(Sidebar: babes we need to have an honest reckoning with the state of the representation convo, especially wrt fandom Tumblr and similar spaces. I’ve heard people on this webbed site claim this man as aroace rep, and I love that for Film Grace. But the thing I must stress about Canon Grace is that he’s an insufferable ass written by an author who does not realize he’s an insufferable ass. I promise I promise I promise — there’s no canon information so far about why Canon Grace and Linda didn’t work out, but I promise it wasn’t because Linda was an Evil Neurotypical Hetero-Allosexual Normie who failed to love and accept and affirm a neurodivergent aroace icon for the gem that he was. Canon Grace is an asshole, and sure you can argue that aroace rep needs assholes too, but peep what I said about him being an asshole whose assholery is framed as righteous suffering.)

But on this next one I broke. I cackled out loud in my bedroom. What do you MEAN, we got an unironic Women Be Shopping (or at least own too many shelves full of stuff they bought while shopping)??

Film Grace’s characterization is (among other things) fearful and avoidant. His first impulse when faced with any unfamiliar or threatening scenario is try to run away. Tried initially to run from Stratt (and dithered when he finally did ask to join the science mission), tried to run from the room of Important People, tried to run from Rocky’s spaceship, obviously tried to run from the mission — anything that man could run from, he tried to run from. Now when he couldn’t run he absolutely did rise to the challenge with extraordinary courage and capability, but the characterization of “first impulse = flight” is pretty consistent.

Canon Grace is a different ball of wax. He’s the one constantly mouthing off to Stratt, the one who demanded to be let onto the science mission when she was going to take him off it, the one who so far as I can see feels no qualms about rubbing shoulders with all these foreign dignitaries, the one who had no reservations about meeting an alien. All of which could coalesce into an equally well-rounded and compelling character if Weird Andy had even slightly more deft a hand at characterization!

But any which way — when Canon Stratt calls Canon Grace a coward, when he calls himself a coward, I think the narrative as presented to us by Andy Weir wants us to see that as untrue and unjust. All the things Canon Stratt names in evidence of Canon Grace’s supposed cowardice — leaving the prestige of academia and becoming a school teacher, not having a het relationship — can easily be read as failing to perform a certain kind of masculinity. Aside from that, all that Canon Grace has been in this novel is a Confident Masculine Self Assured Badass who Don’t Bow Down To No Woman (even if she is his actual boss) and is Wholly Vindicated By The Narrative.

Like, for the climate version of it, imagine a situation where greenhouse emissions are actually something we need MORE of, and ecological destruction is something we need to actually accelerate? What if circumstances absolutely FORCED us to do exactly the opposite of what climatologists are asking for? Also climatologists don’t answer basic questions and they disagree on stuff because they’re actually just liberal snowflakes pretending to be scientists and climatology is actually just silly made up bullshit.

Or the moment it hits Grace that Rocky’s Taumoeba will kill his ship:

Or the way Grace thinks of Rocky as he makes his decision:

And the moment Grace reunites with Rocky — it almost works! It’s almost there!