Women in refrigerators--can this be fixed?

[I_Write_Ivre]

There's a lot of bad connotations to this and I agree female characters should be characters in their own rights, not mere constructs to fuel a male character into something.

But does this mean it can never be written that a male character mourns the loss of a female close to him? How can this be written well? Just be making her a character, or is there a bit more to how t should be handled?

[Muffers]

Just write her as a character. Make sure her presence in the story is based on more than just dying as motivation to the main character. The gender has no relevance to this issue; it would be equally annoying to see a man pointlessly killed to motivate a female main character into action as well.

[Black Gabriel]

There is nothing wrong, has never been anything wrong, and never will be anything wrong with the woman in a refrigerator trope. The crime genre, for example, practically demands it. Or a man in a refrigerator. Or in a barrel. Or a car. Or any place where they are uncomfortably and obviously unnaturally dead.

The problem is people who read too much into a thing. Time in a thriller or the like spent on a dead body's back-story through any means other than the lead character's exploration and investigation is wasted time and ruined pacing. There's a reason the cold opening is so popular in these instances. You're thrown into the situation and the writer capitalizes from there.

The root of the issue is a perceived imbalance in gender-of-body and gender-of-hero examples, and that's fair but shouldn't stop you from writing what and who you want to write. You are not the guardian of social propriety or the arbiter of fair and balanced news coverage.

The trope isn't bad writing. Bad writing is bad writing, and the woman in the refrigerator is only terrible if you leave her there too long and forget she's in there. Then she's gonna smell up your yogurt.

[Nanaran]

Personally I believe there's no such thing as a "bad trope". What is a trope after all than just a tool a writer borrows to sculpt their work? There are no bad tropes, only bad writers.

To this end, I have an issue with tropes that are viewed as "sexiest", like The Women in the Refrigerator. Yes, there are ones with sexiest connotations, but it's all a matter of context. Context is everything. Otherwise, avoiding using certain concepts all together just stagnates the work. I used to debate with myself for a long time because after doing research on what others perceived as sexiest towards women I found that I couldn't do, well, anything. Anything that didn't follow a strict guide line for the "perfect feminist character".

She has to be strong, but be in touch with her emotions, BUT, not too in touch if not she runs the risk of being vulnerable which is a no-no.

She can't rely on men, and even though she might have males who are close to her, they can't be so important that any of her goals revolve around them because then she's "all about a man".

She can't be overly dependent or shy, but if she is, then she either becomes a "strong independent women" later, or the person she's attached too also has to be female.

She can't be a form of motivation to a male character.

She has to be feminine and masculine at the same time so she's balanced and fair.

She has to either be a role model, or if she's villainous, she can't be scorned or use her sexuality.

She can't a Damsel in Distress, but if she does the rescuing, the story can't revolve around her saving a male because then she "revolves around a man".

etc, etc, etc.

At some point, I stopped caring. Don't get me wrong, I'm all up for better representations of women in media and not existing as just stereotypes or tools, but when writing a story, everything has its place. Perhaps it's important to the story that said female character dies or that she's vulnerable. Maybe it's important that the most important person in her life just so happens to be male. What if I want my character to be super girly and a wimp, but she's still a fun and endearing character despite those "feminine faults".

Trying to create the "perfect feminist characters" is a stagnating and ironic attempt that requires eliminating a lot of options, especially when all females characters have to be this way.

Though to bring things more on point, no, there's nothing wrong with The Woman in the Refrigerator trope. The fact of the matter is, some characters just exist to be plot deceives, one shot tools that do their jobs than they become unnecessary, and that goes for any gender. Having a women die to motivate a man, in itself, isn't sexiest. If anything I think it's just tired because it's used so much.

[Levi Jones]

I feel that the easiest way to prevent that is to write a story with more than one female character present. If you have a woman who has to die just make sure there is another female presence there.

It's kind of how they dealt with race issues in American History X, for every person indulging a stereotype there were just as many that were not.

[I_Write_Ivre]

Levi Jones

I feel that the easiest way to prevent that is to write a story with more than one female character present. If you have a woman who has to die just make sure there is another female presence there.

It's kind of how they dealt with race issues in American History X, for every person indulging a stereotype there were just as many that were not.

The cast is pretty even, with most women dead for some reason or another (one's a zombie). What they do, whether they die doing it or not, affects most or all of the men (not for revenge for most of them). Its more to inspire them and pretty much feel the women were more courageous than they were.

[LadySnark]

If both the male and female characters are characters in their own right, then there is no reason for a male to not mourn the death of a female.

If my boyfriend suddenly died, that would have an impact on me, as it would on him if I were to die.

Death is a natural part of life and therefore something that characters will have to deal with.

So long as the way he mourns her death is true to his character, and so long as he actually has a reason to mourn, then there is no problem with it.

Just be sure that they actually do have some kind of relationship that is shown in your writing. Women have both strengths and weaknesses, just like men.

There needs to be a connection with the female character before her death for me as a reader to feel the death was justified.

I always connect more with a character's pain if I feel the connection with a character's murdered family rather than am just told "They were brutally murdered, and since then I've dedicated myself to fighting crime."
It bugs me when the author wants me to just assume that whoever dies was loved based on their grief. To me, it is just annoying because I never actually saw them caring.

Let me get to know the character and her strengths and weaknesses. Let me love her and it'll make for a much better death that doesn't feel like it's just another woman in a refrigerator.

[X of Castigation]

A woman's grisly death as a vehicle for the story can be fine if you're up to the task of writing it well. Introducing a woman for the sole purpose of killing her to motivate your hero is misogynist as all ********.

[I_Write_Ivre]

Senator Armstrong

A woman's grisly death as a vehicle for the story can be fine if you're up to the task of writing it well. Introducing a woman for the sole purpose of killing her to motivate your hero is misogynist as all ********]
Can you expand on that?

[LadySnark]

I_Write_Ivre

Senator Armstrong

A woman's grisly death as a vehicle for the story can be fine if you're up to the task of writing it well. Introducing a woman for the sole purpose of killing her to motivate your hero is misogynist as all ********]
Can you expand on that?

Right above his post, I explained it.

[I_Write_Ivre]

defineunique

I_Write_Ivre

Senator Armstrong

A woman's grisly death as a vehicle for the story can be fine if you're up to the task of writing it well. Introducing a woman for the sole purpose of killing her to motivate your hero is misogynist as all ********]
Can you expand on that?

Right above his post, I explained it.

I mean, how much do they have to do and of what before they die?

[LadySnark]

I_Write_Ivre

/quote]

It really depends on your story, but personally, I like to see an idea of the relationship before she up and dies, but depending on how you work it, you can survive without doing it. You could do it in one dedicated scene, for example, where they are on a date and both enjoying each other and smiling and being cute, and perhaps he pulls out an engagement ring but gets interrupted so he doesn't propose. Instead, he holds off, and she ends up dying.

Thats just an example. There are a million ways that you could do that, and unfortunately, its really up to you and how good your writing is.

Just make sure she is a character like anybody else. She has wishes and dreams for the future and has things to say, just like any other character. How ever long it takes to make sure she isn't a trophy character is as long as it takes.

[The Sauce Boss]

Well you could stop murdering women and then you wouldn't have to store 'em in a refrigerator.

[I_Write_Ivre]

The Sauce Boss

Well you could stop murdering women and then you wouldn't have to store 'em in a refrigerator.

It's a story about finding faith despite people dying being a big part of how the world works. Also about zombie ghosts murdering everyone in a small town.

[Call Me Nefret]

I'll have you know I'm scared to

death...

...that everything that you had said to me was just...

...a lie until you left.

The trick is to make the woman, dead or alive, 3 dimensional. Give her quirks and vices (as in, the living male remembers such quirks/vices, but with that sort of rose-tinted nostalgia that makes them seem not as bad as it had been). Show the reader why the man loved her. Hell, make the reader mourn the loss too.