Female watchmen

[WannabeAngua]

Women like Susan, Granny Weatherwax, Angua, Tiffany, Polly, and Glenda are some of the most resourceful and strong-willed characters in his books and generally possess far more intelligence and common sense then the men with whom they interact.

I agree. There may be more male characters than female, but at least the females are all capable, and not just there to provide a nice face and a big pair of boobs (except perhaps Christine).

 

[Jizburg]

Women like Susan, Granny Weatherwax, Angua, Tiffany, Polly, and Glenda are some of the most resourceful and strong-willed characters in his books and generally possess far more intelligence and common sense then the men with whom they interact.

I agree. There may be more male characters than female, but at least the females are all capable, and not just there to provide a nice face and a big pair of boobs (except perhaps Christine).

but it is cind of sad that most of them are not "ordinary" humans..
it cinda sais that " to be capable and a woman.. you have to have special powers"

 

[raisindot]

but it is cind of sad that most of them are not "ordinary" humans..
it cinda sais that " to be capable and a woman.. you have to have special powers"

Well, Polly, Glenda, Sacarisha(sp.), Lady Sibyl and Spike are all strong-willed "normal" characters. And other than Vimes, Wm. De Worde, Moist, The Patrician and (arguably) Carrot, most of the other ongoing male protagonists of the stories (Lobsang, Rincewind, the wizards, Nutt, Mort, wotisname 'Buddy Holly' of Soul Music, Death, Brutha. Lu Tze) do have special powers of one sort or another.

Perhaps the biggest complaint you can lobby at Pterry regarding female characters is that, other than Monstrous Regiment, none of his books feature a 'normal' female as the protagonist in the same way Vimes anchors the later Watch books and Moist anchors his.

 

[Anonymous]

Not members of the watch but the Dolly Sisters are mentioned a fair few times.

Do you mean Dotsie and Sadie, the Agony Aunts?

Dolly Sisters is an area in A-M, not and people as such.

*ahem* yes, that's what I meant, I may have been having a bit of a moment.

The worst bit is I didn't think I had the name right but I asked my partner and he agreed with me!

K

 

[Bouncy Castle]

See. Too much gin. I told you, but would you listen?

 

[Anonymous]

See. Too much gin. I told you, but would you listen?

I don't quite understand... too *much* gin, is such a thing possible?

As it happens I discovered that my new favouite pub serves Hendrick's Gin last night.

Also, I am cursing that I didn't take a day off work today to read Snuff. It's sitting on my desk next to me and taunting me, I read some at lunch but I want to be reading it NOW!

K

 

[Bouncy Castle]

I'm waiting for confirmation that the formatting of the Kindle version is OK.

Apparently, the Amazon.COM reviewers were scathing about the formatting, and were suggesting that TP and the publishers "have words" about it.

 

[Beautiful Dirt]

A very good question. I think that Terry is uncomfortable in trying to portray "normal" women--even in MR, Polly is the closest thing to a normal human female. And even then, all of them are being used to make a point about the discrimination against women.

Actually, have you noticed that there are very few female characters (of any species) in Terry's books?

I have to totally disagree with you there. Fantasy in general is a male-dominated genre where women are mostly used as sex objects.

And while early on Pterry did rely too much on these stereotypes and took awhile to start developing fully fleshed out female characters (one could argue whether this started with the Granny Weatherwax of Equal Rites, Esk, or Isabel(sp.) of Mort), but once he published Wyrd Sisters he became one of the few writers in the genrewho has developed a very rich set of well (narratively) developed female characters.

Women like Susan, Granny Weatherwax, Angua, Tiffany, Polly, and Glenda are some of the most resourceful and strong-willed characters in his books and generally possess far more intelligence and common sense then the men with whom they interact. Female sidekicks and supporting females like Sacharisia, Spike, Nanny Ogg, Magrat, Agnes, Sally and Cheery are all well developed characters that make vital contributions to the resolutions of their narratives. Even someone like Lady Sibyl(sp.), who Pterry could have easily allowed to remain a one-dimensional goof on the aristocracy, has evolved to become a highly intelligent, strong-willed woman who makes vital contributions toward solving Vimes' problems.

And let's not forget the most powerful female on the discworld--Rhys, King of the Dwarfs.

Spot on, couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[Tonyblack]

Bump to rescue thread.

 

[Jizburg]

haha just read something in Snuff.. Precious Jolson is a human woman ^^


http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/Precious_Jolson

 

[Tonyblack]

The worst bit is I didn't think I had the name right but I asked my partner and he agreed with me!

K

Partners tend to do that.

 

[Tonyblack]

haha just read something in Snuff.. Precious Jolson is a human woman ^^


http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/Precious_Jolson

I read that last night myself.

The daft thing is that when I read Thud!, I assumed that they were talking about All Jolson and that he'd joined the Watch. This didn't make much sense knowing that he was such a successful businessman.

 

[SimsKatie]

haha just read something in Snuff.. Precious Jolson is a human woman ^^


http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/Precious_Jolson

The name reminds me of Precious Ramotswe - I wonder if it's a reference.

 

[Tonyblack]

Also, she has a more than superficial similarity to a certain Roundworld detective in Botswana, who also has a very traditional body figure.

I wouldn't be at all surprised.

 

[Jizburg]

haha just read something in Snuff.. Precious Jolson is a human woman ^^


http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/Precious_Jolson

I read that last night myself.

The daft thing is that when I read Thud!, I assumed that they were talking about All Jolson and that he'd joined the Watch. This didn't make much sense knowing that he was such a successful businessman.

i thouhht that they meant the old woman upp side down on the pole " she has the mussles on her of a troll i would swear it"

 

[Tonyblack]

So did I! Just goes to show that you need to pay attention when reading Pratchett.

 

[Maura:-D]

Oh I really need to get Snuff... I have them all up to Unseen Academicals... Well my dad does. Of the over forty Pratchett books we have in the house I think I own... ONE of them. Wyrd Sisters. Wait actually I don't own it yet cos he bought it on eBay for me and I haven't given him the money yet!

Anyway I like the books with females in it! Susan, and Agnes, the witches... I admit that in the other books they mostly have small roles, but there are books with leading females...

 

[pip]

welcome to the site Maura

 

[Tonyblack]

Anyway I like the books with females in it! Susan, and Agnes, the witches... I admit that in the other books they mostly have small roles, but there are books with leading females...

You're going to like Sybil in Snuff then.

 

[Maura:-D]

Yay!!