Comments | evilhippo: Meta calls to me!

evilhippo

Meta calls to me!

Jan 16, 2012 23:12

I wish I had enough time to finish writing up some Meta things tonight because agh, authorial intent! It is haunting me. Thankfully I got through Reichenbach without any meta-level issues, but I still have some lingering from ASiB, and somehow Andrew Hussie is massively stepping into it in regards to race on Tumblr tonight and this makes an ( Read more... )

homestuck, fandom, thinking, velocipede

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apple_pathways January 18 2012, 01:41:11 UTC

UUGGGGHHHH, I got about three sentences in to each of those Tumblr posts and just wanted to punch that guy in the face. Condescending asshole, much? I'm not going to suggest that an author has to represent diversity in their work (though I think it's a laudable goal), but you don't get to write about a bunch of ostensibly white kids and then insist that "no no no, actually one or two of them could be asian, or maybe hispanic! I haven't decided which, but the possibility's there, and so you're racist for assuming they were white." Just...no.

I know you and I have had this conversation before, and discussed the "default to white" assumption of readers. Can an author be held accountable for that assumption? No. But an author who is interested in representing diversity in their work should take those assumptions into consideration and take overt steps to counteract them. Otherwise, you don't get to call people racists for assuming characters you yourself pictured as white--are white.

evilhippo January 18 2012, 03:02:22 UTC

Wanting to punch Hussie in the face is a pretty common thing. I'm not going to defend his persona toward his fans, because while it's amusing when he's approaching his own characters and explaining his creative process, it's a hugely terrible way to approach an argument like this. Unfortunately, either he doesn't know how to break character, or he's a tremendous asshat.

That said, there is a little more nuance to this than an author just saying "you're all racist for assuming they're white." There had been dust-ups between the fans, with a certain subset insisting that the characters were white. What I'm taking away from this is that his issue was the idea of forcing that interpretation on others. (He just made the argument very poorly, possibly because he's trying to argue on the same level as his fandom.) Then things escalated from there into utter nonsense and flailing and one very random invocation of Martin Luther King, Jr ( ... )

flutingfrenzy January 26 2012, 01:59:03 UTC

I like how I was all, "I wanna talk about this!" and then proceeded to ignore this post completely. So it's just as well that you've basically articulated my thoughts on the matter perfectly. But as a postscript, there's some discussion on it today on fandomsecrets. Oh look, there I am all over the place in it, admittedly mostly regarding Dirk. Dirk and Roxy are rapidly becoming my favorite characters in Homestuck, no lie.

evilhippo January 26 2012, 04:45:20 UTC

Hehe, no worries, I've managed to not provide my lingering questions to you in your other post yet, so we're probably even. (-;

Tangential to the whole Homestuck Racism 2012 Debate, what's your stance on Hussie's sudden interest in making non-inflammatory and semi-informative, considered posts about things like gender? Five bucks on Complacency of the Learned being a thinly-veiled, maybe-or-maybe-not-cringeworthy treatise on gender and race that reflects Hussie's habit of learning from/absorbing/weirdly reimagining his fandom's ideas? (I'm pretty sure about 68% of what I love about Homestuck is the way it's so self- and fandom-referential and you can just sort of watch ideas cycling around and evolving. Another 15% is Dirk Strider.And omg, I've been wanting to flail at you about Dirk and Roxy. I didn't think the Alpha kids would grow on me, but then Dirk and Roxy. Mostly Dirk... I adore Dirk more than should technically be allowed. (And the AR... the "I'm glasses" line just about killed me in several different ways.) I want ( ... )

flutingfrenzy January 27 2012, 02:10:59 UTC

I have always thought that Andrew Hussie "got it" more than the average dude who has just about every kind of privilege there is (as far as I can tell), which is the main reason I was so disappointed by the racewank. But maybe it's my own privilege that makes me think that, and I would see things differently if I were nonwhite or disabled. As it is, my only real SJ-related complaint with Homestuck is the frequency with which characters throw around "retarded," like do we really still have to tell people not to say that? With regard to other things, especially sex- and gender-related stuff, however, I think it might be the best canon I've ever seen. It's straight-up escapism for me; after reading about all the stupid crap that goes on in this world, sometimes I just want to read about another world where all of the earth's problems have been rendered irrelevant due to apocalypse, and power, wealth, and (sometimes) immortality are freely available to all ( ... )

evilhippo February 5 2012, 04:48:54 UTC

Almost entirely unrelated to everything ever, but my brain locked on to this idea at work tonight and wouldn't let go: So... this sort of started when Dirk's unbeatable rap robot Sawtooth was mentioned, and for some reason my mind immediately went to Sawbuck even though I know it's just another wave pattern but I'm pretty sure I can tease out some foreshadowing of the Felt there anyway. And so from that I'm thinking... what if everything goes all dark/horror on us again and it turns out Dirk abuses his powers of Heart in regards to his feelings toward Jake and things go awry resulting in the creation of Lord English by Dirk in the twisted image of Jake (also, there's the whole "I will turn him into a RUTHLESS KILLING MACHINE" thing). I'm not sure how to make this into an actual working theory, but the idea of Dirk making an evil turn seems like it might be a given at this point. As much as I love him, he's so expressionless (which I really noticed in the Squarewave flash. Also awww, Squarewave), and kind of casual about murder ( ... )

flutingfrenzy February 7 2012, 02:59:11 UTC

:(

This would all make me very sad!

To be fair, the murder Dirk was casual about was committed in self-defense. It wouldn't surprise me if he were just very pragmatic about that kind of thing, particularly if he sees Incipisphere beings as automatons rather than sentient creatures (as he might, given how much he knows about the game already) - but then the question is how his relationship with his AR and his robots has affected his perception of human vs. artificial intelligence.

Anyway, I thought of Sawbuck too when he introduced Sawtooth. Maybe it is foreshadowing - foreshadowing for Dirk's creation of all the Felt? That would be something. To be clear, are you suggesting that Lord English is Jake, transformed somehow by Dirk, or that he is a separate entity created by Dirk with characteristics inspired by Jake? If it has to be either, I sure hope it's the latter. And on that note, I have kind of been thinking...what is the prognosis supposed to be on Lord English, exactly? Are the heroes going to try to kill him or whatever? ( ... )

evilhippo February 9 2012, 05:43:45 UTC

I am always full of terrible, depressing theories. It's why I should never be trusted with fictional characters of my own. (-;

I've been thinking about Dirk's casual murder, and I'm not entirely sure I'm not just pasting Hussie's narration onto Dirk's thought processes (it's a mistake I make far too often). There is something that seems off, but that may be the part of me that's wary of engaging emotionally with coolkids. (-; At the moment, I'm imagining he's going through much the same sort of debate in his head as we're having, in regards to how he views the Dersites and his different AIs. A lot is probably going to hinge on what he decides. (Also, I love all the attempts at multi-tasking and the actual exploration of Dirk's existential duality(ies?), because I kind of wished we got more of how that worked from Sollux ( ... )

Kind-of update spoiler flutingfrenzy February 10 2012, 00:51:36 UTC

DAMMIT

I THOUGHT I WAS KIDDING ABOUT PRINCES

Re: Kind-of update spoiler evilhippo February 10 2012, 02:41:21 UTC

Okay, that update was really kind of weird, in that it covered... exactly what we were talking about. (THIS IS WHY I CAN NEVER WRITE FIC FOR HOMESTUCK, GREAT MERCIFUL CRAP HUSSIE STOP TREADING ON MY META.) Also, I kind of want to write fic about the kids as a troll would write it. That would be all kinds of awesome (if I could pull it off).

Also UU-fanart is adorable.

Also also: Dirk Strider, Destroyer of Souls.

Re: Kind-of update spoiler flutingfrenzy February 10 2012, 03:11:27 UTC

I KNOW, RIGHT. Okay, Hussie, admit it; you've been reading evilhippo's journal. There is no use in hiding anymore because we can see you through the window. We can tell it's you by the madness of your giggles.

Reading the update was bizarre on every level, really. First, for the reason you mentioned. Second, in that there was an unusually large amount of exposition. Third - you know how sometimes you have a brief out-of-body experience in which you feel like you're watching yourself say or do something, because it's just such an integral part of your nature that you wouldn't be able to control it if you wanted to? It was like I was watching myself react to every line of the update exactly like I knew I was supposed to.

I checked out his tumblr because I thought he might have sourced the art there, and he did! I hope we get to see more UU fanart. And eventually some UU fic, although I hardly dare hope.

Destroyer of Souls. I have so many conflicting feelings right now.

Re: Kind-of update spoiler evilhippo February 10 2012, 04:47:04 UTC

I'm kind of unnerved by the way the story keeps going along the same path my brain was already wandering down. I'm so used to being way off base. But I think this has more to do with my brain growing accustomed to/being absorbed into Hussie's style than anything else. (-; But yeah... I definitely felt like I knew exactly where I was being led, but could do nothing to stop it (because I didn't mind being led there). In conclusion we're all doomed ( ... )

flutingfrenzy February 15 2012, 05:54:33 UTC

I think it's very likely that Rose's blackout was caused by someone's Void powers (assuming that's what it is in the Alpha), but I'm less curious about the who than about the why. There's a reason the trolls couldn't be allowed to see Rose while she was grimdark, and I want to know what it is. Especially since it was apparently so important that somebody had to use their powers transuniversally. And if it was inadvertent, the how is also relevant to my interests ( ... )

evilhippo February 18 2012, 04:14:29 UTC

Oh, you know what... I think you're probably on to something with Mom being the source of the Void power intervention. I definitely think there was something more at play as far as the Guardians being in the beta session, and the idea that their destined hero powers might also be in play... I'm actually not sure what that would mean yet, but I could definitely see it being a Thing. Given the importance of death for god tier ascension, I wouldn't be surprised if it's necessary for alpha/beta versions of the same player to be dead in order for the powers to be in play at all (preventing cross-universe overlap). I think it would (in a way) explain the void-out, provided timey-wimey-spacey-wacey shenanigans would line Roxy's first use of her powers up with her beta-self's death. It might also neatly explain why all the Beta kids' would-be-Guardian selves are dead/mysteriously missing and presumed dead by the time the alpha kids are ready to enter the game ( ... )

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