Current Events > Why is it that a male character is a character and a female character is a name?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Yes, this is about Mary Jane Watson.
Yes, I've made this topic before.


But seriously. When it comes to male characters, they usually try and keep certain aspects of a character consistent. With female characters, so many stories act like a character is just a name. She can be a quirky nurse's assistant with dreams of becoming a doctor and the remake makes her a turbo-goth who works for a veterinarian clinic. She's got a vagina. She's got the same name. That makes her the same character.

I hate it from a creative standpoint and I hate the underlining implications of it. Either the person in charge is saying that women are the property of progressive feminist ideology and that any update is justified as long as it moves them along the progressive scale. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, you have the Michael Bays of the world who don't care what a woman's established personality is. She's just a space occupier to them and can be changed to suit the story however.


No, she's not a "token girl" that you've improved. She's her own character just like the protagonist is his own character. Just like the antagonist is their own character. If the Mary Jane Watsons and April O'Neils were just token chicks, they'd be written the same way instead of having personalities that are unique to them.


*flips a table*

Move on
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I agree, they should keep a character as close to their canon comic appearance as possible.
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When i was a kid, I wanted to fuck the shit out of April O'Neill and I didn't even know what fucking was >_>
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I think they should've kept MJ a white ginger too, but it's their movie, I guess.

That said, what other examples of this happening to female characters? Where they aren't much at all like their counterparts in other media.
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I have no problem with them changing her race. Black with red hair looks great. Zendaya is like a real life version of MJ from the comics and old cartoons, only darker in complexion.

I'm mad about them making her the loner geek.