Classism and Realism
There's some metafandom-ed posts about Supernatural and class, and at least one flocked post on my flist thinking about it in the abstract, and it's gotten me to revisit my thoughts, because class really does color the way I view fictional characters quite deeply. Well, maybe not class per se, since I've said things like that in the past and been
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Actually for most people it is a lack the first time they are miles from the nearest loo, bursting for a pee, and there are bloody nettles everywhere.
I think that with all these things there are some statistical averages that are weighted in one direction or another - men on average have greater upper body strength, the middle classes on average are taller etc. - and it is important to know what those are and not go in a huddle of denial about them, but that it is also always irrelevant on the individual level because statistics are other people.
(edited because apparently my grammar goes out of the window on Wednesdays)
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My instinct is to say that one should never base anything on something one knows to be untrue, but maybe occasionally by doing that you can get through to something new that would otherwise been impossible, and from there you can start to find a fairer outcome that is based on truth. Hmm. This would probably be more interesting if there were some real life examples but I don't have time to think of any.
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Long ago, Lenny Bruce pointed out that there are lots of fag jokes and hardly any dyke jokes, because if you tell dyke jokes, they punch you in the mouth. I believe this says a lot about the differential acceptability of racist vs. sexist speech.
Every time there's a war + conscription, the authorities discover that poor people tend to be smaller, less physically fit, and more affected by chronic disease than richer people. This generally results in at least a short-term supply of better food for poor people, which in turn results in healthier and less-stunted poor people.
BTW, I like iceberg lettuce.
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I prefer romaine nowadays.
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Well, depending on what U.S. state one lives in, sexual orientation may or may not be. Not to mention things like military experience are on the list. So the question is, I suppose, exactly what factors are at work?
Class is brought up more often when discussing university admissions than employment, it seems.
Is there even a consensus of what classes are, in the U.S.? (UK also has classes. I have no idea what they are; I do know that they're different, and a bit more distinct than here.)
These questions were discussed fairly in-depth both in my last post about classism and the recently metafandomed posts on classism and Supernatural.
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And there's a few others--national origin separate from race, disability, and so on. But race/gender/religion are the big three, and I believe they're universal; the others vary.
I looked at the other post.
Gah. Bunch of fandoms I don't know. Dr. Who is the only one I've actually seen. (I've watched I think two episode of Buffy. Same of Supernatural.)
It's meta I'm very interested in, but it's hard to chime in with agreement or counterpoints 'cos I don't know canon well enough. And much of the discussion talked about British class concepts... which was nicely informative, but not directly useful.
Part of me thinks that US classism parallels UK racism, and vice-versa... there's a big claim on the part of the privileged that "no such thing exists here, or if it does, it's little pockets of bigotry, not institutionalized prejudice." But I don't know enough about UK society to know if it's a reasonable comparison.
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I think all three are acceptable. Bizarre, perhaps, and limiting one's potential enjoyment, but perfectly acceptable. What is not acceptable is RL prejudice against those groups - saying you don't want to work with them or send your kids to school with them. But personal preferences in entertainment are something else. I freely admit to being less interested in female characters than in male ones, partly because I am a woman and know how they work already, partly because as a straight woman I can't fantasise about them. Many of my students won't read books or watch TV shows about old people, whom they find boring. They'll change, as time catches up with them, but right now their preference is understandable and their own affair.
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I'm middle class and from the 'burbs. So the trails of blue collar life don't really ring true with me. But I don't think that my not watching "The King of Queens" makes me a snob. I think it makes me someone who can look at a show and go "I don't think this one is for me."
Also, what would really be the solution here? People watch a lot of TV shows that they don't want to and don't like just to be PC? Also, if minorities don't watch shows with white people in them aren't they guilty of the same thing? What about poor people who don't watch shows about well off folks? Is not liking the rich because they're rich in some way better than not liking the poor because they're poor?
Lastly, isn't the most important thing in ALL of TV the question of if the show is actually any good to start with?
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The questions of what messages a particular audience will take from a particular text are complicated ones with few clear answers. My objective is not so much to try and create hard-and-fast distinctions which can be use to throw accusations and blame around as it to consider the issues involved as carefully and critically as possible.
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