Volunteers wanted for Ladies of Awesome. Also POCs of awesome.

[arysteia.livejournal.com]

A formal call for volunteers/pimps/presentations etc will go out in the not-distant future, but since THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN has closed the school I'm seizing the moment to kick off an idea I've been mulling over.

Inspired in part by the success of these two categories in the Vid Oscars last year, and in part by morebliss's and my Epic Rewatches of Doom of the X-Files and SG-1, I want to see if we can put together a themed tag-team presentation in an area(s) that typically are under-represented. To be blunt, g/t is a sausage fest, and a pretty white one at that. And that's fine, because we're there to celebrate what we love, when we love it most. No harm, no foul, no criticism, no pressure.

BUT.

Watching 200 hours of X-Files in a fortnight reminded me intensely of how very, very much I was in love with Dana Scully when I was nineteen/twenty, lo these many years ago. And how sad I was that she'd never get her day in the sun/on the projector. And then I thought about my other big girl-crush, Lois Lane, and how outrageous it is that that big dumb alien Clark Kent gets all the airtime (not least from me) and so on.

SO.

I would LOVE to see a loosely connected set of segments on awesome women of fandom who otherwise never get their day. Is there someone that YOU love? alasen, what about Xena? vaudevilles, still feeling the Starbuck? labellementeuse, did Nikita live up to expectation? Or tell us why Batgirl was the best comic of 2011 (and Dan Didio should DIAF). Anyone and everyone else??? Just five or so minutes each, to encapsulate the Awesome, be it a couple of clips of key moments, or a songvid that sums her up, and/or a tiny summary of why you love her.

I see a secondary opportunity here too, in that it might coax those of you who are traditionally too reticent to present, or too busy to put together a whole Thing, into playing. Join me!

And then I thought, huh, we should also do non-white characters who never get their moment either. So if there's a character of colour who you love, please wow us with a tiny tribute to them.

Who's with me? Comment here to either volunteer or suggest characters. (But seriously, volunteer! Five minutes!)

Volunteers So Far:

Lois Lane - arysteia
Dana Scully - arysteia
Parker (Leverage) - morebliss
Hardison (Leverage) - morebliss
Elizabeth, Diana and June (White Collar) - china_shop
Aeryn Sun (Farscape) - china_shop
Loretta West (Outrageous Fortune) - blademistress
Cass Cain (Batgirl II) - stickmarionette
Steph Brown (Batgirl III) - labellementeuse
Renee Montoya (DC) - labellementeuse
Kono (Hawaii 5-0) - cross_stitchery
Kenzi (Lost Girl) - alasen
Olivia (Fringe) - the_antichris

[Alicia/Kalinda (The Good Wife) and Troy/Abed (Community) covered elsewhere by blademistress]
[Rizzoli and Isles and Suits covered elsewhere by cross_stitchery]

Comments

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

I will do Steph! Because I love her so! And because apparently it is my destiny. Anyway I can do her. (ha ha, do her. um, shut up, Tui. I would though.)

I might do Oracle as well and we can have a Batgirl trifecta? There's quite a lot to talk about w/Babs because of Recent Events. But I don't know I might get a little mad and overly um. well anyone who's been in a room with me talking about comics knows how I get.

VERY EXCITED FOR THIS. I could do these like it was my full-time job tbh.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

OH SHIT, I really wanna do Renee actually. Can I please with a cherry on top? and I won't do Babs even though she's amazing but no-one needs to hear me complain THAT much about comics. But I can actually say NICE things about Renee!

PS Nikita did not continue grabbing me, sob.

[arysteia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this is a celebratory venue, let's keep it squeeful. I'll put you down for Steph and Renee. I'm really pleased at the range of characters we've gotten so far. Not really the usual suspects, which is cool. And yeah, totally your destiny, I thought of you immediately. ;-p

On a side note, I find it -- lolworthy is definitely the wrong word; eyebrow raising??? -- that all the suggested POCs bar one are women too. Is it easier for TPTB to jam in the twofer? Are women inherently less threatening than black men? Discuss.

Save up your DC related rants (we'll have had a chance to read all the number 1s and possibly 2s -- obvious joke is obvious -- by then) and hash them out with stickmarionette, blademistress and me. Between the four of us we should be able to summon enough rage to cut a bitch or two.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was trying to think of people I'd do if not comics characters and came up with a few but it is nice to avoid the usual, for sure, as well as the threshed-over ground - e.g. I could easily do Jo from SPN or Cordelia (Chase or Vorkosigan, actually!) or Starbuck but, I mean, we already know how awesome they are (right?) Keeping it current means keeping it more surprising, I think, and it's also good from a pimping standpoint.

(Still super excited for your Lois squee though, did you know that yesterday was Lois Lane's birthday? #thingsilearnedfromtumblr)

Well, Hardison, Troy, Abed is three. I can come up with a few more POCs who are men who I'd do - Gunn, Charlie from TWW, Damian Wayne, Nightrunner, and possibly I could read up on Batwing - but I think you're not wrong that the Woman of Colour Who Doesn't Represent a Real Romantic Threat Because People Are Gross and She Gives Two Diversity Points, Checkit Out, We're So Diverse is a trope or could become one. (Hm, I wonder what TV tropes has to say about that?)

I look forward to a really savage DC-bashing lunch!

[arysteia.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't count Damian, but that's a cultural relativism thing -- because I'm from the Med myself he's not other to me. Levantines and Semites are my people. I'd forgotten Nightrunner though, shame on me. I also thought of Chin, who was pretty damn cool in Hawaii 5-0, ridiculous as the show was.

You're on!

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Well, he's part-Chinese as well as Arabic, but I take your point.

He was pretty fabulous! Why the past tense? Did H50 get cancelled? I didn't notice any screams of agony from fandom!

[arysteia.livejournal.com]

I... am not sure if I forgot that, or if I didn't know that. What era canon is that from?

Nope, not cancelled, but it was a one weekend fandom for me, ie I read all the good fic in a single weekend, and there's been nothing to interest me since. Like Sherlock. ;-p I've never burnt out of a fandom faster than those two.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Current, AFAIK - it's based on Talia's descent. Ra's is Arabic and whoever Talia's mama was was European-Chinese - I think, anyway. & hence Damian.

Haha, I know exactly what you mean, although sometimes those fandoms just make me crazy e.g. a couple weeks ago shihadchick recced this amazing fic and I just wanted it to have a HUGE fandom ALL for that pairing and it did not, and instead of being burnt out I've been tantalised. But I do know what you mean wrt: Sherlock, at least. Very repetitive.

[arysteia.livejournal.com]

So it's Morrison then? Maybe Batman and Son era? It's certainly not Son of the Demon, but we all know how well Morrison remembered that... I'm intrigued and want to go find it, not interrogating you, btw, *g*. Damn, I should just go wiki it... *grumble*

As for tantalising... A month or so ago I was talking to Meelie and she mentioned Thor/Loki and I was all pshaw, and then last week I read that one perfect fic, and now I DO want more, and there really isn't any. If only Shalott wasn't otherwise occupied, I'm sure she could have singlehandedly made it a big fandom... Babies, dagnabbit.

[arysteia.livejournal.com]

Heya dude. Can I confirm that Steph and Renee are both going ahead? 5 mins each? Or 15 all together, *g*?