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My Top Ten Fictional Female Friendships
Oct. 14th, 2010 10:33 pmThere's a fandom meme going around, and like a sheep I am going with my fleecy, adorable herd. In no particular order except when I came up with them:
1. Kaylee and Inara from Firefly respect and support each other, and do not try to enforce social norms that would imply a lack of approval. They're okay with having wildly different backgrounds, personalities, prospects and social status. They just admire each other for their different talents and offer support and encouragement. I like how simple they are together.
2. Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy from the Batman animated series. Theyfight commit crime! Shenanigans ensue!
3. Sophie and Stacia from Promethea are snarky, catty, they have conflicting goals, and they STILL support each others rights to bang ancient hippies and talk to imaginary people and fight demons.
4. Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax from The Discworld books. Have you ever read The Sea And Little Fishes? Our true friends are the ones we rely on to keep us the kind of crazy that doesn't involve pitchforks and angry villagers.
5. Francine and Katchoo from Strangers In Paradise are complicated and simple, and they are the best friends In the whole of my Top Ten. I've always wished I had a friendship with any girl that was that enduring. Maybe I will, someday.
6. Deety and Sharpie from The Number of The Beast by Robert Heinlein are strong, independent women who don't let being step-mother-and-daughter interfere with being good friends, good captains and having the kind of solidarity you could bounce a quarter off of.
7. Sally and Gillian (yes I had to look up the spelling, stfu) from the movie Practical Magic. Now some people might be purists who say that sisters don't count toward a list of friends and to those people I say LA LA LA FINGERS IN MY EARS I CAN'T HEAR YOU. :P
8. Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia from The Wolves of Willoughby Chase because they were my first adventurous-girl-duo. Pushy, headstrong Bonnie and cautious, thoughtful Sylvia were my early pattern for what female friendships were supposed to look like.
9. Sara and Ermengarde from A Little Princess were like two sides to the same coin: one had all the cleverness and the other had all the luck. But they weren't jealous of each other, they just shared fortune and misfortune as though it never occurred to them not to pool their resources. I always thought that was how friendship should be.
10. Susan and Sally from the BBC TV show Coupling are not perfect people. Susan is sometimes suspicious and irrational; Sally is jealous, neurotic and vain. They understand and accept each other without recourse to self-deception about the other's faults. They love each other and rely on each other and while they have men in their lives they are more honest and trusting and solid together than with any man. Their characters are much more strongly defined by their friendship than by any of the romantic entanglements onscreen.
And to finish off, a poem for those of you who haven't seen it:
A Monstrous Manifesto by Catherynne Valente
( If you are a monster, stand up. )
1. Kaylee and Inara from Firefly respect and support each other, and do not try to enforce social norms that would imply a lack of approval. They're okay with having wildly different backgrounds, personalities, prospects and social status. They just admire each other for their different talents and offer support and encouragement. I like how simple they are together.
2. Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy from the Batman animated series. They
3. Sophie and Stacia from Promethea are snarky, catty, they have conflicting goals, and they STILL support each others rights to bang ancient hippies and talk to imaginary people and fight demons.
4. Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax from The Discworld books. Have you ever read The Sea And Little Fishes? Our true friends are the ones we rely on to keep us the kind of crazy that doesn't involve pitchforks and angry villagers.
5. Francine and Katchoo from Strangers In Paradise are complicated and simple, and they are the best friends In the whole of my Top Ten. I've always wished I had a friendship with any girl that was that enduring. Maybe I will, someday.
6. Deety and Sharpie from The Number of The Beast by Robert Heinlein are strong, independent women who don't let being step-mother-and-daughter interfere with being good friends, good captains and having the kind of solidarity you could bounce a quarter off of.
7. Sally and Gillian (yes I had to look up the spelling, stfu) from the movie Practical Magic. Now some people might be purists who say that sisters don't count toward a list of friends and to those people I say LA LA LA FINGERS IN MY EARS I CAN'T HEAR YOU. :P
8. Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia from The Wolves of Willoughby Chase because they were my first adventurous-girl-duo. Pushy, headstrong Bonnie and cautious, thoughtful Sylvia were my early pattern for what female friendships were supposed to look like.
9. Sara and Ermengarde from A Little Princess were like two sides to the same coin: one had all the cleverness and the other had all the luck. But they weren't jealous of each other, they just shared fortune and misfortune as though it never occurred to them not to pool their resources. I always thought that was how friendship should be.
10. Susan and Sally from the BBC TV show Coupling are not perfect people. Susan is sometimes suspicious and irrational; Sally is jealous, neurotic and vain. They understand and accept each other without recourse to self-deception about the other's faults. They love each other and rely on each other and while they have men in their lives they are more honest and trusting and solid together than with any man. Their characters are much more strongly defined by their friendship than by any of the romantic entanglements onscreen.
And to finish off, a poem for those of you who haven't seen it:
A Monstrous Manifesto by Catherynne Valente
( If you are a monster, stand up. )