Five Fictional Moms and an Aunt
Apr. 24th, 2020 08:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forestofgloryWelcome to five fandom 5+1s and a meme! This is a series of posts about stuff that’s important to my own personal fandom history. I wanted some space to talk about happy and whimsical stuff and explore the different ways I’ve experienced fandom over time. I thought it would be fun to borrow the popular fanfic structure of 5+1 things. I’m using the word fandom very broadly here, to include SFF book fandom, transformative fandom, and just liking things. The things I’ve picked to talk about might not be the best or my favorites but they are fundamental to my experience and have shaped my thinking.
Ever since I had my own child I’ve become aware of how few moms there are in SFF. I’ve written at length about my desire for more moms in SFF, but for this post I just want to celebrate a few of my favorites!
1. Isabella Camherst form The Memoirs of Lady Trent by Marie Brennan Isabella is first and foremost a scientist who studies dragons, and her relationship with her son Jacob is secondary to that. Her struggle to balance the expectations of motherhood with her career is something I really like reading about, and I also really enjoyed the relationship that she does eventually develop with Jacob.
2. Pearl form Steven Universe If you want to know what character types latch on and adore, you will find badass rebel women, nerds/characters who enjoy knowing stuff, and moms prominently featured on my personal list. Pearl is all three of these, so of course I love her intensely. I also love that Pearl is an anxious mess, and allowed to be a very flawed person.
3. Concubine Jing from Nirvana in Fire As the mother of one of the Emperor's sons, Concubine Jing is an uncomfortable position-she’s not allowed to leave the palace, and her visits with her son are limited. What I like about her is that despite the limitations placed on her, she remains fundamentally calm and good; her power politics are played kindly, and she uses her skills as a trained physician, or in the kitchen to achieve her ends. I also just really like watchin the loving relationship she has with her son, despite their limited visits.
4. Ekaterin from The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold I mentioned earlier in this series how much these books mean to me. One of the great things about them is that they feature several excellent characters who are mothers. Of these characters, I chose to highlight Ekaterin because she is the character for whom child rearing is the most central to her character arc. I really love seeing her interactions with her son Niki, and her concern for him drives the plot of the story.
5. Joanna from Hilda As the mom of the titular character in this kids cartoon, Joanna has a surprisingly satisfying role. She comes along on a few of Hilda’s adventures and also lives her own life in the background. I like how Joanna has her own history with the places that Hilda is coming to know. Sometimes her nostalgia leads her to pressure Hilda to excel at things Joanna excelled at in her youth, and the show handles that sensitively with both of them learning from the experience. Overall I really enjoy the nuanced but loving relationship between mother and daughter.
+1 Aunt. Georgiana without Ruth from Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho I adore all of Zen Cho’s aunts, she writes them really, really well! Georgiana without Ruth is not only an interfering aunt of the highest order but she’s also a dragon! She plays a relatively small part in these books, but she’s such a vivid character you can’t help but remember her.
Ever since I had my own child I’ve become aware of how few moms there are in SFF. I’ve written at length about my desire for more moms in SFF, but for this post I just want to celebrate a few of my favorites!
1. Isabella Camherst form The Memoirs of Lady Trent by Marie Brennan Isabella is first and foremost a scientist who studies dragons, and her relationship with her son Jacob is secondary to that. Her struggle to balance the expectations of motherhood with her career is something I really like reading about, and I also really enjoyed the relationship that she does eventually develop with Jacob.
2. Pearl form Steven Universe If you want to know what character types latch on and adore, you will find badass rebel women, nerds/characters who enjoy knowing stuff, and moms prominently featured on my personal list. Pearl is all three of these, so of course I love her intensely. I also love that Pearl is an anxious mess, and allowed to be a very flawed person.
3. Concubine Jing from Nirvana in Fire As the mother of one of the Emperor's sons, Concubine Jing is an uncomfortable position-she’s not allowed to leave the palace, and her visits with her son are limited. What I like about her is that despite the limitations placed on her, she remains fundamentally calm and good; her power politics are played kindly, and she uses her skills as a trained physician, or in the kitchen to achieve her ends. I also just really like watchin the loving relationship she has with her son, despite their limited visits.
4. Ekaterin from The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold I mentioned earlier in this series how much these books mean to me. One of the great things about them is that they feature several excellent characters who are mothers. Of these characters, I chose to highlight Ekaterin because she is the character for whom child rearing is the most central to her character arc. I really love seeing her interactions with her son Niki, and her concern for him drives the plot of the story.
5. Joanna from Hilda As the mom of the titular character in this kids cartoon, Joanna has a surprisingly satisfying role. She comes along on a few of Hilda’s adventures and also lives her own life in the background. I like how Joanna has her own history with the places that Hilda is coming to know. Sometimes her nostalgia leads her to pressure Hilda to excel at things Joanna excelled at in her youth, and the show handles that sensitively with both of them learning from the experience. Overall I really enjoy the nuanced but loving relationship between mother and daughter.
+1 Aunt. Georgiana without Ruth from Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho I adore all of Zen Cho’s aunts, she writes them really, really well! Georgiana without Ruth is not only an interfering aunt of the highest order but she’s also a dragon! She plays a relatively small part in these books, but she’s such a vivid character you can’t help but remember her.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-24 06:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-25 04:20 pm (UTC)Also I haven't been giving you content notes on anything because I seem to remember that you are very spoiler adverse, but if you do want contents notes I'm happy to provide them.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-26 12:10 am (UTC)