Discussion History Main / StuffedIntoTheFridge

Can we either change the definition for this topic or get a new one that describes the phenomenon which \\\"Women in Refrigerators\\\" is actually referring to - i.e., the killing or maiming of female characters \\\'\\\'purely for its effect on the male protagonist\\\'\\\'? It\\\'s common enough, and problematic enough, that it deserves a trope of its own. It sort of fits with \\\"DisposableWoman\\\", but not quite - sometimes it would be DisposableWoman, sometimes it might be Lost Lenore, sometimes it would be something else. The female character could either have or not have some characterization or personality apart from the hero and be this trope regardless, provided their primary role in the work is for their death to have a strong impact on the hero. The core point is that a female character is killed off to facilitate CharacterDevelopment of the male hero - the character\\\'s death isn\\\'t about \\\'\\\'her\\\'\\\'. Also, if a woman connected with the protagonist was killed but it didn\\\'t impact the protagonist\\\'s character development or have a major emotional impact (e.g.: a lot of the Bond girls, including Paris Carver, the woman in the Caribbean in Casino Royale, and Strawberry Fields) they would be a DisposableWoman but not this trope.

And yes, it is gender-specific, just because it\\\'s so common with female characters (e.g.: Vesper in Casino Royale, Rachel Dawes in TheDarkKnight, Wolverine\\\'s girlfriend in Origins, Magneto\\\'s mother in X-Men First Class, Spock\\\'s mother in the new Star Trek - and that\\\'s just looking at relatively recent films). An example where a male character was killed off purely for the impact on a female protagonist would an inversion, and is comparatively rare.

The term \\\"stuffed in the fridge\\\" wasn\\\'t coined to refer to gruesome death; it was coined to reference and discuss how comic books use the death and trauma female characters to further the development of male protagonists. So ideally, the trope should be used to describe that, and another name can be used for \\\"gruesome death of person of any gender displayed to protagonist by villain for for shock value\\\".

So - can we \\\'\\\'please\\\'\\\' take this to the Trope Repair Shop?

Can we either change the definition for this topic or get a new one that describes the phenomenon which \\\"Women in Refrigerators\\\" is actually referring to - i.e., the killing or maiming of female characters \\\'\\\'purely for its effect on the male protagonist\\\'\\\'? It\\\'s common enough, and problematic enough, that it deserves a trope of its own. It sort of fits with \\\"DisposableWoman\\\", but not quite - sometimes it would be DisposableWoman, sometimes it might be Lost Lenore, sometimes it would be something else. The core point is that a female character is killed off to facilitate CharacterDevelopment of the male hero - the character\\\'s death isn\\\'t about \\\'\\\'her\\\'\\\'. Also, if a woman connected with the protagonist was killed but it didn\\\'t impact the protagonist\\\'s character development or have a major emotional impact (e.g.: a lot of the Bond girls, including Paris Carver, the woman in the Caribbean in Casino Royale, and Strawberry Fields) they would be a DisposableWoman but not this trope.

And yes, it is gender-specific, just because it\\\'s so common with female characters (e.g.: Vesper in Casino Royale, Rachel Dawes in TheDarkKnight, Wolverine\\\'s girlfriend in Origins, Magneto\\\'s mother in X-Men First Class, Spock\\\'s mother in the new Star Trek - and that\\\'s just looking at relatively recent films). An example where a male character was killed off purely for the impact on a female protagonist would an inversion, and is comparatively rare.

The term \\\"stuffed in the fridge\\\" wasn\\\'t coined to refer to gruesome death; it was coined to reference and discuss how comic books use the death and trauma female characters to further the development of male protagonists. So ideally, the trope should be used to describe that, and another name can be used for \\\"gruesome death of person of any gender displayed to protagonist by villain for for shock value\\\".

Can we either change the definition for this topic or get a new one that describes the phenomenon which \\\"Women in Refrigerators\\\" is actually referring to - i.e., the killing or maiming of female characters \\\'\\\'purely for its effect on the male protagonist\\\'\\\'? It\\\'s common enough, and problematic enough, that it deserves a trope of its own. It sort of fits with \\\"DisposableWoman\\\", but not quite - sometimes it would be DisposableWoman, sometimes it might be Lost Lenore, sometimes it would be something else. The core point is that a female character is killed off to facilitate CharacterDevelopment of the male hero - the character\\\'s death isn\\\'t about \\\'\\\'her\\\'\\\'.

And yes, it is gender-specific, just because it\\\'s so common with female characters (e.g.: Vesper in Casino Royale, Rachel Dawes in TheDarkKnight, Wolverine\\\'s girlfriend in Origins, Magneto\\\'s mother in X-Men First Class, Spock\\\'s mother in the new Star Trek - and that\\\'s just looking at relatively recent films). An example where a male character was killed off purely for the impact on a female protagonist would an inversion, and is comparatively rare.

The term \\\"stuffed in the fridge\\\" wasn\\\'t coined to refer to gruesome death; it was coined to reference and discuss how comic books use the death and trauma female characters to further the development of male protagonists. So ideally, the trope should be used to describe that, and another name can be used for \\\"gruesome death of person of any gender displayed to protagonist by villain for for shock value\\\".

Can we either change this topic or get a new one that describes the phenomenon which \\\"Women in Refrigerators\\\" is actually referring to - i.e., the killing or maiming of female characters \\\'\\\'purely for its effect on the male protagonist\\\'\\\'? It\\\'s common enough, and problematic enough, that it deserves a trope of its own. It sort of fits with \\\"DisposableWoman\\\", but not quite - sometimes it would be DisposableWoman, sometimes it might be Lost Lenore, sometimes it would be something else. The core point is that a female character is killed off to facilitate CharacterDevelopment of the male hero - the character\\\'s death isn\\\'t about \\\'\\\'her\\\'\\\'.

And yes, it is gender-specific, just because it\\\'s so common with female characters (e.g.: Vesper in Casino Royale, Rachel Dawes in TheDarkKnight, Wolverine\\\'s girlfriend in Origins, Magneto\\\'s mother in X-Men First Class, Spock\\\'s mother in the new Star Trek - and that\\\'s just looking at relatively recent films). An example where a male character was killed off purely for the impact on a female protagonist would an inversion, and is comparatively rare.

Can we \\\'\\\'please\\\'\\\' have a trope for this?

Can we either change this topic or get a new one that describes the phenomenon which \\\"Women in Refrigerators\\\" is actually referring to - i.e., the killing or maiming of female characters \\\'\\\'purely for its effect on the male protagonist\\\'\\\'? It\\\'s common enough, and problematic enough, that it deserves a trope of its own. It sort of fits with \\\"DisposableWoman\\\", but not quite - sometimes it would be DisposableWoman, sometimes it might be LostLenore, sometimes it would be something else. The core point is that a female character is killed off to facilitate CharacterDevelopment of the male hero - the character\\\'s death isn\\\'t about \\\'\\\'her\\\'\\\'.

And yes, it is gender-specific, just because it\\\'s so common with female characters (e.g.: Vesper in Casino Royale, Rachel Dawes in TheDarkKnight, Wolverine\\\'s girlfriend in Origins, Magneto\\\'s mother in X-Men First Class, Spock\\\'s mother in the new Star Trek - and that\\\'s just looking at relatively recent films). An example where a male character was killed off purely for the impact on a female protagonist would an inversion, and is comparatively rare.

Can we \\\'\\\'please\\\'\\\' have a trope for this?