bookgazing (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bookgazing) wrote2012-10-22 12:52 pm
bookgazing) wrote2012-10-22 12:52 pm
5 things I would like to get the hell out of my media
1. Straw middle class characters whose stereotypical, un-nuanced, prejudiced ways are directly linked to their class. Yes, bigoted middle class people exist. There are also working class people who hold extreme prejudices. We would never let working characters that are portrayed as un-nuanced, bigoted, representative class stereotypes pass by without comment. The same should hold true for middle class characters. Simplification is so dull, especially in a realistic novel. (‘there but for the’ – Ali Smith)
2. An internet that is killing us all by promoting disconnection and problems with concentration. There’s nothing wrong with showing the darker side of internet life, but I am so bored of seeing media that just presents the down sides of the net. (‘there but for the’ – Ali Smith)
3. The everyday worker portrayed as overwhelmingly grey faced, bovine or depressed. 1. Not everyone can be an astronaut 2. Some people enjoy their regular jobs 3. Again, lacking nuance, which is crucial to realism, which is important if you say you're writing a realistic novel (‘Nothing to Fear’ – Matthew D’Ancona)
4. Women whose friends and relatives gather round to work out their issues on her inert body while she lies in a coma. It’s the narratively disenfranchised female character taken to its absolute limits. I hate it. (‘The Descendants’ – Alexander Payne, ‘Oh Dear Silvia’ – Dawn French)
5. Servants who are terribly, terribly wise and straight forward. Generally they provide the shock factor of common sense that helps their employer to re-start their lives. I could also do without servants that are wise cracking and jolly all the damn time. (too many to mention)
What do you hate and wish would get out of you media?
2. An internet that is killing us all by promoting disconnection and problems with concentration. There’s nothing wrong with showing the darker side of internet life, but I am so bored of seeing media that just presents the down sides of the net. (‘there but for the’ – Ali Smith)
3. The everyday worker portrayed as overwhelmingly grey faced, bovine or depressed. 1. Not everyone can be an astronaut 2. Some people enjoy their regular jobs 3. Again, lacking nuance, which is crucial to realism, which is important if you say you're writing a realistic novel (‘Nothing to Fear’ – Matthew D’Ancona)
4. Women whose friends and relatives gather round to work out their issues on her inert body while she lies in a coma. It’s the narratively disenfranchised female character taken to its absolute limits. I hate it. (‘The Descendants’ – Alexander Payne, ‘Oh Dear Silvia’ – Dawn French)
5. Servants who are terribly, terribly wise and straight forward. Generally they provide the shock factor of common sense that helps their employer to re-start their lives. I could also do without servants that are wise cracking and jolly all the damn time. (too many to mention)
What do you hate and wish would get out of you media?
no subject
(Anonymous) 2012-10-24 08:09 pm (UTC)(link)-Iris
no subject
Have you read 'Girl Meets Boy'? If not I'd make it your next Smith, because it is soooo lovely. 'there but for the' is great if you enjoy word games and lots of fancy, but pointful narrative twiddles and you like Ali Smith's touch for the people that she does like. The last section, which gives you a look into the mind of a child character is so touching and the central conceit about a man who won't come out of a room at someone's house was really interesting. I just couldn't get fully on board with some of her ideas about nostalgia and modern society. They were good ideas, just I wanted all the angles to be shown and she had a specific direction she wanted to take her ideas.
But everyone should def stay away from that Matt Ancona book! Stay awaaaaay Iris, it made me want to crack heads :P