we have many characters that are geniuses but also socially awkward/morally dubious/downright dicks like Sherlock, or Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory. The pattern is that people around them can barely stand them but those people usually develop treasures of patience because said dickish geniuses can't be changed, and they're "forgiven" because they have big brains that are likely to save the world. Most of the time those geniuses male.
YES. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, as it happens. This is such a major pattern in television now - about half of the successful shows on American network TV seem to fit this description: House, Lie to Me, and The Mentalist, just to name a few. (All of which have protagonists based on Sherlock Holmes, whether their creators admit it or not.) ALSO, all of these asshole male geniuses have a female sidekick - or genius wrangler, if you will - who is calm, conventional, and exists solely to hold him back when he's being just too brilliant. I think audiences (myself included, to a degree) enjoy watching this rebel - a sort of intellectual cowboy - defy and mock the social mores that restrict the rest of us non-geniuses in our boring, non-genius day to day lives. We like hearing him say the things we cannot. And you're perfectly right - because their intelligence is so useful, no one ever says, "This is unacceptable. I refuse to engage with you until you treat me like a fellow human being." Instead they become these romantic anti-heroes, when really they are just entitled, petty, and immature.
So I was wondering, we don't really have the female equivalent, like a woman who would be extremely smart but would also have weird/irritating quirks and would be rude to people around her because she's smarter than the rest, do we?
I've wracked my brain, and I can only think of ONE major female character who fits this description: Dr. Temperance Brennan from Bones. Brennan isn't quite an asshole, but she's constantly confusing and insulting strangers with her ruthless rationality. She will happily tell you that she's most likely the smartest person you've ever met - not out of ego, but because it's true and she sees no point in lying about it. She is a lot like Sherlock - probably the closest thing to a female Holmes I've ever seen on television. Unfortunately, the show's treatment of the character has become inconsistent in later years, occasionally turning her disregard for pointless social niceties into a weakness or a sort of pitiful joke.
I can't think of a single other major female television character that fits this trope, and very few from other mediums. Mary Russell from Laurie R. King's Beekeeper's Apprentice series fits the bill at times, but she's much to sensible and grounded to really be an eccentric genius type.
The trouble is, it seems, that women are allowed to abrasive (if they are very old and funny, or very young and dangerously sexy), but they are not allowed to express that sort of emotional distance from others that comes with the eccentric genius type. Women can be a lot of things on television, but not an anti-hero, and never cold.
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YES. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, as it happens. This is such a major pattern in television now - about half of the successful shows on American network TV seem to fit this description: House, Lie to Me, and The Mentalist, just to name a few. (All of which have protagonists based on Sherlock Holmes, whether their creators admit it or not.) ALSO, all of these asshole male geniuses have a female sidekick - or genius wrangler, if you will - who is calm, conventional, and exists solely to hold him back when he's being just too brilliant. I think audiences (myself included, to a degree) enjoy watching this rebel - a sort of intellectual cowboy - defy and mock the social mores that restrict the rest of us non-geniuses in our boring, non-genius day to day lives. We like hearing him say the things we cannot. And you're perfectly right - because their intelligence is so useful, no one ever says, "This is unacceptable. I refuse to engage with you until you treat me like a fellow human being." Instead they become these romantic anti-heroes, when really they are just entitled, petty, and immature.
So I was wondering, we don't really have the female equivalent, like a woman who would be extremely smart but would also have weird/irritating quirks and would be rude to people around her because she's smarter than the rest, do we?
I've wracked my brain, and I can only think of ONE major female character who fits this description: Dr. Temperance Brennan from Bones. Brennan isn't quite an asshole, but she's constantly confusing and insulting strangers with her ruthless rationality. She will happily tell you that she's most likely the smartest person you've ever met - not out of ego, but because it's true and she sees no point in lying about it. She is a lot like Sherlock - probably the closest thing to a female Holmes I've ever seen on television. Unfortunately, the show's treatment of the character has become inconsistent in later years, occasionally turning her disregard for pointless social niceties into a weakness or a sort of pitiful joke.
I can't think of a single other major female television character that fits this trope, and very few from other mediums. Mary Russell from Laurie R. King's Beekeeper's Apprentice series fits the bill at times, but she's much to sensible and grounded to really be an eccentric genius type.
The trouble is, it seems, that women are allowed to abrasive (if they are very old and funny, or very young and dangerously sexy), but they are not allowed to express that sort of emotional distance from others that comes with the eccentric genius type. Women can be a lot of things on television, but not an anti-hero, and never cold.