My Female Hero

If I were to write a female superhero for our modern era, I think I would focus on mostly her flaws as opposed to her strengths. Even now as media progresses, female characters are written in ways that leave them flat and uninteresting. While male characters are riddled with flaws and are still considered beloved, female characters hardly get the same treatment. I want to create a female superhero who fits the trope of a character who is aloof and judging, but who, at the end of the day, cares deeply about others and will do the right thing. While there may have been occasions where female characters fit this role, I can't call to mind any specific female protagonists who truly had this character type. What seems to be more popular to me is the existence of a female character who is cool and indifferent, who does a complete 180 and no longer acts that way, usually because of a man but not always. 

I would love to write the story of a hero facing a destiny she doesn't necessarily want at first, given the power over ice by a greater force, such as a powerful ancient god. I'd want to encapsulate the story of a woman rejecting parts of her she feels are inherently bad (her own power) and using them to do something good in the world. 

While I did initially focus on writing a character with flaws to make a point, as a complex character, this heroine would have a lot of redeeming qualities as well. As a prominent female character, I would want her to be tenacious, not backing down in the face of tough situations or frustrating scenarios. At the end of the day, despite her flaws, I would want this character to emulate determination, even in the face of the worlds strangest scenarios. 

True Grit

It was only after getting halfway through this book that I realized the familiarity that came with having already seen the 2010 movie (despite forgetting I had done so). I greatly enjoyed this book, as I generally tend to enjoy first person narration, as it added a dimension I didn't feel the movie had. My main takeaway from reading this book was the general coldness of the characters. While revenge is had and the major players survive the main conflict of the book, Cogburn never reaches out to Mattie, only in death does he see her again, despite her writings. Mattie is a young woman determined for revenge with unyielding determination to see her father's killer done in her way, by her hand. Her attitude throughout the book is far from warm and cuddly, and she ends up rich but unmarried at the end of the book. While everything seems a bit melancholic at the end, the story of True Grit isn't intrinsically sad. While it may not be the happy ending people would want, the story wraps up well, and the actions are befitting of the characters. The book didn't provide an ending that would make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, because solving problems is messy and it takes grit to do whatever it takes to get the job done. This story serves to show that problems aren't solved through doing the "right" thing or being the best person, but through doing the things that need to be done. 

Pride and Prejudice

My experience reading/experiencing Pride and Prejudice throughout my life has actually been something of a journey through the forms of media it happens to exist in. This read through was technically my first full read through, as when I tried to read it the first time I couldn’t bring myself to finish it. Instead of leaving the story forever unfinished back in high school, I actually turned to this set of youtube videos, which portray the story of Pride and Prejudice as vlogs. These videos really caught my interest at the time, and led me to really be invested in the story. Coming into the book now, with knowledge of the story and more of an appreciation for it, I did manage to finish it. The reason I bring up the many ways I’ve experienced this story is also the reason why I hadn’t written this response right away, I waited first to go home and watch the rest of the Bollywood interpretation of this story, Bride and Prejudice. This movie quickly caught my eye as one of the fresher twists on the classic story. With the backdrop of a new culture, the meaning was renewed for the modern day in a way that western modern interpretations might have trouble with. The different adaptations throughout multiple cultures really show off just how persistent the idea of romantic love is seen as an ideal not only here and now, but throughout time and all over the world. What really interests me, however, is a topic brought up in class discussion, the constant allure of Darcy, or even Darcy-like characters, throughout time. The idea of a man you initially find to be stuck up and mean would be generally seen as undesirable, but the idea that you could find something deeper, something better than all the other guys buried beneath that layer of dislike makes Darcy irresistible. This idea, a man who is gruff and unlikable on the outside but truly good on the inside, has become something of a trope throughout media. This idea in particular grabs my attention, because though it is shown to be dreamy and wonderful for Elizabeth, in our reality falling for a man initially shown to be unpleasant usually has disastrous consequences. Still, Darcy persists as a dream man, and nothing is inherently wrong with that, as he is still shown at the end of the day to be a truly good man.

Prologue

I was raised on the windy shores of the San Francisco Bay Area. The area in particular that I called home was located across the bay from the titular city itself, and played host to a rainbow of Asian-American families, mine included. This particular brand of diversity made the Bay a unique place to grow up, and with its own sense of mixed heritage I fit right in. Being of an uncommon mix tends to confuse people sometimes, leading to awkward questions at parties or even by strange men in the grocery store. Filipino and Puerto Rican isn’t a mix that people are particularly aware of, as the American narrative of mixed race usually revolves around being half one race and half white, or two very similar races mixed together. Despite the obscurity of my particular heritage (so far only known to be shared by singer Bruno Mars and a strangely prolific drug blogger on the internet) I never faced any real harassment, only confusion and surprise. I was lucky to grow up where I did, where having a blend of cultures a world apart only showed off how similar they really were. Although I consider myself as American as it gets, I still make a point to hold on to these cultures as hard as I can, I’ll never know them the way my parents did, but they have a unique meaning to me.