I recently started a Gilmore girls and Vampire Diaries rewatch and just started supernatural (I'm on s4) and well welcome to my rant.
I love love loveeeee Lorelai and Rory, and Elena and Bonnie, and honestly every main female character in these shows. As much as people like to hate on them, I donāt really jump on that massive freakin hate train. Not because I think their actions are perfect or anything, but because I donāt think theyāre as terrible as people make them out to be. Theyāre flawed, they make mistakes, and sometimes they say or do very questionable things, especially towards other women but that doesnāt automatically make them awful characters or people. A lot of the criticism I see online just turns into calling them āpick meā or selfish over every little thing, and it feels overly exaggerated. Iām not excusing everything they do, but context matters here. We're judging female characters from a 2000s show with a very modern take on feminism. The way female characters were written back then wasnāt exactly super progressive or consistently feminist either, especially when it comes to Rory and Lorelai. They had that āIām not like other girlsā mindset a lot and it's messed up for sure but hating on them like theyāre uniquely evil for it feels like a stretch.
Elena is genuinely my favourite I loved her and Bonnie throughout the show, and maybe Rebekah too, even though I feel kind of sorry for her more than anything.
With Supernatural, it feels different. Dean, for example. Look I do love him. Heās charismatic, heās really good at what he does, and he cares deeply about Sam. But in the early seasons, some of his comments about women and the constant flirting and sexual remarks really annoyed me. It just felt unnecessary at times and weird. If Dean had been a female character doing the exact same things in the early seasons, I donāt think sheād get a redemption arc the same way. Sheād probably just be written off or hated immediately. But with male characters like Dean, those traits often get excused or turned into charm or āgrowthā later on. Thatās what confuses me. Why are traits like being creepy, overly sexual, or emotionally reckless sometimes treated like normal or even attractive behavior for male characters, instead of just being addressed properly in the writing?
Sam though, I donāt get the hate. He is my favourite he can do no wrong in my eyes, and itās interesting that he seems to be more disliked in the fandom. Maybe he makes some very questionable decisions but again they're wrapped in emotions so I don't really get the harsh judgement.
I donāt hate these characters at all. I just wish there was more consistency in how everyone is written and judged. Female characters feel like they get flattened into stereotypes or overly criticized, while male characters sometimes get away with behavior thatās just brushed off or turned into a redemption arc without real accountability. I just wish there was a more balanced standard where everyone is treated as equally flawed and equally human, instead of there being completely different expectations depending on gender. Also why are we even treating these people like role models?? WHY are we making teenagers role models in the first place???? Or like Dean or Sam or Rory??
