slice a vampire's head off but weak she is not. If there is a spectrum of kick ass females, Jessica would be at one end of it. She's the type that oozes femininity and sexuality. After all, she was drawn that way. She sways her hips in an enticing rhythm, bats her sultry eyes, and puckers her pouty lips (I won't even mention what she does with those boobs). She's alot dainty, but from the first time I saw her, I thought....that chick is dangerous. Jessica is the girlie-girl bad-ass.

At the other end of the spectrum lies the alpha female bad-ass. She's so strong she comes off a little to manly. Sexy may not be the first word used to describe her. Either her body doesn't look very feminine, she doesn't dress feminine (no leather here) or her dialogue is a bit off putting...to "I need no one". I think Sandra Bullock or Melissa McCathy's characters in The Heat is my best idea of her. You have a hard time believing the love interest.

Sonja, Selene and Alice fall somewhere in between. The unobtainable bad-ass. Physically they are gorgeous women to look at, but personality wise they have their short comings. They're hard and lack any vulnerability. You wonder what they need the hero for. (Did you notice how Selene was always saving Michael?  It made him look like less of a man in my eyes).

As much as I love a leather clad fighter, I think I most relate to the girl next door bad-ass. Kind of like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (what vault did I dig that out of). She's cute and bubbly, wears the same kind of clothes I do, doesn't emasculate the hero with her strength and independence, but still needs him from time to time.

Most times when I read romance novels I forget the description of the character that the author gave (especially if there isn't a couple on the cover) and I start imagining them more from what they say and how they act (if that makes any sense). The words conjure the image in my head of either Jessica, Selene or Buffy. And as much as I enjoyed Underworld and Resident Evil, their heroines were just a little to far from the every day woman. I like when they're more like Buffy, they're a little more real to me.

And that's my naughty thoughts on strong heroines.

Later Loveys

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My Naughty Thoughts : Who's Hotter - The Kick-Ass Chick or The Damsel in Distress

Sonja, Selene and Alice. If you love vampires, werewolves or zombies you should recognize these names. What do these women all have in common ... besides black, leather, bodysuits? They kick-ass and look good while doing it. They're the type of women you don't mess with. They can take care of themselves and don't need the hero to save the day. They're an asset to him, not a hindrance. I love these kinds of heroines.

I like strong women who add to the story. She doesn't always have to be able to physically kick ass, a sharp tongue, a rebellious streak, a fearless soul or a woman who, instead of whimpering in the corner, picks up a lead pipe and bashes the villain over the head before he hurts the hero. I think Jessica Rabbit is a great example of a kick ass chick. She's beautiful, sexy and struts around in a tight red dress. If you didn't know her you wouldn't take her seriously as a threat right. But throughout the movie she had her man's back and she was a female no one messed with. A true femme fatal. A red-head with attitude.....

Then there is the flip side of the coin, the damsel in distress. The hero's always saving her, she's easy prey for the villain and she frustrates the hell out of me. You know the type...when the killer/zombie's chasing her she trips and starts crawling on her butt, crying and begging for him not to hurt her, and you're shouting at the book or movie...just kill her already... I quickly lose interest in novels with weak heroines that constantly need the hero to rescue her at every turn. Now this isn't the feminist in me talking, I like a knight in shining armour, but come on. The helpless heroine!!! She's just insulting.

I said in my ginger post that I'm partial to red-heads as my female heroine. The truth is I don't really care what the heroine looks like. I'm partial to red-heads because of the type of personality I'm expecting to see. I like fiery women who gives the hero a little trouble. Not trouble in the way that I'm cursing at the book because I'm frustrated at her stupidity, but trouble in the way that she doesn't make everything easy for the hero, she makes him work for it and she's not afraid to curse him out.

So unlike the heroes, who I'm sad to admit (no I'm not) physical appearance can be as important as his personality, for the women...eh...not so much. She can be gorgeous or she can be a plain Jane, it's irrelevant for me. Once she's strong, intelligent and kick ass.

And that's my naughty thoughts on kick-ass chicks.

Later Loveys

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