rscholar wrote: ↑Wed Apr 15, 2026 3:33 am
One thing I want to make absolutely clear first: if The Miniature Wife worked for you - I mean completely, 10/10, no notes - I'm sincerely thrilled for you. Hell, if the nastier bits scratched that VSW itch, that's perfectly fine too.
The truth: I'm glad this happened - it was a gift and an incredible moment in a corner of the world were moments like that don't often happen. I'm not angry with it, I didn't hate it -there really was a lot to love and I have my favorites.
Also the truth: The Miniature Wife broke me, harder and more violently than what I had gone through with Gen V.
And it may be the best thing that's ever happened to me.
I won't fully go into the structural issues (they're there) or the unpleasant moments (there), but if I had to sum up the issue, I think it's this: for the second time in so long, a mainstream production depicted a man interacting with a shrunken woman and revealed that he was an unstable monster who will lie about who he is and want he wants - a tiny woman is an obstacle, toy, crisis, or outlet to receive one's darkest impulses. Even beyond sex, trust - true profound trust that's emotionally moving - doesn't seem possible in this day and age. They don't get it and I believe more than ever that they never will. I don't hold that against them because between deconstruction, irony, meta-awareness, or whatever, sincerity will give way to cynicism.
I've talked to some people on and off here, including therapists, about this, Gen V, and my general feelings. In wondering how to address what MW made me feel and what issues I had, my mind automatically rationalized it as a compare/contrast thing and I started thinking about the stuff I thought was good and why they did better than MW....and suddenly everything clicked.
I'm a fledgling writer trying to find my style and what subjects I think are important to discuss - I've gravitated towards scifi and tech and thinking what's to come and how that will shape us. And like some other scifi pieces, there's a lot of cynicism (I swear I came up with one premise and found out later Black Mirror already did it [and much better than I would've done]). I've also been made aware and been mulling about shrinking stories and what we get out of this. Sure there's the lusty pervy skirt-chasing mentality (nothing wrong with that obviously) of seeing shrinking as a means to sexual titillation, but I don't have to tell you the whole thing means so much more - play, emotion, self-expression. While a good story requires conflict, I've puzzled how to make shrinking itself positive, a spot of fun or self-fulfillment. Something that doesn't induce *guilt* in enjoying it. And this notion again of size as power is seen as a one-way street: big=good, small=bad, the powerful dominate the weak, no one wants to be weak.
And it's not true. Not really. A man can retain total control over a woman and still be a good person, even restraining himself and going to great pains and personal hardship to care for her *willingly*. A woman can be confident, ambitious, in control of her life and her destiny and still want someone to take it all off of them, to feel cherished and special, maybe even to feel love, affection, and respect without thinking it had to be earned by success. People are complex enough that two opposing perspectives can not only be true but maybe be the way someone keep balance.
The good stuff, the happy things that show the best of what this interest of ours can be, comes from somewhere I'm not sure exists anymore or at least is very hard to find. As a writer, I'm noticing that in the wider world too. It's...innocence? Purity? I don't know. But what we live with now doesn't always seem to allow for that. And I think because MW specifically was the fullest modern realization of that idea in the mainstream and had the flaws that can be interpreted rationally as well as from a fetish perspective, it really felt, at least to me, like the worlds finally collided.
That purity, innocence, what have you, is what I found in those bits I put in the "positive" column - they stood out more than ever. And I think I cried when I realized it. And then I realized that this place - the forum, the community - embodies much of the same, not strictly in the material we find or make, but out spirit, the passion and joy we sink into this, the support we provide, even the efforts we make to make our bigger ideas happen, all for the community.
That spirit awoke something in me. I've been pondering it for several days and I feel like there's a fire lit in my belly that I'm not sure I've ever felt before. It was a clarity of purpose: the cynicism, the lack of sincerity, the inability to find trust and the rejection of vulnerability as a weakness - it has to stop.
I don't really know what it will mean yet. I don't know how long this feeling will last. Maybe I'm writing this because I want to make myself accountable. But I'm desperate to keep it. It's intense and it's *wonderful*.
To wrap up, I also had a running monologue in my head about all this. Some thoughts are probably a bit overblown, but it feels right for what I'm trying to convey. Also, I remember previous conversations where I've expressed self-doubt and you guys came through with your generous support - I'm still working through those things, but I haven't forgotten what you've said and I'll always be grateful. I'm just hoping this doesn't come off as too self-indulgent. And, because I'm terminally a nerd, I will express it the only way I know how: Dragonball Z memes!
Hey there! Wanted to respond to this since you posted it, but between real life and my own processing of the show, it took me a little while. But, yeah, this show really changed me too.
As anyone here can witness, I was super hyped for this show, and on many levels, it not only didn't disappoint, it far exceeded what I ever imagined we'd see in a SW-themed show. The inclusion of three SMs didn't spoil it for me because narratively, I understood and agreed with their inclusion. The effects and set/prop design were second to none. And Elizabeth Banks was phenomenal. I look back at the only other titular adult SW character we have--Pat Kramer from
The Incredible Shrinking Woman--and she can't hold a candle to Lindy Littlejohn. Quite literally, probably. Side note: ISW is a process story, and I love love love that. And the scene where she climbs on the bed to be with him, only to get bounced off it and fall asleep in the dollhouse and wake up smaller is still a favorite. The closest we got to that here was in episode 6 with Lindy in her nightie using Richard as a revenge prop, and that scene worked for me until Les grabbing Richard truly terrified me.
And I will say that this series really did a great job showing the wonder, challenges, and terrifying nature of being six inches tall. Despite not liking some of the extremes that Les went to, which you reference, I really felt that danger of an unhinged man exerting that kind of power over a tiny woman. That was definitely eye-opening and visceral, and like you said, something that seriously changed my outlook.
My initial interest in shrinking fiction was originally more mathematical: what would the world look like from half-size, one-sixth-size, etc. Or what would it be like if someone shrunk 1% of their height every day. That kind of thing. I was a pre-teen when
The Incredible Shrinking Woman was viewable on cable, and I was just out of high school when
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids came out. The act of watching someone shrink or be shrunk was the titillation for me. Then I found this online community in the late-90s, and I first encountered the idea of shrinking as a sexual fetish. Never thought about that before. Collages, illustrations, and stories of the time affected my view of this fantasy, and not necessarily in a negative way. And like most of us here, I craved live-action imagery to make it more realistic.
I can't draw, and didn't want to take the time to learn Photoshop to make collages. I had been writing fiction since middle school, so I could contribute that way. When I first started writing fiction for the community in my late 20s, I started by emulating what was written because that's what I thought the readers wanted, even if it wasn't necessarily what I wanted. For the original draft of my novel
Short Time, I wanted to write a SW mystery, but I peppered it with some sexual elements because I thought the readers in the community at the time wanted them. I've excised almost all of them in the edition that's published, focusing more on the slow-shrink and mystery elements that I appreciated, because that's where I was in 2014 when I released it.
So yes, I agree with all your thoughts about the monstrous side of Les. Most of them made me feel at least squeamish as well. And on the other side of the coin, the sequence where Lindy reveals herself to daughter Lulu was beautiful in its sincerity. The scene where Lindy is trapped under the wastebasket in the lab, where she is genuinely worried about how long she'd be stuck that way, is heartbreaking. And whenever Lindy takes control of situations, I reveled in her bad-assery. This show ran the gamut of emotions for me.
And it made me think of what I write now. I look at my
Life Diminished comic series at ShrinkFan, where Sarah is currently stuck just under 13" tall, and how much she and her husband are trying to make the difficult situation work. I think about my short story
Sticky Notes and its upcoming comic adaptation, also a much gentler tale. Those are the kind of SW story I want right now, and I feel blessed that I have the power to tell them. I have a few others rattling around in my head, and they're more of this gentler variety than the definitely not gentle
The Miniature Wife. Yet still, I'm glad to have experienced
The Miniature Wife as part of this community.
Throughout the whole build-up to the show, I thought a lot about my novel
Desperate Measures. It had a lot of surface-level similarities with
The Miniature Wife: A married couple with problems, a technological accident that leaves the wife indefinitely shrunk, a race against time and the threat of lost funding to unshrink her. After seeing the series, there are even more uncanny similarities, which I'll share in a spoiler wall, but I noticed my male characters in that novel never physically exert power in a violent way like Les did.
Desperate Measures was a turning point novel in my journey, where my interest shifted from just the physical process of shrinking into the more emotional aspects of it. So in that way, I'm more excited and inspired to write something new.
Not that it won't be a little spicy as well.
Similarities between Desperate Measures and The Miniature Wife series:
Veronica (DM) is shrunk to 12" tall in a teleportation malfunction, and she is the main scientist on the project. Lindy (TMW) is shrunk to 6" tall in a miniaturization "accident" caused by her husband, the main scientist on the project.
Veronica and Derek are having marital issues, which include career vs. marriage balance. Lindy and Les are having marital issues, which include career vs. marriage balance.
Veronica considers leaving Derek but the shrinking occurs. Lindy is actively about to leave Les when the shrinking occurs.
Both science teams are "close" to restoration but not there yet, so Veronica and Lindy are indefinitely tiny.
Both use regular flashbacks to show how their marriage got to where it currently is.
Les's mother faints upon seeing shrunken Lindy. EVERY character faints upon seeing shrunken Veronica.
There are funding issues with both science projects, and there are military/government implications of the project's success.
Both Veronica and Lindy hide in a desk drawer at the lab. Veronica's team hides her there so a budget committee doesn't see her shrunk. Lindy hides there so absolutely no one sees her shrunk.
Charlie, a coworker of Veronica, has unrequited love for her, which is unknown to Derek. Richard, a coworker of Les, is in an emotional affair with Lindy, which is unknown to Les (until episode 6).
Veronica's team ultimately shrinks mice. Les ultimately shrinks a cat.
Charlie may have the ability or scientific know-how to restore Veronica and contemplates not using it so he can keep her dependent on him. Les has the scientific know-how to restore Lindy and contemplates not using it to control her.
A full-size Veronica appears and becomes the primary antagonist and seduces Charlie, who's too blinded by love, to get her way. Vivienne, an antagonist, seduces Les to get her way, though he's too egotistical at the moment to fully realize it.
Full-size Veronica releases a dog in the lab to hunt and potentially kill small Veronica. Les releases a cat in the house to hunt and potentially kill Lindy.
In the end, Veronica's teleportation pods overload and explode. In the end, Les sets the lab to explode. Veronica and Lindy are ultimately restored after the explosion.
Veronica and Derek both change jobs and/or careers to prioritize their marriage and have a child. Lindy and Les renounce their awards and/or award goals to prioritize their marriage and child.
Big difference: Derek never exerts his oversized physicality over Veronica in a violent manner.
