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SIX KEYS TO A LITERARY GENETIC CODE

In essays on the subject of centricity, I've most often used the image of a geometrical circle, which, as I explained here,  owes someth...

Friday, February 13, 2009

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ACTION-HEROINES

What is the cultural significance of action-heroines?

It's not that they make female readers feel more empowered, though there's not anything wrong with that.

It's not that they make male readers either more empathetic or more horny, though there's nothing wrong with either of those.

It's simply this:

The action-heroine is a better symbol of the Schopenhaurean Will than the male action-hero.

This, despite the fact that Schopenhauer was a misogynist whose writings could make the anti-feminist essays of Dave Sim look like they came from Simone deBeauvoir.

More on this later, when I see whether or not this essay gets me a second listing in WHEN FANGIRLS ATTACK.

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