about cliches
Dec. 30th, 2018 11:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
howsmyenglishI don't need to watch my favorite movies anymore. I know them so well, it's enough to think about them. So, yesterday, when I was re-watching Peter's friends inside my head, there was this scene, where Sarah is sitting in the bathroom while angrily filing her nails. And I thought: oh, what a cliche! A woman who's filing her nails as a picture of an irritated woman.
Do you ever do that? I don't. I file my nails, when they're broken or not alright somehow. When I'm irritated, I do lots of other things. (Thought on the side: is this typical of men's inability to understand women thus instead of trying to portray a real woman they operate with well known cliches?) I'm not even sure I've ever seen a woman file her nails in anger. Have you?
Anyhow, I thought it might be nice to take this cliche and de-cliche it, as it were. Like, to have a character, who's filing her (or his?) nails as a matter of course, without being in any way angry or irritated. They could file their nails while talking to people (and look at the nails while thinking), they could file their nails while being on a bus (this is what I do, actually) or while waiting for boarding at the airport... What do you think? I think, I'd like that.
Also, here's a question: can you think of other examples of such cliches, where you instantly understand what the author meant, but you cannot recall having seen someone behave like this in real life?
Do you ever do that? I don't. I file my nails, when they're broken or not alright somehow. When I'm irritated, I do lots of other things. (Thought on the side: is this typical of men's inability to understand women thus instead of trying to portray a real woman they operate with well known cliches?) I'm not even sure I've ever seen a woman file her nails in anger. Have you?
Anyhow, I thought it might be nice to take this cliche and de-cliche it, as it were. Like, to have a character, who's filing her (or his?) nails as a matter of course, without being in any way angry or irritated. They could file their nails while talking to people (and look at the nails while thinking), they could file their nails while being on a bus (this is what I do, actually) or while waiting for boarding at the airport... What do you think? I think, I'd like that.
Also, here's a question: can you think of other examples of such cliches, where you instantly understand what the author meant, but you cannot recall having seen someone behave like this in real life?
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Date: 2018-12-30 02:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-12-30 02:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-12-30 02:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-01-01 02:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-12-30 07:04 pm (UTC)What I usually see as a clichéd sign of an "irritated woman" is banging plates down loudly, slamming doors, yelling at the tops of her lungs or sulking. In other words, we're all toddlers.
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Date: 2019-01-01 02:54 pm (UTC):D
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Date: 2019-01-31 02:42 pm (UTC)so you get a lot of 'naturally perfect' women in fiction, who tend not to think of themselves as attractive (that would be off-putting to men). because most writers are men, and makeup is evil.
also, irl i've never seen anyone filing their nails angrily. or painting their nails angrily. or even taking nail polish off angrily.
i have seen women brush their hair angrily. or clean their home (scrubbing pots is a favourite) angrily. which seems indicative, to me, of the way women are socialised: our anger turns inwards, or at least must be channelled towards a productive goal.
idk if i had a real point in here somewhere.
either way, i feel like it's rare to even find a woman getting really angry in fiction, especially if she's not an action girl type, and not have it treated as either inconsequential or just as a joke.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-01 01:22 pm (UTC)