how to avoid fridging female characters

We can't root for a billionaire tech genius in a bat suit without a couple of murdered parents in his backstory, or Kryptonian goodness incarnate without the loss of his entire homeworld. But if she rolls up in her wheelchair ready to kick butt and stop the villain, then she's awesome, not fridged. And men can like and relate to female characters too.). It's better to have several women, with diverse skill sets, instead of having a single walking talking Swiss Army knife of a female character. Men in adventure stories regularly sacrifice their lives to either save the world, the group or just give the protagonist a head start. Any advice for a male that struggles to write strong female characters Women in Refrigerators (or WiR) is a website created in 1999 by a group of feminist comic-book fans that lists examples of Women in Refrigerators Syndrome, a literary trope in which female characters are injured, raped, killed, or depowered (an event colloquially known as fridging), sometimes to stimulate "protective" traits, and often as a plot device intended to move a male character's story . Focus more on their wants and desires, their traumas, and their relationships with the other people in the story. Don't let femininity be seen as degrading. [] Some have been revived, even improved -- although the question remains as to why they were thrown in the wood chipper in the first place.". In the course of their attack, the villains also steal Wicks car. In terms of motivating a protagonist, fridging is a blunt tool poorly suited to more complex stories or characters. Im at about 85,000 words into my first book. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. If youve interrogated your own work and believe youre justified in your choices, thats really all that can be asked of any artist (with the understanding that readers then get to feel however the resultant art makes them feel.). I dont believe hell ever be ready, but he doesnt have to be. I also highly developed his wifes personality.The thing is, of course, she died in the past. He tells them about the happiest moments the two have gone through together, and how she was as a person. Acts of sexism extend beyond the over-sexualized characters. Wicks wife is still dead recently dead, in fact but that happened before the events of the film. Don't have your heroic men (or women) express disgust at pink, girly things, or being placed in a role that is usually reserved for women. You know, to actually end up growing into a kind adult who appreciates the privileges he has. ", How to Avoid Creating Female Character Stereotypes in Your Writing, https://misslunarose.home.blog/2019/05/24/why-readers-like-glitter/, https://misslunarose.home.blog/2020/04/25/mary-sue-test/, Tasha Robinson: We're losing all our Strong Female Characters to Trinity Syndrome, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechdel_test. She learns to ask for help in coping with her PTSD from her difficult past. Bella Swan from Twilight is sometimes cited as an example. Of course, since the thing the antagonist does is there to enrage the protagonist, it can make more sense to just do it to the protagonist. Let her stay happy and single. Utilizing female characters as assets to their male counterparts contributes to the sexism women are subjected to their entire lives. Men are allowed to need help from women too. One of the subtler pieces of advice about a protagonist/antagonist relationship is that each is rendered more interesting if their goal isnt to simply defeat the other character. In terms of specific meaning, fridging generally refers to death (or severe harm) that results not in a specific problem to be solved (like saving the character in question), but in creating or intensifying an antagonistic relationship. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. This isn't meant as, for example, a defense of the poor writing of the "come home to find a . However, not too extremely. Though fridging is not exclusive to comics, the reason it was extracted from the superhero genre is because, like TV soap operas, it's a genre that repels contentment in favor of melodrama. Darren Shans Killers of the Dawnkills off Larten Crepsley, the protagonists mentor, in an incredibly effective moment that also transitions the hero into a new stage of life. When I referred to a female character being depicted as a male protagonists property above, it was for a specific reason. Writing female characters that have no purpose or personality quickly becomes annoying, both for the writer and for the reader. From Bond to ITV's Strangers: why is everyone 'fridging'? It creates an intense antagonism (and a particularly relatable one, especially for traditional masculine sensibilities and self-image) but renders the event itself more or less pointless the protagonist has been wronged, but the exact form of that wrong only influences the intensity of the assumed feeling. Chief of the Philippine National Police, retirement | 297K views, 1.1K likes, 812 loves, 1K comments, 873 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Radio. Over time, the trope has evolved to encompass not only the damage done to a female character, but the consequential effect the damage has on her closest male ally, be it her friend, boyfriend, husband, father, brother or son. RELATED:Not Even Time Travel Can Undo Deadpool 2's Fridging Problem. Yeah, but it's the same kind of angry one would get if they stole his car, or ate all of his chips. In conclusion, she s is dying from the incident from the villain but the main character gave up his life to her so she can live (from a power he has) and then the main character dies but his special lives. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/4\/4b\/LR22-D-Past-Pipers.png\/460px-LR22-D-Past-Pipers.png","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/4\/4b\/LR22-D-Past-Pipers.png\/728px-LR22-D-Past-Pipers.png","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":306,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":485,"licensing":"