In an article about HBO‘s new epic series Game of Thrones, MSNBC has uncovered something that seems to be very amazing to them — some of the people looking forward to this show are ladies. While it’s a good piece about GoT, especially concerning the elements that have attracted said female fans, there’s this kind of hilarious undertone of “OMG! I had no idea geek girls even existed! You mean there are girls who don’t like romcoms???? Where have they been hiding? What do you think they eat?”
Yes, the article is acknowledging that we are an underserved market, and that when it comes to being “courted” by Hollywood, geek girls are generally forgotten because executives with limited minds apparently only think about penises versus vaginas and not all those little subsets that might show up in a venn diagram. (Like girls who also like sci-fi, fantasy, etc.) Because geek girls, while numerous, are a minority among the human audience, and finding something that will be a hit rather than a miss is too risky when you’re dealing with millions of dollars, and it’s easier to assume that everyone who enjoys those more specific genres are boys. So, it’s laziness, really. (Wow, they talk about having to be ruthless and “playing the game” to get ahead in Hollywood… that hardly sounds risky and daring, does it?)
Examples are given that point out the somewhat stealthy presence of geek girls (or girls who won’t admit they’re geeks), such as in the success of shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and characters like Dana Scully on The X-Files and Sookie Stackhouse on True Blood. These aren’t insipid dramas about romantic entanglements or the “lady business” genre (Powerful Career Woman Doesn’t Need Men But Ultimately Falls in Love With One Anyway Because That’s How That Always Happens/That’s How Studios Make Money Without Thinking Too Hard). They were strong, developed female protagonists who could stand up for themselves. Autonomous. And that’s what’s attractive about the women in Game of Thrones. They are power players, on par with the men to win the throne. They aren’t victims. They’re just who they are, and for no other reason than good, old-fashioned human competition that has nothing to do with gender.
So, it’s certainly about time that there were more of these well-produced series with female characters such as the ones in Game of Thrones and the aforementioned examples. (And yes — let’s please have t-shirts that fit us at conventions that we don’t have to order online.)
But it’s still silly to read something like this:
Geek girls are speaking up, proving that comic-book conventions and fantasy series aren’t just for boys. And they are TV watchers, part of the female 18-34 demographic sought after by broadcast and cable networks.
My goodness, is it time for a bloody revolution? We’ve actually had these complaints for a while now, but thank you for finally discovering the unicorn hiding in the forest that is the geek girl community.
(MSNBC)
