Astrid Ellison - Tumblr Posts

today I remember that Sam had stalked Astrid to her house a few times (to ask her out) and that’s why he remembered where she lived in Gone

that silly Netflix psychological thriller You was a Gone fanfiction about Sam and Astrid, actually

today I remember that Sam had stalked Astrid to her house a few times (to ask her out) and that’s why he remembered where she lived in Gone

i like to think that astrid wears a crucifix around her neck that she never takes off. when she loses her faith, she gives it to orc before taking off into the wild. and he wears it as a bracelet because it won’t fit around his neck, keeping it as a talisman not only of his burgeoning faith, but also of her faith in him

this is a really great post and needed to be said. i will never forget how Caine threatened to force himself on Diana, and heavily implied that he would or could have at least twice in Plague

and this is one of the most loved characters of the series, as is Drake, who also heavily implied he would force himself on Astrid. and yet Astrid was, and probably still is, one of the most hated characters in Gone

A response to this post by @gone-series-orchid. The fact that the narrative is insistent on the idea that ships like Sam x Astrid and Caine x Diana, even despite all their “conflicts”, were destined to be or whatever has always rubbed me the wrong way. It’s true that there will be conflict in any relationship, but stalking your S/O, guilt-tripping them into having sex with you, and then proceeding to go and cheat on them when they refuse are not examples of healthy, natural conflict - they’re signs of ABUSE!!! And in the case of Sam x Astrid in particular, all these instances of “conflict” were initiated and perpetuated solely by Sam. Astrid is the victim, the one who has to be subjected to Sam’s abuse. And yet, she is the one that is villainised by the narrative.

And don’t even get me started on the way that the “other women” in these relationships, namely Taylor and Penny, are depicted. Penny is literally described as crazy and Taylor is described as stupid for harbouring perfectly normal feelings for young, developing children. Not to mention the way that Penny and Taylor, two women of colour, are effectively pitted against white women (or at least that’s the case with Taylor), with the narrative framing them as being less than desirable compared to their white counterparts.

I think Astrid is one of the most hated characters in this fandom, and it’s honestly misogyny. I think she subverts expectations of femininity, which sets people off. She’s sometimes cold, unempathetic, and utilitarian compared to Sam. She also doesn’t make herself available to him sexually. It’s so interesting seeing the fandom react to a character that’s so unlike the stereotypical YA female lead.

you hit the nail on the head, anon—i agree completely. astrid’s the victim of skyler white/carmela soprano syndrome, in which a female character not being  effortlessly sympathetic and kind/sexually available to her male partner all the time means she’s actually a Bad Female Character and worthy of intense, bitter scorn. i think the dislike of astrid, though, is unique because it’s mostly teenage girls (who, i’ll admit, i just assume make up the tumblr fandom for the gone series, at least) doing the disliking. i mostly saw hate for astrid in 2013/2014, way before i made this blog.

i think it’s because a lot of female fans feel threatened by astrid’s relatively high self-esteem and genius intelligence (traits often construed as arrogance when women have it), which is why they latch onto diana, who has a more socially acceptable flaw for a female character (low self-esteem). diana’s promiscuity is more acceptable to the fandom than astrid’s chastity, because diana’s promiscuity can be construed as somewhat tragic and inevitable given her history of objectification. it’s (sadly) more relatable to teenage girls. 

not to mention, 2012-2014 (as far as i can remember) was the height of the popularity of sex positivity on tumblr, in which sexual liberation was something to be celebrated in women rather than shamed. it was a push-back on old-fashioned, patriarchal expectations of women being expected to be chaste/innocent above else, lest they be branded a whore/slut/ho/etc. in that respect, astrid’s character might’ve been considered by the fandom to be an unintentional throwback to the Ideal Female Character as being chaste “good girl” (conveniently forgetting that, in all these stories, the chaste female is never allowed to stay that way; she always gives up her chastity by the end to a “good man,” fulfilling the patriarchal expectation of sexual availability), while diana is the more liberated, “feminist” character by virtue of her promiscuity (despite being a fourteen-year-old girl and not an adult woman as this sex-positive mindset was initially made for). 

diana gets to have her cake and eat it, too; she gets to have sex with caine but have an excuse (the sexual misconduct that’s occurred since she hit puberty), thus satisfying the audience’s expectations while providing her an excuse for why she’s sympathetic despite her meanness/promiscuity. meanwhile, astrid is “selfish” because she doesn’t have sex with sam (who, being the main character, “deserves” it) and instead sticks to her uppity christian moralism, which i think a lot of teenage girls (at least at the time) just couldn’t relate to, and has the nerve to be unapologetic about her perceived prudishness and arrogance. they saw astrid as frigid and uncaring because she didn’t respond to sam’s wants in a sex-positive, “feminist” way...which just so happens to coincide with standard societal misogyny, in that the woman is always supposed to forgo her own wants/needs for her man’s. 

not to mention, astrid’s christianity and uptightness might be seen as “bad” traits by fans inundated with portrayals of christians as being high-strung, judgmental, and conservative, especially in teen media (see amanda bynes’ character in the 2010 movie easy a, a pastiche of the scarlet letter all about the concept of teenage conceptions of madonnas/whores, as an example).

diana’s bitchiness is a clearly realized, canonical aspect of her character and lamented often in canon—unlike astrid’s “bitchiness” (utilitarianism, coldness, and lack of sexual availability), which the fandom thinks are flaws that need to be solved in order for astrid to be a Good Female Character.

thank you for the ask, anon! sorry this turned into a bit of an essay!