Who else is annoyed by the trope of *women gains power and thus goes mad?*
Daenerys Targaryan
Scarlet Witch
Jean Grey
Carrie
Willow
Vanya Hargreeves
Just...
...Ugh
Daenerys Targaryan
Scarlet Witch
Jean Grey
Carrie
Willow
Vanya Hargreeves
Just...
...Ugh
Comments
Dormammu
Steven Strange
Baron Carl Mordue
Magnito
Sabertooth
The knights king
The mad king
Henry the 8th
Putin
Kim Jong Un
The Mandarin
The Joker
Lex Luthor
Voldemort
Charles Manson
Donald Trump
It's been a while since I saw the horror film Carrie if that's who you meant. I immediately thought of Warwick Davis Willow, but you might mean Buffy?
This has nothing to do with gender, it has everything to do with « how do I make my characters interesting as a writer? »
Because interesting people are shaped by trauma. People without trauma are boring.
"Turns out I was pretty mad before I had power. And while I had power. And after I had power. I'm just over here living my best life, and if I have drain you bitches like a wineskin, that sounds like a you problem."
And willow had power before going dark. But um…Tara was murdered so.
So far so good. And readers like it a lot! Writing book 18 now. (Or I’m supposed to be, but I’m here.)
Exploring what women in power might be like.
I'm just annoyed by bad plots and writing.
And her family was kinda famous for being super inbred and being born with a 50/50 chance of going insane, including both her father and at least one, if not both, of her older brothers.
A lot of the time, when men, even well-meaning ones, get power in King's books it doesn't end super well for them. Revival being a great example.
she is overwhelmed by the power of the Ring but realizes the cost of its use (and potential for abuse perhaps) was too much
Annoys me as much as that,
Like any woman in a stressful situation turns to the random man next to her and asks that question. 🙄
And it doesn’t always happen, like with Matilda, who awakens telekinesis and only uses it for good and personal amusement.
Apparently...
Power makes men evil.
Power makes women crazy
Targaryans are all off their rocker.
Scarlett Witch only went "mad" in the movies. Even then, she didn't really go mad, she just stopped giving a fuck after loosing everyone she loved.
Jean Grey got possed by a god-like being. It didn't come across that well in the film
Really though, I think a lot of those characters were already mad before they got power.
Scarlet Witch’s madness isn’t a result of gaining power. She’s a powerful woman going through shit, leave her alone.
Carrie also doesn’t fit. She’s a traumatized, unstable girl well on her way to madness before any power.
Carrie was being bullied by classmates
Willow was the murder of her love at the hands of an incel
Vanya was mistreatment and lack of training for her abilities by her father figure.
The common factor for most, men
Margaret Thatcher....
But I do agree with the general trope of 'We must keep womens from all power cos they go all bibbldy and hormonal and megadeath' lets continue with our cold logical manly genocides.
In mainstream popular culture at least?
I'm curious about examples.
Thanos
Joker
Dr. Manhattan
Darth Vader
Spider-Man/S3
Sauron/LotR
Omni-Man/Invincible
Homelander
Brandon/Brightburn
Doctor Octopus
Green Goblin
The rest, no. Since we’re talking madness as a result of gaining power.
And these are just pop culture references. Expand the parameters and there’s more.
Not trying to take anything away from the OP; just there are many instances of this narrative device.
#AvatarTheLastAirbender #ATLA
There was a point where she was being shipped with Thor and i like that
I don't think it is at all common.
It’s impossible for me to binge GOT, like I used to, after the last season.
Holy shit they fucked up Dany.
I’m sitting here trying to think of movies where the powerful woman keeps her shit together.
Ripley, 👽, yeah. But sequels messed with her.
Lazy af writing. She’d survived all sorts of hell only to become a shadow of herself?
And loud & clear message - “you women can’t handle power”
🙄
Add to that:
1. women in power must be hateful bitches
2. bad ass woman needs male help to realize her strength
3. Power or family, never both...
4. Women must cry alone in the shower because emotions
5. There must be a love interest
Her anger wasn't something that suddenly appeared as she gained power; she had always had the fire in her. It's just that initially it was rare directed at those who abuse their power.
Female (power-)madness and deviance is a trope you find in fairy tales and literature (witches, step mothers, the wife in Jane Eyre …)
but yeah more than a bit sick of the trope along with the mother who is only protecting her kids so turns to evil eg Moira Queen, Carol Preston
I may be biased. I like her
Just seems so totally wrong.
When next we meet, she’s willing to destroy realities (and untold billions) to get what she wants.
The men in GoT, marvel, horror villains?
I can't speak to the others, cause I didn't get that far.
But .. *is* it a gendered trope if it neither applies to all/most the fem/female characters, and also applies to masc/male characters? Should power not corrupt women for some reason?
I thought the “mad with grief” was handled brilliantly in WandaVision and they just tossed all that character dev in the bin.
Never realized before but Willow was kind of the same boat, maybe?
“If women had physical dominance (power) over men, they’d go mad and use it to rape, murder, and oppress men just the same” was not a theme I agreed with or thought actually makes sense
I haven't watched Umbrella academy, and not sure what Willow references, but the others aren't terribly good examples of that either.
We're talking about the trope: power drives women mad.
Jean Gray and The Scarlett witch are exceptionally powerful to start with. Wanda goes off the rails because of trauma, and a canonically corrupting influence she uses to deal with that trauma. Jean is also a conflict between humanity and power
Women going mad after gaining is the more real than there being superheroes. Reality would show everyone going crazy and evil with power.
"Get 'er! She's hysterical!!"
Naruto
One Piece
Iron Man
Thor
Captain America
Superman
The Matrix
Harry Potter
Trump. President Musk.