I must sound like a broken record at this point as, once again, I struggled with this theme.
I often joke to my friends that I am bad at being a woman but I’m not exactly lying. I know that there isn’t really any one way to be a woman, but I have always been a tomboy. I tend to prefer the company of men over women, I act and dress in a traditionally masculine way and often struggle with femininity.
Even the heroes I grew up idolising tended to be blokes such as Tintin, Batman and L. I don’t really know why, but if given the choice to pick something masculine or feminine I tend to pick the former.
That being said, in the past couple of months I have fallen hard for the Resident Evil franchise and part of that is due to the cast of the games. Namely Claire Redfield.
While Leon S. Kennedy is my favourite character overall, Claire comes in at a super close second place and is my favourite of the amazing ladies of the series.
In fact, the majority of the female characters are great! They are all well-written characters with distinct personalities, motivations and philosophies.
Except you, Ashely. You are such a pain!
There is a lot more to Claire than meets the eye. First things first she is a capable fighter as she is quick on her feet and packs a punch. But while that is cool and all, her feminine side, namely her caring heart is what sets her apart from the others. After all, her motivation for being in Racoon City when all hell breaks loose in the first place is to find her missing brother, Chris.
In the process she meets a young girl called Sherry Birkin who she instantly bonds with and does everything she can to protect her from the horrors around them, seeing Sherry as a little sister.
While Claire has a compassionate heart and goes above and beyond to help anyone in need, she is also the first to knock some sense into someone or call someone out. She even slapped a Senator because he was being a jerk! She is kind and all, but she doesn’t tolerate any nonsense.
Sometimes female characters can be shown as overly emotional and portray that as a weakness which is a shame but that doesn’t apply to Claire. While she is lead by her heart that is shown as a positive in the franchise, setting her apart from her military-trained brother.
When asked why she was trying to help Sherry, her response was simply “Because I care.”
That quote right there sums up why I love her so much. Compassion is a powerful thing, by reaching out to someone in need you are not just changing a life but making the world a bit better each time.
Claire is a driven woman who doesn’t compromise her feminity, but rather she does it on her terms. In her case, her compassion.
Why? Because she cares.
I hope you enjoyed my entry in the OWLS tour, If you haven’t already please check out Jack’s amazing entry about Aggretusko and Dealing with Harassment.
Also, be sure to read Irina’s post tomorrow about Natsume tomorrow over on her blog.
Nerd Rambles 