McCaffrey, Rowling, Pierce and the problem with bravery. (part 1 of ???)
I'll be honest, I'm not sure yet as I write where McCaffrey comes into this, except that she has a strong authorial voice - but please bear with me.
I've been thinking a lot lately on the problem of bravery - of how it's represented as a heroic and admirable attribute. I'm thinking of Gryffindor, of the Fearless, of Alanna and of the dragonriders.
Mccaffrey is an interesting one here, because - and I'm not perhaps siding with the author here - her dragonriders are, for the most part, total dicks. I include Lessa in this by the way - despite the fact that she's Sara Crewe without the kindly attitude the lost heir of Ruatha, she has basically no empathy for anyone unfortunate enough to be born into the life of drudgery that she happened to be lucky enough to escape thanks to some fortunate genetics. (And isn't that an allegorical can of worms; if she weren't descended from Sorka Hanrahan, she'd never have bonded with a dragon and would likely still be scrubbing floors.)
F'nar and F'lar (I'm sure Viz magazine will have a field day with those names at some point if they haven't already) are reflections of a privileged aristocracy: the only difference is that unlike, say, Lord Cardigan, they have yet to be blamed for any catastrophes.
The whole thing's soaked in layers of meaning that I don't want to pick at too closely for fear of getting my hands dirty. The gay exists (but oddly, only for men; McCaffrey's views on homosexuality are worthy of a whole post to themselves). The weird Weyr caste system. The casual disdain held by, variously, dragon riders, holders and harpers for anyone unlike themselves. The rampant Mary Sues (Menolly, cough).
I dunno. I am still fond of Nerilka's Story because it seems to cast away the solid feudal gaze of earlier books, although it's problematic in how it treats its protagonist (she basically enslaves herself to a guy because she was in love with his wife??) The later books seem to be a purposeful effort to erase the generic hero-creation of the earlier ones. I'll come back to this.
I've been thinking a lot lately on the problem of bravery - of how it's represented as a heroic and admirable attribute. I'm thinking of Gryffindor, of the Fearless, of Alanna and of the dragonriders.
Mccaffrey is an interesting one here, because - and I'm not perhaps siding with the author here - her dragonriders are, for the most part, total dicks. I include Lessa in this by the way - despite the fact that she's Sara Crewe without the kindly attitude the lost heir of Ruatha, she has basically no empathy for anyone unfortunate enough to be born into the life of drudgery that she happened to be lucky enough to escape thanks to some fortunate genetics. (And isn't that an allegorical can of worms; if she weren't descended from Sorka Hanrahan, she'd never have bonded with a dragon and would likely still be scrubbing floors.)
F'nar and F'lar (I'm sure Viz magazine will have a field day with those names at some point if they haven't already) are reflections of a privileged aristocracy: the only difference is that unlike, say, Lord Cardigan, they have yet to be blamed for any catastrophes.
The whole thing's soaked in layers of meaning that I don't want to pick at too closely for fear of getting my hands dirty. The gay exists (but oddly, only for men; McCaffrey's views on homosexuality are worthy of a whole post to themselves). The weird Weyr caste system. The casual disdain held by, variously, dragon riders, holders and harpers for anyone unlike themselves. The rampant Mary Sues (Menolly, cough).
I dunno. I am still fond of Nerilka's Story because it seems to cast away the solid feudal gaze of earlier books, although it's problematic in how it treats its protagonist (she basically enslaves herself to a guy because she was in love with his wife??) The later books seem to be a purposeful effort to erase the generic hero-creation of the earlier ones. I'll come back to this.