Awesome Ladies, Day 22

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Day Twenty-Two: Favorite female character you love but everyone else hates
Dawn Summers and Julie Taylor


Whenever this type of question comes up, I always have the same reaction. My first instinct is to pick Dawn, but then I think about how every time someone mentions Dawn as a "character everyone else hates," the Dawn love comes pouring out. And maybe it's just our sentimental corner of fandom, but I always momentarily feel kinda silly. And then I try googling "most hated female TV characters" and Dawn shows up on a dozen lists. So. Kudos to you guys for being awesomer than the internet at large.

Because, really, Dawn is a pretty awesome chica. She's smart and brave and snarky and adorable. She develops wonderful relationships with Buffy and Spike, bringing to the forefront previously unseen aspects of those characters. By season 7, she matures into a responsible, selfless, and essential member of the Scooby Gang. And all that by the time she's three years old! :) And that's really what I love about her. I love that she takes her bizarre origins in stride and decides, "Hey, who cares what I was before? I'm a person now, and I claim these memories - this life - as mine."


Unlike Dawn, Julie doesn't have the excuse of being magicked into existence halfway through the show as a reason why people don't like her. She is, in fact, one of the few FNL cast members who stuck around for all five seasons (much to some fans' dismay). And during that time, we've seen her go through her bratty phase, her teenage rebellion, her college identity crisis, and her first love. What really gets me about Julie is her relationship with her parents. I see so much of my own family in them - the countless mother/daughter talks with Tami (some heartfelt, some screaming matches), the gruff father who thinks of her as Daddy's little girl and intimidates her boyfriends, the struggle to define herself as an individual while managing her parents' expectations.

The thing is, people hate Dawn and Julie for the same reason. They're both incredibly realistic teenagers. Yes, sometimes they whine and sometimes they're selfish, and often they do really stupid things. Well, guess what? So did you when you were 15. (Don't try to deny it. Your parents told me the truth.) And I think a lot of people react badly to that, because of the rawness of seeing yourself in your most awkward years reflected on screen. But for two shows that are dedicated to giving us compelling characters grounded in emotional realism, they are perfect.

Comments

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All your Dawn thoughts! <3 Ha, I totally get what you mean about Dawn's popularity in our corner of fandom. Whenever I come across someone who hates her, I AM SHOCKED.

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We just have impeccable taste, clearly. :)

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DAWN WHOM I LOVE.

That is all.

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That is a most excellent gif. I need an icon of that eyeroll, to match my Dru icon.