Women attacking their lovers: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 20:44, 16 February 2007




In a number of films and TV series, powerful female protagonists attack their lovers/partners, shooting, stabbing, or physically destroying them. The contexts and significance to the plot are different, but it's a recurrent theme/plot device/trope. What does this mean? Anything? Nothing?

In each of these incidents, the woman kills or attacks someone close to her in a way intended to be shocking or highly emotional.

This list is meant to trigger reactions and thoughts. Add to it, flesh out the discussions of the works, add counter examples or notes about related , or thoughts about why writers/directors use this plot device/theme -- what it means to them, what they expect it to mean to the audience.

Other questions: Are there comparable examples of men killing their lovers on screen, or same-sex couples? Is there something unique to the emotional flavor and context of a woman killing her lover/soulmate? Has a man ever killed his female lover-turned-apocalyptically-evil demon as a sacrifice to the world? Or has it happened so many time that it has little emotional resonance? as in, abuse against women depicted so frequently, or so prevalent in the real world, that Mulder shooting Scully, or Angel stabbing Buffy, would have a different flavor, possibly resonating with themes of domestic violence or misogynystic hate crimes? Spike threatening to stab Drusilla was not comparable, despite their Sid-and-Nancy love/"literally soulmates", because he wasn't the protagonist. Season 2 of Angel where he has to take on Darla is ... closer ... in emotional resonance. Season 4, it appears that Angel was willing to kill demonically-possessed Cordelia.