Women in refrigerators

The term was coined by comic book fan (and later writer) Gail Simone in 1999, named after an incident in Green Lantern vol. 3 #54 (1994), written by Ron Marz. The story includes a scene in which the title hero, Kyle Rayner, comes home to his apartment to find that the villain Major Force had killed Rayner's girlfriend, Alexandra DeWitt, and stuffed her into a refrigerator.{{cite thesis |last=Watson |first=Lauren C. |date=May 2018 |title=BEARING WITNESS TO FEMALE TRAUMA IN COMICS: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN IN REFRIGERATORS |url=https://digital.library.txst.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/f6be12af-c993-41d3-8ea5-f30167ddeb03/content |degree=Master of Arts with a Major in Literature |chapter=1 |publisher=Watson, Lauren C. |access-date=16 January 2024 |archive-date=16 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116203537/https://digital.library.txst.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/f6be12af-c993-41d3-8ea5-f30167ddeb03/content |url-status=live }} It describes a trend that Simone had recognized in comic book stories where female characters would be killed, maimed, sexually assaulted, depowered, or would experience other "life-derailing tragedies"{{cite web |last1=Simone |first1=Gail |title=WiR - The List |url=https://www.lby3.com/wir/women.html |website=www.lby3.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240103102229/https://www.lby3.com/wir/women.html |archive-date=3 January 2024 |url-status=live |access-date=16 January 2024}} disproportionately more often than male characters.{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Ralph |title=How Shrinking perpetuates Hollywood's most sexist cliché |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230315-how-shrinking-perpetuates-hollywoods-most-sexist-clich |website=bbc.com |publisher=BBC |access-date=31 March 2023}}{{cite journal |last1=Nelson |first1=Kyra |title=Women in Refrigerators: The Objectification of Women in Comics |journal=AWE (A Woman's Experience) |date=1 January 2015 |volume=2 |issue=9 |page=77 |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=awe |access-date=16 January 2024 |archive-date=11 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230211213446/https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=awe |url-status=live }} She also emphasized that while male superheroes typically experience noble deaths or resurrection, the violence against superheroines is most often for shock value and has permanent consequences.{{cite web |last1=Wilonsky |first1=Robert |title=Fatal femmes |url=https://www.dallasobserver.com/arts/fatal-femmes-6395654 |publisher=Dallas Observer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309122332/https://www.dallasobserver.com/arts/fatal-femmes-6395654 |archive-date=9 March 2023 |url-status=live |access-date=16 January 2024 |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Simone |first1=Gail |title=WiR - Fan Gail Simone responds |url=https://lby3.com/wir/r-gsimone.html |website=lby3.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230815231402/https://www.lby3.com/wir/r-gsimone.html |archive-date=15 August 2023 |url-status=live |access-date=16 January 2024}} It wasn't until later that the violence against women in these stories was recognized as a motivating incident, or plot device, for stories about male characters.{{cite web |last1=White |first1=Cindy |title=Marvel needs to stop fridging its female characters |url=https://www.avclub.com/marvel-mcu-fridging-history-1850616939 |publisher=The A.V. Club |access-date=16 January 2024 |language=en |date=10 July 2023 |archive-date=28 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230728202437/https://www.avclub.com/marvel-mcu-fridging-history-1850616939 |url-status=live }} The event is colloquially known as "fridging".

Simone originally developed a list of over 100 female characters who had been subject to various life-derailing tragedies, publishing it on a website called "Women in Refrigerators". The site was designed by journalist Beau Yarbrough, maintained by Rob Harris and John Norris, and was originally hosted by Jason Yu, who had originally suggested publishing the list online.{{cite web |title=Women in Refrigerators |url=https://www.lby3.com/wir/index.html |website=www.lby3.com |access-date=17 January 2024 |archive-date=3 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240103102801/https://lby3.com/wir/index.html |url-status=live }} Simone published email exchanges with respondents on the site. While some respondents found different meanings for the list, Simone maintained, until it was recognized as a motivating incident, that her initial point had always been: "If you demolish most of the characters girls like, then girls won't read comics. That's it!"{{cite web |title=WiR - Email as of 4/28/99 |url=https://www.lby3.com/wir/r-4_2899.html |website=www.lby3.com |access-date=17 January 2024 |archive-date=31 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031192444/https://lby3.com/wir/r-4_2899.html |url-status=live }}

In 2000, several national newspapers ran articles that referenced the site, generating discussion on the topic of sexism in pop culture and the comic-book industry.{{cite news |date=May 25, 2000 |title=Letters: Wonder women |url=http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/letters-6400564 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000903133408/http://www.dallasobserver.com/issues/2000-05-25/letters.html |archive-date=September 3, 2000 |access-date=August 31, 2017 |work=Dallas Observer}} Some universities also list the content of Women in Refrigerators as related to analysis and critique of pop culture.{{cite web |title=Popular Culture |url=http://www.wsu.edu/~amerstu/pop/comix.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318214633/http://www.wsu.edu/~amerstu/pop/comix.html |archive-date=2009-03-18 |access-date=September 9, 2023 |website=WSU.edu |publisher=Washington State University}}{{cite web |last=Moore |first=Perry |title=Who cares about the death of a gay superhero anyway? |url=http://perrymoorestories.com/content/hero.asp?id=superheroes |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012225358/http://perrymoorestories.com/content/hero.asp?id=superheroes |archive-date=October 12, 2007 |access-date=August 31, 2017}}

Simone received numerous email responses from comic book fans and professionals, publishing many of them on her website.Simone, Gail; Bartol, John (Editors). [http://www.lby3.com/wir/reacts.html "Fan Reactions"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130106230217/http://lby3.com/wir/reacts.html |date=6 January 2013 }}. "Women in Refigerators". Retrieved August 24, 2013. Notable examples include writer Mark Millar, former DC Entertainment CCO Geoff Johns, and Ron Marz, the author of the incident that gave rise to the trope's name.{{cite web |title=WiR - Responding Creators |url=https://www.lby3.com/wir/creators.html |website=www.lby3.com |access-date=17 January 2024 |archive-date=3 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240103102720/https://lby3.com/wir/creators.html |url-status=live }} Marz's reply stated (in part): "To me the real difference is less male-female than main character-supporting character. In most cases, main characters, 'title' characters who support their own books, are male. ... the supporting characters are the ones who suffer the more permanent and shattering tragedies. And a lot of supporting characters are female."{{cite web |title=WiR - Ron Marz responds |url=https://www.lby3.com/wir/c-rmar.html |website=www.lby3.com |access-date=17 January 2024 |archive-date=6 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240106065724/https://lby3.com/wir/c-rmar.html |url-status=live }} He also further explained:

{{quote|I created her [Alexandra DeWitt] with the intention of having her be murdered at the hands of Major Force. I took a lot of care in building her as a character, because I wanted her to be liked and her death to mean something to the readers. I wanted readers to be horrified at the crime, and to empathize with Kyle's loss. Her death was meant to bring brutal realization to Kyle that being GL [Green Lantern] wasn't fun and games. It was also meant to sever his links with his old life, paving the way for his move to New York. And ultimately I wanted her death to be memorable and illustrate just how truly heinous Major Force was. Thus the fridge.}}

In response to fans who argued that male characters are also often killed, content editor John Bartol wrote "Dead Men Defrosting", an article arguing that when male heroes are killed or altered, they are more typically returned to their status quo. According to Bartol's claim, after most female characters are altered they are "never allowed, as male heroes usually are, the chance to return to their original heroic states. And that's where we begin to see the difference."Bartol, John (March 1999). [http://www.lby3.com/wir/r-jbartol2.html "Dead Men Defrosting"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130911025859/http://www.lby3.com/wir/r-jbartol2.html |date=11 September 2013 }}. Women in Refrigerators. LBY3. Retrieved August 24, 2013.

Site maintainer Harris argued a similar point as Bartol: "Yes, male characters die, as do female characters - but my classic example is Flash and Supergirl, two beloved characters who were both killed off in the Crisis {{bracket|'Crisis on Infinite Earths' storyline}}. But Flash remained 'in continuity,' remembered and revered for his heroic sacrifice even as Wally West took on his mantle; Supergirl was forgotten, and within several months was wiped from continuity completely - no memorials, no flashbacks, no legacy."{{cite web |title=WiR - Fan Rob Harris responds |url=https://lby3.com/wir/r-rharris.html |website=lby3.com |access-date=17 January 2024 |archive-date=19 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240219003631/https://www.lby3.com/wir/r-rharris.html |url-status=live }}

Discussing the site in his book Dangerous Curves: Action Heroes, Gender, Fetishism and Popular Culture, Bowling Green State University professor Jeffrey A. Brown noted that while male comic book heroes have tended to die heroically and be magically brought back from the dead afterwards, female characters have been likelier to be casually but irreparably wounded or killed, often in a sexualized fashion. To support his claim, he cited the Joker shattering the original Batgirl's spine just for fun, resulting in her being written as a wheelchair user for over a decade. He also cites the torture and murder of Stephanie Brown by the villain Black Mask.{{cite book|last=Brown|first=Jeffrey A.|title=Dangerous curves: action heroines, gender, fetishism, and popular culture|date=24 January 2024 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi|location=Jackson|isbn=978-1604737141|pages=175–6}}

Outside of the comic book medium, Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Studios have been criticized for their continued use of the trope in film and television franchises. Namely Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man 2; Thor's mother, Frigga, in Thor: The Dark World; In 2016's Captain America: Civil War, an elderly Peggy Carter dies offscreen after suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Her death fuels Captain America's actions during the film, though she is later seen again in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise in 2019's Avengers: Endgame, when Captain America travels back in time to marry her;{{cite web |last1=Weekes |first1=Princess |title=Why Captain Carter Leaves a Weird Taste in My Mouth |url=https://www.themarysue.com/why-captain-carter-leaves-a-weird-taste-in-my-mouth/ |website=The Mary Sue |access-date=18 January 2024 |language=en |date=18 May 2022 |archive-date=18 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240118054745/https://www.themarysue.com/why-captain-carter-leaves-a-weird-taste-in-my-mouth/ |url-status=live }} Peter Quill's mother in Guardians of the Galaxy; Gamora in Avengers: Infinity War, which was also used as a motivating tragedy for Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Gamora's death and storyline has also been criticized for its problematic suggestion that her abuser, the villain Thanos, cared for her despite his abuse; Natasha Romanoff in Avengers: Endgame; Maria Hill in Secret Invasion; Aunt May in Spider-Man: No Way Home; and Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

In the original cut of Deadpool 2, Deadpool's girlfriend, Vanessa, was initially killed and used as a plot device to motivate Deadpool. Due to negative fan reactions during test screenings, a new post-credits scene was filmed and added. The scene retcons the character's death by use of time-travel, avoiding the trope, as her death is no longer permanent.{{cite web |last1=Mason |first1=Mykal |title=Deadpool 2 Ending Was Changed To Reverse Vanessa's Death |url=https://screenrant.com/deadpool-2-ending-vanessa-death-change-reverse-why/ |website=ScreenRant |access-date=17 January 2024 |language=en |date=24 March 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Jackson |first1=Chelsea |title=Why Amazon's Deadtown series is necessary for women in pop culture |url=https://culturess.com/2019/01/04/why-amazons-deadtown-series-is-necessary/ |website=Culturess |publisher=Minute Media |access-date=17 January 2024 |date=4 January 2019 |archive-date=17 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240117203037/https://culturess.com/2019/01/04/why-amazons-deadtown-series-is-necessary/ |url-status=live }} Nonetheless, the deaths of Cable's wife and daughter are used as motivating incidents for Cable's story arc during the film.

Brian Tallerico of Vulture, when reviewing "The Whole World Is Watching", an episode of the 2021 live-action Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, was critical of the death of Lemar Hoskins, a black person, as an example of racial, rather than sexist, fridging, to further the story arc of John Walker, a white person.{{Cite web |last=Tallerico |first=Brian |date=April 9, 2021 |title=The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Recap: Front Line |url=https://www.vulture.com/article/the-falcon-and-the-winter-soldier-episode-4-recap-the-whole-world-is-watching.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210409182623/https://www.vulture.com/article/the-falcon-and-the-winter-soldier-episode-4-recap-the-whole-world-is-watching.html |archive-date=April 9, 2021 |access-date=April 11, 2021 |website=Vulture}}

Courtney Enlow, editor at Your Tango, criticized the death of Kathy Stabler, the wife of detective Elliot Stabler in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as an example of the "tired, sexist" trope.{{cite web|url=https://www.yourtango.com/2021341361/what-is-fridging-women-in-refrigerators-trope|title=What Is Fridging? 'Law & Order' Gave Us Another Unfortunate Example Of This Tired, Sexist Trope|publisher=Your Tango|author=Enlow, Courtney|date=April 2, 2021|accessdate=April 19, 2021|archivedate=April 2, 2021|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210402232612/https://www.yourtango.com/2021341361/what-is-fridging-women-in-refrigerators-trope}}

Christopher Nolan has been criticized for repeatedly using the trope in his films.Multiple sources detailing different movies:

• {{cite web |last1=Quigley |first1=Adam |title=Christopher Nolan's Longstanding Practice Of "Fridging" Female Characters |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/510926/christopher-nolans-longstanding-practice-of-fridging-female-characters/ |publisher=SlashFilm |access-date=16 January 2024 |date=1 September 2010 |archive-date=16 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116003525/https://www.slashfilm.com/510926/christopher-nolans-longstanding-practice-of-fridging-female-characters/ |url-status=live }}
• {{cite web |last1=Picado |first1=Claudia |title='Tenet' Proves That Christopher Nolan Can't (or Doesn't Care to) Write Female Characters |url=https://collider.com/tenet-christopher-nolan-female-characters/ |publisher=Collider |access-date=16 January 2024 |language=en |date=30 January 2023 |archive-date=28 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230828194214/https://collider.com/tenet-christopher-nolan-female-characters/ |url-status=live }}
• {{cite web |last1=Fitzgerald |first1=Lucy |title=No(lan) woman, no cry |url=https://glasgowguardian.co.uk/2020/10/21/nolan-woman-no-cry/ |publisher=The Glasgow Guardian |access-date=16 January 2024 |date=21 October 2020 |archive-date=16 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116003526/https://glasgowguardian.co.uk/2020/10/21/nolan-woman-no-cry/ |url-status=live }}
• {{cite web |last1=Mohr |first1=Rachel |title=Inception Director Loves Killing Off Women |url=https://jezebel.com/inception-director-loves-killing-off-women-5609493 |publisher=Jezebel |access-date=16 January 2024 |language=en |date=10 August 2010 |archive-date=16 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116003525/https://jezebel.com/inception-director-loves-killing-off-women-5609493 |url-status=live }}

During the 2009 DC Comics storyline "Blackest Night", Alexandra DeWitt was one of many deceased characters temporarily brought back to life as part of the Black Lantern Corps. While she appeared briefly, she was seen inside a refrigerator construct at all times.{{cite comic |writer=Tomasi, Peter |penciller=Gleason, Patrick |inker=Buchman, Rebecca; Chapmaign, Keith; Nguyen, Tom; |colorist=Mayor, Randy; Eltaeb, Gabe |letterer=Wands, Steve |editor=DiDio, Dan; Schlagman, Adam |title=Green Lantern Corps |volume=2 |issue=46 |date = May 2010 |publisher=DC Comics, Inc. }}{{Primary source inline|date=December 2023}}

{{Main|The Refrigerator Monologues}}

Catherynne M. Valente was frustrated with the portrayal of Gwen Stacy's death in 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2, inspiring her to write the novel The Refrigerator Monologues, named in part after the "women in refrigerators" trope.{{cite web |last1=Valente |first1=Catherynne M. |title=The Refrigerator Strikes Back: The Refrigerator Monologues |url=https://www.themarysue.com/the-refrigerator-strikes-back-the-refrigerator-monologues/ |website=The Mary Sue |access-date=18 January 2024 |language=en |date=20 December 2016 |archive-date=18 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240118004615/https://www.themarysue.com/the-refrigerator-strikes-back-the-refrigerator-monologues/ |url-status=live }} She said of the portrayal of the character's death:

{{quote|[I]t blindsided me in a way that Gwen Stacy taking her dive should never blindside anyone born after 1970, and it was a sucker punch, because more or less the last thing Emma Stone [as Gwen Stacy] does before she quite literally flounces off to meet her doom is snit, "Nobody makes my decisions for me, nobody! This is my choice. Mine." ... [S]omeone chose to give her those words. ... To make those powerful words the punchline to a sad joke about female agency by punishing her for them, by making sure that no matter how modern and independent the new Gwen might seem, everything is just as it has always been. That old, familiar message slides into our brains with the warm familiarity of a father's hug: when women make their own choices, disaster results.}}

The story chronicles the afterlives of characters who had died as a result of their associations with male superhero characters. The protagonists are parodies of famous characters who have suffered fridging in DC and Marvel comic books.{{cite web |last1=Johnson |first1=Ross |title=A Guide to the Comic Book Wives and Girlfriends Who Inspired The Refrigerator Monologues |url=https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/guide-comic-book-wives-girlfriends-inspired-refrigerator-monologues/ |website=www.barnesandnoble.com |access-date=18 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021231354/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/guide-comic-book-wives-girlfriends-inspired-refrigerator-monologues/ |archive-date=21 October 2020 |date=7 June 2017 |url-status=dead}}

In December 2018, Deadline Hollywood reported that Amazon Studios was developing a television series called Deadtown, an adaptation of the Catherynne M. Valente novel The Refrigerator Monologues. The story centers upon five recently deceased women who meet in a purgatory-like location called Deadtown, where they discover that their entire lives, including their deaths, were merely in service of providing emotional backstory for male superheroes.{{cite web|last=Fleming|first=Mike Jr.|title=Amazon Sparks To Shauna Cross eOne Hourlong Female Superhero Saga 'Deadtown'|url=https://deadline.com/2018/12/deadtown-shauna-cross-female-superhero-series-amazon-studios-catherynne-valente-1202515979/|publisher=Deadline Hollywood|date=December 7, 2018|access-date=31 March 2023|archive-date=27 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190127094656/https://deadline.com/2018/12/deadtown-shauna-cross-female-superhero-series-amazon-studios-catherynne-valente-1202515979/|url-status=live}}

• {{annotated link|Comic book death}}
• {{annotated link|Damsel in distress}}
• {{annotated link|Feminist literary criticism}}
• {{annotated link|The Hawkeye Initiative}}
• {{annotated link|Manic Pixie Dream Girl}}
• Portrayal of women in American comics
• {{annotated link|Redshirt (stock character)}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• [https://www.lby3.com/wir/ Women in Refrigerators]
• {{Official website|https://www.lby3.com/wir/women.html|The original 1999 Women in Refrigerators list}}

Category:Women and comics

Category:Tropes