Tragic Heroine Throwdown: Round 1 Results

Well, it’s been a week of crazy fictional girlfights, but sixteen tough babes are still standing and ready to do battle next week in Round 2.  Thanks to L.A. fashion critics Heather and Jessica of Go Fug Yourself, Ohio dancing blogger Bernadette of “That’s a Dancer’s Leg, Margaret!”, and Marty Hughley of The Oregonian for showing our heroines some love this week.   If you missed the first round of voting, click here, here, here, and here to get caught up.

There were some real nail-biters this round: Jen vs. Angelina and the Disney ladies were both incredibly close races.  Meanwhile, over in the History bracket, Lady Macbeth wins the “Girl, Don’t Even Start With Me” Award for destroying poor sweet Desdemona with a solid 90% of the vote.  The one constant throughout all the matches was the domination of Team Carmen, who very nearly swept the board, with only a few stalwart sweethearts left in the game from Team Giselle.  Don’t despair of a one-sided competition, though – the Giselles still in are some of the strongest contenders and many were popular favorites to win the whole thing.  Carmen still better watch her back . . .

We’ll be introducing Carmen and Giselle to you over the next few weeks with a “Meet Your Team Captains” post.  (Carmen insisted on going first, since her team is winning.)  We interviewed two staff members on behalf of the two teams, so you’ll get to hear from OBT Executive Director (and opera singer) Diane Syrcle on Monday about why she loves Carmen, and then the following Monday School of OBT Director Damara Bennett will go to bat for Giselle.  And there will be an exclusive “Tragic Heroines Throwdown” ticket offer in those posts, so watch this space for a seriously awesome deal!

If you missed any of the action, here’s a rundown of what went on during Round 1, and the matches you’ll be voting on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Film Bracket

ROUND TWO MATCHUPS:

Ally Sheedy vs. Emma Thompson
Moneypenny vs. Maleficent

This was the first bracket where the good girls actually made a dent.  Giselle must be so relieved.  Loyal Miss Moneypenny was the only member of her team left in the game for the entire first half of Round 1; she took out Pussy Galore with a solid 57% of the vote, then finally got some backup on Wednesday from her fellow Brit Emma Thompson, who squeaked by the devious Sharon Stone by a mere two votes.  Maleficent gave Ariel a real run for her money over in the Disney matchup; they were tied for most of the morning and early afternoon before Maleficent pulled ahead, using her diabolical dragon powers to best the Little Mermaid by a mere 4 votes.   Perhaps her victory was inevitable; as Facebook commenter Alicia Cox put it, “Maleficent can swear in a Disney universe -  that is a sign of powers beyond our comprehension.”   Ally Sheedy was the surprise upset of the game so far; we thought for sure 80′s icon Molly Ringwald would bring this one home for Team Giselle, but Ally pulled out a solid 60% of the vote.  She’ll go head-to-head with Emma Thompson, who many of you have favored to win the whole game, but it’s impossible to predict a winner here – Emma won by a pretty narrow margin, but then Ally kind of snuck up on us and we didn’t see her coming.  It’s anyone’s game at this point.

History Bracket

ROUND TWO MATCHUPS:

Lady Macbeth vs. Esther
Clytemnestra vs. Morgan le Fay

The wins in this bracket have been by far the most decisive.  The 3 D’s – Dido, Desdemona and Delilah – got shut out by a laughable margin, with only a handful of votes each.  The stabby Lady Macbeth and Clytemnestra, and our nice Jewish girl Esther, swept the table.  You went for Lady M over Desdemona with an astounding 90% of the vote, while the other ladies both cleaned up over 80%.  Guinevere and Morgan le Fay were a closer match; King Arthur’s wife put up a valiant battle against his sorceress sister, but this was one case where blondes do NOT have more fun – Morgan took the lead early in the morning and kept it all day.  Guinevere did her best but she didn’t stand a chance.  Next week’s matches look to be close, since the winners were all such high scorers.   I’m particularly interested in the Lady Macbeth vs. Esther matchup; those two opponents won by the highest percentages of anyone in the game.   Can our feisty teenage heroine hold her own against Shakespeare’s greatest villainess to become the de facto leader of Team Giselle?  And will Morgan’s magical powers come through for her?  Or will Clytemnestra and Lady M prevail so I get my wish to subtitle the next matchup “The Wives With Knives”?  (I know, I know, I can’t help myself.)

Pop Culture Bracket

ROUND TWO MATCHUPS:

Lady Gaga vs. Angelina Jolie
Sydney Bristow vs. Audrey Hepburn

Audrey vs. Joan was one match we were all dying to see, and it didn’t disappoint.  We argued long and hard over who could put up a decent fight against early favorite Audrey, before settling on Mommie Dearest as the only possible competitor.  But come on.  AUDREY HEPBURN.  Joan never stood a chance.  Nice girls Taylor Swift and Mary Tyler Moore made a respectable showing this week, garnering over a third of the vote apiece, but they were no match for pop icon Lady Gaga (who totally cheated by hosting Saturday Night Live last week and shilling for votes, which I did not give her permission to do!) or CIA-trained secret Agent Sydney Bristow.  Sydney will face off against Audrey next week, pitting grace and elegance against action-heroine spy skills in a duel between two women I can honestly say I have never once mentioned in the same sentence before today.  The Many Loves of Brad Pitt were an unsurprisingly close race; public opinion is so divided on these two that we knew it wouldn’t be a landslide for either of them.  But in the end, you all liked Lara Croft: Tomb Raider better than Friends and gave the win to Angelina over Jennifer by 57%, leaving her to face off against The Gaga in what I’m calling “Battle of the Women I Can’t Open a Magazine Without Seeing Pictures Of.”

Literature Bracket

ROUND TWO MATCHUPS:

Tosca vs. Milady
Catwoman vs. Martha

Carmen’s bad-girl army ran the table here and sent Giselle’s delegates packing.  Gatsby’s Daisy was Team Giselle’s last best hope in this category – she held out as long as she could against Martha, the booze-swilling banshee from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (you’d think they’d have clicked better, since they have a lot in common, what with both being pretty terrible wives) and they were tied for so long that I was pretty sure she’d managed to slide through.  But it was not to be.  Martha pulled out a last-minute victory and won by a slim majority of 54%.  Our beautiful vigilantes Tosca and Milady, made short work of their good-girl opponents with a 2/3 margin each (you guys seem to really like women in gowns with daggers, I’m noticing).  Lois Lane was the big surprise here; she was highly favored to win the whole game in several of your bracket submissions, so we were surprised to see that the plucky reporter only managed to snag 23% of the vote against Batman’s slinky feline adversary.  But can Catwoman’s claws take out Maggie the Cat?  (I know, I know, that’s a totally different Liz Taylor role, but I couldn’t resist.)  Bear in mind that whichever of these four fiery villainesses emerges as the champion of the Literature bracket will have to face off against the winner of the History bracket in the Final Four, and those girls are in it to win it.  Will it be Milady vs. Lady Macbeth?  Clytemnestra vs. Catwoman?  Tosca vs. Esther?  Morgan vs. Martha?   Either way – DRAMA.