Ain't it a Shame about Mae

[bookshop]

The levels of straight, cisgendered, white, male privilege are so high this week you could fill not only a knapsack but one of those giant swiss army backpacks, and then have some left over for a couple of rooms in Mad Eye Moody's trunk.

and then there's this, which hits so close to home that i can only opt for the time-tested method of

Comments

[scrabble]

What are her character flaws?

[bookshop]

She's reckless and doesn't think before she puts herself in danger, and nearly gets herself killed climbing up that rope, for instance. Also, she's killed someone to get something she wanted, and not immediately in self-defense. and is okay with having friends/crushes who also have killed multiple people, which would weird me out if it weren't sort of a necessity in that universe. Also, she hates her parents and has no problem manipulating them against one another and lying to both of them to get what she wants, which is kind of hot in a creepy manipulative way.

[scrabble]

See, to me these all translate into "spunky," for lack of a better word. It's the sort of heroine you see in romance novels, where she's just so impulsive and argumentative that the dashing man she argues with Must Have Her. The flaws that are "flaws" but really are "intriguing" and add to her good points.

[bookshop]

well, i can see the recklessness being "spunky," but i don't think that either the murder or the parent hate are really portrayed as positives. The last image we see of her in the book is her standing helplessly over the body of the person she murdered looking really shocked and horrified at herself, so i think it's definitely not *meant* to be something that we see as intriguing.

[scrabble]

You totally listed it as a positive in this entry. I am onto you! Well, not the parent hate, but I don't remember what that's about. Admittedly, I probably should not enter into debate about her character since I have only read the book once and am fuzzy on what you're referring to. I think that everyone has the sort of character that just strikes them as unenjoyable and her kind of character is that for me.

[bookshop]

you are right, that is completely misleading--i didn't mean to list it as a positive so much as a defense of her not being "bland," wtf i think it is just so weird that she is *either* too bland or too spunky, like, how can she be both of these things at once? you are absolutely entitled to your opinion of her, and that is totally your preference! but i think part of what makes me feel so defensive about her is that i have read a gazillion reviews of TDL in the last year and i've probably spent at least half that time listening to people have all these negative reactions to Mae that i just don't understand.

[scrabble]

I don't know that I'd use either the words bland or spunky but I think that a spunky character can be bland if it's a sort of generic spunky character and their only characterization is that they are spunky. I also often think of characters as bland if they have no notable interests outside of the plot and/or the other characters--LIKE ALICE IN THE TWILIGHT SERIES, IN FACT! I JUST SAT HERE FOR FIVE MINUTES TRYING TO THINK OF AN EXAMPLE AND AM EXCITED BY THIS ONE--or if they have one interest and that is their only characterization. I honestly can't remember if that would be the case with Mae but they're just ways in which I could personally see a character as both.

[bookshop]

alice is the perfect example kasjdfldsjkfls because i feel like i could possibly *like* her if she wasn't set up to be a complete prop for the ridiculous plot. her entire purpose in the story is to go "i've already seen this happen so you might as well do it" and remove the need for any type of convincing character motivation to move the plot along, lollllll. AND THEN DIE. asdklfj;as. so, basically, yes, i agree adfkl;asjfdlk. but i don't think mae's character fits except that her entire focus in TDL is on jamie? and since she's trying to keep him from dying it doesn't feel like it's a cheap purpose or something.

[scrabble]

asdgasgssadg characters like Alice DRIVE ME INSANE, the way through the whole book she's like, "I have a surprise for you, Bella. I've bought you a brand new wardrobe and I'm going to give you a makeover so you look awesome tonight. I insist on doing your hair, BFF! You're too pretty to hide!" Like that whole "There is nothing going on in my life outside of you, epic main character!" asa;goawijg ahhhhhhhhh. That is not really related to the rest of this comment thread. I think TDL is a little different in plot from many other books in that it's a more immediate plot where a goal is trying to be accomplished basically from the start and most of everything that happens ties into it. Unlike, say, Twilight with its, "lol... I guess I'll wrap this up with some drama."

[bookshop]

ALSO HI

sdajflasjfklsj this morning i almost emailed you to tell you "YOU COULD USE THE ONE ABOUT THE GREEKS, EVERYONE KNOWS THAT." but i figured it was probably too late.

[scrabble]

I have no idea what Greeks have to do with gay marriage! adsgsadg. Btw my professor told me that the hospital thing was "specialty knowledge" unless I happened to know it from personal, firsthand experience.

[bookshop]

lol i was just trying to come up with something REALLY GENERAL THAT EVERYONE WOULD KNOW and wound up with "THE ANCIENT GREEKS HAD HOMOSEXUALITY BUILT INTO THEIR CULTURE" dfjklasdjl

but then if it happens to be from *personal, firsthand experience,* then all you can use is your ....own coming out story or the coming-out of someone around you, which is a) exploitative and b) not an argument, wtf

[scrabble]

asdgsag well I am not sure that's necessarily an argument in favour of gay marriage in the US but I appreciate the thought.

She admitted that it's a grey area in academia but I felt like the school's handbook was more clear - basically that if you find something in multiple articles and it's not cited to a single source, it's probably common knowledge. I mean, it's not like you're going to cite a single source for revealing the fantastic hospital information but whatever. I went with the adoption argument and if that is considered specialty I am going to be outraged.